For those new to 3D...

[theKeeper]

... or those wanted to try it out without laying down a lot of money... here's a decent little FREE program that also has animation capablilities too: http://www.anim8or.com/main/index.html

Checkout the Gallery and Tutorials pages as well.

[theKeeper]

Here's another FREE one i just stumbled across guys... http://digilander.libero.it/giulios/Eng/Index.htm

It also has lots of support, tutorials, examples, and does animation also. Check it out too.

[Erik]

and www.wings3d.com , available for Win and for Mac, with pdf manual and lots of tuts. all for free.
yet I don't know about animation...

[theKeeper]

Wings is a great FREE program that should be used to explore 3D modelling, for sure. But it has a very limited rendering capability and no animation at all. It's not that far into development yet.

The 2 programs i mentioned both can render textures, have complex lighting systems, and support animation also.

But checkout Wings folks, it's VERY easy to learn and use. And will show you lots about how 3D models are constructed.

[dv8_fx]

Here's a few I found.....

http://a-i-studio.com/snowflake/
not 3d, but can generate cool looking fractal snowflakes.


http://bakhter.com/html/main/amapi4.html
free 3d software. .... there's a lot of links to free items offered as well..


http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/
create plants & shrubs for Vue...


http://www.uvmapper.com/
what's a 3d prog without a texture mapper (look for the free one)


Any LEGO addicts among you? Here's a cute one ....
http://leocad.org/win.htm

and a more powerful one.... but you still need the above leoCAD to convert the dat files to obj.
http://www.lm-software.com/mlcad/

(phew) and last- I use this to create line drawings in poesable 3d space for my architectural rendering work. This is a free demo with a one month(?) time use... Thanks for this stu....
http://www.sketchup.com/



vee

[Nikkie]

Vee & Mark Thanks !! another toy to play with

Nikkie

[Stroker]

Sorry, no time for links right now. Google friend!

Another alternative for the not-so-faint of heart is RenderMan compliant software.

There are some free RM compliant renderers out there, like Aqsis, Pixie, and BMRT.

Other things available like K3D, Ayam, and ShaderMan.

Wait...
One link:
http://www.renderman.org/RMR/OtherLinks/index.html