Attached Link: Fantasy Novel

I'm very much a newbie, and I'm probably jumping way too far ahead of myself, but I'd nevertheless like to experiment with the possibilities of designing my own 3D models and/or textures for use in Poser. My first question is about the textures. What programs out there support the painting of textures directly onto the 3D object? Are they worth the money? Or can one achieve just as good or better results without them without very much more trouble? I am aware that DeepPaint3D and ZBrush both have this capability; but are there others that are (perhaps) less well known? Are they as good? Are any of them any cheaper? In regard to 3D modeling (as opposed to texturing), being a 3D beginner, I'd like to use something that's not so challenging that I get too easily discouraged; but it would also be nice if it was capable of something worthwhile when pushed and tweaked a little bit. All suggestions welcome, freeware, open source, shareware, cheap, expensive, graphic suites, etc., etc. Thanks in advance for your input. / R

Bodypaint 3D by MAXON is another option for painting texture directly onto 3D objects. It costs $695. Though, you could texture using a texture template in Photoshop or PaintShop Pro. The list of 3D modelers is long. Go to this link for a small set: 3D Cafe Store. 3DS Max Amapi 3D Amorphium AutoCAD Bryce Carrara Cinema 4D Cool3D Electric Image Universe Houdini Imagine (old) Lightwave 3D Maya Pilot3D PovRay Rhino 3D SoftImage Strata 3D TrueSpace Wings3D ZBrush There are tons of 'em! The best course of action is to get demos and see which fits your budget and workflow style.

I use just Photoshop and do just fine :o). If Photoshop is too much for you (as it is for most folks), there's Photoshop Elements (stripped down version of industrial strength Photoshop) or PaintShop Pro, both about a hundred bucks or less. You can even use The Gimp if you want, which is a free paint program. As far as 3D modelers go, I've never been able to understand anything past Ray Dream Studio...LOL ;o). But the list above looks like a great list. Some of those are free programs (Wings3D for instance). There's also another free program that a lot of folks use called Anim8tor. Laurie

you can make a templet using uvmapper and the color it it in your oaint program i use psp 8,7 and photo shop 7

I think you get better control, provided you put the work in, when using a template rather than painting directly onto the model. As to the modelling packages there are lots to choose from. Due out soon in the UK on the front of Septembers issue of DIGIT I think there is to be a full copy of Carrara 1.1. Take a look on some of the 3d mags for any trial software or full versions of older software give them a try first and then see which style suits you best!

Attached Link: http://www.wings3d.com/

I suggest wings3d. It is really easy to use yet powerfull. There is a lively wings forum here as well to answer question.... and it's free.

dangit..cybermonk beat me to it..;) have had some success..tho the scaling between the 2 gets interesting..;) I'd recommend it.

RDF, most 3D software modeling tools are not that difficult once you understand what they do and master the navigation. The principles are roughly the same. Just go slow step by step and I am sure you should be able to model basic object in 1-2 weeks. The first issue you need to consider should be compatibility with Poser. To me is a more important issue. True most of the 3D software support obj file format. But when it comes to importing poser obj into them you need to make sure body parts name and surface materials can be retained when re-exporting back to Poser otherwise hell lot of time regrouping and surfacing all over again. After all an object file does not comes to live in Poser unless you group them, UV them and texture them. I have Lightwave 7 and discovered that it screw up all the body parts when Poser reimport the modified object file. Later on I learn that I should upgrade to LW 7.5. However my personal preference is still LW7.5. With LW7.5 go get the book "Inside Lightwave 7.0" available at Amazon.com and you will be up and running in no time. For texturing I agree that you get better control, when using a template rather than painting directly onto the 3D model. Morever, using 2D paint program and UVMapper by Steve Cox (Free demo program available at Renderosity) will build your understanding on basic surface texturing. Hope my modest experience while still trying to learn the basic help in your quest.

Curious Labs says that it is developing a plug-in for smooth import of Poser models into Carrara. Carrara 3 is to be released shortly, and there are deals on the older version, but I'm not sure if the new plug-in would be supported. Carrara is what Ray Dream has turned into and is incorporating more Ray Dreams old features that had been dropped into the next version. Carrara is a basic modeler and not as complex as Amapi, which I know a lot of folks in here favor. It also does particles and has excellent lighting for creating a new environment for you Poser figure to be rendered against. It also has a big library of pre-made 3D models, which can be used as props or customized. It is also much less expensive than Lightwave and the other studio 3D applications. There is also a "consumer level" entry version of Carrara called 3D Basics, and it is similar from what I can see to the old Raydream 3D. It has modeling tools and also a library of premade 3D objects. You can create texture maps in an decent 2d paint program and it probably isn't worth the extra money for "paint on" capabilities. There are lots of tutorials on how to do it and a reasonably inexpensive program called 3D Mapper Pro can be used to make the texture map templates or to preview the texture before export. If you hear about an old program called Painter 3D don't buy it--it has a lot of unresolved bugs. I looked high and low for a copy of it and was dissapointed when I finally managed to snag one.

Curious Labs says that it is developing a plug-in for smooth import of Poser models into Carrara. Carrara 3 is to be released shortly, and there are deals on the older version, but I'm not sure if the new plug-in would be supported. Carrara is what Ray Dream has turned into and is incorporating more Ray Dreams old features that had been dropped into the next version. Carrara is a basic modeler and not as complex as Amapi, which I know a lot of folks in here favor. It also does particles and has excellent lighting for creating a new environment for you Poser figure to be rendered against. It also has a big library of pre-made 3D models, which can be used as props or customized. It is also much less expensive than Lightwave and the other studio 3D applications. There is also a "consumer level" entry version of Carrara called 3D Basics, and it is similar from what I can see to the old Raydream 3D. It has modeling tools and also a library of premade 3D objects. You can create texture maps in an decent 2d paint program and it probably isn't worth the extra money for "paint on" capabilities. There are lots of tutorials on how to do it and a reasonably inexpensive program called 3D Mapper Pro can be used to make the texture map templates or to preview the texture before export. If you hear about an old program called Painter 3D don't buy it--it has a lot of unresolved bugs. I looked high and low for a copy of it and was dissapointed when I finally managed to snag one.

Thanks everybody for the input. I'm evaluating a lot of demos right now. (For about the next month, am evaluating, Amapi Designer, Amorphium, EI Universe, Rhino3D, Wings3D, ZBrush.) I'm still trying to figure out what's what, but I am beginning to think that, in addition to designing my own models, I might want something that would allow poser figures and props and such to be imported and then would let me create morph targets and such via the modeler (that could then be exported and usable in Poser of course). Which modelers allow that? Or is that capability not worth having? And thanks for all the replies. Please keep the discussion going. I've got a lot to learn and any pointers or suggestions about differences in capabilities and the significance thereof, while I'm evaluating the demos, would likely be very helpful.

Well you can import poser figures into Wings3d for the purpose of making morphs. Since the Poser scale is so small it can make things difficult to work on. Fortunately some of the nice folks in the Wings forum pointed out to me that you can scale objects on import and export. So I set obj's to x20 import and x.05 on export. This will get the Poser mesh large enough to comfortably work with and shrink it right back to its original size on export.

There is a new book coming out, check Amazon.com, about making Poser figures and the Poser 5 handbook also has several tutorials about it. The boning is probably the most difficult part once you've created your model. Check it out.

Cybermonk: I am so far having trouble getting Wings3d to install. Will it not run under XP? Or maybe I just had a corrupted download or something ... Tomsde: I've heard good things about the book. Think I'll put that off a little bit though. It may be a while before I get around to doing much boning, but thanks for mentioning it. Again, if anyone has used more than one of these modeling packages enough to know the pros and cons when comparing features and such, I'd appreciate your further comments. Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the advice.

rdf: I'm running Wings3d on XP. It probably is a corrupt down load. I have used Rhino3d for about 3 years now. I have only started using wings in the last few months but its is already my favorite. Rhino is a great nurbs modeler. It is great for inorganic stuff.... cars, guns, buildings etc. It has a really good tool set as well. What it does not do well is deal with models once they have been converted to mesh and it makes inefficient meshes. Also I think it is more difficult to create organic models. Wings is a sub division modeller. Its a mesh modeler and tends to make much more effecient models. It really is easy to learn. I'm including some pics some of the comparison of simmilar models between the 2 apps. Anyway this a comparison of the 2 apps I know.