Celestia Forums

Hi all,

I have two total newbie questions and I could not find them posted and/or answered on the forum

1. What is the most common tool and procedure for creating a cmod or 3ds model file?

2. Are there any public astronomy sites describing accurately the shapes of bodies, especially asteroids?

Thank you very much
-Codrin

Hello!
Welcome to the form.

As for #1 I use Rhino 3d, however others here have mentioned Anami8tor, as a program that they used to create their models, and it is free.

#2 I'd suggest Visiting NASA or ESA sites on asteroids. SpaceGraphics.com does has some 3D models of a few Asteroids you can Download for viewing.

codrinb wrote:1. What is the most common tool and procedure for creating a cmod or 3ds model file?

Anim8or seems to be used by many people. Its object editing is much easier to learn than Blender or one of the commercial 3D design programs. On the other hand, learning "3D Studio Max", Maya or Lightwave can lead to a job in the 3D animation industy if you want.

2. Are there any public astronomy sites describing accurately the shapes of bodies, especially asteroids?

Only a handfull of asteroids have been modelled because they're very hard to observe properly. One site is http://www.rni.helsinki.fi/~mjk/asteroids.html

Thanks guys!

Very helpful info!

-Codrin

Since we are all obviously into open source solutions, why not Blender or Wings?

has anyone heard of Zmodeler? it is mainly used for games, but it can export into .3ds also. it is pretty easy to use and is about a 1.5mb download.

The latest Blender...2_36...is worth another look. To a fellow nuB the following link has been just the thing.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro


sc