Blender recently switched from a 'C-Key' system - whereby features became
available in the free version some time after they appeared in the 'commercial'
version - to really free, as in absolutely.  The latest version is v1.8, but
the all-new v2 is due out soon (they drummed up interest as SIGGRAPH) and this
will feature all sorts of bits and doings.

I actually haven't used Blender much.  Without documentation easily to hand
(e.g. POV's excellent help file) it's slightly awkward to learn - for me
anyway.  But, as Ken has said in this thread, it *is* capable of producing some
excellent results.  As with anything, it just takes time.

Now, back to my robot...

Bye.

Greg M. Johnson <gre### [at] my-dejanewscom> wrote in message
news:396DCE60.14839D61@my-dejanews.com...
| Is blender really free?
|

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TigerHawk wrote:
> 
> > I believe everything but the manual which they charge for. A lot
> > of people complain about the GUI interface being a bit unorthodox
> > which requires a long learning curve. Some of the stuff I have
> > seen come out if though is pretty impressive.
> 
> Really? I haven't seem very much in the world of scenes (object maybe) -
> I've seen some neat things, but not on the degree of Pov-Ray - have an eye
> candyish sites I can look at? :) (Though I swear by Pov when it comes to
> raytracing.

I don't maintain blender URLs in my links data base for obvious
reasons - it doesn't interest me.

-- 
Ken Tyler - 1400+ POV-Ray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html http://www.povray.org/links/

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> I actually haven't used Blender much.  Without documentation easily to hand
> (e.g. POV's excellent help file) it's slightly awkward to learn - for me
> anyway.  But, as Ken has said in this thread, it *is* capable of producing some
> excellent results.  As with anything, it just takes time.

Blender seems to have great features, but, yes the documentation is weird, and I
don't like the unsizeable window (on my old monitor I could hardly run it). I'm
sure you could make great things with it, I am just saying that I haven't seen
anything great, least not as great as the Pov-Ray IRTC entries (though I think a
few might have actually used Blender....hmmm)

Happy Tracing,
Tim Soderstrom

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Yes, this was my memory. I found the key system so annoying as to be a waste of
time.  Charge me $100 and give me the whole ball or forget it.

Alan wrote:

> Blender recently switched from a 'C-Key' system - whereby features became
> available in the free version some time after they appeared in the 'commercial'
> version - to really free, as in absolutely.  The latest version is v1.8, but
> the all-new v2 is due out soon (they drummed up interest as SIGGRAPH) and this
> will feature all sorts of bits and doings.
>
> I actually haven't used Blender much.  Without documentation easily to hand
> (e.g. POV's excellent help file) it's slightly awkward to learn - for me
> anyway.  But, as Ken has said in this thread, it *is* capable of producing some
> excellent results.  As with anything, it just takes time.
>
> Now, back to my robot...
>
> Bye.
>
> Greg M. Johnson <gre### [at] my-dejanewscom> wrote in message
> news:396DCE60.14839D61@my-dejanews.com...
> | Is blender really free?
> |

Post a reply to this message

You may also want to try 4d Builder, http://www.bitlive.com/
I have not tried it myself, but they say its good for fast proto-typing of
3d games.

C.J. POV User
www.crosswinds.net/~povstudy




TigerHawk <tig### [at] sticnet> wrote in message
news:396DE642.D1781201@stic.net...
> Thanks, I'll check them our for sure. To answer your question, the problem
with
> Pov-Ray is that without the actual program, it's nothing more than a
script-like
> file sitting on my HD :) I was looking for something that was easily
useable for
> on-the-fly animations (ie game style, or better put demo style) without
having to
> code a bunch of stuff (though now our coder is thikning of making his own
type of
> modeller, so he's going to be doing a crap load of work anyway, heh :P ).
>
> Thanks for the sites though, I'll be sure to check them out!
>
> Tim Soderstrom
> TigerHawk
>
> Alan wrote:
>
> > TigerHawk <tig### [at] sticnet> wrote in message
> > news:396CF0C9.5556CB42@stic.net...
> > | First, done misunderstand me - Pov-Ray is wonderful and amazing (as is
> > | Moray, btw). But for a current project I am undertaking, I need
> > | something that is more general - for on the fly based rendering so I
> > | need a general format for objects (not scenes, but actual objects).
I've
> > | been hunting around the povray links page and have yet to find
something
> > | that might work for me (aside from sPatch, but I also need more
precise
> > | inorganic objects that can be done in sPatch, but not easily :) so I
was
> > | hoping someone could direct me somewhere to a freeware, or better but,
> > | no cost modeller that can output in more standard file formats (even a
> > | RAW would work :)
> >
> > Have you seen Blender?
> > http://www.blender.nl/
> >
> > Here's a page with a big list of mesh generation software:
> >
http://www-users.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/~roberts/software.html#public_dom
ain
> >
> > I wouldn't worry too much about file formats as you could always convert
them
> > later using, for instance, 3DWin:
> > http://www.stmuc.com/thbaier/
> >
> > If it's non-organic objects you're after, why not use CSG modeling
within
> > POV-Ray itself?
> >
> > Bye.
>

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> You may also want to try 4d Builder, http://www.bitlive.com/
> I have not tried it myself, but they say its good for fast proto-typing of
> 3d games.

Cool, thanks - I'll be sure to check that out (screenshots look pretty nice, I
must say)

Tim Soderstrom
PsiTron / TigerHawk

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Ken wrote:
> 
> "Greg M. Johnson" wrote:
> >
> > Is blender really free?
> 
> I believe everything but the manual which they charge for. A lot
> of people complain about the GUI interface being a bit unorthodox
> which requires a long learning curve. Some of the stuff I have
> seen come out if though is pretty impressive.
> 

Information from Linuxtag:

Blender is going to be Opensource. The will throw away the key system
with.
Here in Germany you can buy books that have tutorials on Blender. I
don't know how the compare to the original ones in pricing and content.

Marc

-- 
Marc Schimmler

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No Prob. Let us know how it goes.

C.J. POV User
www.crosswinds.net/~povstudy

Post a reply to this message

> Blender is going to be Opensource. The will throw away the key system
> with.
> Here in Germany you can buy books that have tutorials on Blender. I
> don't know how the compare to the original ones in pricing and content.
> Marc Schimmler

As of version 1.8 Blender no longer has the C-Key, all features are enabled.
Also version 2.0 is due out in a week or so.


C.J. POV User

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Heahe, will do!

Happy Tracing!
Tim Soderstrom
PsiTron / TigerHawk

"C.J." wrote:

> No Prob. Let us know how it goes.
>
> C.J. POV User
> www.crosswinds.net/~povstudy

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