Thanks everyone! I'm still testing out other programs
Google for Daz Studio. Is free, and seems easy for do rendered scenes.
yet though, I don't see it as a solution, besides they ask you for email address...you could expect quite some spam later on your email, or it happened with other gifst like this before in other companies...
Cinema 4d would be simply ideal for you. maybe you can grab an old version (beware the limit of 640x480 on some of the given free ones) buying an old magazine issue of Digit magazine or some like it. If you can buy the today's version, lucky you! is a really good tool. Just not my cup of cofee, but for the purpose, rocks.
That is why I wrote, that I am Blender fanatic (and therefore my opinion in this matter isn´t to take very seriously)
I didn't
But whenever I hear "blender rocks", I must shout the same bout wings.
You know, the mid-thirties crisis...
- it makes my everyday bread for last few years,
Does it makes chocolate biscuits too?
and I simply love this piece of soft more and more with every new release:D
I like it too; I use it for several of my animations.
Wings is great, I loved it and it has still more and better tools for polygonal modeling then Blender indeed. But in my opinion and in my workflow it doesn´t offer me as much advantages to Blender to use it anymore...
I could tell you more than one (the winged edge has many advantages in quick modelling (gollum in LOTR was modeled using Mirai, whic is very similar to Wings (well, must be said changing the sentence order; imho Wings3d is a much improved Nendo ))) ...but also, Wings3d is one of those tools with so much depth in its only area , that many of its advantages are discovered -with surprise- from old features even after years of modelling with it. the fact is I see I was quicker than my friends at the company I was before now, they using max and Maya. And they aren't slow; very good artists. Imho it has some ways pretty unknown for the big masses
max is adding modelling features of Mirai style all the time, with every version, orion Flame plugin, Meshtools, etc, etc... Many packages are doing the same. Silo, Modo, etc. Even Blender did (even there's a try to have the we structure for its advantages: I have seen quite liitle of the we power put into it yet. )
Anyway, a secret: I'd model anything with both Blender , metasequoia, Wings, Max... Moving vertices and extruding faces(yeah, cutting and <insert here every modelling possibility>) is allowed today by any tool, and is all which counts...
One tends to feel more confortable with one ui and feature set than another, life is so.
[btw (i allways post with humoristic mode activated, in case there's some lost reader....
)]
(oh, and you don't have smooth creases in Blender (smooth groups in Max), which is essential for games. But that is only a detail, and indeed, not the big thing. )
True and there are surely even more serious disadvantages in Blender then this, but it is only matter of time:)
heard that allways at blender forums...hehe, beware, I'm told the other tools also evolve
That was one another joke of yours truly. Sorry. The coffee is making me this...
BTW, I wasn't very cool saying that -even included in my long permanent joke- you can actually do the work around of split (Y key) , but that often is no cool for game engines. besides it wont show.
Anim8or(freeware) has a threshold angle for it. Like Metasequoia LE (free for non coemercial use). But wont allow set the exact edge where you want the crease. Wings has imho the fastest and more powerful selection system out there, imho.This allows even faster setting of hard edges and export that as vertex normals info in the OBJ or whatever the format file(if format support).
Blender as a level editor, I miss the lack of Lightmaps, and several UV mapping channels. But again, no probs in Wintermute, is not required as is rendered scenery. But for every real time 3d game out there...For wintermute, would be ideal if someone could make work that plugin of Milkshape animation -I tried the other day- and only thing missed -besides weights in every ms3d file- could be the smooth creasing.As actually the character is indeed reatime 3d.
I didn´t wrote this (that Wings is inferior in animation), resp. I didn´t meant this, If it made this impression, I apologise- my english is little crappy . I wrote in general terms, not due to Wings, and I wasn´t too serious (that I wrote, didn´t I ? )
I'm never.... unless we speak about money, you know, one have feelings
I generaly don´t like comparison of any aplications on certain level and there can´t be competiton between Blender and Wings, only symbiosis:)
That's the general line...Wings3d author...i see it has not many wishes of making it more than a freaking good modeller..at start I was unhappy with that, but as soon as realized in everyjob is used another tool for animation, usually the expensive package where all is integrated (and they usually let u use whatever the heck you prefer to push those vertices
) ...and as also realized that Blender had become then a tool not so hard to learn at before (i tried to enojoy it when 1.x, but was only on 2.28 when saw I could animate characters with it. probably as also by then I was quite experiences with many other 3d tools, and had animated in others.)
There are several wingers that do actually animate and render with Blender
A few, but not so much blenderheads that prefer to model with Wings , but that's more rare.
On the other hand- in my opinion in the long shot it is more easy way for beginner to learn aplication that covers not only modeling, but also other areas (materials, lighting, render...)
In that one I dunno if I can agree...3d is a universe that eats you if you pretend to do it all at start...But yep, if all is started in a low level, yes. That's what imho did very well Steve with his Anim8or tool. Imho is the best for learning fast and painlessly. The fact is that Blender is overal much more powerful. (but trust me, the smooth groups and its visualizing is really a pain not to have...)
as their first 3D soft, then learn to model in Wings (Modo, Nendo- you name it) and then texture it and render it in other soft with different UI- this way you learn two aplications instead one When you are experienced enough, then it´s of course normal to use 3, 4 softs (as you do)
It gives you a more open view of 3d, and imho asimilate better the concept of 3d. then you don't matter where they put u the buttons. that's the reason why i could learn blender in my "return" to it, with practically no consult on the manual.
I just think, that it is not the best option to learn aplication focused on modeling only, like Wings, Modo ect. as first 3D aplication ever. I would recommend rather Blender or Maya PLE or Cinema 6 as first beginner´s choice to learn(hmm, has Max some learning edition for free too?)
Gmax. Yup. hehe, mentione me a 3d tool and...Well, used plenty. My sadness is I haven't had in my hands a Lightwave, and thats a freaking modelling jewel, for what I have seen...well, once could use a demo and saw it for long in one of those meetings...I guessed that's real power in modelling.
gmax is more or less a very limited Max 4.2. So, by no means is anymore a taste of Max...it wasn't even when released..it hasn't really been updated, not at the pace andcontinuity of its competitors Softimage XSI and Maya(PLE)
max 7 is so much better than Gmax that would not know where to start explaining...
Imho Cinema is an ideal tool for this of Wintermute -in case its 3ds exporter works well. is easy and the quality given by its renderer is....AMAZING. Even more, several magazines issues gave away long ago Cinema 4d 5 and 6. Limited versions, I think 6 was limited to 640x480, not sure. But a heck of a good tool, and 3d formats weren't removed.
Imho is slower for modelling than Blender , Wings, Metasequoia, or Max. but an overal freaking good thing.And *very* quick rendering.Quite cheaper than the others, but somewhat near 700$ , if I remember well..It counts with an addon of one of the best hair rendering systems out there...surely not included in the bundle.
Must admit that I didn't liked blender when I was starting with 3d and that was just because it's interface, on the other hand it's
most powerfull free 3d piece of software.
As an overall piece, yes, absolutely agree. Comparing areas with tools that specialize in those areas...No, by no means. Easy to explain this... Ultimate unwrap -comercial (true, not free)- is imho better for uv mapping. After all, it's years of development only doing that "tiny" thing... Wings3d being focused on modelling, keeps needing improve only in that area, that's good for developing that area.
While we have now in Blender a pair of solutions for painting "alla Zbrush" , I can tell you (I'm a zbrush registered user) how much better is zbrush than that Blender feature. See, all are specialized tools (curiously named so at CgTalk) , that has an advantage on advanced 3d needs.
On the dark side, loads of problems come with imports, and usually every company out there needs an all around solution, the integration tool. Imho it could be Blender, max, XSI, Maya, Lightwave. But real time 3d games companies stay with max usually, or Maya, and film, etc, Maya, Lightwave, xsi.
Many people have this impression about interface, before 2.30 it was common critique toward Blender
.
I was even a betatester for 2 plugins for blender before 2.30, and Imho was already quite easy for a 3d user of othe rpackages. I didn't really dedicate my self to learn it.. I guess now is quite easier to learn it. the widgets lack was a real show stopper for newbies, or 3d users from other tools. Not me, Wings hasn't got it. Indeed, I use it all through right clik menu and hotkeys. As often in Blender.
It is true, that older versions weren´t very user friendly towards Blender beginners (well, I started with 1.73, and it wasn´t friendly at all 
),
I used to try previous ones, though only 1.8x I think, allowed me to make something, and as I said, only 2.28c grabbed really my attention as an useful tool.
but with 2.30 there were great changes in UI (which I hate, cause most of tutorials I wrote became obsolete 
),
How disgusting...!
let's make it hard to use again, all those tutorials...
all tools are accesible via menus, we have widgets (manipulators) now a you can also reorganize your workplace as you want as well as some aspect canvas manipulation and object selection is redefinable (is such a word in english? 
) It is
I knew, I knew...and modifiers...and a kind of outliner/scene graph, how each call it (every package-comunity use its terms...) similar in some points to Maya's, XSI or Max ones...(and modifiers, lol, that's Max stuff...
)
is not evil as some old blender uses think... It was needed long ago, as well as a joint pinning feature (wel, there was allways the empties or null bones weirdhat trick, but as allways, not only for newbie masses, speed is a part to consider when we speak about functionality...
and in 3d, imho, is the most important one, not only for jobs, but also for concentrate better and be happier... )
I myself am specially interested in the animation revamp. Long asked -by me among others- like rotation limits in IK, a better IK, the empties solvers+copy rotation trick really made quicker to set, also the ability of handling empties and objects in pose mode, helps a lot there...A lot, a lot of stuff is going to be seen in the next release, in character animation, my main interest of allways in Blender.
The x exporter from Jox and Ben do work like charm, i tested in several engines, even with weights exportation, and full anim etc. And that allows to exprot for a majority of indy gaming engines out there...so, all good news...
I use as many tools as I am allowed to at every project. Of course, in case *really* needed. I'd use MS Paint(nice tool btw, but simple as heck) for making my 2d if really if it had some sense
