I use Constructor, but need input from others on other software.

#1 First:
3ds Max. That's just what I learned in school. It is costly, however. I would still probably be using Constructor if it wasn't for the SketchTool. It was just too painful to model something in Constructor, import it, and then realize the scale was off somewhere. It took me forever to do a large house!

P.S. Google Sketchup is a good program for interiors. I know there's some Torque3D docs on it and would suggest looking into it.

Second:
Again 3ds Max. I enjoy modeling and animating with Max. I still dislike unwrapping a model to texture it, though.

#2 I'v got 3DS max 9, can't do anything with it.

Thanks for the reply!

#3 Lightwave 10 all the way!

Like you, I've tried max on and off quite a few times, and beyond making simple primitives can't figure it out for the life of me.

Blender is great for the price, I got further with that than max, but be prepared for days and days of reading docs and tutorials :( especially as most seem to be for old blender.

The Lightwave modeller layout just seems intuitive and logical to me, and didnt require any tutorials/docs except for rigging.

With lightwave 10 they have sorted out the collada exporter and they import into torque without problem (for me anyway :p)

Any previous version you will have to use the 32bit install and the dts exporter plugin.

The only downside i've found really is the UV creation doesnt do a great job of grouping poly's together and they require a few minutes spent tidying them up manually.

They do a free/discovery version that limits you to 400 points / layer.. surprising what you can do with that as theres no limit on the amount of layers... and if you like it, its only £900 compared to £2K + for max.

So thats enough of the Lightwave fanboyism! :p

John

#4 I use Milkshape, this is more than good enough for modelling buildings and objects, and while I haven't tried making player models in it, I'm pretty sure its easier in some of the bigger packages such as max or blender.

I also use fragmotion for various tasks, i'm told its a capable modeller in its own right, although i only bought it for animation duties.

Between these two, I can take and modify pretty much any art assets I purchase, including character models.

If you want to do more detailed and professional character/organic modelling then you will really need to look into bigger packages, all of which have quite a large need for learning. Blender and 3ds max are the most well known and most widely used and the easiest to get tutorials/info for.

#5 The days of brush-based modeling are at an end ... though CoD still uses it!
Welcome to the wonderful world of meshes for everything. If you've got a Max, start reading some tutorials. I use an old version of Blender ... cos it's free and it's what I'm used to

#6 There is a free modeling program for buildings and so on called DeleD, it can export to Collada. I haven't still learned it well, it works kinda different from other programs I've used, but it seems promising.

Just like Bloodknight, I've stuck with Milkshape 3d for other models, and I really regret choosing it over Blender when I started modeling. It's VERY easy to learn, but it doesn't really have the power you need these days.

#7 I'v checked out Google Sketchup, it's easy and you can crank out nice looking structures with it. BUT... to get the best tools (add, subtract,
etc) you have to shell out $495 for Pro 8 version.

The basic version does nice glass (transparent) and supports Collada direct export, and saves all your textures in a nice folder named the same as your save file!

As for milkshape, I tried it, couldn't get much out of it, and blender is nice, but lots of reading.

It's great that people are adding feedback, it's valuable information to me and others who are starting to get into modeling or want to get into more advance models.

Thanks!