I apologize for the delays since my last update I've been working very hard on many new projects and it's during the holiday season, so I've had many family obligations as well. With that out of the way let us begin this quick overview of this great program called Wings3D.
Wings 3D is an open source 3D modeler, and one of the first to use such simple and intuitive interfaces as to allow a person with no prior experience to jump in and begin development on a model. It's no surprise that many people use 3DS Max instead, but this is one expensive piece of software. If you are a beginner all the added functions can actually make 3DS more confusing then it needs to be.
With that said one of the most intuitive functions that can be found in Wings3D is the ability to sculpt your work as if it were a piece of clay. You can enter sculpting mode by clicking on tools followed by sculpt. If at any point you would like to try it out for yourself just follow this link to the Wings 3D webpage. The sculpt function can be invaluable in adding specialized details to your work and streamlines the process of moving faces and meshes.
I'm no pro by any means when it comes to 3D modeling, however, I would say my work speaks for itself if a Noob like me can create something like this, so can you. You cannot hope to understand the time and detail that goes into each model until you have tried to make one yourself. Whether it is for a movie, a game, or even a comic book rendering you are sure to enjoy the time spent even more so as the completed project begins to pop up on your screen. (BTW Wings 3D can use shaders to produce images for all 3)
Overall my first model in wings including, face, body, and quite a bit of detail took me approximately 8 hours. I did start with a model prior to the one I ended up with, but I didn't like it, so I scrapped it. After learning the Wings 3D functions, I knew I could do so much better.
In short if you need a good modeling program that is completely free to use, works on multiple operating systems, and utilizes 64bit technology, then Wings is for you. Unfortunately once you complete your model you will have to export it to 3DS if you wish to make it move.
There is a free alternative to 3DS Max called Anim8or which I have been using for a while now to make stand alone and moving models. Wings3D is capable of exporting to many different formats which gives you the possibility to export into a compatible format then import into Anim8or and add skeletal structure for making movies.
Downloads,
Wings3D
Anim80r