Background: I recently upgraded my Mac, and it happens to have a pretty nice graphics card (not that my old one wasn't nice … in 2006). While I didn't upgrade my Mac for this purpose, it has occurred to me that my life might be a tiny bit more efficient if I used some of this amazing graphics power that I now possess (and perhaps my old Wacom tablet) for sketching 3D designs, rather than my current method*.
So I hopped on over to the Mac App Store, typed in "3d modeling" (and every synonym I could think of), and was disappointed to see a pretty slim selection of apps.
Is there a good basic app for creating 3D objects? Free is good, cheap is also good — I don't mind paying but "3D modeling" frequently seems to mean "here's a $10,000 program that lets you make Lord of the Rings", and I'm sure it's amazing for that, but I don't need that.
I need: ability to create simple objects, mostly square or circular, including CSG, and to move them around and look at them from different angles.
I don't need: any particular file formats, or textures, or animation, or smooth organic surfaces like human faces.
If you think "designing a chest of drawers", that's about the level of sophistication that I'm looking for. What TextEdit.app is for words, I want for 3D objects.
SketchUp is almost what I'm looking for, except it's kind of awkward and not entirely Mac-like, and to do any CSG you need the $500 "Pro" version (which I might get eventually, but it seems like there could well be something better and cheaper).
I'd almost be happy with something like POVRAY: the CSG is nice, the price can't be beat, but unfortunately it lacks any interactivity.
* (It involves whiteboards, paperboard and glue, and listening to old Yes albums while trying to visualize how things will fit together in space.)
Best Answer
Have you tried Blender?