If you're interested in 3D design but have no experience of modelling programs, it's unwise to splash out on an expensive application like 3ds Max only to find it too complex to get your head round. Cutting your teeth on a freeware modelling program is a better route into the hobby, as you can get a feel for 3D design without breaking the bank. There are a surprising number of capable freeware 3D design and animation tools available. Anim8or may be less well known than its Open Source cousin, but it's a very capable tool and is well worth investigating, particularly for its animation functions.
By using the primitives supplied - either by selecting a tool from the bottom of the left-hand toolbar or choosing an item from the Build/ Primitives menu - you can quickly build up a design using spheres, cylinders, lines and other shapes.
As you'll find with all 3D modelling tools, Anim8or incorporates a number of different views, which enable you to control and tweak different aspects of your 3D scene. By default, the program uses the Full mode, which gives you a good idea of how you finished 3D model will look. If you lose track of some of your objects, or require a more fine degree of control, select View/ Wire to switch to wireframe view. You can also switch between different perspectives from the View menu - this is vital if you want to make sure your object looks OK from all angles, not just the front.
Needless to say, animation plays an important role in Anim8or but it's worth noting that this is one of the complex aspects of the application. In order to create a proper animated figure, you'll need to construct your model using bones and joints. Once created, you can adjust the position of these elements using the Sequence mode. After choosing a figure to animate and the number of frames to use, you can build up movement on a frame-by-frame basis. There's a good explanation of how to construct an animation in Anim8or under the Tutorials heading on the program's website. This includes links to some sample files you can play around with in order to get a feel for how things work.
Installation Instructions
Anim8or is very simple to install and run. It is composed of a single executable file that can be put anywhere on your disk. I have plans to add a plug-in capability sometime in the future, but for now, at least, life is simple:
* Download the latest version of the Anim8or program in the file animv095.zip below.
* Optionally download the PDF Anim8or user manual in the file animv095dPDF.zip below.
* Unzip them into your target directory. (If you've never heard of a "zip" file is, see the comments below.)
* Run the file anim8or.exe.
That's all there is to it.
Greetings, thank you for this wonderful article. Anim8or is a great program to start out with, but theres no real professional tutorials on it. I would like to if you could walk me through modeling in this program? I like to use lines to model my polygon objects instead of using shapes. If i could learn this, i can prove anim8or is a powerful tool
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