What is a good FREE 3d program??

[imported_ave]

I am looking for a good FlashMX compatable 3d Program to tinker with when im not learning actionscripting.
Is there a good free one i can use to get a feel for 3D design and knock out some publishable art on??
Or am i just dreaming to think such a thing could be free!!

[mlk]

you are... i'm almost certain no plug-in to flash is free for any 3d soft... I think Vue D'Esprit is free but what I remember from it is an old DOS-based prog....

Ill look more into details after supper...

[mlk]

check http://www.3dlinks.com/software_modshare.cfm out, although im almost sure none of them support cel rendering (=flash cartoonish type)

[luksy]

Laws exist so we can break them...if you know where i'm pointing at :bad: ;)

[imported_ave]

hmm thanks for info mlkdesign but you are right they are all non flash ones and mostly they are 3d animators and renderers for game graphics etc..
Luksy could you be suggesting what i think you are..
shame on you ;)
if only i knew where to look!! oh well

[Guig0]

Originally posted by luksy
Laws exist so we can break them...if you know where i'm pointing at :bad: ;)
lusky... just a tip: don´t go there.

this is a touchy subject here, and kirupa has a strict policy about this breaking law thing ;)
you might get in to trouble advising users to take this way.

just a tip...


Cheers :bounce:

[senocular]

Blender (http://www.blender3d.com/) is THE free 3d app. Very cool, very powerful, very non-flash export. but its still cool ;)

[imported_ave]

so where can i download blender from then??

[Guig0]

Mmmm... :-\

in the download link in the home? or that downloads page??

:P :P

[mlk]

What I was pointing out is that Flash Plug-ins are not free, and the only way to render cartoonishly is to make a render out of a basic 3d prog and then trace it in flash, or in flix.....
I am almost sure all Flash Rendering PlugIns are costly

[imported_ave]

forgive my utter ignorance mlkdesign but what is FLIX
also can you import AVI files into flash??

[lostinbeta]

Originally posted by Guig0
lusky... just a tip: don´t go there.

this is a touchy subject here, and kirupa has a strict policy about this breaking law thing ;)
you might get in to trouble advising users to take this way.

just a tip...


Cheers :bounce:

Exactly, greatly stated guig0.


And Sen..... :!: OMG!!!!!! When I get more RAM I might Download that!

[mdipi]

sen that is awsome. i got it but i am a little confused with it, not as friendly as MAX...but i want to learn with it.

[senocular]

the interface is a little hard to get used to at first, especially if you are used to max. Like, it uses mouse motion behaviors to distinguish between scale, rotate and translate ... Its been a while since I used it but I think clicking and dragging in a clockwise rotation scales... and clicking and moving to the side moves... or something like that - Id have to open it up and work with it to let it come back to mind. Its really cool once you get used to it :)

[ironikart]

I'll have to second Blender. It's pretty widely esteemed as one of the best FREE 3D apps available. I don't use it myself, although I have fiddled with it. Compared to Max, Maya, XSI etc.. it is very limited, but you can create something fairly decent with it. It's not compatible with flash as far as I am aware (No vector rendering like swift 3D, and swift 3D plugins). I doubt you'll find a free program that is compatible.

On the topic of free programs, the terrain software Terragen is pretty awesome for something that is free. Small and powerful.

You could pickup other free versions of 3D apps from PC magazines. I know I've got a couple like Amorphium from CD's, although they are always the older versions (and generally not that useful).

[mdipi]

cool thanks for the info

[porpous2]

you get get maya ple ( maya cept you cant use it for commercial work) for free on aliaswavefront.com or something

[senocular]

theres a learning edition for XSI too... though more or less fully featured, the learning editions have their own 'learning' file format which is incopatible with the full versions, and renders are usually crippled in some respect and/or watermarked

[mlk]

or if you want relatively 'cheap' soft, I use to work with Eovia's (well, actually Metacreation's) Carrara, very intuitive design and interface, although a bit buggy... I dont think it was too expensive

[senocular]

eovia (http://www.eovia.com) - the stuff that makes RustBoy (http://www.rustboy.com) happen :)

[Guig0]

that is awesome sen!

rusty boy rox! =)



i didn, t knew you´re in to 3d stuff... did you made something? can i see it??... plz!???

[senocular]

yeah, I went to school for 3D ;) ... but ... then again I couldnt get in any of the classes beacause... [click (http://userpages.umbc.edu/~tmccau1/images/umbcinword.gif)]so I had to take the Director/Flash route (though there really wasnt a Flash route, I kind of did that one myself and taught/teach it there... of course the same applied to Director since... well, see the previous link).

So I really dont have much. I have a short anim I did for a class when first learning Maya - thats about it :-\

http://userpages.umbc.edu/~tmccau1/maya/Surprise.mov
... theres actually more to it, but its cut off for file size limitations

[imported_ave]

Seems i really hit on something with this 3d lark, didnt realise so many people would answer the thread originally.
cheers guys..

[Guig0]

LOL :P :P

umbc... i ALMOST feel sorry for you ;)


that movie is great! :A+:
why did you stoped doing 3d? ... i´m planning to learn some 3d prog, but i´m not sure wich.. any sugestions?

[mdipi]

omgosh! Sen that is so good!

[mdipi]

fill me in here, whats so bad about umbc?

[BullDog_Flash]

geez here is a good 3-D program it has some tuts on there site to.

www.anim8or.com

It is a cool one to. But i dont think its flash enabled.

[Jubba]

Dam, Sen that Blender is hard to get used to...

[mdipi]

yeah i know! i am going to stick to max....the 3d kid said so

[senocular]

well you cant expect a completely FREE 3D app to compare to a Mulit-thousand dollar application like 3DS Max :crazy:

[.soulty]

that was some crazy work by Brain taylor, Absolutely awesome being able to get the effects that he did using compositing effects. Things like Depth of field and blur were done manually!!!

CRAZY!!! :crazy:

Anyway

Ave if by any chance you have Adobe aftereffects 5.5 you could just use that to export to swf.

Basically you would use any free 3d app, or trial for that matter. render out to Tiff or targa sequence (or a video format if you rather such as .avi, .mov. .mpg) and then import that into aftereffects 5.5 and export to .swf .

[mlk]

of course but the trouble is your gonna have to pay for After Effects of course, so it's no use having free 3d prog if the post-production is more costly ! ;- 0

[.soulty]

yeah i said if he has after effects, You never know he might be a motion graphics professional!

:::soulty::smirk:

[mdipi]

but why not just save as a .mov or .avi and import to flash?

[senocular]

aftereffects will export directly as a swf - not just a frame by frame movie which can be imported as a swf file, but a swf where, when possible, AE uses swf tweening etc keeping filesize down.

[iLikePie]

Question: For those of us who can't afford to buy all these fancy 3d apps, do you think it would be better to use the Maya 4.5 PLE (and have pics ruined by the watermark, but be able to learn one of the top applications) or to use blender (which is free but from my understanding works a bit differently and is less powerful)?

also, are the things which blender can't do really important to making good stuff?

thanks a lot
Stuart

[senocular]

Originally posted by iLikePie
Question: For those of us who can't afford to buy all these fancy 3d apps, do you think it would be better to use the Maya 4.5 PLE (and have pics ruined by the watermark, but be able to learn one of the top applications) or to use blender (which is free but from my understanding works a bit differently and is less powerful)?

also, are the things which blender can't do really important to making good stuff?

thanks a lot
Stuart

Blender, if used right, if understood enough, has enough power to make some awesome images. It doesnt have all the power or initial ease (in some respects) to some of the more popular apps, though it can, if unfamiliar with those pop apps, familiarize one with basic 3D concepts while giving one the ability to make decent non-watermarked images. Then again, blender has some things those other apps dont...

In short, Blender isnt up to Par with Max or Maya, but for FREE it doesnt get much better in terms of power and capability (and the game features are just wicked). So it reallt just depends on - ARE you going to use Maya in the future? If you are, shoot for the Maya learning edition and render pretty much useless images for the purposes of knowing how to use Maya when you have access to a fully licsenced version. Otherwise, if you want to get some 3D work done, for yourself, for practical use, with the least amount of money possible, use Blender. Its not THAT hard to learn. Its a little intimidating at first, but give yourself a week and the right tutorials and youre set. The basics learned in working with Blender (if you havent worked in 3D before) can be applied then to other apps. Many of the features are similar to those found in other apps like Maya (which Ive actually used before learning Blender).

also, are the things which blender can't do really important to making good stuff? That kind of depends on what you define as being good. I mean it can do a lot and it has what you need to make most "good stuff" but not some of the more advanced features to make more of the more advanced stuff.

chek out these Blender examples
http://www.elysiun.com/gallery.php?id=13

[iLikePie]

thanks for all that senocular... i guess what i'm thinking is that i really would prefer to have some stuff that looks good (i.e not watermarked) but i don't want to spend all this time learning blender only to find all the knowledge is useless if i switch at some point.

i'm not afraid of putting some time in to learn it (i still need to get my flash skills happening too!) but i just don't really want to do maya unless it's really gonna be much more beneficial, because all the time i put in is really for nothing (until i get a proper copy which i doubt will be ANYTIME in the near future)

so the bottom line is: i think for now i'd much rather learn blender, as long as the concepts are similar between programs (even if they are handled a bit differently) and then i can pick up something more sophisticated later if need be. Sound reasonable?

thanks heaps
Stuart

[Jubba]

wow... those images were made in Blender!? wtf!

[senocular]

yup ;)

heres one thats pretty cool too... ok ok, a little odd...

well *I* like it =)
http://www.elysiun.com/gallery/30/emergency_large.jpg

[mdipi]

dude when i saw that i was like maya or max, then you said Blender and i was like !!!! that is amazing! i cant do that with max right now lol...props to him///

[.soulty]

Originally posted by senocular
aftereffects will export directly as a swf - not just a frame by frame movie which can be imported as a swf file, but a swf where, when possible, AE uses swf tweening etc keeping filesize down.

Yeah it can export frame by frame which can be imported into flash. But it dosent run the best :( I think it basically export a swf made up of a jpeg sequence with compression. :-\

People use it sometime to create animation with illustrator files , then exort it to swf to import it to flash. Some effects and 3d positioning is not available in flash is made easy in after effects. And it all stays vector. It can even make your content symbols when exporting.

But back to the issue :) , get maya PLE !!, all 3d employees allow the watermark in portfolios, and when you purchase maya , Aliaswavefront provide you with a convertion tool to make all your PLE scene files work in the full versions of maya. this way you can re-render all your work and still be able to work on those scenes with all the full version features (Mental Ray comes to mind!!!! ;) )

So by the time you get the full version you will have a great grasp of the software.

Hope this helps :beam:

:::soulty:::smirk::

[iLikePie]

the thing is (for me anyway), i won't be working ANYWHERE for at least 3 years, and even then it may not be in 3d stuff, so i want to learn but also make cool stuff... is blender so different that the skills aren't transferrable (even with slightly different controls?)

i've already got the Maya PLE but the watermark is so big and intrusive that it's not really motivating me to learn (at least for the time being).
so unless blender is really INCREDIBLy different, i'd rather learn it for now...

help! :q:
Stuart

[Jubba]

I just started using Blender today. I am using this tutorial:

http://10secondclub.org/users/juicy/

its coming along pretty well and I am getting used to it. I find it easier to follow and use that 3dsmax when I was using that... well I'm back to working with Blender to see if I can come up with something...