Very cool (free) 3D app that's very powerful.

I just found this app the other day, it's called OpenFX. Here's a link:
http://www.openfx.org/

What is OpenFX?

OpenFX is an Open-Source 3D modeling, animation and rendering suite created by Dr. Stuart Ferguson. He made the decision to release the source code to the public in the middle of 1999, and the product formerly named SoftF/X was renamed to OpenFX. It has now been released under the terms of the GNU General Public Licence.

(Stuart will hopefully fill in more of the history of OpenFX here.)

What can OpenFX do?

A powerful feature-set includes a full renderer and raytrace engine, NURBS support, kinematics-based animation, morphing, and an extensive plugin API.

Plugin capabilities include image post processor effects such as lens flare, fog and depth of field. Animation effects such as explosions, waves and dissolves add enormously to the flexibility of the program. Check out the full list of the various effect types and let your imagination run wild!

What platforms does OpenFX run on?

Currently, OpenFX only runs on the Win32 platform, which includes Windows 95/98/NT/2000. There are plans afoot to port it to Linux/*BSD platforms, and it currently runs fairly well under these by using the WINE set of libraries. If you are interested in helping to port to these platforms, please join our Development Mailing Lists and help out!

Now I'm a total newbie at 3D, but I did manage to make this after a couple days playing:

c3.avi


Here's a screenshot:

If you download the full version, it comes with lots of sample animations wich will help you learn the app better. You can render them out to image sequences like TGA + Alpha or bmp, gif, jpg, ect. It also allows you to render to AVI, but I couldn't get it to work reliably. It's easy enough to import image sequence into your NLE like premiere, vegas ect.

I've been playing around a little with the samples. Some can be used to make some interesting Motion Menus, like this:


mm2.avi

Here's another interesting Motion Menu I made using OpenFX. No, I didn't make it from scratch. I cheated and used another sample animation, but I did modify it extensively changing keyframes and camera angles. I think it came out pretty good, especially since it was created wlth Free tools. No doubt, 3D animation is very complicated.

Well here it is if you want to check it out:


mm4.avi

Still waiting for the next generation of Terragen, but it is taking forever.

liquid217 wrote:

Nice slow-mo effects

That was done with Avisynth and MVtools. It works pretty well. The puppy on the skate board was going really fast on the original footage. I ended up slowing it down one/tenth the speed. I like using slow-mo on motion menus.

Thanks for the tip on Terragen. I just downloaded it an will check it out.

Here's a wild one for you:

bounce.avi

I finally learned how to edit the ground and sky. I should probably read the manual...........naaa, more fun learning by accident. Do note that this highly compressed clip doesn't do it justice.

Having fun............

Originally Posted by Wile_E

Here is another free 3D app.

Blender 3D

Of course, there's also POV-Ray. I think that one was the first free 3-D app, but I believe it also requires more of a learning curve than Blender and OpenFX. (and external GUI apps...)