3D Modeling

#1 Jon, you may want to check out Milkshape 3D if you're looking for a game development modelling application. It's fairly simple once you get used to it, and it's probably your best bet on cheap software (and it's only $25).

#2 No for Cheap software, you want blender. And with it's wide range of python scripts constantly being developed, exporting itsn't much of a problem. And it runs on Mac osx, windows, linux, freebsd, solaris and somemore, but I can't remember em. The best part is that it's open source :D So in other words, it's totaly free. And it has a great community. For some forums, go to www.elysiun.com or the official sites, www.blender3d.org www.blender.org

#3 Plus the Blender 2.3 manual is in print now and Ton has put a few pages of the sample chapter as well as the Table of Contents online in the E-Shop.

#4 Interesting blender = free hmmmmm i may have to look into that

#5 Any One Know Any Other 1s

#6 www.wings3d.com is a great little modelling app. It doesn't have reliable support for UV co-ords or any support for Animation, but you can just pass your model over to www.unwrap3d.com (dirt cheap but incredibly functional and easy UV editor), and then on to CharacterFX (www.insanesoftware.de - a dirt cheap IK animation tool with great export options).

It might sound complicated, but it's much better to have 3 very specialised programs than one spreading itsself too thin - which, imo, blender is a prime example of.

Just try modelling in Wings compared to modelling in blender. It's a joy in the former, and a complete chore in the latter.

#7 Not to sound like a Blender fan, but Blender's modelling is improving quite nicely and it's character animation tools are also quite OK (especially for the price). And dunno about your workflow, but to me having the option to model _and_ UV map my models in the same application does sound like the more interesting option. But Wings 3D and Unwrap 3D probably both work fine with Blender (Wings does at least) and if Blender's Torque export works for one, one can even use a combination of all the tools mentioned.

I'd say try all of the mentioned tools and see what works best for you.

#8 Yes the torque export works :D It dosn't work on mac I don't think, I've been trying to get it to. But no success. But it works fine on linux. And probaly windows.

#9 I think 2.33 will come shipped with a few basic Pyhton modules included in Blender, so people will not need to install the full Pyhton installation in order to get the scripts to work. Since 10.3 OS X comes with Python preinstalled, but I'm not sure what the exact reasons for having trouble with the scripts are...

(Sorry if it's going OT)

#10 @Andru: What version of Wings are you using?

I have used Wings for quite some time now and the UV mapping has gone from N/A to unreliable to a very reliable. I have never had any trouble with it on the version I am using now. Once I UV map it I unwrap it in UVmapper (a free little program).

@Shadowdragon: Hey ;)

Matt

Furballz

#11 Try the free www.discreet.com/products/gmax

#12 Ok the exporter is now working on both mac and linux :D So yea blender is great.

#13 Caligari gameSpace 1.5 - $299

Coupled with the model exporter from DarkIndustries and the $20 map exporter from DigitalFlux, it does everything I need it to do in 3D so far. You might give it a look. There's a trail version of trueSpace available for download if you want to have a more in depth look at Caligari's work.

#14 GreenBriar Studio ToolBox

I am currently beta testing ToolBox III with Renderman rendering. I am also testing the Torque Compatible .MAP export and .DTS export. Static .DTS is in (with collision hull coming next) and animated .DTS is in the works. You can create maps using regular modeling techniques since the exporter is "able to break the geometry into bsp legal slabs". Check out the LW to MAP plugin tutorials for more info on that feature. I also plan on creating tutorials once everything is implemented.

I am also a Poser user. It is great for making character sprites. With ToolBox I should also be able to use it for boning/animating 3D characters. The Walk Cycle generator alone saves hours of work. I am still in the process of modeling a character in ToolBox to test this out though.

I have found the author to be very responsive. He usually fixes a reported bug within 24 hours, and has even added new feature requests within 24 hours! He also seems very dedicated to making ToolBox as compatible with Torque as possible. You can get a demo by email request.

EDIT:
Here is an image of my first ToolBox model in Torque. It has a simple brown material output to .jpg by ToolBox.
Chair_TGE