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Good and easy 3D program...

iQuit

iQuit

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 13, 2005
529
9
Los Angeles
I will be new to 3D designing on a Mac, I don't have a lot of money to spare but I need something inexpspensive and effective.

Here's what I want to do with it.

1.Design 3d models such as a Car

2.Design a model and edit it, such as get a Car like a Mustang and edit parts of it

3.Maybe be able fill in the model(s) with color, if not then I have Photoshop


thanks.
 
Thanks guys....I downloaded the whopping 800 page tutorial and started to work with it, it is pretty good for being free. I think this will suit me fine for now...
 
Yeah, blender is extremely capable! (i'm a blenderhead myself (witness my s/n); you can check some of my work at my crappy website: http://www.cgartwork.com/jms/)

The interface definitely takes time to get used to. But, good news! For the next release, the UI is getting a major refactor, namely the buttons windows. I am helping with this myself.
Check out http://wiki.blender.org/bin/view.pl/Blenderdev/ButtonsInformationArchitecture for more info. Scroll down to the "design proposal" section for screenshots :)

Also, be aware that there is an open-documentation project, based on the Blender 2.3 manual, although it is a bit outdated. Check Download > Documentation on blender3d.org for that.

One of the newer features added to blender 2.37(a) that is not in the manual is Softbodies. I wrote the softbody release document, which you can check here: http://blender3d.org/cms/Softbodies.549.0.html
There is a quick getting started tutorial near the bottom of the document.

Enjoy blender, and feel free to PM me with any questions!
 
A very "inexpensive" 3d program is Cinema 4D... $700, but is so easy to use... It has a very natural feeling...


Its relatively cheap, do you know how much 3DS MAX costs?

google it and you'll see


Its 100 more than Photoshop ;)
 
Does Blender run well on the current line of iBook and PB? I am now getting into graphics and 3D and I am very intrigued by Blender (because it's free and is very capable according to various comments on the forums).
 
I started running Blender last year on my 400 MHz Power Mac G4, and it ran fine unless I turned the screen resolution up to 1600 x 1200 (only a 16 MB VRAM video card in that machine). Haven't tried it on my PowerBook, but I would be surprised if it didn't run quite well. As you would expect, it runs great on my dual G5.

It's a cross-platform application, so if you want too, you can run it on one of the PCs in your sig, either in Linux or in Windows.
 
it is good to know the normal res with iBook/PB's LCD can work with Blender. Has anyone tried PBs with 20" or 23" ACD (PBs with 64 MB VRAM) for this program? I use my PB as a clam shell more and I want to make sure I can work on Blender on my ACDs. I am guessing PBs' 64 MB VRAM is sufficient enough to run Blender at ACD's native resolutions.
 
I picked up Lightwave in a fairly easy and quick time.

Granted, I never became a Guru, but I did make some very realistic models, and sold them online @ Turbo Squid.

If you play with it enough, and follow tutorials online, you can pick it up in good time, and have fun while doing so :)

I tried 3DS Max and Maya, and I'm not sure if it was because I was already familiar with LW or not, but I found them to be a little more difficult.

Unfortunately, I havne't worked with 3D in a couple years now.
 
I jsut got a book "Blender Guide" from Amazon a few days ago. I am going to try this open source 3D program. I am going to use my Ti PB as a ginea pig to see how Blender works with Mac OS. I am hoping I can pick up my way with Blender quickly.
 
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