Does somebody knows the best clone of max, that uses the same modeling stuffs: edgeloop/poly modeling, mesh smooth modifier, if possible similar interface/shortcuts, OBJ import export?
For pure polygon pushing pleasure, I always liked Silo. It has all of those tools, but I doubt it’s like max.
Well, I’ve seldom used Max for modeling…most programs I know seem to take pride in how much different they can be from Max. But I will say that in a general sense, the great power of Silo lies in its customization potential, and the ability to become nearly any other program.
Virtually every aspect of the interface and navigation is customizeable in Silo, more so than any other modeler I’ve used, and it can accomodate any way you’re used to working, or improve upon it. It is a quite capable subdivision/edge loop modeller.
Functionality, however, may vary.
It is, of course, not free…but it is inexpensive as far as these things go. Your choice of “free” modelers of any real worth is probably limited to Wings or Blender, and I wouldnt describe either of them to be overly “Max” like. There was “Gmax” of course (free Max-lite), if you can find a copy, and if your needs are slim.
I believe this one is a really clone 
Astonished isn’t it? 4D BLUE :eek:
Scroll the page !
Ps @Seb : Look this thing (Only for Seb because it’s in french for the moment) but you can also take a look
try softimage modtool. it kicks max’ ass in lot of way, and free…uses edgeloops, rings, etc. And a great tweak tool.
softimage modtool, is real powerfull.
Softimage is cool but theres no meshsmooth function on this version…
I think I will try to learn blender… It seeem to have most advanced modelind features for a free programm…
The thing is its pretty different than max…
I have some serious troubles with maya smoothing, its react different than max, and a lot of games compagnies use maya… So i need a free modeler that should work as good…
thx for the infos guys!
While Silo is not free, it is VERY cheap, and I can reccomend it to the fullest.
Blender will probarbly drive you crazy. It sure did to me. IMO Blender has a huge toolset and it is free which is very nce, but they sure need to learn to make some UI friendlyness. I feel that blender chop one of my legs off and ask me to walk!
XSI Foundation is some 500 USD. It gives you all function (including mental ray rendering, etc), although there is no hair.
I don’t know if subdivision surfaces are supported by ModTool, but if you press + on numpad, you’ll see. Meshsmooth is not implemented that’s true. But Foundation have really fast subdivision surface tool (numpad +).
Blender may be a good choice, but I found it very uncomfortable to work with. Maya is also good, but modelwise it’s not the best, although have some very nice features. Silo might be good, but again, I found XSI a lot better. For example in XSI you can use ANYTHING as your coordinate system, like a point, and edge, a polygon, or another tranformed object. I use it a lot. And so on.
by the way, I’ve just checked, that modtool also have subdivision surfaces, that means that yiou don’t need any modifier, just press numpad +, and your model is in subdivision mode, and you can use your exisiting polygon toolset freely. But if you have extra money to spend go for Foundation. Cheap.
Another alternative…Houdini. Free, or $99.00 with no water marks, but NCU.(Non-Commercial use). Here is the link. Bad ass app.
http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=589&Itemid=221
Modeling was real pain in the ass with Houdine compared to any other application, IMO. But that was few years ago