Attached Link: http://www.planetfuraha.org

My experience in the 3D world is limited to POV and Vue d'Esprit. Both do nice things but what I would really like to do is create animals for an alien ecology I am working on. So far, I have mostly been painting, but am thinking of expanding into computer-generated images. The image provides an example; others can be found through the link. You can see I am not talking about cats and dogs, but large six-legged animals.

I have been looking through various websites and forums, but cannot find which programs there are to design animals from scratch. Perhaps the programs can do so but the information is simply hard to find. For instance, does anyone know what kind of programs are used by professionals to produce to dinosaurs in games or movies? Can you do someting similar as an amateur?

Just about any program that allows modeling will allow you to make an animal. Try the programs in the header or try WINGS, Silo, Blender, or any of the other popular modeling packages. A popular mis-understanding of 3D that much of the public shares is that there's a program that does everything. No program makes a character for you (even Creature creator requires input from the user). So, if you've been looking on line for the "model an animal program" you'll be out of luck. It's something lots of folks look for when they first want to get into 3D, sadly it's just not that easy. :) However, there are lots of tutorials on modeling creatures available on the net and many of the techniques in them can be carried over from one program to the next. So, the first thing you should do is try out a few programs and decide which interface you like the most. Then, hunt down tutorials for creature creation within that program. Hope this helps.

Message edited on: 02/05/2006 07:40

Thanks for the comments, but I guess I should have been more specific: I am not looking for a program that does all the work for me (would be nice though...), and realise that it may even be more work than to do a painting! Still, some paintings must be more geared towards technical matters such as cars and others more towards biological shapes. Surely some are better at, say, creating skeletal shapes with attached meshes or at producing smooth convincing walking movements than others?

Look for 'Anim8or'. It's a good program for beginners, and it's totally free. It also comes with some basic tutorials on how to create simple creatures, that can be animated afterwards. After cutting your teeth on that, you can think of begger & better things.

"Still, some paintings must be more geared towards technical matters such as cars and others more towards biological shapes. Surely some are better at, say, creating skeletal shapes with attached meshes or at producing smooth convincing walking movements than others?" Actually, no. They all pretty much do the same thing. :) I would suggest WINGS or one of the programs in the forum header (Anim8or is one of them) but only because they're free.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=1150391

Wings Works well for me it is also free. I have done a number of animals in it. One thing is that to really model these creatures it will probably take longer than the painting. I do a lot of drawing myself and modeling a creature and texturing it is much more involved. Here is a link to one of my recent creations. I modeled this in wings. and textured in painter and photoshop and finally rendered in Bryce. I used UV mapper to make the UV maps for it. Here is a link to the wings site. There is an Wings forum here if you need help and I am the mod of the Wings forum at P3D if you want to go somewhere else for help. Generally if you want to do this it will take some time to get to know how to do it. Since you know how to paint you are ahead of a lot of people. I woudl be happy to help one you downlead it . Post some works in progress in gthe Wings forum her eor at planit3d and I wil help you on how to get started. They look like fun critters to model.

Message edited on: 02/05/2006 10:29

It's probably fair to say that some progs have better tools than others for organic modeling (as opposed to hard-edge technical models) which is what you'd need for making animal forms. Good surface smoothing/relaxing and automatic mesh subdivision are important, and don't forget rendering capabilities. Best thing is to try out the various free applications to be found at the top of the page and on Google, and also try out demo versions of commercial apps.

Once you've decided on a program, let us know, I'll do what I can to find some tuts for you. Just as an example of how it's the artist and not the tool: I started modeling in Rhino, a NURBS based program, making creatures/animals. I then tried MAX for the same purpose, dabbled in Lightwave making creatures and abused WINGS to the same end. I now use Softimage XSI and SILO3D. That's a wide range of programs and interfaces, some touted as being more "organic" than others but in my experience, it's really not the program. It's the artist. I think, with your traditional art talent, you'd pick up modeling creatures in no time at all, as long as the program you use has an interface you like. So, like most of us have said, try out the various programs and get back to us once you find one you like. We're here to help but we can't tell you what will work best for you.

Thanks all, I get the picture. I'll start dabbling in Wings and/or anim8tor and come back with some result (might take a while though, as I haven't much time).

Well, there are some tuts out there for wings creature modeling and I'll see if I can throw something together for you myself. It'll give me an excuse to use WINGS again. :) Look for the start of it tonight.

I have a quickie dino tut on planit3d.

Attached Link: Modeling A Creature From a Cylinder.

Cool! Post a link to it Dann-O. :)

Here's a link to a mini-tut I made on creature modeling in WINGS. It will help get you started at least. It's not a full tutorial by any sense but it's handy to look at. I'd forgotten all about it. lol.

Message edited on: 02/06/2006 19:58

I'd give Rhino a go, once you get the idea of nurbs, it's got many tools for both worlds. Organics or Mechcanicals. Here's a greyhound that I've been working on.

Rhino's a great tool...a tad on the pricey side but excellent, excellent tools and interface in my opinion.

Again, here's a mini-tut (never did finish it) of how to start a creature using Rhino that I'd made. It works well in programs that let you loft surfaces. http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1673017 http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1674807

I'll throw in some Wings3D fan-boy support too :} Everything (3D) in my gallery was modeled in it. Just a small free download so got nothin' to lose in trying. Only does modeling and texturing however, so would have to rig, animate, and render your meshes elsewhere I'm afraid..
In any case though, as this will be your first modeling experience it will definitely take a while.. If you already have a good '3D mindset' (even a good 2D painter needs one really.. volume, scale, perspective etc) then might grasp some things faster, how to get the good volume/form into the model, and have it look right from all angles rather than just front/side etc and other beginner pitfalls. But beyond that you'll also need to make the mesh all pretty with a good natural flow to the geometry and such if you want it to deform well (said wanted to animate).
Still pics are easier, can always "cheat" a bit, adjusting things by hand if the 'pose' you put your creature in doesn't look right (sculpt it "for the pose" as it were), where as with animation that's not really an option.. So I'd guess anyway, I don't animate myself yet, still at the cheating 'model for the pose' stage hehe..

P.S 'eh Teyon "Try the programs in the header or try WINGS"
Why ISN'T Wings listed in the header with the other freeware apps? Have always wondered about that whenever I venture in here.. sacrilege!

Also Draculaz did a tutorial for wings about a year ago. Something about making a spaceship or something like that. It'll give you a tremendous jump-start getting into Wings if it's still here under tutorials. If not you might I.M. him about it.

On that subject, I've got a handful 'o tuts on my freebie Geo site if you want.
No creatures I'm afraid, just simple things.. but the subject isn't necessarily that important, still serves to get peeps familiar with some of Wing's tools & interface. And they're mostly written in an almost "script form" (e.g "Right Click > Extrude to 0.5, then Right Click > Scale Uniform up 200%" etc.) so very newbie friendly, with pretty much all the steps anyone could need.
Maybe skip the pumpkin tut... it's is the oldest, and the hollowing out part could be done easier with the 'Intrude' command (which wasn't in Wings at the time the tut was made) rather than how I did it there.
The mushroom one is pretty good 'n current though, biological-ish modeling.. and touches on tweak-magnets which you'll definitely want to know about for animal modeling.

WINGS used to be in the header until it got its own forum. Once that happened, I felt it only fair to allow the other programs more attention here, since WINGS could take care of itself now. :)

Just thought I would let you know that I am working my way through the various Wings3D tutorials... Thanks!