Help on animation software!

[icr82nz]

TRY ANIM8TOR. ITS FREE AND SIMPLE TO USE.

[negative9]

Anim8or, as said before: http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html , it's free, but I find the work flow odd - it just takes some time to get use to, it is also a modeler and has rendering, though they don't seem to be the softwares strong points...not sure about skinning.

CharacterFX, strictly animation, http://www.insanesoftware.de/ , $15 price tag, seems to be easy to animate with, though something was said about it's method of animation, that lead me to believe that it may not be compatable to render with other software packages.

OpenFX, A complete package: http://www.openfx.org/news/index.php , It's free, breaks down into alot of different componets, one of which being animation, but no active community.

Aztec 3d, a complete 3d package: http://aztec.sourceforge.net/aztec.php , free, looks promising, interface and operation very simalar to Maya.

Milkshape 3d, Complete package, http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ , $20, active community, but only allows one animation track at a time, there are some indepth workarounds for this. I like how it does skinning

K3D, Modeling, Rendering, Animation, http://k3d.sourceforge.net/new/index.php , Free, The best think I found with the software is it's macro recorder, which has lessons in basic 3d - showing you in the program how they are actually applied - hard interface though.

Blender 3D, Complete package, http://www.blender.org/ , Free, large community, tough learning curve.

There are a few others I've played with in the cheap/free market like Lightray3D (http://www.sxcreations.com/lightray3d.htm) , and one that I would love to play with, but I can't seem to get it to run on windows - Kludge3D (http://kludge3d.sourceforge.net/index.html) ( Anybody have an idea on this I'D LOVE TO HEAR IT!)

Hope that helps.

//negative9//

[Breed47]

WHOOW!

Thanx alot! That´s a pretty large collection of softwares. When I finish this mail I´ll try them out.
I´ve tried Anim8or, but can´t find out how to import .3ds or .obj files. All I see is the Anim8or file format.
Negative9, you showed me some interesting threads. I´ve searched the 3dlight shareware modellers page for equal, but you gave me more.

Thankyou very much!

[negative9]

On Anim8or, to import an object you have two options

ONE, go to FILE > OPEN and from the drop down select ".any"

Which will automaticly determine what format your trying to open up. (Supports: 3ds, Obj, and Lwo)

or

TWO go to OBJECT > IMPORT - select your format.

//negative9//

[Breed47]

Ok! Thankyou, I will try that.
Thanx!

[negative9]

goodluck, and if you learn anything pass it on:)

//negative9//

[macdonaldj]

As no-one else has mentioned it, you might want to give Art of Illusion a try (www.artofillusion.org). Supports subdivision surfaces, skeleton animation, excellent textures/materials and good quality rendering (including GI, caustics, DoF, motion blur etc.).

[Breed47]

WOW!
I thought the screen capture looked a bit sheap. Had no clue it had such quality. I will try that too. Thanx Macdonaldj!

[macdonaldj]

>>I thought the screen capture looked a bit sheap

?? which screen capture do you mean ? Is 'sheap' a compliment or an insult ? :)

[Breed47]

Well, ehum...sorry! I saw a tiny little image on the interface and moved on to the next program in the list at 3dlights homepage. I thought it was just capable of simplier modeling. I have in this moment downloaded Art of Illusion and it DOESN´T look sheap in a negative meaning. In fact, it looks very nice.

Sorry again!

[negative9]

I had tried it once. It must have been a long time ago, because the program and the website seems much larger than I remember.

I'll have to give it another go... the gallery looks amazing.

Great Renders.

Good set of tutorials availiable.

A manual.

I don't remember any of that being there when I was playing with the program.

//negative9//

p.s. Thanks for pointing it out again!

[macdonaldj]

>>I don't remember any of that being there when I was playing with the program.

Yeah, development is pretty good considering there's only one developer. A new version comes out invariably every 3 months. And being Open Source you can provide code, scripts, tutorials or even just ideas for future development (check out the SourceForge forum). Support (mainly from the developer himself) via that forum is also excellent.

Good luck with it.

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