Here are some free modeling apps and sculpting apps, that you may have missed.

[TheBadger]

Links may have some repeating info.

http://en.softonic.com/s/3d-sculpting

http://sourceforge.net/directory/graphics/graphics/3dmodeling/os:mac/freshness:recently-updated/

http://www.3ders.org/3d-software/3d-software-list.html

http://www.gnomonschool.com/blog/3d-modeling/6-free-3d-modeling-programs-every-artist-should-have

http://www.xnormal.net/Faq.aspx

http://www.k-3d.org
http://www.povray.org
http://www.turbosquid.com/gmax

I think a good amunt of this has been posted here before. But some of it may be new to you. You will have to look through the links.

[efflux]

Just one point here. I'm sure I saw a video somewhere showing xnormal creating vector displacement maps.

[TheBadger]

I think what X normal does is alter Vectors to other kinds of maps. I saw that too and was going to post it for Ulco. But when I read up on it It was to convert vectors to bump, normal, and such.
But I may have missed something.

[efflux]

I think it can create vector displacements by taking two meshes in. One is the base mesh, the other is your sculpt mesh. Then it creates the vector displacement map. I'm almost certain of this but I might be wrong.

[Dune]

Ah. And it's free, so I can always try.

[efflux]

I found the video that I saw before. It's here. He goes to xnormal at around 8 minutes in but the rest may be useful to know even although he's using Modo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqUOou3Pp_g

I had to go into Windows for this with Xnormal which is quite a big typical bloated Windows type install and my Windows drive has become cramped. It's an SSD. I Don't like using Blender on Windows and hate working in Windows. The huge meshes I tried to use from Blender Linux don't work so well on Windows Blender. I ultimately won't do the vector displacements this way but maybe you can try it. That video seems to suggest that Xnormal will do this job if the modeller can't.

[Upon Infinity]

No more Hexagon, badger?  Also, POV-Ray, isn't so much a modelling program as it is 3D culture shock.  Even though most of its technology is light years ahead of Terragen, it's user interface is heavily lacking and everything needs to be programmed, almost like in a C++ language.

[efflux]

Yeah I keep seeing seeing great results from Povray but as far as I know it's just too much hassle to use. You can render to Povray from Wings3d though. I might try that. Maybe a good way to preview the models.

[TheBadger]

No more Hexagon, badger? 

lol Nope!
I thought we talked about this? To many bugs, and to slow or no development. Its still a great soft for simple things though, its still free, and I still recommend it for a beginner, because its free. But only for really basic stuff.

I quickly learned I really like modeling and the rest. So I needed a much bigger package to do all the things I was dreaming up. And down the long tedious painful road of learning I went.

But Im nearly there now. Soon Ill be able to do many of the things I set out to do. I have a bunch of projects that I have been working on all at once, and Im getting them to a place that starts to cross the line between amateur and pro quality. Soon I hope to be like "Jo Kariboo", and just show up one sunny day in image sharing, and drop off 10-20 awesome images!  that will be great fun for me!

[Upon Infinity]

No more Hexagon, badger? 

lol Nope!
I thought we talked about this? To many bugs, and to slow or no development. Its still a great soft for simple things though, its still free, and I still recommend it for a beginner, because its free. But only for really basic stuff.

Now that you mention it, I think that sounds familiar.  But that was awhile ago.  What do you use primarily, now?  Cost?  I think I'll stick with Hexagon for the moment.  It's a neat little program, minus the bugs (curse you boolean operation!).  I took quite a break from it after our discussions, and went on to work on other aspects of my project, but now I got to get serious about the architecture.

[TheBadger]

^^
Everything in the AutoDesk catalogue is also free for non-comersial use.

I use maya now for modeling, rigging and animating. Mudbox for painting and sculpting. I will probably stick with autodesk since they made learning their packages free. I use a number of other softwares on a daily basis too. But non of those were free.

Really, we need these free softwares here and there. Learning and working in 3D is not cheap! Of course that does not even bring up the cost of hardware

[pokoy]

Adding this cool web based sculpting tool to the list, quite basic yet, but it shows so much potential:

http://stephaneginier.com/sculptgl/

You need a browser that supports WebGL (Chrome or Firefox).

[TheBadger]

^^ Safari will work. But GL is disabled by default. You have to enable the "develop" tab which is invisible by default.

Thanks for this link pokoy. New to me.