I haven't posted here forever, though it was here that got me interested in modeling in the first place! ...
and I did learn a lot!! ..... so here's the Monster Post with all the Goodies!! ...... What you'll need...
First and Foremost ...
Wings3D but I'm using the
experimental 64-bit version This will export DirectX, just remember to triangulate your mesh first. You can get all your non-moving scenery straight from Wings3D (Note for some reason .. textures are sometimes backwards, you may have to flip your Words backwards in your photoshop program so they read right in the game) which brings us to ...
Paint.NET is a great program for all your photo editing needs. For making tileable textures, Normal Maps, etc. Make sure you get plenty of the bigger plugins packs ... lots of cool stuff there.
Roadkill ..UV-mapper. This unwraps better than Wings3d, but the wings3d tools are easier to use, so I make my basic seams in Wings3d - project Normal, then export and open with Roadkill and let it work it's magic! Then export back to Wings3d. From there I usually go back to the W3D UV-mapper and move the islands around a bit, you can usually re-organize them and then scale them up for more texture space!!
Sculptris ... the little brother of Zbrush!! This is a great program!! However the models are to
Heavy (polycount) for a game engine. But it's a Great program to paint your Wings3D models in!! Probably the best there is for Painting!! ...
CharacterFX is probably the easiest program for animating your character, but it's old (DirectX8) and your mesh must be
TRIANGULATED before you import! You can make all your animations with this, or you can export them one animation at a time and stack them up in
Fragmotion !! This is not a free software, but you can use it for free if type the lords prayer every week (or everytime you wanna use it anyway). It's got a few more options for animation .. it's just hard to learn .. like
Blender.... The Grand Daddy of all Free CG Software!! anymore Blender is as good as having Zbrush, 3DSMax, Maya, etc ... You can do everything from here including make your game or even Network Render a Movie! ... Dynotopo (like Sculptris) sculpting, Multires (like Zbrush) Sculpting, Retopo-tools, Paint tools, Cloth sim, Liquid Sim, Game engine with physics, Cycles Renderer .... It's all free and there's plenty of Video tutorials ... it just takes forever to learn it all!!