Does anyone know a good/easy/free/open 3d modeling program?

Question

Hello, Does anyone know of an easy 3D modeling application like sketchup but is opensource?

I don't have time for learning blender ( guess I never will ):

and I'm a fan of having multiple small tools do their part of the job ( first cut the plank using the saw the nail it using the hammer :) ).

Edit: I also might need to do some modifications to the application, for an example I want to be able to preview my GLSL shaders directly at the model. I want also be able to cut the model in half ( or as many cuts as I want to ) and have it saved in my own fileformet.

I does almost only know C++, done some hacking in other langs to.

Ask me if I'm unclear with my askings :)

Edit2: I'm not a GUI tool programmer and have never done anything like a 3D editor, the most tools I've mada have been consolebased. Does anyone know a good startingpoint for a 3Dtool? ( like nehe.gamedev.net but for 3d tools instead of 3d games )

Answer 1

Not sure if it helps, but you might look at Wings 3D. Also, Blender is not that strange once you spend an hour working with it :-)

Answer 2

Anim8or is not open source and is windows only, but is really easy to use, and has very good tutorials.

Answer 3

Blender is the only decent one I know, why not taking a look in Youtube/Vimeo on some tutorials? There are plenty and it's quite fast to scrap with Video tutorials.

Answer 4

I rememebered that Truespace 3 used to be available for free. - Whilst checking out Caligari's site to check if this was still true....I notice that 7.6 is available for free.

Theres a letter from the founder of Caligari - explaining the reason for this - and advising people to download and backup the installers. Hopefully if the 'slump' turns around Microsoft will reinvest and make this product available again.

But for now 7.6 + SDK + video + tutorials are ALL FREE

http://www.caligari.com/

Answer 5

Blender's OK, if a little quirky but does have a nice plugin architecture and a few nice utilities like mesh unwrap ( saves hours of UVing time ).
I'd highly recommend the SoftImage Mod Tool - it's basically the full version of SoftImage with a minor few restrictions on stuff like max mesh count. It also has nice XNA integration too.

Answer 6

Personally, I'd say skip all the open source apps, go download either 3ds Max Learning edition or Maya Learning Edition, take a few years off. Just jump into the deepest end you can, and if you stick at it long and hard enough; you might just become a 3d artist. There is NO shortcut, forget the 'easy' stuff. Just my 0.2 Cent

Answer 7

I recommend AC3D but it's not free ($80) though pretty affordable I think. There is an plugin API to do extra stuff too.

Answer 8

THere is no such thing as easy 3d so get that notion out of your head right now. You are gonna have to sit down and learn one platform or another at some time, why not now? Nothing is for free in the end but hard work pays off .

I started at zero two months ago and I'm building scenes now (with premade models) and animating now.

If you don't have the time don't bother because you will just get frustrated with your results.

TO use your analogy, if you don't know how to hold the hammer how are you gonna nail?