My grandson Vincent wants to make 3D models of robot-like characters he created for a game. I only have experience with Poser so I need some advice from more experienced 3D people to steer him in the right direction. I know that Zbrush and Blender are modeling programs but I have no idea if they are what he should get. Is one more user-friendly? Is there something else with a shorter learning curve that would get him reasonable results? We are open to suggestions and appreciate all help.

Blender is a good one, and best of all it's free, but it has a bit of a learning curve.

I use shade3d and 3ds Max (3ds Max is a bit on the pricey side tho, so I wouldn't recommend starting with that, although college students can get it free).

Another good one is Wings3d which is also free. (a link to the download site is in the header of the Wings3d Forum here at Renderosity).

Thanks Jeff. I'll have him look at the Wings3d and Blender.

Hexagon could also be a good choice... I use it for everything I make and found it easy to work with... specially compared to Blender which I found quite hard to figure out (the last time I tried it you needed to memorize and have a firm knowledge of the hotkeys in Blender to use it effectively). Everyone has a program that works well for their own flow, but thought I'd mention it...

I recommend hexagon, wings, and sketchup free version. Blender is fine too, but the interface is daunting ( too much information ). I don't know whether Shade3D still offer a free version, but that's my preferred modelling software now.

No, shade no longer offers a free version, but there is a beginner's version for $50.

Thank you all for the advice. I'll give him the list and recommendations and see what he feels will suit him best.

Silo 2 could be considered as it is very user friendly and stable.

If sketchup, highly recommend the sketchucation forums. Can't link due to renderosity.com policy. Just copy the name into Google.

I was going to recommend Hexagon as well. I do wish there were move video tutorials though. There are a few on YouTube and it might be a good idea to watch a few tutorials for the recommended software and get a visual idea of which one might be best.

Blender because its free powerful like a whole suite of things from modeling to animations to effects to sculpting and has loads of free tutorials all over the place (plus it has cycles in it. ) there are simpler programs out there but most are 2 steps away from being abandonware. theres tons of free solutions though you can even sculpt (like sculptris) online with sculptgl and remesh the obj and export it to your PC in quads (not tris like sculptris)

Sculptris is fun for starters, yes indeed.

CHK2033 posted at 12:58PM Wed, 08 June 2016 - #4271797

Blender because its free powerful like a whole suite of things from modeling to animations to effects to sculpting and has loads of free tutorials all over the place (plus it has cycles in it. ) there are simpler programs out there but most are 2 steps away from being abandonware. theres tons of free solutions though you can even sculpt (like sculptris) online with sculptgl and remesh the obj and export it to your PC in quads (not tris like sculptris)

And has a learning curve to the interface, like "having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick" in complexity.

Wings3d . Just try it, it is free.

Khai-J-Bach posted at 4:12PM Sun, 12 June 2016 - #4271819

CHK2033 posted at 12:58PM Wed, 08 June 2016 - #4271797

Blender because its free powerful like a whole suite of things from modeling to animations to effects to sculpting and has loads of free tutorials all over the place (plus it has cycles in it. ) there are simpler programs out there but most are 2 steps away from being abandonware. theres tons of free solutions though you can even sculpt (like sculptris) online with sculptgl and remesh the obj and export it to your PC in quads (not tris like sculptris)

And has a learning curve to the interface, like "having your brains smashed in by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick" in complexity.

That's debatable..took me around a month to learn blender so depends on the person and sure if your already used to something else than anything different than what you consider the norm isn't that easy.no matter how easy something is it becomes very difficult to learn when there arent many good (modern) tutorials around for it . but which ever program is used makes sure its free first cause maybe he might lose interest later maybe he might want something else which cost. so which ever it is start with a free one to play with first note: i myself dont use Blender..lol i know how to use it and do know its very powerful ,but i dont use it because it doesnt fit into my workflow So i use Maya and 3ds Max but would not recommend those to a beginner for obvious reason (difficult for a beginner and overkill for just polygon modeling )

Blender is great, I don't like the UI at all, buy it is a fantastic application and free, but It is a complete 3d suit, if someone wants a tool for modeling, uv mapping and create 3d models for other applications like Poser, or DS, and want an "easy free tool for it", just use wings3d.

And I have to add that the basics you learn in box modeling in wings3d will be useful in a future to start using 3d suites like 3d max, maya or Blender.

True.. pushing pulling and extruding verts/ faces /edges is pretty much the same in any program (just some name thing's differently)

the humor was lost methinks...

@ Khai-J-Bach Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster :)

I'm a big fan of Trimble Sketchup. It's free, easy to learn (especially when you check out all the available tutorials) and produces nice results.