Ask something - We can help.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I don't believe this question warrants it's own thread, since I imagine there are only a hand full of applications that fit my needs.  So I figured I'd ask here.

What is a VERY EASY 3D Character Modeling Program? (Free or not)
I plan on making a few characters with basic detail, nothing too extreme.  Basic shadows, and texture mapping is all I need.  I don't have a lot of 3D experience.  The only 3D programs I've really played with are: Halflife Hammer editor, Rhinoceros 3D (a little), and Google Sketch.  I've never really touched any complex shapes much beyond rectangles, cylinders, etc.

Here's an image I found with pretty much the size and simplicity of a character I hope to create:

And if I had to touch up the frames in Photoshop, so be it.  I pretty much just need something that I can easily create walk cycles, or action scenes with.  It more than likely won't be limited to the Human skeleton, probably some funky aliens too.

It would be really cool if there was an ability to save the camera coordinates so that all the characters are on the same viewing angle.
Also I'm not 3D stupid, just inexperienced.  If it's an easy, worthwhile program, I wouldn't mind spending the time it takes to learn it.

(It's for my super secret project--and no, I'm not making some kind of warcraft or oblivion type game, even though the image resembles them) 

[Anian]

Don't know about the camera thing, but I think that can be worked out with something like making a 3d rig - just some shapes put together so you know where you should put the camera and an X (or a dot) where the character will be - that way you know where to put the camera etc.

There's 3d Swift, it's a flash animator, but it's relativly easy to get to work with, though it doesn't have skeletal animation (at least I don't think the new versions still don't have it). It is in the non-free category.
There's Anim8or - this one is actually free and it uses cylinders and basic stuff like that. Haven't actually tried it but it looks okay. If you really aren't going for too much details and such, then it might be just the thing you're looking for. http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html
And there's a bunch really beginner tutorials on their website, so it look easy to get into: http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html

[Crimson Wizard]

Allright, here is the question I don't know whom to ask...

For those who ever played Arcanum of Magick and Steamworks Obscura, you may remember that the zeppelin you're flying in the introduction is called IFS "Zephyr". So what the hell "IFS" stand for?

[Anian]

Inflatable flying ship? ...just guessing.

[Synthetique]

I don't believe this question warrants it's own thread, since I imagine there are only a hand full of applications that fit my needs.  So I figured I'd ask here.

What is a VERY EASY 3D Character Modeling Program? (Free or not)
I plan on making a few characters with basic detail, nothing too extreme.  Basic shadows, and texture mapping is all I need.  I don't have a lot of 3D experience.  The only 3D programs I've really played with are: Halflife Hammer editor, Rhinoceros 3D (a little), and Google Sketch.  I've never really touched any complex shapes much beyond rectangles, cylinders, etc.

Try Zbrush. You can model, paint and rig to a skeleton for posing. The program can be very easy or very complex depending on what you want from it. The best thing about it imo is that the workflow is really fast and allows for my creativity to come to life without much setting up. There is a great community and lots of helpful tutorials on their site.

http://www.pixologic.com/home.php
http://www.pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/

[Ryan Timothy B]

Anian:  Anim8or seems pretty easy to use, but almost too simple. I don't think I'll be giving this one a go.

Synthetique: I don't think I've even heard of Zbrush.  It looks awesome, also quite simple to use.  I checked out every picture they had to promote the program (which there are hundreds and hundreds of images).  I'll definitely be downloading this to see if I like it or not.

Thanks.

[Synthetique]

I would like to store some character files so that people can download them. It's for the contribution thread. Does anyone know a good free host?

[Stupot]

My friend told me yesterday about a program he uses called Blender.
It's freeware and he says he prefers it to Maya, which is used in Hollywood and costs thousands of Dollars.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I've heard of both Blender and Maya (and I've seen Maya in action), just haven't ever heard that Blender is better.

Anyway, I was bored today and wanted to make my first Zbrush dude.  I copied Simon's idea of a squid, the guy from the Pixologic website.  I didn't make it to copy him, I made it to experiment and learn.  And figured a squid with multiple tentacles would be the best place to start.

Here's my odd looking squid thing: http://www.bryvis.com/entertainment/other/agsf/first_zbrush.png
(Pretty lame, but good for a first real go at Zbrush-I'd say.  Took me an hour to make those eyeballs, and they suck! haha)

It's too bad there aren't any animation programs that you can create characters as easily as you can in Zbrush, and animate the limbs as easily as you can move Zspheres (but obviously with limb length limits).  At least I've never heard/seen of it.

[Synthetique]

Heheh that squid is pretty cool. ^^
You can animate in Zbrush but it's not like in other 3d programs. There's a tutorial on the forums called something like "animating using layers". Go check that out.

[m0ds]

A random question for anyone from Norway... Do you live in Sadnes? I'm just trying to prove it's a small world...af...ter-all.

[Bror_Jon]

I'm not from Norway (close by though) but, why do you think they'd be sad?

[Andail]

Jon, please don't tell me that was an intentional pun...

[Stupot]

It's an international pun

[InCreator]

A question:

Why do people use hexadecimal? Especially when mentioning specifics about computer memory?
I understand the usage of binary, since it's the base of nature, but hex???

Does it have some crazy benefits or it's simply so because some nerd started to do so back in 70's?

[Babar]

I think it is because it is relatively easy to extrapolate the binary from a hexadecimal number, but it is much shorter. So instead of typing:

1101010100010001

I'd just say D511.

Whereas if I had said "Location 54,545", it would be understood, but harder to convert that back to binary.

[Crimson Wizard]

A question:

Why do people use hexadecimal? Especially when mentioning specifics about computer memory?
I understand the usage of binary, since it's the base of nature, but hex???

There are some interesting peculiarities of hex. I may not recall all of them right now, but take this example. A byte may contain an integer value from 0 to 255 inclusive. In hex it is 0 to FF. So, instead of using three digits and have a nonround number as max, you can use only 2 digits and number that looks like "round" one as max.
That may be the case some use hex to name colour hues, like 0xFF0000 is bright red (instead of 255-0-0) etc.
Futhermore, two bytes contain 0 to 65535 in decimals, but 0 to FFFF in hex. See? Round number again.
Same, four bytes contain 0 - 4294967295 in decimals and 0 to (you may guess that) FFFFFFFF in hex.

Another example is more programming-related. Hex is more convenient way to name some of the key binary values, like flags: these are values which have only single bit set as 1 and others as 0 (these are used widely for certain logical calculations).
In binary they are: 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 1000000 and so forth. In hex they are 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 20, 40, 80, 100 and so forth, but in decimal they are 1,2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024, etc. As you may notice, hex numbers are much easier to remember than decimals.

Well, perhaps Babar explained all this simplier way

I think it is because it is relatively easy to extrapolate the binary from a hexadecimal number

I just wanted to show some samples.

[Paper Carnival]

Nobody mentioned the reason it's so easy to convert to HEX from binary.

1011011111100011010

You simply split the binary number every four digits starting from right, then you convert each four digits to the corresponding hex number

101-1011-1111-0001-1010

5-B-F-1-A.

With minimal experience, you can instantly convert 4 binary digits to a hex number and vice-versa.

[Gudforby]

A random question for anyone from Norway... Do you live in Sadnes? I'm just trying to prove it's a small world...af...ter-all.

I'm from Norway, but I don't think there is a town here call Sadnes.. You might think of Sandnes?

Well, there goes the sad part...

Anywho... If you mean Sandnes, I live around 20 minutes from there...

[SSH]

I'm only 22 years old... in hex. That's another good reason to use it! Octal was used in the past for similar reasons, but doesn't fit quite so neatly for multiples of 4 binary digits, such as most computer addresses. However, its great for UNIX file permissions:

chmod 754 /somedir

Means: 111 101 100 and since each set of three is Read/Write/eXecute and then the sets are Owner, Group, World it concisely expresses a 9-bit value