Trying to find programs for 3d modeling process
I've spent a few days, probably 20 hours or more trying to find programs that fit my preconceptions. I'm new to modeling, have been a long time 2d artist, and I'm quickly discovering how unintuitive most 3d modeling programs are and for someone like me, it just blows my mind.
With that said, I've not done a horrible job learning. But I'm searching for intuitive programs for basic geometric modeling (blocking in things with quads and not tris oh god please). I've been using 123d design for half a year because it's just a miracle of logical, intuitive tech. Most of it is quite visual and self explanatory. To extrude, chamfer, and detail a shape is mostly pulling, pushing, moving, etc. But the problem is that none of these intuitive programs, like 123d, sketchup, work in quads, and nothing they produce can be sculpted on or painted on in mudbox (the program I'm trying to main). Instead the alternatives seem to be blender, maya (which I cannot afford), wings 3d, but they are all left-brain engineer-major nightmares. I'd prefer not to go through 30 key shortcuts, 75 engineer terms i have to look up in the dictionary, and a UI pouring out of the bottocks. Anyways... point communicated.
To give a simple example, right now I'm trying to make a wall with a lot of machined/flat details, hard surfaces. You can't sculpt that, and you reasonably don't want to spend 10 years in blender and a calculus course to do it. But in 123d it takes tops 5 mins to make something wonderful.... just unusable.
Hope my post isn't too loud, it's just been crazy trying to dig out a toolset via online search and so many trial downloads of various programs with no luck.
Thanks in advance all.
With that said, I've not done a horrible job learning. But I'm searching for intuitive programs for basic geometric modeling (blocking in things with quads and not tris oh god please). I've been using 123d design for half a year because it's just a miracle of logical, intuitive tech. Most of it is quite visual and self explanatory. To extrude, chamfer, and detail a shape is mostly pulling, pushing, moving, etc. But the problem is that none of these intuitive programs, like 123d, sketchup, work in quads, and nothing they produce can be sculpted on or painted on in mudbox (the program I'm trying to main). Instead the alternatives seem to be blender, maya (which I cannot afford), wings 3d, but they are all left-brain engineer-major nightmares. I'd prefer not to go through 30 key shortcuts, 75 engineer terms i have to look up in the dictionary, and a UI pouring out of the bottocks. Anyways... point communicated.
To give a simple example, right now I'm trying to make a wall with a lot of machined/flat details, hard surfaces. You can't sculpt that, and you reasonably don't want to spend 10 years in blender and a calculus course to do it. But in 123d it takes tops 5 mins to make something wonderful.... just unusable.
Hope my post isn't too loud, it's just been crazy trying to dig out a toolset via online search and so many trial downloads of various programs with no luck.
Thanks in advance all.
Replies
http://www.meshmixer.com/
https://github.com/wjakob/instant-meshes