3D Blender

[Sir Zack de Caldicot]

HEllo, I read DJ guide to unit graphics and he mentioned 3D blender, a free moddeling program for MTW, can I have some more info?

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif

[Duke John]

You want more info? Just follow the link to Blender 3D (http://www.blender3d.com) and the Blender 3D forum (http://www.elysiun.com/forum/index.php)

I've tried it, and I am sure it has the potential to be THE free program for making unit graphics. However I've been spending the last months trying to understand Lightwave, and I've finally gotten to the point that I am understanding it (up to a degree). So I won't dive into Blender 3D. Let me share some of my views about Blender 3D:

Is Blender 3D really free?
Yes. The blender community has coughed up 200000 euros to buy the license and are developing it with little reward but the occasional contribution.

Is Blender 3D of the same quality as professional programs?
I think not, I've tried to use the program and the makers made it work a bit different from what I was used from using AutoCAD, 3Dstudio and Lightwave.
The big problem with Blender lies in the fact that it's free and the developers are not paid. What does this mean? Well, I've read the forums and there are many complaints that tutorials and documents from previous versions are outdated and sometimes even useless because the next version is very different in interface.
I think this happens because the makers don't have the obligation to satisfy their custumers and make them pay for the next version. They can do whatever they want simply because it's free.
So no, Blender 3D is not the best in the market, but it's free and that makes up alot.

Does Blender 3D provide me new unit graphics with just a few clicks with the mouse?
Certainly not Blender 3D remains a modelling program that is able to produce a wide range of different effects and models. With this comes an even wider range of commands and you really need to learn to use a lot of them just to animate the simplest thing.

If Blender 3D is so hard, then why promote it?
It's free, and I am sure that there are some people in here who are not lazy and want to learn modeling just to create new unit graphics. If you want to succeed, you must put time and effort into it. You will need to browse tons of tutorials, just to get the piece of information you're looking for. It's not for the faint-hearted, but it's very rewarding when you're finished.

Good luck with it,
Duke John

[Marshal Murat]

Thanks DJ, Just one question
Do you have a guide as to create units with wire frame and such sort of stuff, little http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-dizzy2.gif
thanks

[Sir Zack de Caldicot]

Thanks DJ for the Q&A http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif