Hi guys, I am a flash animator, and I just scored a job which involves a car spinning around in 3D. Any advice on which programs I should look at? The following needs to be taken into account. 1) I need something relatively easy to learn. 2) Detail of car needs to be high. 3)Cost of program not an issue at the moment - client wll pay. 4) Need to be able to export into flash. I really would appreciate your help. cheers

PS, I do not want to model a car, I want to buy a mesh already created. thanks.

You could try Swift3d or Vecta3d. These apps convert 3d files to .swf and you import these directly into flash. Shockwave and director is another way, but the learning curve is sharp and a visitor requires the shockwave 3d plugin. However aprt from shockwave these systems doesn't give much in the way on interactivity, usually just a spinning object. Plus if the original model is highly detailed, it's a very large file to try and download, and not everyone is lucky enough to have DSL. So at Vanishing Point we've pioneered the first use of interactive poser models, using Wirefusion a Java based system. No plugins are required just a standard browser. Heres a sample car.. http://www.vanishingpoint.biz/modelviewer.asp?filename=veepster&ProductID=57 I belive you could call the java applet easily in flash.

Buy the 3d model. Bring it into Maya. Export as flash. You get a great 3d prog to boot!

Cinema 4D. It has its own FlashEx plugin which will export either a model or a complete scene into SWF. Detail can be as high as you want it. You can import any of the usual 3D formats, so you can buy the model and subdivide, texture, animate and export it. You can assign different FlashEx tags to different objects and they can have different line weights and colours. Cinema is, most probably, easiest to learn of all high-end applications. Especially if you want just to import and export stuff from it. The core version which already has the plugin is not terribly expensive, around 600 euros, pounds or dollars, depending on where you buy it.