3D design and rendering for the noobert

[drysonbennington]

I would like to design my own 3d models of some vessels from star trek that I designed years ago. These ships are storied in the same manner as the "Ships of the Line" blackbook. The book that I am refering to is the one that has the Decatur prints in back of the book.

So any help on a basic, free version of a 3d modeler and/pr renderer would be apprieciated.

Dryson

[andyp]

the best 3d modeling/animating program out there that is free
would be blender
http://www.blender.org

[enzolima]

opinions are spread about which program is the best. but to give you a good view of which programs there are:

blender
anim8or
art of illusion
wings 3d

try to search wikipedia on these programs, test them out and find out which works best for you.

a quick overview:
blender
very versatile and full of features, however the amount of buttons is horrible.

anim8or
very simple and quick to learn, easy to model anything you like, but special effects such as glow and particles are not yet incorporated. particles and boolean substraction can be simulated using terranim8or. anim8or does not have very much features in general.

art of illusion
no info

wings3d
something like anim8or, no further info[/url]