Design packages.

[matty_haka]

Bearing in mind Im useless with highly techie things such as Rhino and stuff, and used to use Pro Desktop, does anyone know of any free downloadable graphics packages I could use?

Pro Desktop again would be good but I cant see to fin a free download anywhere. help?

[RogueTwoRobots]

Ive got a copy of Pro Desktop that I was able to copy for Josh Valman a wee while back; it doesnt need a serial key or anything like that to install it (at least I dont think it does) so I could burn the installation files onto a disc and post it to you if you like?

[matty_haka]

If you could then youd be a star. Ill wait to see if anyone else has anything first before I cost you a stamp n stuff, but Ill keep the offer in mind, thanks a lot

[RogueTwoRobots]

No problem, wouldnt cost too much to post but yeah, just drop me an email or something if you dont find anything else

[david_b]

I found Pro desktop at school, and hated it. But again, if it works for you, use it by all means .

Other packages include

Maya PLE (But renders have awful watermarks all over them). http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=7639525http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...112&id=7639525

Anim8or: REALLY easy to learn, my first program I used. http://www.anim8or.com/http://www.anim8or.com/

Wings3d: Ive used it twice, but not much, apparently easy. http://www.wings3d.com/http://www.wings3d.com/

Sketchup: Very good for rough designing, but youll need an external renderer to get rid of those nasty sketchy pictures. http://www.sketchup.com/http://www.sketchup.com/

GMAX: For those of you who can find it, Im not sure where I got mine from haahah its like 3dsmax but a lot less functional. (Try TURBOSQUID)

Blender: Very much based on written buttons rather than pictograms, kinda like Lightwave, but its free.
http://www.blender.orgwww.blender.org

Truespace: One of the versions of Truespace is free I think (V3), take a look there...
http://www.caligari.comhttp://www.caligari.com

Commerical

3DSMAX (free trial avail): the one I use, and what my robot is made in http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=5659302&siteID=123112http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...&siteID=123112

AutoCAD(Free trial avail): I beleive John Reid uses this for Teroorhurtz... (correct me if wrong)http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=2704278http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...112&id=2704278

Lightwave(free trial avail): Supposed to be on a parr with 3dsMAX, but this is from the guys at Newtek.

http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/

There are plenty more out there, but Im sure you could find one here if you tried a few of them out (Sizes are variable from 5MB to 300MB, so whatch the HDD space, and remember they need different powers of computing, espeically for rendering)

phew....
GOOD LUCK!

[leorcc]

Lightwave FTW!

Ive worked with Maya and 3DS (dos) and 3DSmax. But for speed and fast vizualization i can get stuff done much faster in Lightwave then either other package.

I can make detailed cad like drawings, but i ususally make simple basic shapes and get a look and feel for what would work or not on a robot.

Maya has got the best dynamics engine though, it is so much fun to play with.