3D Crafter

3D Crafter is comprehensive and reliable application created as a 3D modeling tool, that offers various advanced animation features and functions. The program uses drag-and-drop as its main approach to adding elements into your design.

3D Crafter provides you with the means to create, edit, sculpt, deform and color 3D items or even scenes. The 'Construction section' enables you to browse through the components library and choose the 'Primitive' shapes or objects that you want to work with, such as cubes, spheres or cylinders, but also 'Bones' (used to create positionable human and animal models).

From the 'Material Palette', you have the option of selecting the preferred material (wood, gems or stone), map (specular, environment, translucency, bump) and texture to apply to your object. Each added shape can be customized to fit your design perfectly, allowing you to taper, bend and smooth them according to your needs.

Moreover, you can add lighting to your scene by using the available elements: 'Point Light', 'Spotlight', 'Area Light' and 'Directional Light'.

In order to animate a 3D shape, you need to place it in a scene, then adjust the location of the camera, using the 'Navigation Control' in the corner of the main window. This determines the angle from which your animation will be captured and viewed.

Animations are created using 'Key-frames', which are basically snapshots of what your scene looks at various points in time. Using the 'Animation Slider', you can determine the points through which your shape will pass, converting them to 'Key-frames'.

3D Crafter is an interesting program that offers numerous tools and components meant to help you practice your design and animation skills. The application is specifically intended for beginners, as it presents you with all the necessary utilities to help you understand 3D modeling, without requiring much effort on your part.