3D Editor

[ajcompany]

Does anyone know of a GOOD, FREE 3D editor that can export in .x and .3ds? I'm trying to make a DirectX Game, then do some ads or something in 3DFA. No offense intended to 3DFA, but their 3D editor is not the best.

[blanius]

Originally posted by ajcompany
Does anyone know of a GOOD, FREE 3D editor that can export in .x and .3ds? I'm trying to make a DirectX Game, then do some ads or something in 3DFA. No offense intended to 3DFA, but their 3D editor is not the best.

The only free one that I'm aware of is Anim8tor at
http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html

It's pretty nice, but I had problems loading in the 3ds files into 3dfa.... I'm hoping it gets worked out in next version of 3dfa.

There is also Blender but it is really hard to figure out and use and it does not directly output 3ds files so you havae to find a conversion program as well. Blender offers AMAZING features if you can figure out how to use it.

[ajcompany]

Thank you Bret. Also, what is the url for blender, and is it free? Thanks for your help.

[blanius]

Originally posted by ajcompany
Thank you Bret. Also, what is the url for blender, and is it free? Thanks for your help.

http://www.blender3d.com/

[ajcompany]

thanks.

[overholm]

Blender is down with economic problems. But you could try Strata3d wich is free, too. And powerful:
http://www.strata.com/

overholm

[blanius]

Originally posted by overholm
Blender is down with economic problems. But you could try Strata3d wich is free, too. And powerful:
http://www.strata.com/

overholm

No don't do that. It WAS free and POWERFULL now it's crippled. I used to have it and when I upgraded I could no longer use MANY of the features I was accustomed to without buying it. However if you are in the market to BUY a 3d pkg it's great and probably the best bet for the money

[tomkat42]

I have used OpenFX in the past which seemed to work well with 3dfa. Openfx is free. I did have problems importing the 3ds files into 3dfa, but after re-installing 3dfa seemed to work fine. One word of caution. If your model has moving parts such as a figure, or if you have multile colors or texture maps. Then you will need to export/import the models parts into 3dfa individually (ie; arms, legs exct). If you have any problems importing 3ds models into 3dfa, export them as wrl's and open them with 3dfa then save them as .model. You can download Openfx at http://download.com

[dkerr]

Hi guys - glad you found something usable. Keep in mind, 3dfa is really just a viewer for 3d, rather than an editor. unfortunately, not sure we're going to have the time to revamp the 3d in v3.6, but most likely next major release, v4

cheers

[blanius]

Originally posted by tomkat42
I have used OpenFX in the past which seemed to work well with 3dfa. Openfx is free. I did have problems importing the 3ds files into 3dfa, but after re-installing 3dfa seemed to work fine. One word of caution. If your model has moving parts such as a figure, or if you have multile colors or texture maps. Then you will need to export/import the models parts into 3dfa individually (ie; arms, legs exct). If you have any problems importing 3ds models into 3dfa, export them as wrl's and open them with 3dfa then save them as .model. You can download Openfx at http://download.com

OpenFX looks great! A little hard for guys like me to figure out but, I may get somewhere.
The link for those interested is
http://www.openfx.org/news/index.php

Also on the Blender side.... NAN the people behind Blender has gone bankrupt and the future is unclear but it is a very good program and can be downloaded at
http://www.elysiun.com/download.php

[3DBB]

Hi,

Here are a few open source packages that look good.

This is a java rendering and modeling program. I have not used it but it seems interesting. http://www.artofillusion.org/

Wings3D is a subdivision modeler. I use this one it is quite good. You can export .obj .3ds and some others.
http://www.wings3d.com

[goodwin2]

one problem I found with anim8or is that when exporting to .3ds or any format for that matter, the program names the file: whatever.3ds.an8, an8 being the programs proprietary format.

3dfa wont load the format, i dont think 3dfa is at fault.

hope it helps,
DuB

[blanius]

Originally posted by goodwin2
one problem I found with anim8or is that when exporting to .3ds or any format for that matter, the program names the file: whatever.3ds.an8, an8 being the programs proprietary format.

3dfa wont load the format, i dont think 3dfa is at fault.

hope it helps,
DuB

No it dosen't! I've done it numerous times. And the current Version of 3dfa loads the files fine.