I know this isn't even close to being related to web hosting, but could someone tell me a good 3D graphics program they've used before and liked... Or if someone could point in the direction of a good graphics forum I would appreciate it.

not exactly "3d graphics program", but Adobe Photoshop is an all-around Graphics program thats really good :)

Originally posted by aragon
but Adobe Photoshop is an all-around Graphics program thats really good :)

Yeah "all-around" $900 :bawling:

If you want to draw then try Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand. Corel Draw is ok too.

Sitepoint forums have a pretty good graphics and design area but there are more speacialist forums but I don't know any off the top of my head.

Originally posted by Tommy
If you want to draw then try Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand. Corel Draw is ok too.

Sitepoint forums have a pretty good graphics and design area but there are more speacialist forums but I don't know any off the top of my head.

I would say forget all these software mentioned as long if you don't have verrrryy deeeep pockets. :mad:
An good alternative might be "The Gimp". There are two versions, one if for linux and the other one is for winblowz. It also comes with the GTK and you will able to use some additional modules which use perl. Provided you have it installed on your winblowz machine.
The GIMP is also professional like photoshop or corel draw and the best of all, it's free. :)

All of the above are pretty good and with Photshop you could purchase the Lite versions which are considerably cheaper. :)

If you are looking for a free program that will allow you to do some serious 3D work then have a look at http://www.blender.nl . Free downloads for many different platforms and a great community supporting it too.

Geez Tommy, there you go getting in before me again :) Umm, yes, blender is the way to go for free 3D programs. the interface is mighty confusing, but they have a large community of users, tutorials etc. For an illustration program, (ala Illustrator, Freehand), take a look at www.zoner.com - version 3 is free. Those two, along with The Gimp should set you up totally. Gimp for Windows is a tetchy piece of work though - if you have Linux lying around it's usually installed by default and is a little better tamed.

After that it's all up to you and the grey mushy stuff between your ears :)

Greg Moore

Greg, perhaps you were posting elsewhere? :)

But yes, Blender is a fantastic tool still used by people who have the budget for other software but prefer to stick with good old faithfull. It's been a while since I looked at it, I think v1.3 was the last install I used but they are now into a mature version 2 so I'm sure it covers everything you would ever want to do.

Originally posted by Tommy
Greg, perhaps you were posting elsewhere? :)

*lol* actually for once, no, I was in photoshop and just took a break.

Blender does have a manual you can purchase that supposedly makes it a lot easier to understand (along with t-shirts, coffee cups and a ton of other stuff if I remember correctly). From what I was of it, it's a beautiful looking book.

Here and there you can find copies of Truespace 3 for free (usually on magazine CD's) 3D programs and I don't work together very well at all so I can't say with any expertise how good ver 3 is/was, but to me it didn't seem all that great

Greg Moore

Of course, if ya have a spare $3,000 to blow, ya can always go with Lightwave. I've done some work with it, and its pretty good. 3D studio also, but I haven't played with it too much.

:)

To add to Lightwave and 3DStudio there is Maya which weighs in at about $10,000! :eek:

Blender comes with a nice downloadable manual so you could save a few bucks for the license for the above :)

I -almost- played with maya, but we couldn't get the demo/trial to run, and we've since moved mostly to Linux workstations (except for a couple win98's to run Dreamweaver). I've heard alot of good things about Blender...gonna have to check it out myself.

Theres a "lite" version of Lightwave (Inspire?) thats -only- $700 or so, aimed more towards the webdesigner. I've been waiting for them to release the new version as the 1.x ver is based on LW 5, and the new's supposed to be based off LW6. :)

$10k.....wow, thats alot a cheeseburgers. :D

Well, there is 3dStudio, Character Studio, Autodesk, Maya... hmm...


oh.. yea almost forgot:

Bryce 3d.



so that's all I can remember for now..


Good luck

OK, I found something else for you:


http://www.3dcafestore.com/3dsoftware.html


very long list of 3d products on a 3d related web site...





(Which isn't mine Chicken ;) )

I just got Bryce 5, it's pretty cool. Only problem is that it doesn't do text, oh well.

Though not targeted to 3D modeling, if your serious about making art with your computer, Photoshop 6.0 is a great investment and a great addition to your creative tools.

I have Photoshop 5.5, I don't quite have the hang of all the features though.

My school hooked me up with a free copy of 3D Studio MAX r3.1. *Gloat* :D

[ edit ] its legal too. ;)