I want to design complex 3D objects (toys, packaging, etc.). I won’t need to animate them. What is a good application to use for this? I was using Adobe Illustrator for box-shaped stuff (the latest version has a 3D effect/perspective function), but it seems more limited in creating circular objects.
My housemate could make absolutely anything he could think of in 3D with Bryce (which can do the animation thingie too but he mostly did still images for advertisements). There’s a bit of a learning curve if you want to make anything more complicated than pretty terrains with cool skies overhead, but it’s flexible and versatile.
I’ve used SolidEdge. I’m not sure how much it’d set you back since I only used it on my uni’s licensing, but their site will have more details.
What’s your budget?
How much time do you have to dedicate to climbing the learning curve?
If your budget is 0 and you have plenty of spare time, there’s Blender: http://www.blender3d.com/cms/Home.2.0.html
Blender isn’t a bad program by itself, I’ve just found that the UI needs to have some work to bring it up to the level of its commercial competitors.
The people who make Poser have one called “Shade” that comes in several versions at several price points. I have it, but I haven’t used it much.
I’d suggest Maya or 3D Studio Max (I’ve used both, prefer Maya but 3DS is ok), but I suspect you don’t need all their power nor their gigantic pricetags.
Bryce might work too, it now does a lot of 3d stuff, but I hate its funky interface.
The makers of 3d Studio Max have a stripped down freeware version called gmax. It’s got plenty of features if you just want to do static 3d models.
Peace - DESK