Cool 3D tools - old and new!

[Melooon]

  Is there some cool 3D software you like to use? Obscure older/abandonware and open source softwares are especially cool!

A few that I enjoy or hope to enjoy:

• World Machine - this ones still updated but its been around for years - generates 3D landscapes! (Free version is fine)
• 3D Studio - the original 3D modeling program for DOS - still good for low poly work!
• Blockbench - Modern open-source low poly editor that does minecraft-style models!
• Bryce 5 - Only outputs 2D images I think, but the images are very cool 3D renders of weird spaces! - The newest version is 7.1 from 2010 and you can still buy it - often on sale for around 4 euro from DAZ - its also worth looking at some of the extra plugins they sell for it too if you are really into it (go to the DAZ shop and filter by software and pick Bryce) - Also here are some getting started videos!
• Poser 3 - For making early 00s game characters - I haven't tried this one yet, but its on my radar - this one is still activly developed and you can get v13 as of writing - its kinda expensive though! If you look on eBay/Amazon you can get older copies like 11 much cheaper!
• MacRenderMan - I do not know how to use this; but its the software made by Pixar for their very early films and if you want to make a pre-toystory style animation this would be the real deal!
• BlobSculptor - A lil program for old mac that allows you to crate blob creatures!
• Tree Pro 4.0 - Iv never tried this one, but its name rhymes! I guess it makes trees (for Mac Classic)
• LandSculptor3D - A lil landscape maker for classic mac made by a student, useful for small landscapes!

A general tip! Most old 3D modeling programs, even very very old ones can export .obj files that can be read by totally modern modeling programs like Blender!

[rhenn]

Haven't touched it in years but Sculptris!

It's abandonware so I can only find it on the internet archive now, but it was made by the same people who made ZBrush. It used to be available as a free download on their site as older software :) it definitely had bugs back when I used it but super easy to get the hang of.

[TheFrugalGamer]

These are all really neat! Here are a few that I've come across:

Plant Studio - I can't remember if I found this one here or not. It's an older program that lets you design and evolve plants
Asset Forge - This one's newer, and it's a bit like kit bashing, but in 3d. I've had a lot of fun playing around with it.
Cilgari/MS Truespace - I haven't played around with this one at all, but I was intrigued by the screenshots I saw on this page: Discontinued MS Art software. I can't really compare it to others until I mess around with it, but I thought it looked neat.

[Melooon]

Haven't touched it in years but Sculptris!

Plant Studio - I can't remember if I found this one here or not. It's an older program that lets you design and evolve plants

Omg these two suggestions are fantastic, I can totally see uses for these and they are really simple and fun

[Bumperdog]

I know a old 3d animation software called Anim8or, it's good for making old 90's cheap goofy CGI looking characters. From the looks of it has a lot of good features to make cool decent models, and the best part it's 100% free!

Fun fact: This software was infamous for being used to create the various 3d characters you see in the 2018 indie horror game, Baldi's Basics.

[loren]

• vertex meadow - tool that turns 2D .png files into explorable 3D environments
• bitsy 3D - a fork of the tiny adventure game engine bitsy that adds more colors and a 3D scene editor

both of these run in the browser and export to html! i haven't made any finished projects with these (yet!?), but i've had fun playing around.

[candycanearter07]

PicoCAD, while extremely limited, can generate some cute models.

[tanuki]

Holy COW 

This is just what I've been looking for!! I immediately recognize the images produced by Bryce. I believe both 3d-passion & Mike Bonnell utilized this program for some of their work.

I gave it a shot running through Wine on Linux, and it seems I was running into so UI issues on the editor. May give also try it out on my Win7 VM, but the RAM on that is only 6gb, so it might take quite a while to render.

But was able to produce this so far: