OK, since we always get people coming and asking for links of applications to start modeling or doing digital art, This sticky is going to be for any and all free or very low cost 3D and 2D applications you can think of or find.

3D Applications
<ul type="square">[*]Wings3D [*]Blender [*]Silo
(this one isn't free, but very low cost)[*] Zbrush
(again, not free but low-cost)[/list]

2D Applications
<ul type="square">[*]The Gimp [*] Art Rage [/list]
This is all I have, if you have anything to add, please do but make sure to include a URL to the product and whether it is a 2D or 3D application. Enjoy!

3D:

Anim8or:
http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html

I am not a big fan of it, but some pleople really like it.

Same goes for Milkshape3d:
http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/index.html
(not free but only 20€ I think)

P.S.: I think you should add that cheaper does not equal worse than full price apps, exspecially concerning Wings3d (and maybe also Blender)

You just added that, thanks. =]

How the hell did I forget Milkshape?...

http://www.jaquays.com/gameart/model_resources.html

Go thru Paul Jaquays site.

Blender.org's the correct site. :P

Don't forget the age-old Maya, XSI and Gmax limited versions

XSI foundation goes for nearly the same price as zbrush.

Its $495 usd.
copy&amp;paste of what it comes with:
-2 CPU mental ray® v.3.3 rendering
-Advanced Subdivision Surface Modeling
-Full Cloth &amp; Particles
-Standard Character Rigs
-NLA3 Full Nonlinear Animation, Audio, and Actions
-5-DVD Softimage Production Series

ps. the 2 cpu licenses for mental ray are worth nearly that price alone.

QME

Not sure of the price...but I THINK you can still order it from the links on this site http://www.xs4all.nl/~renep/quakeme/download.htm

It's still pretty good for doing some things, I still use it for building my initial shapes, poly by poly.

[ QUOTE ]
Blender.org's the correct site. :P
Don't forget the age-old Maya, XSI and Gmax limited versions

[/ QUOTE ]
Here are the links:
Maya Personal Learning Edition (3D software)
Softimage|XSI EXP (3D software)
Gmax (3D software)

UV Mapping Software:
LithUnwrap v1.3 Free (Old version of unwrap3d. You can't get it from the official site anymore.
Ultimate Unwrap 3D - Not free: $39.95

You may also want to check out the links section of the Ultimate Unwrap site: http://www.unwrap3d.com/links.aspx

Btw, maybe it's a good idea to update the first post with all the links that are posted here.

*edit* Thanks notman! I just updated the links.

Correction: The Ultimate Unwrap link should be http://www.unwrap3d.com/links.aspx [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Rather than use the EXP of XSI which is based on 3.0, you might want to use the HL2 one, it's based on XSI3.5 and has some improved tools etc.

http://www.softimage.com/Products/EXP/HL2/

Don't forget ORB

Free application that creates Normal and Displacement maps from high and low poly model sources. Works as a previewer too.

http://pixel32.box.sk/

Looks quite good and is cheap..

My fave normal map app

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/melody_home.html

Will preview and create normal maps from .objs and will make its own mapping if none is specified

Melody

Hash Animation Master. We were just chatting about this great little animation product at work today.
http://www.hash.com/products/am.asp

Tatoo a 3d paint tool that allows you to paint directly onto the model. Completely free for noncomercial use.

Tatoo

Inkscape is a free vector based program similar to Freehand and Illustrator.

I wonder if theres any free 3d(skeleton)animating program that will export the animation files to 3d objects because last time I fiddled around with anim8or, they didn't ahve that feature.

does blender do it?

GAMESPACE from CALIGARI (small baby of TRUESPACE)
http://www.caligari.com/gamespace/

you can find there also LIGHT version, which's free.

[ QUOTE ]
I wonder if theres any free 3d(skeleton)animating program that will export the animation files to 3d objects because last time I fiddled around with anim8or, they didn't ahve that feature.
does blender do it?

[/ QUOTE ]

try to use CHARACTER FX _ animation tool, it cost only 15$ !!! Easy to use.
http://www.insanesoftware.de/
animation export format into DIRECT .X ( ideal for DARK BASIC, TORQUE )... and there's also format for BLITZ.

You can look at one of my animation what I've done under CHARACTER FX - for DARK BASIC. ( still in WIP )
http://www.miseryproduction.com/alien_run.html

Can character FX be exported into game models like Quake3, UT2k4, Half-Life2, etc.

This program sounds interesting.

[ QUOTE ]
Can character FX be exported into game models like Quake3, UT2k4, Half-Life2, etc.

This program sounds interesting.

[/ QUOTE ]

unfortunately non , except if we will find a programmer to realize one plug-in, the SDK of this software is available on the website.
(I don't think that we can search the man here.) [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Pixia. Is good for 2d painting. I just don't like the way it Blinks whenever u undo. But that perhaps will be removed.
http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/

In the same line, Open Canvas. very cheap, my fav painter for my wacom.
www.portalgraphics.net
http://www.portalgraphics.net/en/index.asp
curiously, seems japanesse site has oc 4, and english only 3.x... and a 2d animated toon maker

I downloaded from someone an old free 0.72 beta. But the newer ones are really good.


I model with wings ( a just started orco ) and is my favourite modeller of all times.

I use Blender for animation and XSI Foundation...which is really good.

About Character Fx...You can export as X, or quake2 md2. You could in theory use Deep Exploration to convert an x file to other game formats. But Deep is not cheap. Max can import X since recently, I found a non translated site with an x importer supporting weights, bones, etc...I think there was no other before.

Blender can import md2 , full with animation, and export as md3 or md2, both animated also.Oh, and as x, md5, cal3d, Torque, and some more.

I have tested most of those and they work.

I prefer Blender to Character Fx, but Blender is way more complex to learn.

Milkshape is quite a good overall tool, but it supports no weights yet. While Character Fx and Blender, do.

Ok I found some more:

http://jpatch.sourceforge.net/

http://k3d.sourceforge.net/new/index.php

http://aoi.sourceforge.net/index

Art of Illusion
Runs just about everywhere since it is written in Java and supports animations.
But haven't really tried it yet.

One more I found:

http://icculus.org/freyja/index.html