3D modelling software for the terminally poor

pixelmitherer

Hi,

Can anybody recommend any good 3D modelling software that is fairly inexpensive (or even free?)
Preferably something similar in style, modelling wise, to Maya or 3Dmax?

Cheers.

brandoom

http://www.blender.org/

Canti

VoidWorld reminds me of Maya or Max its Awesome

And then theres Blender if your ok with it

Silo is Similar to Maya and its not expensive

Rob Macko

You can download student license versions of Maya and Max, as well as some others straight from AutoDesk

ZacD

http://students.autodesk.com/

Gmanx

Silo/Blender would be a good combination.. Silo is a great modeling package and Blender will handle your mapping/rigging needs. If you're outputting serious CGI renders though - I'd use a third party renderer, at least until Cycles is added to the main trunk.

Canti

Maybe he needs to do some Commercial work for profit @Rob & ZackD?!?

ZacD

That was never listed as a requirement.

Ben Apuna

Along with the other suggestions there's also Wings3D.

DrunkShaman

Luxology modo

Blender

greevar

Blender has my vote. It's a good modeling package with a great UV mapping system. It doesn't work like Max or Maya, but I find it more enjoyable to work with than Max.

Mark Dygert

err... just use max...

pixelmitherer

Hey,

Thanks everybody for the suggestions. Very helpful.
I'm going to check them out.

Cheers!

r_fletch_r

Nitewalkr wrote: »

Luxology modo

you cad.

RyanB

I never thought I would say this...but...Blender.

Blender 2.5+ is fantastic. And this is from someone who hated Blender 2.4 and earlier.

If your end goal is to get a job in the industry, stick with Max or Maya.

DrunkShaman

r_fletch_r wrote: »

you cad.

What's wrong with Luxology Modo? =\

many people here use it and it is cheap. It is designed specifically for 3d modeling (just).

To OP: How much are you willing to spend on 3d modeling program? Or is your goal to have 3d modeling software is just to learn 3d modeling and all. If so, than I suggest you should check out this website.

Autodesk products for Students

You dont need to spend a cent, on maya, 3ds max and or Softimage xsi, etc (for non-commercial use only). For learning purposes, and to create portfolio, you dont need to do anything unless the company that you get hired by requires you to have your own software, which I believe is very remote.

For commercial use, you should just stick with blender.

passerby

i would recommend max or maya using the students and unemployed professional program autodesk has.

gets you the latest versions of all autodesk stuff, just a few resections in the license, but unless your selling content made with it or free lanceing with it, it wont effect you.

also still pretty betaish but Voidworld is free ATM and a dam good modeler, just has some performance issues with large scenes.

http://voidworld.cmcproductions.co.uk/

Ben Apuna

Nitewalkr wrote: »

What's wrong with Luxology Modo? =\

many people here use it and it is cheap. It is designed specifically for 3d modeling (just)...

Nothing's wrong with Modo, I'm sure most would agree It's really awesome actually.

I just wouldn't put it in the cheap category, at ~$1000 Modo is not cheap. Affordable maybe, cheap compared to the ~$4000 you'd have to spend to get a professional license of Max or Maya, you betcha. Still though ~$1000 is not cheap considering pixelmitherer is asking for recommendations for cheap and free 3D software and considers him or herself "terminally poor".

maze

seriously if you are thinking of doing 3d for profit. You shall consider purchasing 3d software like 3ds max, maya or xsi. I mean yeah it might be moreless 2k$ for one of those, but you need to see this as an investment ( as a work tool, you can maybe even put it in your taxes) if you plan doing this professionally. I do not recommend you to use blender, not because I think it sucks. I never used it so I cant comment on that(might be great). But learn the tools you ll use the industry (max/maya/xsi). And get good/fast with them.

If you cant purchase any of those software packages, you can always use student versions to learn and practive on your own.

Hope this helps.

Ps: havent use modo, but seems like a great tool. Seems to me more of a freelancer soft. I might be wrong though.

Canti

Never used blender but it sucks? lol Wut?!?!

I never used blender seriously because i dislike the way it works but i still respect it and the things being made with it

Modo (64bit) is the crash master for me i cant recommend something that'll obliterate your work. Thank Umbasa for 30day trials
Blenders crash rate is a myth along with its price tag

maze

"I do not recommend you to use blender, not because I think it sucks". because its not an industry standard, its open source, so as good as it might be, any serious company wont use it as main app for the lack of support.

Canti

Never used blender but it sucks? lol Wut?!?! <--- was suppose to be a joke. thats why i added the "lol wut?!?!" sorry

Sooo if Blender gains a 4000$ price tag and is no longer open source then it becomes industry standard?

I mean no harm but Industry standard seems like a vicious cycle, One company uses software, finishes a product with it. Other companies see the quality of there work, They also purchase software and it repeats until everyone is using the same over priced underdeveloped tool. When they can be using the free app saving money, crash times and typing up bug reports

I lay in my bed and wonder why is blender less than 30mb but can be Just as amazing as our industry standard apps. Sure the artist behind the brush is doing the work but its a 50/50 deal with the tool.

Ace-Angel

Blender is 30MB because the guys at Blender didn't think about bloating their software with 50 different legacy items which might or might not be needed by the latest Physx engine, or including 10 different settings which needs to manually edited for baking out Normal Maps which won't match any engine ;P

Also, certain companies in their downtime enjoy Blender

RyanB

Canti wrote: »

Sooo if Blender gains a 4000$ price tag and is no longer open source then it becomes industry standard?

I've seen a publisher contract that strictly forbids the use of freeware on the project.

eld

My vote is without a doubt for blender, it's free, full featured, and it doesn't matter about not being industry standard, since that didn't stop me, nor does it stop the program from becoming a part of anyones pipeline. I'll vouch for blenders versatility, as I've used it in many different pipelines, from indie-sized to triple-a projects.

eld

RyanB wrote: »

I've seen a publisher contract that strictly forbids the use of freeware on the project.

Doesn't that mean that you have to use vanilla max and maya and not install any of the much needed third party plugins that make them better? :P

Noors

3d basics are the same with every software. I don't see why you couldn't learn 3d modeling properly on Blender. Switching from one software to another is not much compare to learn the basics.
I'd take a look at voidworld aswell indeed, very promising, and the guy is listening to the polycount community, which can only lead him to the pinacle of awesomeness.

Ben Apuna

RyanB wrote: »

I've seen a publisher contract that strictly forbids the use of freeware on the project.

This might be due to the restrictions of, or confusion over how GNU GPL licenses work. In Blender's case it goes like this.

Or it might be because of some over paranoid view of potential security holes in software that is open source. Though I'm not sure if that argument has any real merit, as an example: I'd choose Chrome/Chromium or Firefox as a much more secure browser than IE any day of the week. I guess the publishers wouldn't want to gamble $10s-100s of millions on potential security risks, with Adobe and Autodesk at least they've got someone to sue if something were to go horribly wrong.

DrunkShaman

Ben Apuna wrote: »

Nothing's wrong with Modo, I'm sure most would agree It's really awesome actually.

I just wouldn't put it in the cheap category, at ~$1000 Modo is not cheap. Affordable maybe, cheap compared to the ~$4000 you'd have to spend to get a professional license of Max or Maya, you betcha. Still though ~$1000 is not cheap considering pixelmitherer is asking for recommendations for cheap and free 3D software and considers him or herself "terminally poor".

Ya, he also forgot to state how much is he willing to spare for 3d modeling software. So I said that because it may not be cheap, but affordable (as in start saving up for it and buy it.) After free Blender, its silo, than its Modo, than its lightwave, than its Softimage XSI (its 1k cheaper than max and maya and eternally free for students), than its max and maya.

yes I think its 4k with the subscription for Maya and Max.

I also think that OP just wants to learn, which means that he doesnt have to pay anything unless he is publishing something of his own. =\

pixelmitherer

Hi, thanks again for all the responses, some interesting views.
I have never used Blender, but there seems to be a lot of (mostly) positive recommendations for it. I've never heard of Voidworld before.

My goal was to have software that I can commercially use in potential freelancing projects.

While I can't afford a Max/Maya license at the moment, it would eventually be best as I have experience with these programs; and they are industry standard. But their current cost is rather high for me at the current time

Hence I was looking for lower priced alternatives.

Dim

For freelancing, I'd definitely recommend Blender over other cheaply priced options, if only for versatility. Blender can do as much (if not more) than Max or Maya (with varying degrees of comfort, and with varying degrees of capability), so you can really create whatever you need. You will never have to worry about either licensing issues or update costs as it will be gratis forever.

Here are some of the features, though this page is actually fairly old...

http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/features/

Hexidine

Ben Apuna wrote: »

Nothing's wrong with Modo, I'm sure most would agree It's really awesome actually.

I just wouldn't put it in the cheap category, at ~$1000 Modo is not cheap. Affordable maybe, cheap compared to the ~$4000 you'd have to spend to get a professional license of Max or Maya, you betcha. Still though ~$1000 is not cheap considering pixelmitherer is asking for recommendations for cheap and free 3D software and considers him or herself "terminally poor".

I agree that it is not in the cheap category, I have used Modo for quite some time and I personally think it's better in terms of workflow than Max or Maya( i'm forced to use max now for work ) it really depends on what you want to do, as a freelancer I would recomend Modo for workflow and blender for price wise, but if you want to work in a company, Fixing on Max or Maya is better.

DrunkShaman

pixelmitherer wrote: »

Hi, thanks again for all the responses, some interesting views.
I have never used Blender, but there seems to be a lot of (mostly) positive recommendations for it. I've never heard of Voidworld before.

My goal was to have software that I can commercially use in potential freelancing projects.

While I can't afford a Max/Maya license at the moment, it would eventually be best as I have experience with these programs; and they are industry standard. But their current cost is rather high for me at the current time

Hence I was looking for lower priced alternatives.

If you intend to have a software piece for commercial use, I would go with the majority as well, blender is the way to go. And if you know how to use max and maya it shouldnt take you long enough to learn it.