[WMCoolmon]

Preferably compatible with FS2...

[Wanderer]

Well Truespace (3.2) is one, though it actually fills only the 'free' part of the demand list and perhaps a bit of the 'modelling' part...

Good list is in Kara's FAQ

[Vasudan Admiral]

Just for modeling?
Blender! www.blender3d.org

Though if you want to go the whole way, I'd suggest a combination of Blender for the modeling, Truespace as a model heirarchy & misc operations manager and Lithunwrap to do all the UVing & texturing.

[KARMA]

if you just want to learn modelling then you should choose the best program for your needs regardless of fs2, which would probably be xsi maya or 3ds limited (free) versions, since they'll let you learn something of a widespread powerful program.
If you want to learn modelling just for fs2 then it'd be probably better to stick to max or ts6 (or higher) to cut the conversion procedure between different modelling formats. None of em are free but you could ...ehm... easily find em for free...or maybe buy used versions for few bucks.
If you don't want to model but make only minor modifications to already existing models (hierachy..) ts 3.2 (free) should be fine
Anyway, the other free 3d progs are blender and wings3d
 

[Roanoke]

GMax

[redsniper]

Once you figure out Blender's interface and get the hang of it, it's really quite awesome. Plus you can easily make nice pretty renders of your spaceships and whatnot.

[Mars]

Didn't Autodesk stop offering GMax for free.

[DaBrain]

Wings 3d!

It's the easiest modeling programm I know and you can model with it really fast. It has a really nice UV mapper included to. Compact, but very powerful.

[Roanoke]

Didn't Autodesk stop offering GMax for free.

Dunno. Loads of (legal) copies knocking about though.

I think Maya PLE is avaliable free too, though I don't know how it'll take with FS.

[Grug]

Yeah, I've seen some nice things come out of Wings 3d.
<Link>

Plus its free, relatively simple compared to some too.

Blender is another good one, though throws you in the deep end pretty much, there are some nice tutorials out there though it can be a bit of a learning curve.

[WMCoolmon]

And after a couple of hours in Blender...

(Attachment)

Looks like it even imports with POFCS properly, although I don't know how to give it a texture yet.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Grug]

Hehe, nice start.

Blender is probably the better way to go if your going to get seriously into modelling / texturing. Make sure you put the effort towards learning how to texture properly.

So why the sudden urge to whip out a modelling program?

[Cobra]

Just for modeling?
Blender! www.blender3d.org

Though if you want to go the whole way, I'd suggest a combination of Blender for the modeling, Truespace as a model heirarchy & misc operations manager and Lithunwrap to do all the UVing & texturing.

Ditto.

[supernova]

I've seen several mentions of Gmax here...and you still can get a copy for it, but Autodesk has ceased it's "support" meaning there will no longer be newer versions coming out...however, I'm not sure if there is an exporter that has been made for the program.   Gmax is a great tool, but is really limited, as it will not export to .3ds, or any other format other than it's proprietary format...unless someone has made an exporter for it.

You can download Gmax for FREE at this link: www.turbosquid.com/gmax

Like I said...it's not being upgraded, so you're stuck with Version 1.2 forever, but it's the same great modeling atmosphere as 3D Studio MAX, it's exactly the same tools(but you can't render scenes) and it's free.

If there is an exporter for Gmax...i strongly believe we should push in that direction as TrueSpace is a thorn in any moddelers side.   Caligari shouldn't be allowed to charge money for future versions of their software if it continues to be so...."inferior" to products like Max, Maya, and Cinema4D

I would stand to claim that 3D Studio MAX(or GMax) and Maya are probably the highest quality for doing any kind of modeling...plus they are the two best programs available...so if we can go in that direction I think it would be for the best of this community...

[Vasudan Admiral]

And after a couple of hours in Blender...

(Attachment)

Looks like it even imports with POFCS properly, although I don't know how to give it a texture yet.

Well done.
I got into it via this tutorial on FS Watch by Max Sterling: http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/fs2/mods/fighterguide/
(My first ship was a hideous version of the one pictured there incidentally. )

While Blender is much more powerful than it appears, there are some things I _really_ wish I'd found out about sooner:

• The new (open source) versions added a mirror tool. To use it in edit mode, select the verticies you want to mirror and press 'm' to bring up the mirror menu. To flip a whole model while out of edit mode, it's ctrl+m.
• When moving, scaling or rotating, you can hold ctrl to move/scale/rotate in set increments to allow for precise manipulation.
• Holding shift in the same situation will move/scale/rotate with much more precision, and ctrl+shift will do the same using small increments.
• Once having pressed the move/scale/rotate key, you can then press x, y or z to constrain the action to that particular axis. (Ie, if you want to move something straight up from a weird camera angle, you'd select it, tap g and then z. Then you'd only be able to move the object straight up or down, which can then be combined with the afore-mentioned shift or ctrl functions to move it in whatever way you want straight up.)
• Having selected one/many verticies of an object, pressing ctrl+'+' will select all verts directly connected to those selected verts. This is great for quickly checking if one chunk of geometry is actually connected to another.
• Middle-clicking & moving the mouse will free-rotate the whole view of the model around the centre.
• Shift-middle-clicking will transverse the view along the camera's plane.
• There's a sub-divide button in the edit control pannel down the bottom (top-middle of the mesh tools while in edit mode. To get the edit menu tools to appear press F9.) Pressing it while 2 verts (with an edge between them) will split the edge in half, and pressing it when you have a face selected will quater the face.
• You can make a dynamic copy of an object by pressing alt+d while not in edit mode. This second copy will mimmic all edits performed on the original (and vice-versa actually) while in edit mode. Combine this with the ctrl+m thing to do mirror modeling with however many copies you like)
• Pressing f when you have 2-4 verts selected will create an face or an edge between them - whichever is appropriate. You can use this to pretty much sculpt a ship from scratch, instead of growing it out of a primitive.
• If you want to create a tapered point, you can weld verts together by sizing them down until they look like a point, and then pressing the 'Rem Double' button (also in the mesh tools - 3rd button below the subdivide one).

In addition to that, you have this: http://www.blender.org/modules/documentation/htmlI/ which documents the many varied (and sometimes rather...odd) functions of blender.
Good luck. :yes:

Keep practicing and soon enough you'll find yourself half-way through building way overdetailed monstrosities like this wondering what in the world you were thinking when you began. :p

[Roanoke]

If there is an exporter for Gmax...i strongly believe we should push in that direction as TrueSpace is a thorn in any moddelers side.   Caligari shouldn't be allowed to charge money for future versions of their software if it continues to be so...."inferior" to products like Max, Maya, and Cinema4D

I would stand to claim that 3D Studio MAX(or GMax) and Maya are probably the highest quality for doing any kind of modeling...plus they are the two best programs available...so if we can go in that direction I think it would be for the best of this community...

It should be said TS costs maybe < a quarter of the retail price for Max, Maya etc (circa £370, against >£2500). A similar price gets you an economy version of XSi though. There are a few modelling progrems for <£250 but I've never tried 'em myself.

There's not a lot of difference between Max, Maya, Xsi etc, or so I'm lead to believe. Each has it's own "hero" features, but mostly it's down to personal preference. I could have got Xsi for the money I've spent doing short Max college courses, books, etc but I've no intention of learning a new interface (teh pain).

[WeatherOp]

Wings 3d!

It's the easiest modeling programm I know and you can model with it really fast. It has a really nice UV mapper included to. Compact, but very powerful.

Amen to that. Some very good models can be built using that program.