I''ve been doing some research (not much but some) into modelers, because I''ve just about passed the point of building models ingame. It seems Truespace is only $300, has some nice modeling abilities, lots of file formats (including .x), plus it can make nice pictures. 3D StudioMax is about $900 (student discount), but it also comes with some kinda character studio thingy. It doesn''t support .x, but it uses .3ds, and that seems to be a pretty standard format. It renders nice pictures too. I didn''t do much research as that is all I came up with. Basically I''m looking for a program that can make models for my games, but also has a fairly nice renderer as I''d like to a) Make prerendered sprites for my 2d games, and b) Just make pictures in general (I like to draw, in addition to programming). And, I''d like to keep costs below $1000 as I''m not rich. So, does anybody have a suggestion of what I should get? -Blackstream Will you, won''t you, will you, won''t you, won''t you take my virus? -The Mad Hacker Blackstream''s Webpage

i have heard WONDERFUL things about animation master, it costs 299 and looks like a steal!, im planning on getting it within a month. you can find it at www.hash.com

Animation master is wonderfull. I bought it and it costs just $199 (student discount). There''s also a lot of plugins available. Currently I export my models to .obj (very simple fileformat).

Look also at http://mail.hash.com/sherwood/index.asp. Theres plenty of tutorials and resources for AM.

I checked it out, and it does look pretty good. So, how does it compare to Truespace and 3D Studio Max? Truespace and 3DS obviously cost more, and that''s about all I know.

-Blackstream

Will you, won''t you, will you, won''t you, won''t you take my virus?

-The Mad Hacker

Blackstream''s Webpage

animation master looks nice, pity there is no demo version to download...

glHorizon_Project



www.web-discovery.net

there are some free and cheap modelers you should at least check out. some good ones I''ve found, Anim8or, Blender, Aztec3d (found today on Gamedev.net new ), and cheap and good modeler is Milkshape 3D. it does animations, I don''t know if it does them as well as that one you posted, I''m going to check that out.
Joe

HHSDrum@yahoo.com
Polarisoft Home Page

3ds MAX 4.0

is really cool, it has all you need in,
But, it''s damn expensive
Anyway, it''s the best you''ll find

I think before buying anything you should find a way to try them out, then, buy the one that matches your needs

Blender and Anim8or are good ones. OpenFX is another great free 3D modeler. However, I believe the newest version of TrueSpace is version 4 and version 3 is free now i think.

If you can afford it, take 3DS Max, it''s the best you can get for a reasonable price. The nice thing about Max is it''s incredibly flexible plugin and scripting system. The default renderer is pretty nice, but if you want really professional quality, you should check out Renderman or Mental ray for 3DSMax. On the modeling side, you get all you need: standard geometric modeling, NURBS and NURMS are build-in, meta-modeling can be added by plugins. Exporting is rather simple: Max can export to the ASE format, a very simple ASCII 3D format. Or you can write your own custom exporter using Maxscript or write a plugin.

If you need more than Max, have a look at Maya from Wavefront. You can get a time limited 100% working trial version from them for free, so you can check it out.

Very good for animation is Softimage. But it''s rather expensive and complex, I wouldn''t recommend it for a beginner.

-AH

Thanks for all the replies.

I have the money, and I''m willing to use it, so I''m not worried about needing a free modeler (although I''ll still look into them.)

Truespace is actually out to version 5 now, 5.1 to be exact. It costs $299, and that is without student discounts. Go to www.caligari.com if you guys want more info.

I''ll check out the demo version of Maya for sure, and maybe a few of the free ones. I''ve actually already messed around with the freeware version of Truespace 1, and the demo version of Truespace 4, so I do know a little about it.

At the very least, I can get a free modeler to hold me until I get one of those other ones you guys mentioned.

-Blackstream

Will you, won''t you, will you, won''t you, won''t you take my virus?

-The Mad Hacker

Blackstream''s Webpage