Free *and* newbie-friendly modeling programs?

[EmeraldTiger]

Okay... *deep breath* I`ve decided that I`d like to get into modeling. (deep voices) Part of it is because I`m interested in making characters, etc. and another reason is due to the fact that many major games these days rely almost completely upon models.

Since it`s a stride into unknown territory for me, I`m looking for a program for now that is both newbie-friendly and free. Newbie-friendly because I`m just getting started, and free because I`m already investing my money for other, unrelated things like a Japanese program.

I know people talk about Blender a lot but I`m not sure how intuitive the interface is for beginners. There`s also talk about MilkShape but it`s limited to a trial (yes, I know they need to make money) and I`m not sure how much I`ll be able to learn in 30 days.

Is Blender a good choice for beginners? Or do you know of any other free modeling software that would work well for the beginning modeler? Thanks in advance.

[g0th-]

If you want a free program I would go for blender its not the most intuitive tool out there but its the best one you can get for free.
and with it you can checkout http://www.katsbits.com that has a lot of tutorials on blender and how to use it together with radiant. Should get you started quite fast with it.

[DaEngineer]

I use Blender myself and I think it's very intuitive. I tried to get into modeling myself many times and tried 3ds Max and Blender again and again until I decided to stick with Blender. If you want to use it, here's a short quick start guide to save you some unnecessary puzzlement.

1. There are two "major" versions of Blender. The old stable 2.49b and the new 2.56 Beta. Both require a certain version of Python to run scripts correctly. What I didn't know in the beginning: you need exactly the version of Python Blender wants, and not a newer one.

Here's a dowload for Blender 2.49b. Just make sure to pick the correct OS. The Python version 2.49b needs is 2.6.2.

Alternatively you can use the newer [urlhttp://www.blender.org/download/get-blender/]Blender 2.56 Beta[/url]. You can either choose to download only the installer or a zip package that contains Python 3.2 as well. If you decided for the installer, Python 3.2 can be downloaded here.

2. Without Tutorials you wont be able to get the hang of Blender yourself. I highly recommend to study the Blender Wikibook. Scroll down to see the table of contents. There's also a Blender Wiki.

edit: link fixed

[obsidian]

Blender is the only free and capable program that I am aware of. But being a full fledged modelling program, it comes with a learning curve and you'll just have to spend a lot of time learning to create simple box shapes before moving on to more complex models. Take your time, do lots of reading, no one learns to model overnight.

[EmeraldTiger]

Thanks for your responses.

I decided to go for the earlier version DaEngineer posted (for some reason I feel more comfortable using versions slightly older than the latest release) and am following the tutorials.

One thing I noticed is the lack of ability to import or export .md3 models. You can import / export .md2`s however... am I missing something?

[Theftbot]

For MD3's,ASE's check out kats site for the blender plugins:
http://www.katsbits.com/tools/
For q3 ver 2.49 has alot of scripts for modeling for q3.

[EmeraldTiger]

Thank you for the link.

I`m playing around with Blender and I have two questions:

- CTRL+C and CTRL+V seems to be non-functional - how do I copy and paste objects?

- How do I align vertexes to the grid if I want to make something like a perfect cube, etc.? (I know there`s probably prefabs, but it`d still be nice to know)

[DaEngineer]

Objects can be duplicated with Shift+D. If you duplicate them with Alt+D, both objects change when you modify one of them.

Holding Ctrl while moving vertices enables snap to grid. Misaligned vertices can be aligned by pressing Shift+S when the vertex is selected and chosing Selection Grid from the menu. The vertex will be snapped to the smallest visible grid line. If you want a vertex to have certain coordinates, press N while the vertex is selected and enter the coordinates in the boxes.

[Silicone_Milk]

You would put yourself in a better position if you start with the latest version of Blender.

The differences between 2.4.x and 2.5.x are so great that they could almost be considered two completely different programs.

[dONKEY]

Blender ftw....an Kat's a real nice guy.
Install Blender and hang out at Kat's bits.
That sounds quite wrong...hmm