Suggested polygon modelling software? (low budget)

I'm basically fed up with the god awful worse GUI on the planet that Blender has. It's killing me. I don't have the funds (or student status) for Maya or 3DSMax (I've experience with Maya though in the past). So I'm looking for some decent polygon (don't need sculpting) modelling software with a fair price (no more than $400 ish). Completely open to suggests!

 

Looks like Wings3D will be a good one to try and is even free. I basically just want simple polygon modelling and texturing. Blender is just overkill to me.. too much crammed into the UI causing a lot of confusion.

 

Found another called VoidWorld, which is also free that offers strictly polygon modelling. Very slimmed down UI for easy use.

If anyone has any other suggestions am definitely open to them. I've also considered Sketchup Pro, but from what I've read the models are not optimized for games at all.

 

Silo

 

Mmm.. What do you exactly mean by 'awful worse GUI'? What Blender version are you using?
Actually I found Blender's UI very easy to use
Also you can try K-3D, Google Sketchup, and More.

 

Silo isn't maintained, so no intentions of buying software that was last updated over 2 years ago. The original developers aren't on staff anymore, but thanks for the suggestion.

For me the GUI for Blender is insanely over bloated with features. There's just too much going on at once in my face and becomes overwhelming and confusing. If you've suggests for changing this then am absolutely open to suggestions. I'm using latest release of Blender, always.

Problem with Google Sketchup is from what I understand it has terrible optimization for games.

So far VoidWorld is looking pretty promising. I'll probably give Blender another shot, but just wish the GUI was cleaned up a bit and less cluttered.

 

While this is true, Silo is still a good and cheap modeler

As for Blender's complexibility. This is something you'd face with Maya or 3ds Max as well. If you want just model and texture stuff, I'd suggest to focus on these parts in Blender. Once you grasp the workflow, it isn't that hard. There are dozens of useful tutorials out there for Blender's polygon modeling.

 

If their spelling skills are anything to go by, I'd steer clear (http://digitalfossils.com/about.html)

In the "Free to <$400" range there isn't much. I second Silo - I own it and it's great. If you were using MacOS I'd say Cheetah3D without hesitation.

Other than that you're into the $1000 territory with modo and Cinema4D type products.

 

VoidWorld (aka Nvil) actually seems pretty capable to me, and the developers have done a lot to add features and usability. I think you still need something like Blender though as a complement to this type of program depending on what you are doing. For example, a tool like Nvil or Silo does not support animation.

+1 for Cheetah3D as well - I own a copy myself. It's actually pretty normal to use several modeling and animation programs, rather than trying to settle on only one. I'm finding Blender to be more friendly the more I use it, so for Blender it's just a matter of getting over the initial learning curve so that the UI does not seem quite so alien.

 

This looks pretty interesting also.
http://www.mirye.net/features

It also has a free version specifically designed for use with Unity.

 

I have tried so many apps for modeling (low and high price), but I'm every time back to hexagon.
For me the best modeling application .Also Its free

http://www.daz3d.com/products/hexagon/hexagon-what-is-hexagon/

 

I've taken a look at all the suggestions and believe I'll just need to push forward with Blender. It seams to be the only one considered functional and supported compared to the others. Until I've $1,000+ to spens will probably just continue to use it. Thanks everyone!

 

Took your advice and tried it. It's not free, but just $20 and am loving it! Very easy to get into! Will continue with this, thanks again!

 

Well, one of the benefits of Blender is that it is a full 3D package which contains everything that you need to create your graphics. And not a polygon modeler only. When you search for a full package for free then there`s nothing much left. The free Unity version of Shade 3d maybe. But this one was already mentioned, see the mirye link above. And it is of course not the full package, but a cut down version. You may miss the one or another thing here. There`s also still trueSpace around. But it`s out of development for four years now. That`s nothing to recommend anymore, even when i still do my polygon modeling in this dinosaur. And that was it basically for free.

For low budget there is the 3D package that DAZ provides. Carrara. Maybe worth a look too. And of course the more expensive packages from Shade 3d. Which can be considered as low budget. The full package with all features is still much cheaper than the base version of Cinema.

For Blender, you can customize it alot to make it more user friendly for you. Selection with LMB for example. Have a look into the user preferences.

 

Huh, Hexagon is not free anymore? Indeed. Odd. They gave it away for free for around nine months or so

 

I'll mostly be doing static objects so all the extra fancy bits weren't needed. I'm no professional artist so I'll leave the more important details to paying an artist to do them, but to make a ramp, stairs, wall, various other simple things I don't want to be knee deep in feature heaven to accomplish lol.

I haven't tried Shade 3D for Unity yet though. Does anyone know how it compares to Hexagon?

Yeah, but not a big deal as price was so minimal ($21 after tax).