# Blender 3D



## mygrain (Jul 22, 2005)

Has any of you folks ever used Blender 3D...it's the king kong of open source 3d software...meaning it's a badass mofo and it's FREE!!! I just started my first baby steps with it last night. WOW! it is pretty freakin impressive and comparable to Maya. The controls seem limitless but are managable to some extent- time and practice will fix this. you can download it here http://www.blender3d.com/.

The site has been up and down lately so if you can't get to it- keep trying back because it worth every second of your spent time.


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## MDowdey (Jul 22, 2005)

havent tried blender, but ive tried just about every other one out there...

3dstudiomax
maya
lightwave
wings
shade
bryce
vue
terragen


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## mygrain (Jul 22, 2005)

How is maya...i've only seen someone working onit for about 2 minutes and nothing else. I'd love to get my hands ona copy of it but it's soooo expensive. I've heard good thing abour bryce and 3d studiomax. 

I've taken the 3d plung...my cousin is a programmer in CO and is trying to get me a job in NC doing 3D gaming work for a buddy of his so I am doing a crash course in modeling. I have the ideas but not the mechanics so he pointed me towards Blender. very very happy so far.


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## MDowdey (Jul 22, 2005)

maya isnt very user friendly. niether is lightwave.

most games these days are created mostly using proprietary software, and sometimes using 3dstudiomax.

they are very hard to learn, but it just takes time.

if you look hard enough at some of the vendor websites, you can find older versions of some of the $$ software.


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## mygrain (Jul 22, 2005)

Yeah and ebay usually has some stuff up real cheap too. boots? maybe. I've been eyeing the older maya stuff. Blender is pretty easy to use. Im walking myself through a newb tutorial right now and it's got alot of stuff going on but it's pretty damn friendly...reminds me of PS and Painter but with about 10000 more options.


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## santino (Jul 28, 2005)

i prefer 3ds max, maya really isn't user friendly.


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## mygrain (Jul 29, 2005)

santino said:
			
		

> i prefer 3ds max, maya really isn't user friendly.



3ds max isn't made for the MAC is it...that's the same dudes who make the autocad stuff right? And ass become the gaming industry's program of the  decade too right? I wish i could get my hands on a copy of it. 

I've heard maya is a mega pain to use but the output is what is desired the most. it's really expensive to. 

anyhoo i think i'm falling in wuv with blender :hugs:  :heart:   !!


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## MDowdey (Jul 29, 2005)

i just tried to download blender on my work computer and it gave me the fits. oh well, ill try it at home i suppose


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## mygrain (Jul 29, 2005)

wow really..that sucks. it works beautifully on my mac. hmmm... well atleast you can download software and put it on your cpu at work...i have toget permission from the IT folks here to put anything on my PC...It took two days for them to add Visio to this damn machine!!


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## thebeginning (Jul 30, 2005)

yeah it didnt work quite right on mine either.  it's a great little program though, that's for sure. i used to do that stuff all the time.  not much anymore though now that photography is my 'thang'.  i like wings better for modelling though.  i used 3ds max7 for a while, i got frusterated with it though and didnt have the time to learn it.


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## Scurra (Jul 31, 2005)

I've used blender before, It essentialy functions just like a slightly cut down version of 3DSMAX, the front end is a little less user friendly and relies a lot on the users ability to remember a lot of keyboard shortcuts (at least that was the case in the version I used). I haven't used Maya so I can't pass comment on that but I've heard good things about lightwave from my multimedia buddies.


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## Scurra (Jul 31, 2005)

Oh I just thought of another piece of (I think free) reasonable 3D creation software. It's called Milkshape, I used it quite a while ago and have forgotten a fair few details about it but i'll look it up and post back here when I have more info. Or you could just google it.


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## mygrain (Aug 1, 2005)

Milkshape huh...never heard of it but i will google ASAP. I've also heard of InkScape but I think it's PC only. 

As for the keystrokes in blender, you are correct-a-mundo. It does rely heavily on them but Im so use to using them in PS and Corel Painter 9 that it's second nature to me.


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## Onyx (Aug 18, 2005)

mygrain said:
			
		

> How is maya...i've only seen someone working onit for about 2 minutes and nothing else. I'd love to get my hands ona copy of it but it's soooo expensive. I've heard good thing abour bryce and 3d studiomax.
> 
> I've taken the 3d plung...my cousin is a programmer in CO and is trying to get me a job in NC doing 3D gaming work for a buddy of his so I am doing a crash course in modeling. I have the ideas but not the mechanics so he pointed me towards Blender. very very happy so far.



try maya 6 Ple its free but it has a watermark on he screen that is kinda annoying. it is full featured and isnt a time limeted trial like most others. maya is less intuitive but it is more powerfull IMO than 3DS Max or lightwave. most games rely on 3DS Max. Most movies rely on maya from what i have seen. a good example is the lord of the rings trillogy or the new king kong movie thats about to come out.


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## mygrain (Aug 18, 2005)

Onyx said:
			
		

> try maya 6 Ple its free but it has a watermark on he screen that is kinda annoying. it is full featured and isnt a time limeted trial like most others. maya is less intuitive but it is more powerfull IMO than 3DS Max or lightwave. most games rely on 3DS Max. Most movies rely on maya from what i have seen. a good example is the lord of the rings trillogy or the new king kong movie thats about to come out.



Thanks!! a hell of a lot!!!


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## bantor (Aug 22, 2005)

I have been using blender for about 2 years now off and on only.  It is quite capable indeed.  I have tried 3ds max and maya and for the part timer, in my opinion blender is the best. The price is right, they are always activley updating it and it can do some amazing things (especially with the new softbody abilities).

-bantor


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## mygrain (Aug 23, 2005)

hey bantor post some blender artwork if ya got some. I just finished my first tutorial animation...the gingerbread dude walking and holy freaking crap that is some impressive detail for an hours worth of work and most of that being rendering time. what sucked was i kept rendering the toon and my outposting was going into a temp folder and getting lost. pisser. I finally figured it ut and was amazed at the little program. I'm heading into the big boy stuff now...once i get something worth posting i'll do so as well.


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## Scurra (Aug 27, 2005)

hehe I did the gingerbread man tutorial as well. I don't think I rigged my skeleton right first time round though because his legs kept on flipping up behind his head


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