3d Game Object Modeling

Games include models of people, monsters, cars and so forth. These models are almost universally created using a third party tool. Models normally consist of a polygon mesh that specifies the structure of the model, textures which are layered over the polygon mesh, and animations. Animations specify standard motions that the object can perform, such as laughing, waving, running and so forth.

Modeling tools use proprietary formats for the models they generate. However, many tools provide a plug-in capability, allowing them to be extended to provide output in the format that game engine expects.

3ds Max - Windows only; commercial. Among survey respondents, 3ds Max was the unanimous choice of commercial tool for object modeling for games.

AC3D - Windows, Mac, Linux. Commercial but cheap at $59.95. Good for static mesh modeling, doesn't support animation.

Blender - Windows, Mac, *nix; free under GPL. Blender is an open source modeling tool, with many advanced features and a very active and dedicated community. The GUI need getting used to, but lends itself to a very efficient work style once learned. The Blender Tools page describes the many tools available for incorporating blender into your Ogre content creation process.

Maya - 'Windows, Mac, *nix; commercial.

MilkShape 3D - Windows only; commercial but very cheap. MilkShape is quite straight-forward to use, and supports polygon modeling, texturing and skeletal animation. At time of writing, MilkShape is offered under a $25 shareware license.

SoftImage XSI - Windows, Linux; commercial. Another great modeling tool.

Wings 3D - Windows, Mac, *nix; open source. Wings 3D is a free subdivision modeler inspired by Nendo and Mirai from Izware.

CharacterFX - Create animation easily, with weighted Bones, and supports many formats, using lua script for import and export.

FragMotion - Create animation easily, with weighted Bones, and supports many formats.