I'm working on what might be a series of images depicting Americana circa 1950 thru 1970. It obviously would benefit from a lot of different and varied vehicles from those years; all kinds, not just the usual "muscle cars". There are some nice free models on the web, but I need to model specific cars in a wide range. The few that fit my needs that I have found around the web are retail models out of my budget (this is hobby stuff for me). Aside from high poly, high detail modeling in Max and AutoCad or Rhino, is there a middle ground where you can model something for Bryce or Vue that has detail and looks good, without having to take a course in CAD to do it?

Thanks much

I just use Wings3D, since it's free. However the amount of practice time needed to really get good stuff out of it is akin to taking a small course in CAD. (Unless you understand the concepts of poly-modeling from working with other programs.) It's free and can be found at www.wings3d.com. Good luck! The only other thing to do is ask around for particular car models. Somebody might know where decent free versions could be found, or if they're really generous - they might make one for you.

You can pretty much model anything with Wings3D, so asking specific techniques in the Wings Forum would be a good idea. If you need reference ideas, you might want to check out the gallery of roysorenson. He does a lot of vintage cars, and he does them very well. He works in LightWave 3D and I am sure he would be very helpful in giving you auto-specific modeling tips regardless of what modeling package you decide to buy into. :o) Hope that helps. Cheers! M

Thanks for the info- it helps get me in the right direction. I'll check it out. Paul