Free Software Alternatives

Domtopia wrote: Where do you get the wonderful toys... er... I mean emoticons!!?

Edit: I mean, seriously... I want these emoticons!!

cgartnexus.com/forums/welcome-mat/12-faq...de-to-using-the-site (and the recently added emotes and default user avatars on the site originate from bad-blood.deviantart.com/ )

EDIT - Damn you HAL

Updated the list to include some free compositing apps following the news that Blackmagic design has released a free version of Fusion 7.

I just found a browser based vector app. Method Draw
editor.method.ac/

Now added to the OP.

I've updated and adjusted the list and fixed broken links / remove any that are no longer available.

Banj wrote: Sketchup - www.sketchup.com
Wings3D - www.sketchup.com

(Nope, not changing a thing. I'm half passed out of Tired, today.)

Fixed

The other day I had some free time on my PC with nothing to do so I had the bright idea of having a play around in Daz 3D. I hadn't used it for ages so it should be fun, right?
Or maybe not!

Within seconds I realised why I don't use Daz. That awful interface, the weird "content system" that looks less like a piece of software and more like an online shop (which, of course, is what it REALLY is!) And then there's the render times. I don't think I've ever completed a single render without reaching for the cancel button to abort after X number of long minutes. Surely there must be something else that I'm capable of using?

And that was when I discovered the Manuel Bastioni Lab .
Maybe you've already heard of it, but I hadn't and was excited to find out about it because it's an add-on for Blender (and I mostly know how to use Blender. Mostly). It gives you a nice character creation tool, with loads of modifiers to change body shapes and expression, and has full IK rigging (it even does that foot roll where the heel lifts but the toes stay on the ground!) without any of that Daz confusion and "render-wait".
The only downside is that the shaders only work in the Cycles renderer and I struggle to grasp how materials work in Cycles. And of course it doesn't have all the clothes/hair 'products' of Daz but you don't really need it for anatomical posing.
Also there are some good tutorials on YouTube.

This, and other videos of the same software, keeps cropping up on my YouTube recommendations.



I haven't tried or even downloaded it due to the lack of English instructions on the website, but if you like the anime look it seems like an interesting and useful tool.