After 15 years of consuming other peoples' creations I'm starting to think about cooking up my own architectural props for my Poser scenes and filling some exterior scenery gaps I've been trying to fill for all those years.  Can someone recommend free 3D modelling software for cooking up building exteriors including texture mapping?  Preferrably something that can crank out .OBJ or something similarly easily imported into Poser.

I'm not looking for anything in which I can rig articulations and for starters I'll be cooking up concrete atrocities consiting of all flat surfaces and square angles.  I first considered Sketchup but to export models I'd have to pay around $600 for the pro versioj (yack!), at the moment I'm thinking Blender might be the way to go but I really don't know what alternatives are out there except Anim8or and the little time I've spent in Blender in the past when using it as a converter to feed my Poser addiction I found a bit bewildering.

Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks.

luxxeon does fab freebie furniture for poser, using max.

Quote - luxxeon does fab freebie furniture for poser, using max.

Luxxeon is a 3dsmax virtuoso!  I've been using Max for 15 years off and on, and still impressed by some of the models he puts out.  Max is great for architecture stuff, but it's not free.  Far from it at $3500.  Normally, I would say the best modelling package you will find for free is Wings3D, but that's NOT the case for architecture, and here's why:  Wings3D doesn't use real world scale in it's units system.  Sure, you can get by without that, but when modelling architecture stuff, it's just a whole lot easier and more accurate if you are using a software that can display unit scale in metric or US Standard, and not just generic, arbitrary measurements.

That said, I think Blender is the best free software for architecture modelling.  I'm not a fan of Blender, but it can really help you model things to scale, and it's got all the necessary modelling tools most of the high end softwares have.  The biggest problem with Blender is getting used to the UI, and the unorthodox way it handles it's features.

Hexagon is a good choice, maybe not the best choice.  It's cheap, easier to learn than Blender, and it's at least SOMEWHAT designed to work along with Poser and Daz.   In the realm of architecture, this especially means that Hex gives you many different ways to create "holes" for windows and doors.  Some other modelers insist on making holes by a Boolean cut, which Poser absolutely hates.

No matter which modeler you use, you should expect some intermediate steps between the modeler and Poser.  An OBJ file always requires a certain amount of hand editing to get the names of groups and materials in proper order, and there's always some fiddling with UVmapping.

Quote - Hexagon is a good choice, maybe not the best choice.  It's cheap, easier to learn than Blender, and it's at least SOMEWHAT designed to work along with Poser and Daz.   In the realm of architecture, this especially means that Hex gives you many different ways to create "holes" for windows and doors.  Some other modelers insist on making holes by a Boolean cut, which Poser absolutely hates.

No matter which modeler you use, you should expect some intermediate steps between the modeler and Poser.  An OBJ file always requires a certain amount of hand editing to get the names of groups and materials in proper order, and there's always some fiddling with UVmapping.

I like Hexagon as well.  Good modeller at a very reasonable price.  Not free, but fair at around $20.

I have to ask though, which modelling software actually forces you to make holes for windows with booleans?

Quote - After 15 years of consuming other peoples' creations I'm starting to think about cooking up my own architectural props for my Poser scenes and filling some exterior scenery gaps I've been trying to fill for all those years.  Can someone recommend free 3D modelling software for cooking up building exteriors including texture mapping?  Preferrably something that can crank out .OBJ or something similarly easily imported into Poser.

I'm not looking for anything in which I can rig articulations and for starters I'll be cooking up concrete atrocities consiting of all flat surfaces and square angles.  I first considered Sketchup but to export models I'd have to pay around $600 for the pro versioj (yack!), at the moment I'm thinking Blender might be the way to go but I really don't know what alternatives are out there except Anim8or and the little time I've spent in Blender in the past when using it as a converter to feed my Poser addiction I found a bit bewildering.

Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks.

Well, not exteriors but if you want to make your own house models there's Sweet Home 3D which is free and available for Windows, Mac and Linux. http://www.sweethome3d.com/  It exports to .obj format and you can also download additional furniture models for your home on the website. It also has real world measurements, feet, inches, centimeters, meters, etc. I've used it for a few years now and there's a bit of a learning curve but it's fairly intuitive.

Making holes in Blender utilizes Boolean operations, and it is the one thing I don't like about Blender. There are workarounds, but they can cause difficulties in DAZ Studio and Blender. The biggest disadvantage in making holes with Boolean modifiers is that it tends to create a lot of trigons, which everyone nows DAZ and Poser hates. I used Neal Hirsigs method of making a doorway in a castle I am working on and generally whenever I am getting somewhere with any modeling task I take the OBJ into DAZ and Poser to see how it is going to look as far as scale, texturing, etc. Hirsig's method caused a real error in DAZ, and the good looking doorway I had created turned into a real fiasco, with the doorway collapsing into a triangle insted of the archway I had modeled. Sp much for that!. Still, I think Blender is the best example of a software app that is free and can do many things. With the advent of the newer versions, the UI is much cleaner and more intuitive. Another good thing about Blender is the myriad of tutorials and documentation that is so easily found online. I made a concious decision to stick with Blender two years ago, even though I have Lightwave, Modo 301, Wings 3D, Truespace. Hexagon and 3DS Max. I DO get frustrated with it at times, especially when attempting to create clothing, but I think this is more my lack of skills than the app. I like Wings, but as has been stated, scaling can be an issue. I think Wings may be one of the easiest to work with, though, but when doing architectural work, a lot of attention should be given to scale, especially if you create props that require a figure in the scene. To each his own...

C~

Quote - Making holes in Blender utiizes Boolean operations, and it is the one thing I don't like about Blender. There are workarounds, but they can cause difficulties in DAZ Studio and Blender.

You can make holes in any polygon object without booleans, using standard polygon modelling techniques.  Check out this thread from the 3dsmax forum.  The same principals can be applied in Blender, or any polygon modelling software.

Boolean Cuts Vs. Deleted Polygons

As long as you have 8 edges, and 4 polygons, you can make any kind of hole in just about any poly surface.  Even round holes.  The results are all quads, so perfect for Poser.

I found this link in the same thread I linked above.  It's a video, illustrating how to create very clean round holes in objects, also without booleans, using polygon tools you can find in just about any good modelling software.  The video is also in 3dsmax, but that doesn't matter.  It translates to a fundamental modelling workflow that would work very well on models in Poser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcpAFWL9i10

I use Google Make (free version) for simple household items.  Save as SKP file.

I use 32-bit Shade 3D for Unity (free version), import SKP, export as OBJ. 

Import into Poser and finish up as PP2.

DesignSpark Mechanical is a free solid modeler. It's based on SpaceClaim, so its UI is similar to AutoCAD/SolidWorks. It exports:
OBJ
SKP
STL

Wings3D is also useful for some architectural modeling. It exports:
3DS
DAE(Collada)
LXO(Lightwave/Modo)
OBJ
SKP
STL

• a few other, lesser-used formats.

I know any of these can make anything.Blender,LW,C4D,Max,Maya.

also

There are CAD programes ,I know nothing about.

is a addon for blender that makes walls/rooms etc just have to type in size you want

will even add doors and windows now I think, not updated mine for a while :-(

only proggy I know that forces booleans is Bryce, but its not really a modeller!

(does do what it does really well)

some of what your wanting can be done in poser, just displacement an trans maps on a hires square

can be a fiddly process but not impossible

I'm pretty sure there are some free .obj exporters (ruby scripts) for SketchUp free (or Google Make or Trimble Make or whatever this week's name for it is). Try looking at sketchucation.com, there's a huge collection of scripts there. Not sure if they still work for the latest version, you may be better off downloading an older version like 6 or 7.

For ease of use nothing beats SketchUp/Make, and modelling boxy things like buildings to real-life dimensions is exactly what it was born to do. Unfortunately once you export sketchup models to formats like obj it tends to generate a lot of Ngons with concave perimeters (H-shape, E-shape, C-shape, L-shape etc polygons) or loads of ugly Triangles. SketchUp somehow handles that stuff without a problem, but other formats don't.

With a bit of practise you can anticipate the problems and model in such a way as to minimize them, but it takes a while to develop that skill.

Perhaps the best solution would be to do a rough model in sketchup, just boxy shapes to establish sizes and proportions but with no detail, and then export to wings and re-make each object from scratch using the Sketchup objects in the background as sizing guides.

I use MODO for all my modelling but I still use Sketchup (Pro) to do rough mockups of size-critical architectural stuff and furniture because its measuring and snapping functions are so much quicker and easier to use than MODO's.

Attached Link: 25 (Free) 3D Modeling Applications You Should Not Miss

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

I use Wings3D (<--- click link) ... and it's fairly easy to learn.

You guys recommending Wings for Architectural stuff, how would you create an object with proportionate scale?  Let's say you created an object which needs a specific thickness relative to it's size.  For example, a box with an inside and outside of specific thickness.  You can add thickness with Wings, but how will you know if it's 3 inches or 5?  Even if you somehow guessed correctly, wouldn't rescaling the object to world coordinates in Poser later potentially distort your proportionate thickness?

Quote -   You can add thickness with Wings, ...

I know how to "Add Thickness" in Cararra but can you tell me where that function is in Wings3D?

Thanks.

cheers
dr geep
;=]

Quote - I know how to "Add Thickness" in Cararra but can you tell me where that function is in Wings3D?

I think that would be "Intrude" in Wings. If you pick the top face of a cube and select Intrude your selected top face will disappear and all other faces of the cube will be thickened to the desired amount.

some "blasts from the past" there Dr g  lol ;-)

and a couple I've never tried !! shall I try them errrrr maybe

what you expect a LEFT click!!!!!!!!!! guess I'm off back to blender rofl

@max scaling is more to do with import/export options then anything in the proggy

if its right size in modeler and scaled right on export/import it shouldn't change anything

BUT because of posers tiny scaling they maybe rounding errors ;-)

Quote - > Quote -   You can add thickness with Wings, ...

I know how to "Add Thickness" in Cararra but can you tell me where that function is in Wings3D?

Thanks.

cheers
dr geep
;=]

There's a couple techniques which allow you to create thickness from a single-sided poly object.  You can select all faces, then Extrude Region>Normal.  It will extrude the selected faces along their normals as one unit, keeping the faces joined together as one coherant surface, essentially making the single-sided face into a manifold.

If you want to create an interior to an object, then select all faces and use "Intrude".

Here's an example of using Intrude and bridge command to create thickness, and interior of house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpUNvp8yYfw

Quote - @max scaling is more to do with import/export options then anything in the proggy if its right size in modeler and scaled right on export/import it shouldn't change anything BUT because of posers tiny scaling they maybe rounding errors ;-)

I'm talking about modeling to scale, with proportional thickness.  Wings3D doesn't have real world units to model something to architecturally accurate scale.  This is especially true if you needed/wanted an object with specific thickness values relative to it's size.  You can add thickness to an object in Wings, but it's virtually impossible to measure a specific thickness measurement, in proportion to the world scale of the object.  It has nothing to do with the scale transition upon export, but upon modelling.  This is why I wouldn't recommend Wings for architectural modelling, unless real world scaling isn't important, and "close enough" is good enough.  I suppose for most Poser requirements, that is the case, but there's no telling how accurate someone would like their models to be, and it's a good thing that poeple realize that they aren't going to get precision results before they decide to start a project, and then realize it after the fact.

Quote - You guys recommending Wings for Architectural stuff, how would you create an object with proportionate scale?  Let's say you created an object which needs a specific thickness relative to it's size.  For example, a box with an inside and outside of specific thickness.  You can add thickness with Wings, but how will you know if it's 3 inches or 5? 

I don't remember offhand what Wings internal units are but you could simply treat them as metres. The wings import/export dialogs are really comprehensive, allowing you to set default scaling factors, so it's easy to set them up so that a cube of 2 units high exported from wings arrives in poser as 2m high, and Vicky opened in Wings measures 1.8 units high (or however tall the's supposed to be). Then the distance of every modeling operation in wings can be controlled accurately by the numerical readout on screen and the distance between any 2 verts can be measured. I doubt you need to be much more accurate than that.

Quote - wouldn't rescaling the object to world coordinates in Poser later potentially distort your proportionate thickness?

The whole model scales proportionally, it can't distort if it was proportionally correct in wings.

Quote - You can add thickness to an object in Wings, but it's virtually impossible to measure a specific thickness measurement, in proportion to the world scale of the object. 

Not true at all. The default cube in Wings is 2x2x2 wings units. If you treat them as metres you have a 2m cube (or you can type in any specific sizes when you create it). Then if you use any tool it gives you a distance readout to 4 decimal places, so that's accurate to a tenth of a millimetre. Intrude to 0.035 and your cube has walls 35mm thick.

[quoteNot true at all. The default cube in Wings is 2x2x2 wings units. If you treat them as metres you have a 2m cube (or you can type in any specific sizes when you create it). Then if you use any tool it gives you a distance readout to 4 decimal places, so that's accurate to a tenth of a millimetre. Intrude to 0.035 and your cube has walls 35mm thick.

Ok, I see now how that works.  There's no option to change the unit scale on any operation physically, but you can do the math in your head, if you know what imaginary scale you're using for scene units.  The value of Wings3D scene units are whatever you want them to be.

Thanks for clarifying.  It's just important then for users to remember to do the mental math when using certain command tools.

How accurate can the grid plane be made?  Can the visual grid be set to respect accuracy down to a tenth of millimeter as well?

Thanks obm ... for that clarification.

Quote - How accurate can the grid plane be made?  Can the visual grid be set to respect accuracy down to a tenth of millimeter as well?

What are you modelling, watch parts, electronic circuit boards? I don't know about setting the visual grid, I never use grids. But anyway, using the visual grid means you are eyeballing, why would you need tenth of a millimetre accuracy if you are eyeballing? 

Look in wings prefs>constraints, you'll see various keyboard combinations to 'snap' the tool distance readout to various increments. There are also 'alternate distances' which look like they might be conversions from inches/feet etc (or they could be customised for that purpose anyway)

Yup.

Quote - What are you modelling, watch parts, electronic circuit boards? I don't know about setting the visual grid, I never use grids. But anyway, using the visual grid means you are eyeballing, why would you need tenth of a millimetre accuracy if you are eyeballing? 

It's only "eyeballing" if the grid isn't as accurate to the same level you require in your type-in transforms.  If your grid lines represent the same level of accuracy as your transform type-ins, then you can make transforms, with snapping, to verts or objects that may need to be moved in different units of measure you're modelling in.  That's why I ask.  I'll look into it.

Quote - Ok, I see now how that works.  There's no option to change the unit scale on any operation physically, but you can do the math in your head, if you know what imaginary scale you're using for scene units.  The value of Wings3D scene units are whatever you want them to be.

I've just checked Wings and the internal unit is indeed the metre and it won't allow you to type distances in any other unit. If you wanted an inch you'd have to type in 0.0254

Sketchup alows you to type in 1" or 25.4mm or 0.0254m, all will be interpreted correctly no matter what unit of measure you have set for your working units.

think obm explained that a LOT better then me ;-)

maybe 'cos I'm from a cad background I find the mental math fun

(fun things are on auto pilot)

the grids once you set them up will get to to 10% accurate

but since poser dolls are NOT TO scale whos cares

as example me mum only gets to middle of my chest

both me boys are now taller them me (there mum was close to my mums height)

so what is the IDEAL height for a chair these days

soz OT then but you get the idea I hope!

ps blender has snap to grid sure wings has it nearest 1/10 of a mill good ?

Quote - I've just checked Wings and the internal unit is indeed the metre and it won't allow you to type distances in any other unit. If you wanted an inch you'd have to type in 0.0254

Sketchup alows you to type in 1" or 25.4mm or 0.0254m, all will be interpreted correctly no matter what unit of measure you have set for your working units.

Where did you find that information?  I read in the official Wings3D forum, when someone asked the same, that internally, there was no official unit of measure, and the units were indeed arbitrary.  So you can't exactly pick whatever scale you want to model in then?  Is this in the documentation?  This excerpt from the user manual seems to confirm your original explaination of units, that the units are arbitrary, and you can decide any measurement you wanted it to be.

I'm confused now.  Is it arbitrary or not?

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wings_3D/User_Manual/User_Interface/The_Information_String

I don't think we can use the Wings work grid for accurate non-linear transforms.  It doesn't seem grid lines are cusomizable down to 0.02, so diagonal transforms, for example, would have to be manually typed in on both axis after you calculated the conversion.**
**

Hm, lots to digest.  I'll have to look into Hexagon.  It sounds like I should look more into sketchup and the possibility of exporting for free from that since the other options look a bit daunting based on the discussions this triggered.

Thanks for all the feedback.

@maxx

units are arbitray

this place designates the distance btween here an there is X

that place designates the distance btween here an there is Y

so long as you do the x/y    in your head there shouldnt be more then minor problems

(if you get a major problem move the decimal point ;-) or is that just me )

the 1 can be 1 foot or 1 metre or 1 mile

the 1/10 is one tenth of the unit I want it to be

if my model was 1 lightyear long

1/10 would be roughly 6 light weeks (yes I know but cant accelerate or brake THAT fast lol

Quote - I'm confused now.  Is it arbitrary or not? 

Sorry, I was wrong, it is in fact arbitrary, not metres. I did a simple test:  A 1m cube exported from Modo imports into Wings as 1 unit high, but I was wrong to conclude that it means Wings's internal unit is a metre, it's just a Wings Unit.

The obj file format contains no scale units, the size of models moving from one app to another depends on the internal units of the 2 applications (and the export/import scale options if there are any). This is the root of all the confusion about importing and exporting objs.

Modo's internal unit is the metre, so if you make a model 1 metre high and then export an obj the uppermost vert in the obj will have a Y value of 1. When that model comes into Wings where the internal unit is a Wings Unit, the obj will have a Y height of 1. The same model imported into sketchup where the internal unit is the inch would arrive there 1" high. Imported into Poser it would be about 8' high because that's the height of one poser internal unit, 96" or 103", I can't remember which.

If you make a model 1 inch high in SketchUp (where the internal unit is the inch) and then export an obj the uppermost vert also has a Y value of 1, and coming into wings that model would also be 1 unit high, the same height as the 1m modo model. So wings units are whatever is convenient to you, metres for big things, inches or centimetres for small things, but always decimal.

When apps allow you to set units on export, it means you can tell it what units the target application will be expecting them to be and the XYZ values wil be multiplied by a conversion factor before they are written to the obj file

Similarly, when apps allow you to set units on import, it means you can tell it what units the mesh was written in and the XYZ values will be multiplied by a conversion factor after they are read from the obj file.

Getting models to transfer at the correct size is just a matter of understanding this business of internal units and setting the right scale options where they are available.

@obm890, ok now that makes more sense.  Thanks for clarifying. again!

@grosporina, don't let our detour chatter stop you from using Wings3D for modelling arch props for Poser.  Wings3d is truly a great modelling app, and the only thing I was suggesting is that it isn't ideal for "serious" architectural modelling, and I stand by that.  We kind of got carried away from your original post, but none of this will matter much if you're ultimately just modelling to export to Poser.

Anyway, I think Sketchup is a good choice, as obm890 has pointed out, to model architectural stuff, but since your work is being exported to Poser, it might end up being a disappointment for detailed models.  The models exported from sketchup will not maintain a good topology for Poser.  It outputs horrible topology in most cases.

Blender, Wings3D, or Hexagon (not free, but cheap) look like better options.

@obm890, ok now that makes more sense.  Thanks for clarifying. again!

@grosporina, don't let our detour chatter stop you from using Wings3D for modelling arch props for Poser.  Wings3d is truly a great modelling app, and the only thing I was suggesting is that it isn't ideal for "serious" architectural modelling, and I stand by that.  We kind of got carried away from your original post, but none of this will matter much if you're ultimately just modelling to export to Poser.

Anyway, I think Sketchup is a good choice, as obm890 has pointed out, to model architectural stuff, but since your work is being exported to Poser, it might end up being a disappointment for detailed models.  The models exported from sketchup will not maintain a good topology for Poser.  It outputs horrible topology in most cases.

Blender, Wings3D, or Hexagon (not free, but cheap) look like better options.

I can't say anything about sketchup ,never used it.

but before I got it I would check out the site videos ,see the you tube video's ,get the demo.Ask on forums the good & bad.

See if it can do rounded edges.might want to see if it can to SubD's.
if it can see how good it is at mapping & texturing.
and all the other things your need to know

and most of all see if it can make killer meshes.

and have a very good understanding of the app.

Quote - You guys recommending Wings for Architectural stuff, how would you create an object with proportionate scale?  Let's say you created an object which needs a specific thickness relative to it's size.  For example, a box with an inside and outside of specific thickness.  You can add thickness with Wings, but how will you know if it's 3 inches or 5?  Even if you somehow guessed correctly, wouldn't rescaling the object to world coordinates in Poser later potentially distort your proportionate thickness?

By deciding before you start, what one unit is going to be, such as, one unit = one foot.  Then 0.25 would equal 3 inches, 0.33 = four inches, etc.  When done creating, export and load in Poser, use one of the Poser measures, Geep makes a couple good ones.  Determine size against this, and you haven't saved anything in poser yet.  Go back into wings and whatever scaling factor you dialed into poser, select it all, scale it and save your .obj.  Takes longer to say how than it does to do it.

Doric.

As this seems to have turned into a Wings thread, I'll hijack it a little further.  First, never use the "Intrude" method to hollow it out, when the inside and outside walls are different lengths, it makes cutting windows and doors more complicated.  Every wall I make is a separate object, both sides of the wall the same dimensions.  It makes cutting them so the inside and outside are the same easier.  I rarely use the intrude.

Doors, when you have defined the dimensions, before you use Bridge to open that, use the "Extract" to pull the front face forward, and yes, you're making another object which you can select the face later, or use the selected face to give it thickness.  Add your panels and windows, door the same size as the door opening, done.

Once you've scaled something, remember that whatever you scaled it to is now 100%.

If scaling the whole thing, select all objects, use "Combine", do your scaling, then "Separate"  It'll hold everything in place during scaling, a lot easier than trying to move them into place manually.  When you've selected any operation, hitting the Tab key brings up the numeric entry.  TYpe "F" to use the face mode of selection, "E" for edge mode, "V" for vertex and "B" for object mode. 

WIngs can do a whole hell of a lot more than I know how to use, every time I use it, I discover (rediscover?) something else. 

Doric.

After you all model ya meshes in Wings ,you all map it in Blender ?
Texture it with Blender & Gimp ?

Quote - but before I got it I would check out the site videos ,see the you tube video's ,get the demo.Ask on forums the good & bad.

No need for caution, SketchUp Make is free software, there's nothing to lose from downloading and trying it. There's an 8-hour demo of the pro features, and after that it reverts to free.

Quote - See if it can do rounded edges.might want to see if it can to SubD's.

SketchUp can do rounded edges but not easily, Wings is much better for that. SubDs not posible because the mesh exported from the free version is all triangles. Pro version allows quad/Ngon export but that still won't benefit from subDividing because it wasn't modelled with edgeloops.

Quote -
if it can see how good it is at mapping & texturing.

On boxy objects Sketchup has the easiest mapping/texturing you'll ever do, one-click paint with textures, or if you want to adjust the position of textures like tiles or woodgrain, just slide the texture on the model as if it was wallpaper on wet glue. It makes a really ugly UVmap though, the UVs are pretty much 'for personal use only', they work, but you wouldn't want to distribute them as-is.

Quote - By deciding before you start, what one unit is going to be, such as, one unit = one foot.  Then 0.25 would equal 3 inches, 0.33 = four inches, etc.  When done creating, export and load in Poser, use one of the Poser measures, Geep makes a couple good ones.  Determine size against this, and you haven't saved anything in poser yet.  Go back into wings and whatever scaling factor you dialed into poser, select it all, scale it and save your .obj.  Takes longer to say how than it does to do it.

Doric.

For transferring objects to Poser you don't need to do any scaling operations in wings, you can use the custom scaling options in the obj import/export dialogs. Type in the funky factor to get the chair you made in Wings to fit perfectly under Vicky's butt and it remains stored in the export dialog, all models will be exported at the same scale. Similarly, set the Wings import scale so vicky arrives the right size for the chair you're making, and every model will come in that size.

Quote - After you all model ya meshes in Wings ,you all map it in Blender ?
Texture it with Blender & Gimp ?

Wings has very good mapping tools.

Quote - For transferring objects to Poser you don't need to do any scaling operations in wings, you can use the custom scaling options in the obj import/export dialogs. Type in the funky factor to get the chair you made in Wings to fit perfectly under Vicky's butt and it remains stored in the export dialog, all models will be exported at the same scale. Similarly, set the Wings import scale so vicky arrives the right size for the chair you're making, and every model will come in that size.

True, but for whatever reason, I haven't used that method. 

RK, I just use UVmapper.  I normally don't use more than the texture map and a displacement, generated in PovRay.  I like simple and easy.  Fine tuning done in the material room. 

Doric.

RorrKonn..  I use Wings Mapper for everything.  It does a great job once you get used to using it.  I also add the textures in Wings . And the Kerkythea plug-in actually does a decent job for WIP renders if you don't mind a little fiddling with the lights.

I agree with PrecisionXXX..  Wings can do a whole bunch more then I know how to use.

Wings mapper looks killer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrV_YFnOGzU

time stamp 7:30 see how wings lines the map up straight.

How do you line the map up straight in Blender ?
Could not find a video that said.

Thanks

Did you watch all of his tuts?  I think I watched 3 of them when I was learning to map. They are very good. 

Now & then the mapper will do something funky but you can cut it up & restitch it the way you want & there is a remap function in the mapper window. 

Quote - Did you watch all of his tuts?  I think I watched 3 of them when I was learning to map. They are very good. 

Now & then the mapper will do something funky but you can cut it up & restitch it the way you want & there is a remap function in the mapper window. 

Actually all I have done for the last 16 hours is looked in to faster better ways to texture.
I've watch countless youtube video's quit a few on Wings,read tutorials etc etc.
Next step checking out demos.

I am impressed with wings modeler and mapper. Can hold it's own against zBrush & C4D.

I'm going to throw my hat in the Blender camp.

Like you, I've decided to make my own stuff as I can't find the sorts of settings I'd like and I have a lot of ideas for props.  I'd also fiddled with Blender over the years but found the interface to be frankly...ridiculous.  As a professional photographer and graphic artist I knew it shouldn't be this way and tried a few other 3D programs but found that they where either outrageously expensive or they were'nt being used/developed enough.

Then a group of disgruntled Blender users got together and threatened the developers with bodily harm if they didn't fix that gawd-awful interface.  The result was the famous (and much welcome) 2.5 release.  It is now possible for a normal human being to use it with a minimum of fuss.  The result is that the user base has exploded and there are now a billion trillion (no really!...I counted 'em!) tutorials on YouTube, tons of sites and forums and even several honest-to-goodness books available.  Folks are making plug-ins and extensions for most everything.  

I've found the new Blender to be brilliant and quickly made an articulated gizmo that I'm now fiddling with in Poser to add rigging and materials.  The work flow from Blender to Poser is straight forward if you spend some time in Dr.Geep's site and learn the not-so-secret secrets of scale and importing and exporting.

I enthusiastically encourage you to give 'er a try.