I'm after a good program so I can make 3D thingies eg. Skulls, skelletons, swords, snakes.. anything creepy and gory..

So if any of you wonderful artists can give me some links to programs I'll give you a beer and a cookie for it =) lol

Blender is free but horribly messy to use. If you have access to some pliable children in gainful education then you could utilise that to buy yourself some very good 3D software at ridiculously reduced rates - current king of the crop is the new release of Modo. For instance - Modo is $900 USD roughly, but the student price is $150USD - $99 if they are a particularly diligent swat - I kid you not.

hmmm i'll check it out.. i have a nephew who i can say is mine.. lol.. thats a big difference in price..

I really like Cinema 4D

I like Bryce, personally. It can also be used with Poser.

Cinema 4D is good and again - the student price is only about 20% of the full price.

most of the big hitters offer try before you buy demos so why not give them a spin and see which one fits best.

thanks guys.. i will definately road test these

I have not used any of these, but perhaps they will be of assistance to you or anyone new to 3D modeling, before spending a significant amount of money on the more known programs mentioned above.

Freeware

Amabilis (3D animation, modeling, rendering)

Anim8or (3D animation, modeling, rendering)

BlockCAD (building virtual models with Lego-like bricks)


This was quite interesting to read about:
DAVIDLaserscanner (3D laser range scanning. All you need to build a 3D scanner is a PC, a camera, a background corner, and a laser that projects a line onto the object you want to scan)

Ivy Generator (creates realistic ivy, including leaves)

Planet Genesis (Terragen clone - creates 3D landscapes, planets, etc.)

DAZ Studio (3D figure posing and animation tool)

Google SketchUp (3D design, illustration, and modeling brought to you by Google)

Truespace 3.1 (Compare to Cinema 4D. 3D modeling, design/illustration, animation, game development. You must register for the free serial number)

UVMapper (Map textures to 3D objects)

GPL

Arbaro (3D trees)

BRL-CAD (solid modeling system, includes an interactive geometry editor, parallel ray-tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis, path-tracing for realistic image synthesis, network distributed framebuffer support, image-processing and signal-processing tools. Distributed in source code form. Visit project page for downloads)

Dusty (realtime 3D smoke simulator. Allows to simulate smoke and fire in realtime)

gSculpt (open source, procedural subdivision modeler. Comprehensive set of polygon modeling tools, including most of those found in Wings 3D, and more)

K-3D (3D animation, modeling, and rendering. Uses mutiple rendering engines including the rederman engine)


MegaPOV (custom unofficial versionof POV-Ray with a lot of added features)

Moonlight/3D (3D illustration, modeling, etc. Reported to be an easier learning curve than Blender)

OpenFX (3D design, illustration, and modeling)

PoseRay (Poser-like, and more, with 3D file support)

PovRay (3D illustration - code based. Moray Interface for modeling, etc.)

Moray (Interactive wire-frame modeller that allows you to model a world for POV-Ray interactively, allowing you to see the setup of your scene as you build it)

QCad (Autocad application)

Shapeshop (3D modeling app that is a sketch-based 3D modeling tool for creating procedural hierarchical implicit volume models)

SharpConstruct (3D modeling program that paints depths onto polygon models in realtime. Is being added into Blender 3D)

Sketchboard (CAD software. 3D)

Wings3d (3D subdivision modeler inspired by Nendo and Mirai from Izware)

WOW.. thanks.. i'll check these out.. if i'm AWOL you know why.. lol

Maya. the best there is.
http://www.alias.com/

Yes – Maya is the industry recognised ‘gold standard’ but such is the immense breadth of its abilities that for 90% of users it would be a sledgehammer to crack a walnut – that and it costs between 2 and 7 thousand dollars per license:-) The curious were able to use a free ‘learning edition’ of it in its Alias guise – I don’t know if Autodesk still do that, but it is only of use to learn the software – nothing can be effectively produced for display purposes due to size limitations and watermarking. From what I read, many of the big studios and effects companies use Maya or customised derivatives of it as their primary workhorse solution.

I have an older version of Maya...and lemme say...if anyone was at all scared when first learning Photoshop...don't go anywhere NEAR Maya!!!

I have maya unlimited 2008, and i will be relasing some stuff on here soon that ive been working on. it is truly the most fun program i have ever used,,, so powerful. anything you can imagine you can create... in a 3D world. its the best form of creative control.. and with addons like RealFlow you can animate realistic water, fluids, and air effects like smoke and particles too... fun stuff.
i see what youre saying though,. it really is advanced. and it may be too much if you are looking for a more consumer type program...

if you do get maya... there are plenty of tuorials online. look for a modelling tutorial, you should be able to model a skull or something like that in a few minutes... throw a shader on it, some lights and u got a skull.

thanks everyone.. I'm still checking these out.. so all help is fantastic

Check out 3ds max - I'd be using it now if it was Mac compatible.

Here's a great example of what it can do:

http://framebox.de/creations/3d/salad/index.htm

If you're just into scenery, then have a look at Vue 6 Esprit (which I, WENPEDER & Foxfire66 use, among others). Also, the more elaborate and expensive Vue 6 Infinite, Mojoworld and what promises to be the final word in consumer level scenery generators, Terragen 2 (still vaporware though).

Maya is the standard...I've barely scratched the surface of it on someone else's machine...(In addition to a few thousand dollars for the program licensing, I'd need a more powerful computer...) Maya is awesome!