"3d design software for a beginner. Please advise" Topic
8 Posts
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miniaturemen | 05 Jan 2015 2:24 p.m. PST |
Hello all, I've been thinking about trying to teach myself how to 3d design and have looked at all the free software and very expensive packages available. I have no previous design experience so would need some thing not too complicated to begin with but able to design 28mm scale vehicles to use as production masters. Do I splash the cash or are there any free packages that do the job for wargames designing. Thanks in advance Gary |
headzombie | 05 Jan 2015 2:35 p.m. PST |
The two that always come up, that are free, are sketchup and blender. Sketchup is the easiest of those to learn. Blender is a perfectly reasonable tool to use. I do 3d design as my main way of paying the bills. Mostly I use Maya but that is overkill software-wise for purely modeling. So, on the paying end you have Rhino, Modo, Zbrush and even 3dcoat. Rhino and Modo will do vehicle models well with Modo being easier to do organic character-type stuff if you move to that. I would use Modo every day instead of maya if I could. Zbrush and 3dcoat both will do vehicles but its a little non-intuitive for that as both are really good at character type models. |
javelin98 | 05 Jan 2015 3:52 p.m. PST |
I use the free version of Sketchup for everything, but I also have been dabbling with some other programs. Autodesk has a free design package called 123D Design: 123dapp.com/design Pixologic has a package called Sculptris, which is great for organic shapes: pixologic.com/sculptris The reason I use Sketchup is because it is extremely user-friendly. I have Blender, Autodesk 3DS Max, and an older version of Rhino, and none of them come close to the user-friendliness of Sketchup. Even something a feature as simple as tool tips doesn't seem to exist in Blender or Rhino, and many of the menus are esoteric to the point of being unintelligible to someone with no formal training in 3D CAD software. It's been about 2 years since I tried out Blender, though, so maybe the newer version is more user-friendly. |
Dynaman8789 | 05 Jan 2015 5:44 p.m. PST |
The problem with Sketchup is exporting, unless they loosened up recently. Getting output into a useable file format was a total pain. |
javelin98 | 05 Jan 2015 8:53 p.m. PST |
The latest version allows you to export to both STL and COLLADA. |
FingerandToeGlenn | 06 Jan 2015 7:46 a.m. PST |
I use 3D Crafter Pro from Amabilis. Fairly easy to learn, not particularly expensive, and exports in a great many formats, including for 3d printing. You might also look at Hexagon, from DAZ, which is a stripped down version of Carrara. |
Kropotkin303 | 11 Jan 2015 7:43 a.m. PST |
Another vote for Sketchup. Easy to use after a little practice. |
SouthernPhantom | 05 Feb 2015 7:28 p.m. PST |
A vote for Blender. The new interface is quite good (occasionally I use an old version for a specific file import compatability- nowhere near as usable) and reliability is excellent. |
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