Where is the best place for a newbie to get information/reviews on the various 3D modeling programs out there? I would like to read up before making a purchase. Thanks in advance! Alex

Go to the sites of the products makers themselves. Or go to a search engine and type in 3D software... good luck..

I've hit the tutorials on the right. For the price I ordered Ray Dream. Be forwarned. Poser has people "spoiled" mesh editing is actually a lot more challenging. I have had Lightwave for over a year and have YET to reliese anything here because I am not happy with the results. Of course LW has a very steep learning curve. The full working crack of RDS I have showed me that I really can do things with it without having to take a course - the tutorials here and there on the WWW have taken care of what I need to know. AND (public confession time) I have had a pirated copy of RDS for a year. I have not used it for anything at all because I believe in paying for stuff. My copy of RDS 5.5 wil be in my hands on Friday and the pirate copy gets turned into a coffee coaster... after I scratch the hell out of it.

There were some discussions of the various apps on the Carrara list recently. http://www.onelist.com/community/Carrara. Exactly which one I'm not sure of, but look through the last week or so. It's been pretty busy.

hey man if you want a toatl package at a great price get 3d Studio Max R3! I love it. If you get some plugins itll import OBJs and Light Wave files. Its fairly easy to dig into and extremly hard to really become a "expert". I have used Lightwave and I do not like it! Many windows to do one thing...not for me although it is a excellent package I do not recomend it. Ray Dream is a great starter but if you get serious you will want more power. If you want simplicity and complexity get TrueSpace. Although I dont usually recommend it it is easy and offers IK joints and many particle solutions under Dynamics. Also there a bunch of plugins. I like the 3d Paint feature in it, Although I choose 3d Studio Max for my work I recommend different programs for diffrent people, depending on time, application, and you willingness to learn. If you are a 10 on all those levels than MAX bro if you a 7 Truespace and if your a 5 Raydream Bryce and Poser. Please do not take this as insult I have and use all those except Truespace which sits on a shelf, and Lightwave which also sits with dust on it. Ohhh Yea Max (if you look) is 2799 on sale. Sorry dont have link damn HDD shit the bed:) but normal price is 3499.... Local

Basically, if you ouwn RDS and want to go to something else, competitive upgrades to Strata are about $200, Cinema 4Dxl is $495. Carra is $200 or $99, depending on which version you own, but the odds of the poser plugin showing seems highly unlikely. And that is what I wanted from Carrara. Cinema is considered a midrange app, like Max. Strata seems to be considered more of a low end product, like RDS. These are highly vague categories, not hard and fast "this app is as good as that app."

What is Strata? I've never heard of it. I tried RDS and hated it. Carrara looks neat, but I don't trust Meta Creations right now. (Wonder why!) I don't need high end functions, just extruding, boolean cutting and lathe right now with export to obj (if possible.) My learning curve on 3D programs has been pretty flat so I'd rather have something that can do a few things relatively easily. Animation is not a concern.

Get TrueSpace....Does all that stuff and hey if ya want later I think itll do more. I think I last say it as 499 though Im not sure :) Local

http://strata.com/html/pro-features.html I have never used it nor am I recomending or not recomending it.

No blame, no credit. Got it. Thanks! :-}

Thanks for all the responses. Haven't decided yet. Alex