Wings Three Dee

A popular 3D modelling and texturing package inspired by the now-defunct Nendo. It is written entirely in the ErlangLanguage, which is a concurrent FunctionalProgrammingLanguage, using the ESDL wrapper to communicate with the OpenGL and SimpleDirectMediaLayer libraries for drawing and getting input. All 3D math, polygon triangulation, and so on, is written in straight Erlang.

Extremely good editor. The complete opposite of Blender. It doesn't have a million useless buttons, in triplicate form, to annoy the user. For instance, you can only add a polygon from the main screen context menu. Every function can only be accessed in one place, as opposed to from the context menu and the drop down menu and the half-screen that's devoted entirely to buttons.

Wings 3D has clear simple controls that reliably work. The editor shows you what's going to be selected before you select it, so you always know ahead of time the result of your actions instead of the guessing or trial and error that Blender condemns you to. Extra points that you select an object at a time, instead of every object nearby like Blender does. Extra points that the default camera move mode is useful (tumbling) instead of useless (tracking). No extra points that it only tumbles around the origin instead of falling back on the origin when nothing's selected.

Everything is "obvious" because what the mouse buttons do is always described at the bottom of the screen in an information box. You don't have to hunt through the manual or spend a very frustrated hour in trial and error like a toddler just to find out what the mouse buttons do on the main screen. This editor treats the user with respect; it understands that you have a mind capable of language, as apparently the makers of Blender never did.

Unfortunately, it's an editor and not a modeler. Think MicrosoftPaint and not PhotoShop.

Wings3D is a perfectly decent modeller. Most people use it for new FromScratch? work rather than to edit existing files. I don't even think it is very good at editing files that originated elsewhere.'

See also ThreeDeeEditors


CategoryThreeDee


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