Tip #2157 - 3D Canvas
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3D
Canvas
I know that not too
long ago, I ran a 3D rendering program that I thought was absolutely unbelievable.
That was a program by the name of Blender.
Blender is an Open
Source, which of course means that it’s free to the public,
and does a good job of allowing the user to create objects in 3D. My only
concern was that the interface wasn’t the most intuitive as some
would like, which could be a little overwhelming to a first timer. I overlooked
this issue with the Blender, simply because it was such an awesome program,
and I didn’t even think there was an easy way to learn 3D basics.
Are you one of those
who tried Blender and found yourself in maybe a bit over your head? Have
you always wanted to try your hand at 3D rendering and just didn’t
know where or how to start? 3D rendering and animation programs can cast
you a healthy chunk of change for a program most of us would just use
for playing around anyway. Well, if any of the above sounds like you,
then today’s Download of the Week is right up your
alley.
3D Canvas is a 3D
rendering and animation program that is a free version of some of the
more professional oriented counterparts. The purpose of 3D Canvas is to
teach the casual user the basics of 3D rendering and animation. The program
basically holds your hand and walks you through over 30 tutorials describing
how to use the program. There’s no wondering where to start, you
just follow the tutorials in order and you should feel comfortable with
the interface and how to work with it. I ran through two of the tutorials
in about 30 minutes and created a short animation of a Zeppelin looking
something or other, and I had a blast.
In addition to getting
familiar with the tools of the program, you also get used the feel of
building and manipulating objects in a three dimensional environment.
When you get comfortable with this, you can go on to more powerful 3D
rendering software like Blender, or even the 3D Professional with a good
grasp of the fundamentals.
Besides the easy to
use interface, what really makes this program shine, is all the online
tutorials, over 30 in all. It’s almost like a workbook for 3D Canvas.
They start you off with the basics where you will build a model and animate
it within minutes. The tutorials really take the sting out of learning
a new program, especially one with the capacities such as 3D rendering.
There are other items
of interest at the site as well, such as, already rendered objects,
which include pre-rendered skeletal models. There is also texture
downloads you can add to the program's internal texture library. There
are plug-ins
for download, as well, to get extra functionality out of 3D Canvas and
FAQs. There is also a forum
at the site that they say is only for the two played versions of 3D Canvas,
but I have seen some posts on there referring to this product.
If this sounds like
something that you might enjoy, I highly recommend downloading it and
giving it a try. You would be amazed at how easy 3D rendering is when
you see it done.
Here are all the links
you will need to get started with 3D Canvas:
3D Canvas Download
Page
http://amabilis.com/downloads.htm
(Click the "click here" to download)
Free downloadable
models and additional textures:
http://amabilis.com/mediadownloads.htm#3DCModels
3D Canvas forums:
http://amabilis.com/6/ubb.x
Tutorials:
http://amabilis.com/tutorials.htm
Plu-ins:
http://amabilis.com/mediadownloads.htm#Scripts
FAQ’s:
http://amabilis.com/faq.htm
Forum:
http://amabilis.com/discussion.htm
Models:
http://amabilis.com/mediadownloads.htm#Scripts
~Chad Stelnicki
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