[Thaeris]

I'm going to perform an abstract necro of two previous topics:


http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=76632.msg1521781#msg1521781
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=76746.msg1524311#msg1524311


...To discuss one which assumedly is of interest to more people. That is, of course, 3D modeling work.

The subject at hand is brought about by a recent class project for an engineering surveying course. During which, I found a remarkable new use for the Free!Ship software which I pointed out in its own thread some time ago:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=73575.msg1452274#msg1452274

FreeShip has the immensely useful utility of importing curves as defined by a text file. Thus, in a previous use of the software as a real-world example, I was able to assemble a canoe hull design very rapidly from given coordinates in an existing Excel file. In a similar fashion for the surveying project in question, all of the elevation values of a 100 x 100 foot grid were given after the field work was done. I merely needed to re-arrange the order of some of the coordinates in the text file from the Excel file to be able to plot the terrain model:



Now, there was some additional work to perform in AC3D, as the model was mirrored on the wrong side, etc. But, the program's subdivision system retained all given elevations as closely as possible to those entered in the initial text file, thus rendering a very realistic terrain plot. Most other programs I know would not have achived those kind of results without much effort and hair pulling, if you will...

But, there is so much good stuff to find on Sourceforge besides the aforementioned software...

Continuing on with terrain modelers, check this one out:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/planetgenesis/

It lacks documentation. It is entirely dependent on other software. It will not deliver exceptional first time results, and may need manipulation of the eported file to be of any use. But nevertheless, IT DELIVERS!



The above image is one which was created with some random variables thrown together. Although the vertical relief of the surface is really... non-expressive, the surface itself has the makings for rendering an absolutely terriffic ground texture. The program will also generate planets, which will be of interest to those wanting to render skyboxes.

I could go on, but the easiest and best thing to do now is simply post this link:

http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/?&fq%5B%5D=trove%3A109

And go from there. There's a lot of great projects on Sourceforge, and probably too many to try out. In any sense, whether it's free or not, discussion on software is welcome.

[Thaeris]

Another neat program, but it's been far too long since I touched C++, and this one is beyond my skill set:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcity/
http://pcity.sourceforge.net/

Can anyone get this to run? An application such as this is relevant to my interests...

[Thaeris]

For those of you in need of building new asteroids, you might find this free application of great interest:

http://www.pixologic.com/sculptris/

If someone has brought up this program before, forgive me. Though, for the record, this is also intended to be a discussion; This is bar none the easist program to pick up and use for modeling you'll ever see, though non-organic shapes will more than likely elude you. If an error appears in the mesh, you'll need to export the file, perform a rough correction in another program, and then re-import the model. Thus, for mechanical modeling, you're better off getting a conventional software package. Unless you're punching a hole through an Orion...

[mjn.mixael]

Sculptris is what my studio's modeller will be using to paint the Vasudan.

<3 open source programs

[Thaeris]

Sculptris isn't open source, though the majority of programs in my register for artwork are indeed open source applications.

Thus, speaking of closed-source, I might bring up this program which Zinv pointed out a while ago:

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=78611.msg1554447#msg1554447

It's basically poor-man's Inventor, and Beta 7 is as of yet still quite buggy. However, the project as a whole looks like that, someday, it will mature into a mature, useable tool set. 123D Capture looks quite cool indeed, though at the time of my downloading it did not want to install...

...Which brings me back to open source. My most recent program to test is Insight3D, which like the afrore-mentioned 123D Capture is designed to produce a 3D image from images or photographs. I was intending to produce a test model after putting the program through its paces, and I will when I can (the model was to be generated from a test-run model of some hair sculpted onto an old MakeHuman model head, which interestingly brings the post full-circle with respect to subject matter...  ). If you're curious, here's a link:

http://insight3d.sourceforge.net/

[mjn.mixael]

Derp, you're right. But it is free.

[Thaeris]

Hmmm,

Well, this is interesting. It looks like a Russian development team continued the development of FreeShip, while in the Western corner of the world DELFTship snatched up the code for further development. You can still get FreeShip on Sourceforge, though as with many titles on Sourceforge... for whatever reason, I simply cannot find them from running an internal search! (which is troubling to me).

You should note that if you attempt to get to the FreeShip homepage, you will be directed to the DELFTship site. Thus, this is where the official project wound up:

http://delftship.net/delftship/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29&Itemid=10&height=794&width=1440

Here's the Russian project. Because I do not need any extended capabilities of the software (to my knowledge) at this time, and because I'm a tad bit paranoid, I'm not going to bite right now, but it does look quite useful for someone in the market for smooth structure shapes:

http://www.hydronship.net/

I'm bringing this particular software (FreeShip) up once again, as I've been using it for a project. Very, very useful tool.