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What would you recommend for a free 3D program to make decent but simple models? I want to make spaceships but they will not be animated or in a 3D game. I just want pictures of them, maybe turn them into animated picture with a light blinking or particles streaming out the back as a sign of an engine exhaust. Something simple to give it a little life without it actually being a animated object, but just a picture of a 3D ship that is slightly animated like gifs. I just need to be able to make simple low-poly shapes for the ships, as I can make a nice texture in photoshop and slap it on to make it come alive. Something like this:

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs16/f/2007/ ... ToBiOh.jpg


What program would you recommend that is both free and not a nightmare to learn?

Hi,
i made my first game pic on paper then scanned it in and colored it with gimp but u can use any program like photoshop to edit the scan.
if u choose to do it this way.

greetz

True, since my game won't have actual 3D models flying around I could use Gimp/Photoshop.

What do people use to make simple animated pictures? Example, a picture of a alien cityscape but little lights blinking at the very tips/tops of the buildings.

Blender is free but trust me that model you just showed is not simple.

If it is going to be 2d then just make sprites and depending on what you are building you can make sprite sheets then animate them much like a cartoon. Simple website animations can be done with .gif