Hi, I might have the opportunity to learn a 3D modeling program as part of my education this fall. I know that Rhino has a student price on their product. Do any of the others and which programs do Bryce users like to use for professional results? Are there any free 3D modeling programs that I could try out in the interim? I tried the link in the other post but the website wasn't responding so I will try that again later. Thanks, Ang25

Attached Link: http://http://www3.corel.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=Corel/TrialSoftware/D

If you want to download a 30 day trial of Bryce, here is the link to it. Enjoy! I will find other free download to try out the softwares out on the web, once I do, then will post the links again here.

I've been using AmapiPro with a lot of luck. It's a bit older and not a fancy and it's a bit buggy but it's pretty easy. Also, Carrara 2 just came out and is pretty good. I've seen models done in Rhino that were just amazing but by far the best, if you can afford it, is 3ds Max! Check out their gallery!

I got a full, free version of Cinema 4D SE v5.2 to learn basics on, and I use it for all my models. If you contact Maxon they might be kind enough to tell you where to get it (I got mine on CD). It's pretty good to learn on and it's unbelievably easy to use, which is just as well as the PDF manual is a bunch of arse. I even got my e-mails answered by support in a couple of hours, which is better service than I get for all my purchased s/w! I've got Maya, LW7 and Cinema4D v7 trials too. And I use the word "trials" advisedly for the first two. Maya has a watermark in the modelling screen and on renders that is so intrusive it's effectively unusable. Forget it. LW7 demo doesn't allow you to create any object with more than 200 vertices! So you can model a cube, or a cube perhaps. Oh - to be fair, you could also model a cube. No good for learning whatsoever, so I don't know why they bothered sending a demo version out. TBH, when (if) I get enough money together, I'll probably go for 3dsMax, if only because it seems to be used more widely than anything else. Or maybe it's because it's the only one I've never used! Seriously, though, after reading many reviews I think Max would be the best bet if you're not going to be spending more than 3K, although I believe Cinema4D 7 has the fastest and the best renderer of them all (it is damn fast!)

Attached Link: http://www.annsartgallery.com/freeprop.html

There are links to a lot of freeware modelers at this site. Rhino is very good, certainly in the category of mid range modelers that can do a wide variety of things. The best for you is to get every trial and demo of every modeler you can and see how you like the interfaces. Get some demos of modelers above and below your price range so you can see the differences. (You might be like me and choose to save and wait for something better.)

Thanks for the advice. EricofSD-loved your link, D/L'd the stuff. Will take a lot of work to get the hang of Metasequoia but it seems like it could be a lot of fun. I will need more time to check out the others mentioned above. I can't do any trials yet. I work two jobs and would run out of the 30 days long before I got to try them. The ecomonomy out here sucks. Anyhow, I guess I just have one more question that I'm too embarassed to ask in the 3DS forum. That is where is the 3DS MAX website? I did a web search and came up with nothing. I'd like to find out if they have a student price and what they cost etc. But, I know nothing about 3DS and when I looked in that forum, I didn't come across a link. Sometimes, I can look right at something and not see it so if it's there just tell me I'm having another senior moment and I'll go back and look again. Thanks again for the help. Ang25

Attached Link: http://www.discreet.com/products/

Here you go 3dsMAX and G-MAX

Thanks