hi, ive had google sketchup for a while now, but iv only just started making something that i will actually be proud of. i was curious as to wether anyone else had any finished or WIP projects using sketchup? threes a pic of the vehicle im on making. iv got the front section (minus wheel archs, they come later) and windscreen/roof and one door. comments?

Looks a little like an alfa romeo brera a.k.a pornography on wheels

Edit: Just had a proper look at that pic, and released it looks nothing like an alfa brera Your model still looks nice though

Why not just use a proper 3d modeling program? Sketchup seems to be pretty limited in what it can achieve :X

Quote from fragile_dog :

Why not just use a proper 3d modeling program? Sketchup seems to be pretty limited in what it can achieve :X

in about a month i have to start paying for driving lessons and fork out for insurance and tax and my girlfreinds birthday. thats why im not using a 3d program.



(IE, i cant afford it or i would)

Quote from Captain Slow :

(IE, i cant afford it or i would)

http://www.blender.org/

Quote from wien :

http://www.blender.org/

hmmm. only thing is that looks hard and im thick (well not totally thick, but when things get to technical) might give it a try out though. its entirely legally free then?

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

Looks a little like an alfa romeo brera a.k.a pornography on wheels

I've just had a test drive of one. Totally poor to drive, most cars could reach 60 before it reaches 35. As it's an Alfa most likely to break down so there is local garage numbers in the glove department of the test car (I kid NOT :schwitz And it also as practically little options to add on.














Hopefully I'll be getting one by the end of July though, it's just gorgeous

Google up GMax or if you want something like, 2 megabytes, look for ZModeler..

Quote from Captain Slow :

hmmm. only thing is that looks hard and im thick (well not totally thick, but when things get to technical) might give it a try out though. its entirely legally free then?

Yep. Open Source under the GPL license.

It can indeed be a bit hard to get to grips with. The interface in particular. But once you get how it's all bolted together it's actually not that bad. There are a lot of tutorials here that may help you along.

Plus the fact that any 3d modeling program thats worth while will always be a "little bit technical"

I've played a little with Sketchup for my shifter. I ended up just designing it in Autocad/Mechanical desktop (work).

I see lots of folks who design stuff like homebuilt shifters, pedals, or stuff like airframes in the RC flight hobby. Everyone seems to use some sort of 3d rentering/modeling program. I prefer to use a cad program myself (or Mechanical desktop, which is cad, but it does do it in 3d).

I actually started "building" my house in 3d with Mech. Desktop a long long time ago just to learn it. I started out with a 3D 2x4 stud and framed it all, framed the roof trusses, started putting sheetrock on the walls, but that's when I found LFS and haven't touched much else on the PC since, LOL.

IIRC, trueSpace3 was offered up for free. I don't know if that's still available, and I'm too tired to check right now (and I'm headed for bed).. but it's a nice and fairly simple environment with well-rounded IK and lots of very usable features, in-built rendering engine etc. Not quite a 3DS beast, but much more accessible than 3DS too, for a beginner. May be worth a look

hi, i downloaded blender this morning, but when i start it up i get the screen below. i havent actually used it yet as im just going to read through all the tutorials and everything beforehand to get to grips with it. can anyone tell me what the screen below means?

Says what it means, you haven't got python installed (a programming laungauge iirc) and that some scripts won't run with out it.

Quote from Mackie The Staggie :

As it's an Alfa most likely to break down

That's just wrong nowadays, IMO. The cars are great, just the dealerships are a bit hit & miss.

Quote from fragile_dog :

Says what it means, you haven't got python installed (a programming laungauge iirc) and that some scripts won't run with out it.

Yep. Works just fine anyway though. The window is just the debug console, so it can be safely ignored.

Quote from wien :

Yep. Works just fine anyway though. The window is just the debug console, so it can be safely ignored.

But python is worth installing anyway.

ah ok. no worries then. another thing if anyone out there uses blender, when youve made a render, how do you save it? silly question i no, but ive been following a tutorial i found and managed to make a sort of monkey thing with a fat belly and would like a pcture of it. the render comes out in good quality but i just dont know how to save it. anyone help?

EDIT: figured it out.

GMax - (no longer supported?)
ZModeler - (page full of cars? Somehow related to cars?)
Blender - (contains some Python stuff, and not very interested installing Python)
Freespace3 (3.2 - 1997...from stone age?)

Hmmmm...ok maybe you cannot get everything for free. I have experience with 3DS4 and I have some old 3DS4 objects. Anybody know if any of these load them? Even not sure if they are worth loading - maybe they looked much better 12 years ago than today

Quote from Aquilifer :

not very interested installing Python

One question: why not? My python directory is only 125MB, and I have a whole bunch of libraries installed.

One question: Why? not much uses python and if its not need, then its still 100+mb saved.

hi im finaly starting to come to grips with blender now. stil not daring to stray away from the tutorial i found, this is what iv managed so far (following tutorial). one thing, i did not make the monkey head, its pre made.

oh yea i know the rleft arms longer than the right hehe.

Quote from fragile_dog :

not much uses python

That's where you're wrong...
http://python.org/about/success/

Quote from wheel4hummer :

That's where you're wrong...
http://python.org/about/success/

Ok, let me restate that... not much uses python that the average user will find useful. They all seem pretty specialised.

Hah, Sketchup. Done some random stuff with it, not very powerful but very easy for simple, not-so-complex models.

http://img391.imageshack.us/im ... sjiegaretevragwageyv2.png