I am looking for simple programs to model and apply textures. This is just a hobby so the cheaper the better (though I am willing to pay some money for better UI's). I checked out MOI 3D which was very intuitive for me but the price tag is a little stiff for what I will be using it for. I like the price of Blender but damn the UI is horrible IMO.

All I want to do is create simple Guitar bodies using a basic outline (Created in Illustrator) then extrude the bodies and "paint" them. I am looking to get very specific placement of the textures and looked all weekend for something simple but came up empty. I have an older version of photoshop and Illustrator but not sure how to get the textures applied in the proper spots using a renderer.

An example of something I might want to "paint" can be seen at: http://www.jbgrafix.com/starsnstripesguitar-2.htm

Attached Link: http://wings3d.com/

Have you looked at Wings 3d?  It's free.  Wings has a mapper but you might like  the free version of UVmapper better.  
Wings also imports AI (from illustrator.)  Haven't tried it myself but there was a recent thread in the Wings forum about it..

I see Dann-O beat me to it..!!!!

Wings or metasequoia - The UV mapping is, I guess, going to be your problem

I suggest Wings too. You can use Illustrator files in it as well. And mapping in Wings is relatively easy and if you do it right, like any uv map, it does just fine ;o).

This should help you understand uv mapping in Wings.

Laurie

Blender is upgrading their UI. (version 2.5x) Might want to have a look and see if it's more to your liking. And it includes a powerful UV mapper.

OK, will give Wings 3D a try. Got Bryce 5.5 installed as well. Thanks for the point in the right direction.

Wings 3D is out as it keeps crashing. I don't think Bryce is the program I want to try to make the models in and it doesn't look like I can import models from other programs? Unless I am missing something?

Man, Wings is nearly rock-solid on my machine. Did you get the stable release or the dev version? The stable release is version 1.2.

Laurie

Which version of Wings did you download?  I had trouble with the newest one so went back to 1.2.. 
I've never used Bryce but I think it's a good program to render in. 

Installed Wings 3D Latest "Stable" Rel: 1.2 not the development release.

I used Bryce 10 to 12 years ago and could probably catch back on fairly quickly. However without the ability to import models I don't think it's going to be much of a help.

What were you doing when Wings crashed on you?

Laurie

Various things. The latest one was right after trying to import an .ai vector. Worked a few times then all the sudden crashed:

"werl.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

 You could also try Metasequoia, Softimage XSL Mod Tools or gMax (3D Studio LIte) found at Turbo Squid but I'm not sure how they handle AI imports and Mod Tools, although awesome, installs .NET 2.5 with it.

Bryce certainly does import models in quite a few formats. File> import model.

Its a renderer more so than modeller. The guitar shape is not going to be easy with either the primitives or G2H.

I have not done any modeling with imported illustrator files so i can't help there. But i do use a lot of imported pictures as templates using image planes. I convert to BMP before I use them. Bryce imports a lot of formats OBJ seems to work best wings can export as an OBJ. It is nto MOI or Rhino so you will have to get used to it but wings does what it does well. A lot of Maya tutorials you can do in wings too.

Quote - Bryce certainly does import models in quite a few formats. File> import model.

Its a renderer more so than modeller. The guitar shape is not going to be easy with either the primitives or G2H.

I will have to try through the File>Import Model. Last night I was going to Create Model>User and trying to use the Import from there. That only gave the option of Importing Bryce 2.0 models and one other type which escapes my memory at the moment.

Sorry yes don't load through the object tab that only stores them in the BR library

Wings is good. But before you dismiss it for crashing, did you check the box on the installer for the Visual C++ library .dlls? The default setting on the installer has it unchecked, but I find a lot of weirdness happens if you don't include them. (I'm probably not the only person with a computer that doesn't have them (or the version needed by Wings) in the root directory or wherever they're supposed to be.) When it includes the .dlls they should be in the Wings directory, so it shouldn't break any possible (version?) dependencies elsewhere in the computer.

Hopefully you'll get it working. If it still has problems, going back to an even older version might help. (But you may end up losing some features.)

And the .ai file import is pretty simple. That'll provide a polygonal solid based on the shape which can provide a rough starting point. Figuring out how you want to do the UV map will be the trickier part, but it's not too complicated.

Thanks pauljs75 I might give that a try once the Demo period runs out on MOI. So Far MOI and Bryce 5.5 are doing everything I need. I seem to have a much easier time with MOI/Rhino type UI's. I tried the Blender 2.5 Beta someone mentioned a few posts up. While it does seem friendlier than the current version its still far from friendly IMO.
 

Basic stuff but got me where I wanted.

I see you got the hang of then.
Where are you doing the UVs?

No UV's. Pulling the 2D textures into Bryce 5.5. Poke, Hope, apply the graphic, Render, go back out to adjust and start the process over again. It's not that bad for what I am doing but could get tiring fast. Always faster to get it right the first time but beggars can't be much of choosers. I tried UV Mapper but it's not very friendly.

Yeah I could never get my head around classic. Just asuggestion, If you can split the model and then use object front/side for the bryce mapping, If memory serves this was a bit easier than parametric.
Laying out the UVs would be the best, certainly for what you are doing.

Absolutely. The Body of the guitar model for this render was 3 seperate pieces. Top, Side and Bottom.

You know, I could make a killing selling multiple copies of blank CD's on eBay loaded with email addresses that I randomly made up. I mean, how many times have you come up with a good user name only for a thousand other people to start using it too?

I could start with

midnightcarnival@bellsouth.net
midnightcarnival@hotmail.com
midnightcarnival@excite.com
and so on...

And they're all going to be bound to hit somebody. =P

Quote - I suggest Wings too. You can use Illustrator files in it as well. And mapping in Wings is relatively easy and if you do it right, like any uv map, it does just fine ;o).

This should help you understand uv mapping in Wings.

Laurie

Thanks for this link very useful, I wish  Cheetah 3D had this kind of uv mapping.