Note to users about two OSX modelling software packages

I've been playing with Silo as an inexpensive and very very fast polygon modelling program and am very impressed. Several of the modelling needs are very well met in the package (especially soft smoothing) and the US$109 can't be beat. Silo exports .3ds models perfectly for use with Unity.

Eovia has also got a new product for modelling called hexagon and it's also shaping up to be very cool. The movies on the site are amazing. It's currently just out at US$169 and a demo will be made available before May 23. Also, excellent support for .3ds export.

My $0.02.

David

 

I'll check those out, thanks.

I've personally been drawn towards using Blender because Unity reads in Blender scenes natively, and Blender has some good UV mapping tools. All of the other low cost programs I've found have been very lacking in those, which are pretty critical for games.

I also like to model Cheetah3D and then texture in Blender.

Cheers,
-Jon

 

I've never been able to wrap my head around texturing/mapping in Blender. I want a simple "drag the texture onto the object and it's applied" sort of mapping, rather than clicking various buttons hoping that I'll eventually turn on/off the right settings in Blender to actually get the texture to show.

But it's obviously operator error. :roll: I wish someone would write a three or four step clear and simple set of bullet point instructions on exactly which buttons under which F tabs to push and how to apply a simple texture to an object in Blender and then how to save that item (with mapping/texture) intact.

I also do own Cheetah 3D.

David

 

Yeah, Blunder certainly isn't pretty to start with.

I'm still quite new to it, but these video tutorials helped me out considerably:
http://www.blender3d.org/cms/Video_Tutorials.396.0.html

There is one on LSCM UV Mapping which got me rolling on the texture stuff.

Cheers,
-Jon

 

I've been playing with the Hexagon demo today and it has, for better or worse, a typically "Eovia-like" interface. too bad. It's pretty fast but the interface takes some getting used to.

Cheetah 3D does texture mapping perfectly and exports out perfect 3ds models to use in Unity. I'd recommend it for Unity users who can't afford Maya or Cinema 4D. I use Silo to create models fast in some cases because the modelling is more full featured right now tghan Cheetah, but now use Cheetah for the texturing and (more and more) modelling.

 

Top tips. Thanks!