trueSpace 3.2 a free download!
 

http://www.caligari.com/Products/tru...s/default.html

They'll ask you to register it so they can entice you with purchasing new versions but I've had no problem with them doing so and have already upgraded to version 5.2, last year. Currently I got an offer to upgrade to their latest version 6.6 for only $99. It's a stepping stone process. ;)

You also gain access to their user forums when you register.

You cannot get software as powerful as version 3.2 for free. And I have a feeling you'll be wanting to buy me a beer once you realize this.

The page above also has links to numerous free plug-ins, so feel "free" to browse. And that Kid's Network video tutorial thing is VERY easy to follow, even if the guy presenting it is a bit too flamboyant.

Have fun!

In case you didn't go to the link on the link I provided... :)

http://forms.caligari.com/forms/ts3all_free.html

if you just want to play around, you can also download blender:

www.blender3d.org

which is just as neat as truespace =).

Reminds me of the Unreal Editor. Try trueSpace. It'll put hair on your chest.

i will, THANKS FOR THE LINK!

what i do notice with some of these *free* editors is that they still don't have many of the render pipeline with advanced features (like renderman, etc.) like network with multiple nodes (AFAIK). i don't EXPECT to have maya, 3dsmax, lightwave-like capabilities but i do expect some emulation of sorts =). i expect a lot out of open source these days =).

truespace has been known for ages but even the latest version 5.x aren't really in the same league as 3dsmax, maya, etc. again, i don't expect them to because of price range, but... one only hopes of getting something out of nothing ;).

Version 7, coming out soon, is going to have realtime hardware assisted rendering. They show some examples on their site. Basically anything your videocard is capable of you can apply to the scene in realtime. I have no idea how this affects any renders to avi. I imagine it would be just as fast as if you were capturing it with a capture card.

Blender uses renderman? That's a REALLY old engine. Asymetrix 3DFX and Web3d used to use it and its triangle count was capped at less than 500,000, if I recall correctly. Asymetrix stopped producing that software in 1997. I cut my teeth on it.

blender uses the yafray (Yet Another Free Ray tracer) render plug in which gives photo realistic output. I don't know if it is network capable though. Animation Master has network renderiing for under 600.00 US. http://www.hash.com supports film look output too.

Since Blender is free, you can install on as many machines as you like and break up your scenes. Cludgy, but doable.

it DOES!:
http://projects.blender.org/projects/nitrox/

thank goodness for open source! =). i love blender.

And don't forget, it works on Linux. I know many folks here have never tried Linux but all the big houses use it somewhere in their systems. It's worth looking into if you want top speed out of Blender.

I played with Blender (even bought the books) for a long time. Incredibly light weight for the quality of renders you can get. DOF and decent lighting are fun to play with.

Still a 3DS guy myself but Blender helped me with a few extruded logos a while ago. Tiny program with a huge punch.

Try it on Suse Professional. You'll like it.

Sean McHenry

as i've said about blender in other threads, i think it's a wonderful way to start learning 3D since the skill sets you learn on one app often can be tranlated to another. it's especially useful for people who don't wanna spend a dime on any apps but just wanna get their feet wet. when they start to bump into walls on the tools they can expand and upgrade to 3DS, lightwave, maya, etc. =). i think it's awesome that open source allows this flexibility.

Yeah. The renders look nice from what I've seen. Still, using trueSpace for modeling and blender for rendering might be an excellent package. I tried to make something in blender but gave up, however I was able to import several things I've done in trueSpace. I don't know how the animation works in blender, though.