O.K, this is the deal, I''ve decided to work on an article for gamedev that goes someway to answering that question. "Which 3D modeller?". Obviously I haven''t tried every 3D program under the sun so am not always in the best position to say to someone, (for instance) "use Maya" when I haven''t used it before. I''ve dabbled in Bryce and Blender briefly and have used TrueSpace 3 extensively, I''m now in the thick of things with 3D Studio Max. What I need is some other contributing comments from people that have used other programs. The larger the diversity of software the better. I want the reader of the article to decide which one is best for them, so in a way I want mini reviews of the software, including pros and cons, ease of use, price, features etc... The article will be compiled by me but any quotes will be credited with your name. I feel GameDev needs this at the moment because it''s very programer orientated. So you artists out there tell me what you think. -------------------------- "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -Bill Gates 1981

I am migrate from progr -> arts ;-)

The best is 3dstudio-max, if you have a decent hardware. Even more, 3ds-max is very good if you have a sidescroll mouse (if you have a opticall ms-intellimouse is better).

truespace sux!

In any case, you also need a good 2d programs such a photoshop (like it), paintshoppro, and more. You cannot made texture using paintbrush (puaaaaj). May download a good shareware from paintshoppro and work with it (if you don''t have much money).

I disagree on the truespace sux comment. it''s very easy to use and pretty powerful for a shitty artist like me. =)

HHSDrum@yahoo.com
Polarisoft Home Page

how bout milkshape? It''s a decent modeller for low-poly stuff. Very easy to use. I haven''t made anything big with it, but I''ve seen some pretty nice screenshots. And it''s so easy to use in opengl thanks to the file format.

Also, Poser''s pretty cool, too. You can make a decent-looking male or female in seconds using this program.

Don''t forget to include prices. Sure, 3D studio max is an excellent program, but I don''t know too many people that will pay 3 or 4 thousand dollars for it.

TrueSpace is an *excellent* 3d TOOL!

It requires getting used to (the controls), but you don''t need much technical knowledge and such to use it. Its like clay modelling!

I just *LOVE* Blender. OK, so I don''t have any experience with other programs- but this program is so useful and its..... free!! Completely free. It''s a bit hard to get control of, though.b Recommended!

www.blender.nl

Isn''t Blender shareware. Correct me repeatedly if I''m wrong. Throwing another program in the mix. Hash Animation Master. It''s mainly targeted at character animation using spline based patches. I created an exporter for it to the xof format, textures and color included. You can download that at http://members.v3space.com/sillypickle. Anyway, it has an SDK that alows you to display models from the original model format, meaning you can scale the detail level and run bone animations and use bones directly.

No.
Blender is 100% freeware. I think they earn their cash from the manuals they''re selling.

I could never understand blender, the interface didn''t warm up well to me. Truespace was OK but trying to move the camera around is retarded. I wish the movement could be done with just the mouse buttons like in UnrealED(not a modeler I know). I just getting 3D Studio Max, so I''ll see how that works out.

"Nukeuler....it''''s pronounced nukeuler..." - Homer Simpson

"Where is that thing.........
...for digging.....food?"
"A spoon?"
"Yeah, yeah."

I personally use Strata3D, mainly cuz it''s straightforward and you can get a free full version of it (without any of the special effects tools). But if you dabble, like me, it''s pretty good.