If any of you don't have a modeler/renderer yet, trueSpace legacy version 3 is totally free to download (you'll probably get junkmail solicitations for registering, tho'):
http://www.caligari.com/products/truespace/ts3/default.asp
Don't be put off by the example art at their site Caligari has unfortunately chosen to display; you can do far better in very little time. It has Boolean subtraction and addition features, metaballs, renders raytraced shadows, full animation scripting and output, physical effects such as wind, and can import Illustrator paths for sweeping and stuff. And because it can export to dxf and a few other formats, you can add your creations to Poser and Vue.
The interface is Byzantine and the online Help is vacuum-capable, so I wrote some tutorials on my home page:
http://www.theboutons.com/truspaces.html
Rendering Targa files with an alpha makes it easy to make composites in Photoshop, but you definitely need to defringe the layer after you cut it.
Enjoy!
http://www.caligari.com/products/truespace/ts3/default.asp
Don't be put off by the example art at their site Caligari has unfortunately chosen to display; you can do far better in very little time. It has Boolean subtraction and addition features, metaballs, renders raytraced shadows, full animation scripting and output, physical effects such as wind, and can import Illustrator paths for sweeping and stuff. And because it can export to dxf and a few other formats, you can add your creations to Poser and Vue.
The interface is Byzantine and the online Help is vacuum-capable, so I wrote some tutorials on my home page:
http://www.theboutons.com/truspaces.html
Rendering Targa files with an alpha makes it easy to make composites in Photoshop, but you definitely need to defringe the layer after you cut it.
Enjoy!