Truespace 7

3D Graphics creations are often perceived as requiring expensive software. Well, this is not always the case because the Internet is really a place full of goodies waiting free to use. With the skills, a designer or an artist can produce works (using these free tools) that are comparable to what professional tools can do.

I'll show you how to start a professional graphic design studio in 3D using only free software. To produce credible 3D graphics, tools must be able to perform various functions including:

1. Modeling
2. Rendering
3. Animation
4. Image Editing
5. Texture creation

Well, we need to replace the tools of his trade or free and open source equivalents.

The following is a reference to the free 3D graphics and various related resources that can be downloaded from the net.

For 3D modeling, rendering and animation there are at least two excellent free alternatives. They are 3D Blender and Truespace 3.2. You can have the 3D Blender from www.blender3d.com. Truespace 3.2 can be downloaded from www.caligari.com which is the homepage of the manufacturer of Truespace.

For reasons only specialized 3D modeling, Wing3D is an easy to use yet very powerful tool. You can get this software for 3D modeling from www.wings3d.com. What you need to do is to model your stuffs on this software and can then either export or blender3d Truespace. The file formats like 3D Studio (3DS), Wavefront (OBJ) and VRML (WRL) are all supported by Wings3D and can be used for exporting 3D models (created in Wings3D) to other programs such as 3D and blender3d Truespace.

Image editing and creation of textures, Gimp is an excellent tool. This image is a powerful tool for editing. It supports layers like most professional image editors. Its many filters are excellent for creating textures and image maps for 3D models. Gimp can be downloaded from www.gimp.org.

Less known as Gimp, but very pleasant to use is Pixia. It is a Japanese software. Fortunately, there is an English version. This tool is excellent for painting and is therefore useful for creating image maps for 3D models. Pixia can be downloaded from http://park18.wakwak.com/ Pixia ~ /.

Well, they are free equivalents that can do the job of commercial tools. Commercial software may be more convenient and easier to use, however, these free tools can do the job well. So if you're on a tight budget, this may be the way forward.