# Which software ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2001, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-software/57909 "2001-03-14T05:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-software/57909/1 "2001-03-14T05:15:24Z")
I don’t remember where I found these [images](http://homestead.juno.com/fogmage/art.html). I have had them for a while. I use them as wallpaper on my desktop. I would like to make my own images, what should I be looking for in software to do this. Thank You P.S. I had to convert the images to jpg from bmp in order to post them, it seems to have blured them some. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-software/57909/2 "2001-03-14T05:41:23Z")
What you’ve got there is a 3D rendering, so you need some sort of 3D rendering application. These images are about as simple as it gets, the technique is called “extrusion.” I’m not sure you want to do this, though. 3D packages are expensive and difficult to use. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-software/57909/3 "2001-03-14T07:41:37Z")
No, not necessarily expensive, and a few are even free. The difficulty depends on what talents you have and what you want to do. (In other words, YMMV.) You can get previous versions of some commercial packages from the cover CDROM that comes with some computer magazines. Look for _3D World_ ([http://www.3dworldmag.com](http://www.3dworldmag.com)) or _Digit_ ([http://www.digitmag.co.uk](http://www.digitmag.co.uk)), for example. (Both are British, so might be hard to find on the stands.) A good free renderer is POVray, [http://www.povray.org](http://www.povray.org). The site also has links to a number of free or shareware modellers. Make sure to follow the ‘Competition’ link to [http://www.irtc.org](http://www.irtc.org) to see what people have done with an assortment of 3d programs, mostly POV. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-software/57909/4 "2001-03-14T15:13:46Z")
Blender is a very good 3D imaging program. It is pretty user-friendly and completely free. Their website has a lot of useful help and tutorials. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-software/57909/5 "2001-03-14T23:34:38Z")
Thank You!! 🙂