If you''re on a serious budget, Milkshape is okay . What you''ll find eventually though is that it gets to be pretty limiting. The animation support especially is very limited. But at $25, if you''re on a serious budget, it''s the way to go. It''s what I started with.

GameSpace, which is what I use now, is a very good modeller/animator, IMO. It is a bit more spendy ($300), but way less than 3DSMax/Maya/TrueSpace, and unlike those packages, GS is geared specifically toward game development. It''s one drawback as far as I''m concerned is it''s native UV mapping interface, which, while doable, is somewhat horrific. Supposedly they are working on it to make it easier/better.

Milkshape is essentially designed to build models one poly at a time (yeah, there are built in primitives and extrude functions and the like, but without the ability to move around vertices in the perspective view, it''s just as time consuming to get them in the right spot as it is to drop down one face at a time). GS is designed to use primitives and extrudes, and does allow you to model right in the perspective view, which, once you get used to it, makes things much faster. Just to give an idea, I spent about two weeks modelling just the legs of my avatar in MS. Then I went to GS, started over, and modelled the entire avatar in 2 days (including learning the interface), and the resulting model is far better than what I had previously. So you can see it''s much more efficient in GS.

Of course, then I hit the texturing part, and it was like hitting a brick wall Hopefully they get that fixed soon. I haven''t yet done animation with the package, but I''ve seen the tutorials, and it looks pretty well done. Plus it supports animation sets (which MS3D doesn''t), which effectively is the reason I left MS3D in the first place.

So, MS3D is a good place to start if you''re low on funds, but eventually you''ll probably find you need something better.

And yes, you should probably do your own models, or have them done. Taking stuff off the web is just asking for a lawsuit Unless it''s specifically freeware *and* without copywrite *and* your project is non-commercial, I wouldn''t use other''s models.

quote:Original post by Dobbs
but I switched to Wings3D a while ago and haven''t looked back. It''s a dream to work with. It''s also free.

Last time I looked, Wings doesn''t support any sort of animation - one of the good things about milkshape is that its about the only cheap modeler that support skeletanal animation. (And can export to a whole bunch of animated formats like md2 as well as its own). I''m still keeping my eye on Wings though..

Milkshape is great for what its intended for - low poly models like game characters, weapons or other items. I wouldn''t try and use it as a level creator though.