[Eagle]

What kind of program do you use to make a model or change one and what program do you use to make the fan art pics?

[Galemp]

Flamethrowers are located behind the seats, plasma rifles in the lockers to the back, exits here and here, and your seat can be used as a flotation device in case of an emergency.

There are a whole bunch of different modeling programs we use here. Unfortunately, most are professional and quite expensive. I myself use Rhinocerous, while others use 3DS Max and other programs. (Help me out here, guys.) In order to bring your model into Freespace you also need Truespace. TS2 is avaliable for free download though newer versions make it much easier.
Fan art, or 'renders' are made with a modeling program like Lightwave and then imported into a graphics program like Paint Shop Pro for the final touches.
If you don't have the software, you can still contribute! There are lots of free tools avaliable at the Descent Manager website that let you edit ship and weapon stats, and reskin existing models into something new. And, of course, there's always FRED, so you could join an existing campaign and use their mods and design missions for them.

Someone around here has a link to an FAQ about how to import your model, complete with assorted links and downloads. Is it Karajorma? Maybe. Anyway.

[Killfrenzy]

Some of us use trueSpace exclusively!

[Ryx]

Note, you can render in 3ds max, as well.

You can also use Blender (Free), though, I don't know where you can get it, these days.

And here's a Blender tutorial for creating a ship for FS ... By Max Sterling.

[Solatar]

Where does one find Lightwave?

[mikhael]

Originally posted by Hades
Where does one find Lightwave?

http://www.newtek.com

[EdrickV]

I use Wings3D for modelling, (www.wings3d.com) LithUnwrap for conversions/texturing, and TrueSpace for hierarchy. LithUnwrap and TS2 are available here: http://www.jlstsi.com/download.htm
One note about using LithUnwrap for texturing and TS1/2 for hierarchy, you need to use the DOS style 8.3 filenames in LithUnwrap otherwise TS1/2 will screw them up a bit when you load the model in it because it doesn't support long filenames. (Said texture names can then be fixed later on in ModelView32.)

[StratComm]

Originally posted by Killfrenzy
Some of us use trueSpace exclusively!

Thank you...

The later versions (4+) are generally pretty good and not terribly expensive.  Truespace can be used to model, render, animate (though that gets much more complex), texture, and creat heirarchy, and it saves by default in the only format convertable to FS/FS2 (thus less hard-to-find errors).  If you have to chose one modeling program, TS isn't a bad way to go.

[karajorma]

I`ve put as many links that would be helpful in my FAQ as I could find. Check the modding section

[HotSnoJ]

You can find Blender at Blender.org. I use it for making the model and tS for textures (even though I suck) and conversion to COB so other ppl can texture it better and convert it.

[Killfrenzy]

Originally posted by StratComm


Thank you...

The later versions (4+) are generally pretty good and not terribly expensive.  Truespace can be used to model, render, animate (though that gets much more complex), texture, and creat heirarchy, and it saves by default in the only format convertable to FS/FS2 (thus less hard-to-find errors).  If you have to chose one modeling program, TS isn't a bad way to go.

Indeed. I've done a couple of renders, but no animations. Mainly because I don't know how to!

But I can model.

[Solatar]

I've rendered in FRED before. Then gave everything orders to play dead. I go into fs2, with RT's source MOD, and start taking pictures.