Hi, Im sure this has been asked before... but is there a modling program for an utter 3D idiot? I have tried Milkshape, Wings, Ray Dream, Sculptor Pro, Amorphium and I just can't manage to do anything with them. I can do a little with Anim8tor but not much realy. I think I just can't grasp this way of working conceptually. I can make very complex items out of primatives... stuff that has actually sold without anyone knowing that is how I made them. I got Metaforms which I thought would solve all my problems, the way of working is just like that of using primatives, and it doesn't have the problems that Wings and other mouse control based apps have for me - I am disabled with motor imparement - the main reason I use Poser instead of painting much any more... I can do most things with dials and menues. But Metaforms places the vertices of shapes randomly which leads to terrible artifacts on any edges no matter how you sub-divide. I saw an application but I can't recall its name, that was supposed to let you paint forms into mesh but it wouldn't run on my PC, something to do with accelerator cards and I sure don't understand cards. Gigahydron Oxigen looks nice but it is not clear to me if one can creat compound objects in the program or if it features primative... but the bottom line is I just can not afford it. Voxel 3D looks interesting but there does not apear to be any smooth surfaces to what you create with it. What I want is something that would let me place primatives against each other and in some cases fuse the joins. To make ellements with a lathe or spline would be nice too. One idea I have is to make figure .cr2s of things built with Poser primative and edit them in Morph Master or something like that, although that doesnt real help about welding edges... using Posers export to do this is very agrivating since you have to break the model up into weld and not weld parts but in anycase the weld doesn't have that nice curve to it at the join and it render poorly. Any ideas?

You might consider giving GMAX a try. Free download from Turbosquid. It's very similar to 3dStudio Max...so any tutorials you can find for modeling with 3DSMax you can generally work out within GMAX.

And it has your splines and lathe tools as well...so you might just want to give it a try. =) If you do try GMAX and need a hand...feel free to PM me at any time.

Message edited on: 04/25/2005 14:39

Have you tried Blender or trueSpace yet?

We can keep throwing applications at you until one of them "clicks".

Momodot, If you can get your hands on one of the CD's with the free Cinema 4D XL6se from 3D World or Computer Arts (they come up quite often on eBay, they were on the magazines about a year ago), it might be a usable application for you. Although it is designed with mouse editing as the primary focus, you have the ability to enter/modify numeric values to either move, or fine tune the location of objects, veticies. polygons, splines, etc. For me, it was the easiest 3D modeling application to learn. Good Luck!

Or, instead of trying to find the perfect modeller, why not just use them all? Anim8or is my main modeller, but as needs (or mood, or whim) dictate, I may also use one or more of the following: Poser's magnets Morphing props within Poser Amorphium trueSpace Cinema 4D Excel (yes, the spreadsheet!) A text editor and a calculator I'm also trying out gmax, but haven't used it for anything serious yet. Call me chaotic, but it works for me. I just swap between apps, picking the best one for getting the job done. With all the freebies on magazine CDs nowadays, it needn't cost you much.

I have never heard of gmax and I will check it out. I have not tried Truespace either. I thought I had tried Blender long ago but I'm not sure now seeing the site, I'll have to look into that too. Thank you for the suggestions and offer of help. I really apreciate it. I have been using a variety of primatives I made in Anim8tor and made morphable in Poser to build stuff... even clothes, but I am hoping to find a modler that actually makes sense to me. Has anyone tried Oxigen?

I'm making the downloads now. Will take over night on my connection... but gmax makes .obs? Are is it just for game system formats? I'm downloading in anycase... with luck it will come through (downloader estimates 7 hours).

No you will not be able to use gMax as is for it to work with poser...if you get the tempest pack and a coverter for quake maps then you can get them into poser. evoia has a new program coming out called hexagon or similar that looks super easy to use.

"I am hoping to find a modler that actually makes sense to me" That's the key issue. There are, essentially, a coupel different approaches to start with inmodelling. There is subdivision modelling, which is sorta like sculpting. There is patch modelling, which is sorta like doing papier mache. There is spline modelling, which is sorta like drawing. There are two other methods, as well, and then there are some hybrids out there. The catch, and the reason that there are so many different choices, is that while lots of them will have a similar underlying idea, the way they go about it is always different to some extent. Anything can be made using any of the different types. I looked for a modeller for 8 years before I came across wings and it clicked -- and it only clicked becuase I'd tried so many other ones and finally realized I was looking for something that I didn't have to actually learn to use. Which doesn't exist. Because there is no standard way for making stuff. So everybody does it a little different, and the only way you'll find the one that works best for you is to learn how to use them and see. That means (ugh) actually doing tutorials for every program you try. Which means three to eight different ones, since some of them have all of the ways above to make something, and others might have one or two. Takes time, is boring, and is not "productive" in the sense that you don't get to make something you want to make right now. In your opening statement, you ask: "...is there a modling program for an utter 3D idiot?" Although I know you meant it humorously, the accurate response to the question is No. Allof them require that you get familiar with the basic concepts of modelling, and that you take the time to learn how they work. Silo is a good, easy to learn modeler. Wings is, as well. Indeed, all of the ones you have mentioned so far are good. Rhino is good, Lightwave is good -- but allof them get ya there differently, and the only way to learn whcih one works for you is to sit ddown and use them. I dislike patch modelling, and I find that spline modelling is usually too disjointed and creates poly heavy meshes. Plus, I suck at drawing. I am the walrus. coo coo Kachoo...

I am a drawer, taught anatomy, painting, color theory etc. for many years. Patch modeling sound great but which application for it? I am quite serious about being an utter idiot in 3D... my strong suit is interpreting 3D into 2D. Wings was imossible for me, I did not have the moter control to use it and much of the controls were occult to me. I am right now downloading the trial for Silo... it seems like it might be the best for me hopefully it is the one. If it runs on my system (3.6Mb... wow... I love small coding!) $100 bucks is a lot for me but I am hopefull. Thank you all again... I am glad I made this post.

SILO!!! Makes sense to me right from the box! Controls I can manage just fine! Now to read tutorials and find $100USD... Terrific. Thank you. gmax wouldn't run on my machine :( Truespace also might make sense to me. It is a nice intuitive design. I need to do some tutorials... didn't find an .obj export yet. I think Silo though is the thing for me.

trueSpace has a plugin that export|imports obj's ;) I have been meaning to try silo I hear good things about it.

trueSpace has a plugin that export|imports obj's ;)

Get it here, if it's not already included:

http://www.pinacoderm.com/tsx/luuv/

SIlo is used by ElorOnceDark of late, as well -- and is very similar in method to wings, but the interface is much handier for some. I like it -- very much worth the asking price -- but I'm sorta hangin with wings :) Silo is a hybrid -- is can do both subdivision and patch modelling, and is closer to Lightwave in that regard.