3D modelling software

On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:01:20 GMT) it happened snipped-for-privacy@astrolink.com (Bill Keppler) wrote in :

I use Blender, but it has a very steep learning curve. And yes it can do animations.

I like AutoCAD and SolidWorks. But, both are pricey. AutoCAD probably has the shortest learning curve.

Corel makes a poor-man's product (name escapes me -- Dream3D?) that might be suitable for your needs as it is targeted to the types of folks who would use PhotoPaint (Corel's version of PhotoShop).

MetaCreations (Kai) makes Bryce which is a bit too weird for my tastes :-/

You can also look into trueSpace but the user interface is very un-intuitive.

I think even MS makes something in this market.

(most of these run on Wintel boxes)

Solidworks, Catia, SolidEdge, Autocad, etc are "industrial standards". These packages do way more than just 3d modelling but also generally some type of rendering and/or simulation.

If you plan on spend a lot of time in this area you might "invest" in one of those packages.

Google Sketchup has free and cheap versions.

ViaCad 3D is cool, $100 or so.

John

Some options:

There's Wings 3D. Supports several import and export formats in addition to its native format. Free, so it's worth a try. The "native" 3D part models in the EDA package KiCad are all done with Wings 3D, which is where I ran across it.

Google also has one (hands up, whoever is surprised). I've played with it a little.

And there is (supposed to be) a free version of Alibre Design. As noted

Alibre doesn't make a lot of noise about this being available but AFAIK it is still there.

And in addition to these, most modern 2D CAD programs will support more or less 3D rendering. Look for the ability to handle ACIS solids or, at a minimum, extruded and rotated faces. Most of the Intellicad family should have this capability, AutoCad (presumably ;-), Bricscad, etc.

Just downloaded Blender the other day. Interface is a little lean but there seems to be plenty of documentation.

"Industry standard" together with "as simple as possible" is impossible :-) I use ViaCAD for mechanical parts. It is very easy to use and powerful. An example I created with it:

For sculpting I use Blender (

Blender is more difficult to use, but you it is possible to do animations and water simulation with it:

POV Ray? Maybe in combo with Moray?

This would be the opposite of easy to use :-) But if you are a programmer, you can do nice pictures with it, without much code:

On a sunny day (Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:21:31 +0100) it happened Frank Buss wrote in :

Sleeping aliens?

No, the UFOs are empty and on autopilot (the mother ship is on the back side of the moon). This is a shot from an on-board camera:

The warp field distorts the look through the window (or maybe the high ior value in POV Ray for the index of refraction of the glass).

Alibre's "free" stuff is all bait-and-switch. ...and don't give them an email address that you don't want spammed forever.

Well, not *quite* forever. I did, and they did, but the enticements finally stopped about a year ago. ;-)

What I do is create an E-mail address, so I can be validated. Download the freebie. Then delete the E-mail address. ...Jim Thompson