This is a list of some of the best freeware that is available out there for 3D. Many of them are open source, and other are freeware applications. They provide a way to start familiarizing with 3D with no cost, and some are really valuable tools for 3D and virtual worlds.
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3D Modelers
3D Canvas: Modeler for the POV raytracer. Design your POV scenes in a visual way.
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JPatch: This is a 3D modeler for POV or Renderman.
Sculptypaint: Create sculps for Second Life, that after all are .dxf files, and can also be used in other apps, like Blender, Wings3D, and Google Sketchup.
Moray: One of the most popular 3D modelers for POV.
Wings3D: Wings3D is another very popular 3D modeler that exports to many formats (3DS and VRML amongst others) and can apply textures and materials.
ShapeOnYou: A very interesting concept of 3D modeler. You can model something and insert a 2D view in a document. If you change your 3D model, the 2D image in all the docs that had it, also change.
CBModelPro: Organic modeling program, used to build humanoids, animals, or anything that has rounded muscles and shapes. The beta version is free and has sketch based modeling and blobs.
Anim8or: Anim8or is a good 3D modeler and animator with many tools for these purposes. Has a big community of users.
gCAD3D: Free CAD software for architecture and industrial design.
Blender: Blender is one of the most popular 3D modeler. Its interface is not as intuitive as others but it's an extremely powerful tool that is used on cinema productions. If you need a book to make its use easier, read this.
Misfit Model 3D: This is a modeler for Milkshape 3D, Quake, and OBJ. Can import 3DS and Lightwave.
Art of Illusion: We covered Art Of Illusion in an article. It's by far one of the most intuitive and powerful modelers for 3D.
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Posing Tools
DAZStudio: Free posing and animation tool for Poser figures and others made by DAZ, that can be used to compose scenes and render them.
MakeHuman: This project consist in something similar to Poser but free. You have a human figure that you can handle, and exports to obj and COLLADA.
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Render Tools
Terragen: I own a copy of this great software for natural landscapes, that is really worth buying for professional use. Anyway, for personal use, it is free. An excellent way to render awesome natural landscapes.
MegaPOV: MegaPOV is an improved version of POV, that adds more realism and some rendering improvements and tools to that popular and accurate raytracer.
Photo by Smws
YafRay: Free raytracer that can be integrate with Blender and get photorealistic images.
Photo by Eric Terrier.
PoseRay: Import 3DS or VRML and export to POV, and do other interesting things for POV-ray.
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Texture Tools
UVMap per: Apply textures to 3D shapes with the UV Mapping technique in an easy way using this free program.
Hugin: Make panoramas from photos. These panoramas can be used in virtual worlds as a background.
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Other Tools
FreeWRL: You can have VRML and X3D in your Macintosh using this free viewer.
WhiteDune: We covered this tool for X3D and VRML here in this article.
3D Box Shot Maker: Useful tool to make graphics of the box of your latest software or product for free.
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Room3d Desktop: Although there are other 3D desktop applications, this is somewhat immersive and fun to use. With a key stroke, you can toggle it.
Dryad: This application generates 3D trees for virtual worlds.
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4 comments
awesome softwares. :)
There is also a program called Albatross3D. It used to be called PPModeler and it is also free. It Exports to: 3DS, OBJ, Direct X, DXF, VRML, Virtual Light, SunFlow, Virtual Light, POV, & RENDERMAN. It imports 3DS, LWO, OBJ, VRML, DXF. I used it when it was PPModeler and it works well. A little hard to figure out in the beginning, but what do ya want for nuthin'? You can see it at: http://www.ppmodeler.com/index.php
Sketch Up? An excellent tool, with great interface.
http://sketchup.google.com/
Thanks for the suggestions.
Please continue suggesting more softwares, no matter if you're users or developers.
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