need a 3d modeling program

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This is a BIG problem, there are NO good solutions (Yet).

I also design electronics, so I KNOW how good software can be (how often does that happen?}
This is what happens when someone writes software to use themself.
A REALLY good piece of work, and open-source too: KiCad

So why don't we have something this good for mechanical design? I think "3D solid modeling itself" is "sometimes" part of the problem: it's just not even remotely needed for "most" work. And it makes things WAY more complicated and promotes excessive design. It was invented by Software Companies to extract money. Designers can already think in 3D, executives can not.

That said, Rhino seems to be the most favored, but it's way too much stuff, and I would still have to buy an excessive CAM plugin. I don't need to learn to draw all over again, I STILL draw with Cadkey Wireframe. But after using KiCad, Cadkey is a bit too-old, clunky, WinDoze.

So someone with "Clear Simple Vision" could start a project, LOTS of people (and programmers) want this. Code to start with already exists.

I agree. Blender's interface is a royal pain. But Maya isn't exactly a peice of cake either. Lightwave was the first 3D program I started to learn on (if you ignore coding in a text editor for final render in POV Raytracer) and I think it was the most intuitive for me. When I tried learning Maya, I struggled without much progress until I switched to Blender for a while. After learning blender a bit, Maya seemed so much easier. But even still, it's a pain.

My feeling is that if you want something that will give you decent 3D but without having to pay a few thousand dollars, you're going to have to deal with Blender's irritating interface. I assume you've downloaded the latest beta. I haven't tinkered with it since the UI overhaul, but it looks a little better organized.

I guess one thing to remember is that these programs are designed to do some pretty complex stuff. That complexity comes at the cost of having complex methods of manipulating data in 3D space, 2D space and as numeric data. Programs like 3D Studio Max, Lightwave and Maya, being supported by their high prices, need to have fairly efficient UIs. Blender, being free, can get away with being a bit whacky.

The beta seems stable enough for learning purposes. I think there are still a few things that are not completely implemented, but if you are not using those aspects of the program, they won't affect you.

One advantage to learning on the most recent version is that you don't have to un-learn things that apply only to the older version of the program. I still think there are some pretty annoying aspects to the UI and I will take Maya over Blender in most cases, but there was one job in particular where Blender ended up being the better program (because I could dynamically change 3D text just by retyping it. In Maya I had to build a new text object every time.)

By the way, what are your goals in learning 3D? Are you doing it with the idea of working in animation or is it just for fun?

As far as I'm concerned Blender is great as I've stated. I have used 3ds max and for a learner they are pretty much the same in their ability to model. whilst the tools are different they're interchangeable. You can still select edge loops, select vertices, faces, scale, rotate, move, extrude and so on. I agree that Blender's UI does look daunting, I'm in the process of learning it myself right now but for something that is open-source and you don't have to spend god knows how much money on, it's worth learning!

I'm using Blender 2.49 also. But it's always under constant development to improve it (another aspect that I like). If you don't want to worry about bugs then get an older version!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HomAZcKm3Jo[/youtube]

Let that be an inspiration to learn Blender

One thing I don't like about blender is that it shows a command prompt window. Also I still haven't figured out how to changed the color of an object.

Autodesk 3ds max (expensive) http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...&siteID=123112

Lightwave 3d (expensive) http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/

Autodesk Maya (expensive) http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...&siteID=123112

Cinéma 4d (expensive) http://www.maxon.net/index.php?id=18&L=0

Blender (free) http://www.blender.org/

Daz studio Hexagon (costs somewhat) http://www.daz3d.com/i/software/hexagon?_m=d

Swift 3d stand-alone (costs somewhat) http://www.erain.com/Products/Swift3D/

Milkshape 3d (free) http://chumbalum.swissquake.ch/ms3d/download.html

Sketchup (free but I dont really advise it, bug good enough for weapons in pep) http://sketchup.google.com/


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3DS Max 2010 is really the only way to go in my opinion, the interface is intuitive, and it's quite easy to start churning out beautiful stuff in a short time. I managed to learn it to a very passable standard within one year. Just remember though, any model you will make will probably take about 20 hours