I'm in the market for a 3D modeling application in the under $500.00 range.  I've been using Wings for a few years and have become fairly comfortable with it.  I couldn't make heads or tails of Ray Dream Studio or Animation:Master, and Blender is, well, Blender.  So I've had good luck and bad, and now I'm able to shop for something.  But I don't know what might be good to even look into.  What works well with Poser, has accessible modeling tools, is more powerful than Wings, and fits the price range?

Can anyone help?

Hmmmm......that price range greatly narrows down the field.  There aren't that many modelers for sale for under $500.  And it also depends upon what kind of modeling you are looking to do.

TrueSpace comes in at $595 -- slightly above your range.

http://www.caligari.com/store/trueSpace/default.asp?SubCate=S2truespace&Cate=STtrueSpace

And of course, there's Hexagon for dirt cheap at DAZ.  Or Carrara 6 Pro with some very basic modeling tools built in -- but not recommended for serious modeling.

There's also zbrush, if you're looking to do organic modeling.  But it also weighs in at $595.

http://www.pixologic.com/store/

If you'd said under $1000, then I wouldn't have hesitated.  Modo.

http://www.luxology.com/store/modo.aspx

I hope that some of this helps.

If you're looking for a modeler, only, be sure to check out Silo 2 http://www.nevercenter.com/ And for expanding your rendering options, Vue 6 is nice. http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/ take care jdc

Hexagon or Silo.

Both are simular to wings block modeling but have much more and better tools.

Hex 2.2 has the vert out of order problem and a bit of problem with the UVMapping. You will have to use the work arounds that there is to make poser morphs. Otherwise it is a very good modeler. If it was not for that problem, I would not have gone to Modo or stoped writing hex tutorials. So I guess I should thank Daz for that screw up. Who knows if or when Daz will fix this. Shame, Hex is very easy and powerful for it's price.

Silo is very close to hex but does not screw up the vert order. The interface is a bit different.

Try the demos of both and see what fits you. You could try Carrara, but someone like me who learned to model with Wings too t6hinks that the modeling room of Carrara sucks the big one. Also try C4d and for a few $ more Modo. Sometimes it's better to wait a bit and save up the extra cash and get the app that suits you. 

Most of all, take as much time demoing as you need, before you buy. Make sure the one you choose is the one you plan on using for a few years.

For around that price you could get the student edition of Lightwave and a training course. www.3dgarage.com  for current pricing.
there is also silo, shade, hexagon2 .

What features are you after that wings doesnt have ?

OK, soI cross posted with what was already said. Thats what I get for being a slow typer.

Wow, thanks, guys.  I sat down to look for software, and the only one that sprang to mind was Cinema 4D, which I know Spanki and Kuroyume use - but I don't know if it's accessible or good for modeling.  Or what about Rhino?  Hmm.  I'll check out the suggestions.

What do I want that Wings lacks?  Umm.  Wings allows me to do a lot, but I'm interested in trying to build clothes, for instance, and there's no easy way to shape a developing mesh in Wings around the base mesh.  Better UV tools might be nice, but not crucial.  Wings also kind of struggles for me, when a larger mesh is loaded, and I'm having display troubles with it lately.  Really, I don't necessarily want something like Wings, but I do know from my RDS experience that I need to be able to rotate around the model easily, to see what I'm doing.  Am I babbling yet?  :laugh:

I could perhaps go up to $1000.00.  I was basing the $500 less on financial constraints and more on the price range for Photoshop and Illustrator.  Hmm.  Cage is not being rational about this, obviously....  Koff. 

Uhh... what does Anton use?  I'll bet it's way out of my price range.  Heh.

If you want to do clothes and play nice with poser then i wouldnt go with rhino. Its export to .obj is rather lacking and its hard to control polygon topology..

I dont know what c4d is going for these days but with that you get nurbs and polygon modelling. along with a great render engine.

lightwave is an option as well but I think its learning curve is a bit steeper than c4d's.

If I show you the ropes in Blender, will ya send me the $500? :P

*"If I show you the ropes in Blender, will ya send me the $500? :P"

*Blender kind of came to scare me, rather quickly.  It's not the interface, it's the undependability of it.  Every time they upgrade, half of the scripts seem to end up broken, and they upgrade every six months or whatever.  The OBJ I/O scripts were seemingly constantly broken, while I was part of the Blender Python scripting community, and no one seemed to be fixing them effectively.  And don't get me started on the problems they're having with motion/animation import and export.  Hoo boy.  I'm afraid I need more stability and organization.    

Okay.  Silo looks nice, and very affordable.  TrueSpace has a heckuva a lot of features for $595, but I've tried demos of earlier versions and found interface totally baffling.  Cinema 4D and Modo are both $895, and both look promising.  I'm going to have to do some digging, I think.  Unfortunately, my connection is too slow to download demos and I have an odd situation here, in which I need to spend the money within a certain limited timeframe.  

Thanks for the ideas, everyone.  If there are more, please keep them coming! 

Cinema 4D.
I'm about 3 months into learning this package, starting from nowhere.
The learning curve is extremely user friendly, and the results are excellent.
Also, I guess if your posting here, you like Poser, and InterPoserPro will help you import all your Runtime goodies too!

How effective is .obj import/export in C44, Faraway Pictures?  Do you need to use Spanki's plugin, or is the I/O built into the program now?  InterPoserPro is Kuroyume's project, isn't it?  Hmm.

From what I have read in different forums, Many C4d users have gone to Modo for modeling, But, that said, C4d is a more all round app from what I gather and has the plugin options. Modo is camera bases animations and is made by the developers that did lightwave.

TS has got to be one of the worst interfaces I have ever had the displeaser to use. LOL But, everyone is different and that is why there are so many different software and why it's so important to choose wisely. Big price does not mean it is the app for you. I'm repeating myself but modeling apps are very personal.

IPP is Kuroyume's item, and very good too.
Imporing and exporting: I've not had any problems at all. Even Illustrator files just open up, no problem.
In fact there is no actual "Export" function. You choose the file and just open.
I dont have Spanki's plug in. Not too sure why I'd need it (remember  I'm still a newbie).

I use Silo and an old Cinema version (CE+, based on Cinema 6). Silo is great in Box modeling and morphing Poser models, Cinema has great NURBS possibilities. Silo has a curser which sticks on the surface of another Model which is great for Clothing - like Topology painting too. For the price it is a unbelievable good tool.

Try the demo, even if big downloads are difficult - Silo isn't that big in filesize, and the demo is unlimited for 30 Days.

If what you're looking for is first and foremost a modeler, and if $895 isn't too bad of a hit to your budget -- then I'd strongly recommend going with Modo.  Silo I can't address, because I am not familiar with it.

If you're looking for animation tools, etc. -- then Lightwave or C4D.  But you aren't going to get into those for under $500 .

I would use wings3d (free) for modeling and I use the $500 to buy something like vue.

I use hexagon to make clothes all the time. It's really really slick and easy to use!
It does everything I needed so far, and if you catch it on DAZ sale, you can get it really cheap... $1.99 to $30 depending on which sale you stumble upon.
It has really nice UV mapping unwrap tool.

You can see some of the things I made with it here: http://www.contentparadise.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6151&page=36
Clothing sims were made in max, models were built in Hex.

And Rendo's 3D modelling forum:
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2668504&page=6

Get hex, and use the rest of the money to get additional bells and whistles, like Vue ;)

Attached Link: http://www.caligari.com/store/special/OpenHouse_200711.html

a highly capable modling program.

Softimage|XSI Foundation is $495 and has great modeling tools.

http://www.softimage.com/products/foundation/

I don't think it's a good idea to buy a program without trying out the demo. They are all different and what works well for one person might be frustrating for another.

Quote - I don't think it's a good idea to buy a program without trying out the demo. They are all different and what works well for one person might be frustrating for another.

That's a very good point!!!!!!   
May I second it :)

Buy 'em all.  That way, something's bound to happen. 

Quote - Buy 'em all.  That way, something's bound to happen. 

LOL!!!! Personally I use wings 3D and Silo 2 which are fairly decent modeling programs for the price.

I often wonder what kind of storage one would need if they bought every 3d app and figure known in the 3D world. It reminds me of when I used to golf and all the clubs and gadgets that every commerical said one needed to better their game. If one bought them all they need an army of caddys and a fleet of golf carts to carry it all LOL!

I like the way Silo works, but it can't get on with my hardware drivers, so I have given up on it.   Driver upgrades haven't helped.    The Silo site very properly emphasizes the possibility of driver trouble, but that does imply that my experience isn't unique.   Definitely one to test thoroughly, before parting company with cash. 

Nobody has mentioned Amapi Pro in this thread, but it is available at Content Paradise for a sum well to the south of Cage's $500 limit, for any users of E-frontier software.    I know there are a few characters frequenting this forum who would take hemlock with a strychnine chaser before admitting to using Poser (so why do they hang around the Poser forum, anyway?), but the offer seems attractive to me.

Zbrush is terrific.   Even if you don't end up with a usable model, it's positively therapeutic to use.

Silo2 (affordable) and Rhino (more $$) are for me the best modelling packages
Zbrush is fantastic for organic modelling but the learning curve is long (still learning version 3,1)
For all around package at your range price ,i suggest Carrara Pro 6  or Truespace 7,5 (if you like the interface  )
Better suggestion:try demos and see by yourself before buying

I highly recommend both C4D and Modo. if you max out at under 1000 I would give Modo the edge becouse it has a really nice renderer that comes with it. Modo is an amazingly flexible modeler with high precision and extremely customizable tools. one thing about that though is more flexibility means more complex to learn all the ins and outs. getting the basics doesnt take lots of time, but really being able to take advantage of how flexible its tools can be can take quite a while. its got great uv mapping tools, and includes 3D paint tools and 3D sculpting tools. (though those tools tend to be limited by how good your graphics card is). and it preserves all .obj grouping. Cinema 4D is fast, easy to learn and use, and now comes stock with the probably the best 3d paint software on the market Bodypaint 3D. I do highly recommend using spankies free Riptide plugin with C4D becouse C4D's stock importer exporter does not preserve both material and bodypart grouping, also you can get point order issues when importing with the stock importer which would cause issues with morph creation. Really there is no reason not to use Riptide, just use it as a replacement for the stock importer exporter, thats what I do. C4D does not have any true displacement sculpting tools yet though, and to get all the features of C4D such as dynamics and strand based hair and the advanced renderer you have to purchase either a package or fairly expensive modules. I dont recommend Rhino, its more of a nurbs modeler which doesnt offer really clean meshes or easy ways of reducing polycounts. Hexagon is a solid easy to use modeler has one major drawback in my book, the lack of group support, so grouping needs to be done outside of hexagon. otherwise I would use hexagon more as I find it quite quick to build meshes in. Zbrush is an amazing tool with a frustratingly non standard interface. its not really a true modeler though you certainly can build really nice models in it. the reason I say its not really a true modeler becouse it doesnt have the many basic modeling tools it takes to build anything you can think of, like I wouldnt use hexagon to build a Car, or any kind of machine, it just doesnt have the basic tools for that. though the tools it does have are mindboggling. I tried Silo a while back, it seems to be a very capable modeler with a few really stand out tools, but it wasn't polished enough for me at the time. occasionally spitting out .obj files with strange defects though I have been told that it has overcome that problem.

Wow!  Thanks, guys.  I'm still on dialup and the house phone line was cut off for a day... a real nightmare!  Internet withdrawal!  Ack!  So I wasn't able to respond.  

I'll have to research the later suggestions.  On the night I started this thread, I was veering toward Modo, but I need to think about this.  Perhaps I should get that high speed connection first and try some demos.  Unfortunately, there is this (bizarre) time limit, so I won't have a lot of time for demo testing, anyway.  Sigh.  Not that I'm complaining about the situation, mind you....

Modo is a good one to "veer towards".  When it comes to pure modeling, it can't be beat IMO.

It might take a year or so to download the app over a dial-up connection, though.    You might need to go for the boxed version.  In such a case, old-fashioned 'snail mail' would likely prove to be faster than downloading.

sorry when I wrote "I wouldnt use hexagon to build a Car, or any kind of machine" I of course meant ZBrush.

Modo, Modo, a thousand times Modo. It's simply the best modler I've ever seen. I spent about a week gathering the several gigs of Modo training videos on a dialup connection. The free upgrade had a price.

You can also try metasequoia, it is big in japan.
Also, while not a modeller per se, try 3d-brush. It is amazing.