Hello,
So, I've been a Blender user for a while. Pretty comfortable with it, can create stuff fairly fast. Thing is, to me, it's turning into something of "everything and the kitchen sink", as they keep throwing more and more fancy tech into it. I need a screwdriver and a hammer, and Blender is giving me the entire 500 piece tool kit.
I'm looking for something leaner and more purpose-designed.Milkshape 3D is a lot closer to what I'm looking for, but it's outdated, is no longer updated, and a bit clunky and limited in its functionality. Also, it doesn't work with quads or ngons. Working with tris is kinda annoying to me, even if that's what everything reduces down to anyway.
Specifically, I'm looking for:
Good polygon modeling tools
Quad/Ngon support (or at least Quads)
Solid UV/Texture-mapping
Animation tools
A solid, intuitive Material system - preferably not node-based (I hate node-based systems)
Import/export support.for the more common formats (Collada, OBJ, etc)
Don't need a lot of extra whizbangs and doohickeys. Just something that I can model, texture, animate (if applicable) and export into T3D with.
Would love if someone branched off the current Blender, stripped out all the extra stuff and just made it a solid polygonal modeler with the above features. I don't expect that to happen, though.
If I need to do any kind of sculpting, I can do that in something like sculptris.
I'm fine with purchased software, but not in the $100s or $1000s.
I've tried Anim8or, AC3D and some other free or low-cost options that just don't quite cut it. Looked at Silo which is reasonably priced, but I'm not a fan of its interface, either. Perhaps there's some I'm not aware of.
Anyone know of any other possible options that fit my criteria? I'm okay if it goes a bit beyond what I listed, just not too much.
Any suggestions or ideas are appreciated!