Technically, 3 Dimensions refers to objects that are constructed on three plans (X, Y and Z). The process of creating 3D graphics can be divided into three basic phases: 3D modeling, 3D animation and 3D rendering.
Three dimensional (3D) computer graphics are widely used and they are almost too common to see anywhere, let it be movies, products designs, advertisements, etc. Although they are commonly seen, that doesn’t mean they are easily created. In order to interactively control a 3D object, it must be created in a 3D authoring tool which usually cost a lot to a non-professional user.
A 3D model is usually originated on the computer by engineer using some kind of 3d modeling tools. Creating 3D models is not easy and the software alone can cost a fortune Therefore, we thought it might be interesting to check out the availability of open source 3D modeling tools out there. Crawling from sites to sites, reading through end users comments and feedback, we bring you 25 Free 3D Modelling Applications You Should Not Miss. Full list after jump.
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Blender
A free and open source 3D modeling and animation application which can be used for modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, non-linear editing, compositing, and creating interactive 3D applications.
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K-3D
K-3D is free-as-in-freedom 3D modeling and animation software. It features a plugin-oriented procedural engine for all of its content, making K-3D a very versatile and powerful package.
K-3D excels at polygonal modeling, and includes basic tools for NURBS, patches, curves and animation.
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Art of Illusion
Art of Illusion is a free, open source 3D modelling and rendering studio. Some of the highlights include subdivision surface based modelling tools, skeleton based animation, and a graphical language for designing procedural textures and materials.
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SOFTIMAGE|XSI Mod Tool
A free 3D modeling and animation software for aspiring game developers and modders. The Mod Tool is a free version of XSI for non commercial game creation. It is made for everyone needing a powerful 3D application to make and mod games. The Mod Tool plugs into all the major game engines and development frameworks for next-generation games, casual games, mods for existing titles and even Flash-based 3D games.
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Zmodeler
ZModeler (or Zanoza Modeler) is a 3D modeling application developed by Oleg Melashenko. It is aimed at modelers who model for computer games. ZModeler is capable of complex modeling, even though it does not support important modeling functions such as extruding, or beveling.
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TopMod3d
TopMod3d is a free, open source, portable, platform independent topological mesh modeling system that allows users to create high genus 2-manifold meshes. It can also create solid models that can be prototyped using various rapid prototyping technology.
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Google SketchUp 6
Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, share and present 3D models. Whether you want to design a new deck for your house, build models for Google Earth, or teach geometry to your fifth-graders, you can use SketchUp to see your ideas in 3D. And when you’re done, you can export an image, make a movie or print out a view of what you made.
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AutoQ3D Community – 3D Editor
AutoQ3D Community is an easy, light and fast 3D model editor tool that uses the full power of your PC´s graphics hardware, allowing you to rapidly prototype your 3D designs. Its interface is intuitive and easy to use and provided at no charge. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License so it will be free to use, modify and distribute within any educational, professional or commercial purposes.
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Anim8or
Anim8or is a 3D modeling and character animation program which allows users to create and modify 3D models with built-in primitives such as spheres, cylinders, platonic solids, etc.; mesh-edit and subdivision; splines, extrusion, lathing, modifiers, bevel and warps,
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Seamless3d
Seamless3d is free open source 3d modelling software which designed for the artist who is realistic about the time it takes to learn any tool that’s going to offer creative freedom.
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BRL-CAD
BRL-CAD is a powerful cross-platform constructive solid geometry solid modeling system that includes an interactive geometry editor, ray-tracing for rendering & geometric analyses, network distributed framebuffer support, image & signal-processing tools.
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3DPlus
With 3DPlus you can create outstanding 3D designs in just a few minutes – with no need for any complicated VRML or other programming. 3DPlus is the amazing 3D design software that enables you to create stunning 3D graphics for your home, school or business – no experience required!
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3D Canvas
3D Canvas is a real-time 3D modeling and animation tool that incorporates an intuitive drag-and-drop approach to 3D modeling. Complex models can be constructed from simple 3D primitives, or created using 3D Canvas’ Object Building Tools. Modeling tools are provided to deform, sculpt, and paint 3D objects.
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eDrawings
eDrawings is a freeware utility which will give the user the power to view, create and share 3D models and 2D drawings. eDrawings offers unique capabilities like point-and-click animations that make it easy for anyone with a PC to interpret and understand 2D and 3D design data.
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Blink 3D
Blink 3D is an authoring tool for creating 3D environments. The 3D environments are immersive, just like today’s modern games and can be viewed using the a Blink 3D Viewer on the Web or locally.
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Minos
MINOS extends the capabilities of your existing 2D-or 3D-wireframe-based systems, so you can take advantage of all the benefits solid modeling offers right away. MINOS makes it easy to design 3D parts and assemblies. The design methodology is based on defining simple geometric elements including lines, curves, and circles, and then linking them together to form contours.
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freeCAD
freeCAD is a basic 3D CAD with advanced Motion Simulation capabilities. It is suitable for anyone interested in learning 3D CAD and Motion Simulation for free before using more sophisticated packages. Its motion simulation capabilities are comparable to the best and can provide accurate answers to engineers and scientists in diverse fields.
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Bishop3D
Bishop3D is an interactive modeler and animation tool for the popular freeware raytracer POV-Ray™, a world-class renderer for creating three-dimensional photo-realistic images. Bishop3D allows you to model the scenes interactively and it will automatically generate the correspondent POV-Ray SDL script. It offers native keyframe animation support, POV-Ray SDL import and a powerful texture editor.
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K3DSurf
K3DSurf is a program to visualize and manipulate Mathematical models in three, four, five and six dimensions. K3DSurf supports Parametric equations and Isosurfaces. K3DSurf can be used by every one interested in 3D Mathematical drawing functions and don’t require any special competences by users.
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DesignWorkshop Lite
DesignWorkshop is a three-dimensional modeling program for architectural design and related endeavors. Its unique interface makes it more profoundly “Mac-like” than any prior modeling software. This interface allows it to support actual design in three dimensions, as opposed to just recording design ideas already worked out with other media.
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GDesign 2.0
GDesign 2.0 is a 2D/3D free generative art application for Windows. With GDesign you can interactively build, test, and edit complex models. You can create, edit, build and preview huge 2D and 3D objects with extended LSystems and Cellular Automata tools.
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Sweet Home 3D
Sweet Home 3D is a free interior design application that helps you place your furniture
on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview. Sweet Home 3D helps people to design their interior quickly. The user may: draw the walls of his rooms upon the image of an existing plan, change the color or the texture of the walls, import additional 3D models created by himself or downloaded from different Web sites, change the size, view the changes in the plan simultaneously in the 3D view, either from an aerial view point, or from a virtual visitor view point, print the home plan and the 3D view.
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trueSpace
trueSpace7.6 is a fully-featured 3D authoring package that will let you model, texture, light, animate and render 3D content. As well as traditional images and movies, you can also make 3D content for online shared spaces, and for Virtual Earth.
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Alibre Design Xpress
Alibre Design Xpress is a rich and capable 3D solid modeler for creating mechanical parts, assemblies and 2D drawings – and is free. Alibre Design Xpress equips the person needing basic 3D design capabilities. Alibre Design Xpress has a rich set of integrated tutorials that you can use to learn the product quickly.
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3DVIA Shape
3DVia Shape is a free online 3D modeling application that eases you to create, publish and share ideas in 3D. There are 3DVIA archive of prototypes and modeling software you can choose to create three-dimensional. Each model can be viewed at any angle, spun around and zoomed-in on.
This is one of those books a lot of people with a background in graphics design loves. I think the language is way too exaggerated for a person without a graphics design background. I only include it in this list, because some of you might find that you like it since it has withstood the test of times, but I don’t recommend it for your first book on typography. Richard Rutter at 
This was my first book on typography and it does a very good job at explaining typography in a way that is easy to understand. It is organized very well, includes good examples, and lots of pretty pictures to stare at. Does a good job of covering all the areas you need to know about typography,
This was my second book on typography and while it covers a lot of the same materials as other typography books, I found it very helpful to see a different author explain the different aspects of typography. Typography is one of those subjects where it is very helpful to hear different opinions and angles on the subject in order to get a better grasp of it.
I used this book in the same way as the others and it was to expand my mind about typography by reading other angles on the subject of typography. I would recommend going with the one that speaks to you the best first and then reading other books to get a more full understanding of it.
CSS Mastery is one of those solid books that does a good job covering the different aspects of CSS and XHTML you need to know in order to build a website. At the end of the book it goes through a couple case studies so you can get a look at practical applications of what you learned.
A good book that is jam packed with good examples teaching you the fundamentals you need in order to build a website. The difference between this and CSS mastery is that this book uses more color so some examples are easier to see and they also cover a few different topics. Both books cover the basics though, which one you use is up to your personal preference and needs.
This book’s primary focus is on building websites that can stand the test of time, well at least better than non web standards websites. This books takes examples of websites that are not coded well and then shows you how to make it better.
This book is organized by tips so you can skim through it looking for what you need to learn. It is helpful for when you are clueless why certain things work a certain way or want to do something a certain way, but don’t know how.
I carry this pocketbook with my macbook pro a lot in the beginning and still do from time to time, because it is a useful book to refer to when you can’t remember certain code structures because you don’t use that particular code often.
A very good book to start you off on the principles that make a beautiful web design. It has a lot of good examples of each principle. At the end of each chapter, what you learned is applied to a website that the author is building so you get to see a nice site unfold as you read the book.
A more detailed book on design elements that I found to be very useful after reading the principles of beautiful web design. This book goes through different aspects of design in a more in depth manner so you get a better understanding of the different design elements.
A great book that covers the different aspects involved in logo, letterhead, business card, and newsletter design. I found it very helpful to see how print designers work and a lot of the principals they apply to their work can be applied to the web as well.
All design books talk about color and that includes typography books as well. So I am only recommending one book on color, because I don’t feel reading any more books on color would help more than experimenting with it yourself or supplementing it with online resources.
Everyone who talks about usability has read this book and for good reason. Jakob Nielsen is considered the guru of usability so check out this book. It is a good read with lots of interesting facts as well as things not to do when building your website.
A much shorter book than Prioritizing Web Usability, but just as useful. Steve Krug uses a lot of examples in order to show you both good and bad websites. He also talks a lot on how to set up usability testing to get the most out of it.
As the title says, it is about designing the obvious in such a way that it really is obvious and easy to use. After you are are done designing for usability though, you should work on making it more pretty though.
Who doesn’t want a cool logo? Learning how to build logos is one of those things that are great to know, because often times you will have to design either your own logo or a client’s. It is important when designing logos to understand how the brand affects your image.
A great book that has a ton of logos (1300 logos). Great as a reference or source of inspiration.
There comes a point where you want to add more functionality to your design and javascript is a great way to do this. Be careful not to make it so that your visitors need javascript in order to use vital functions of your site as this will exclude quite a bit of users.
jQuery is a great framework that makes javascript easier to use as well as easier to understand. This book is written by the developers of jQuery and is filled with great examples that makes it easy to learn.
This book is filled with ideas on how to structure your web design projects, which makes them easier to work with. It also goes in depth on the various stages of web design and questions you should ask yourself.
Google Analytics is awesome not only because it is free, but it is a very powerful program to track what your visitors are doing. If you don’t know what your visitors are doing, then you won’t be able to fix problems before they get out of control or make your design better. Read my book review on 
While knowing what makes a blog successful from a blogger’s point of view is not required, I found it very helpful in making better blog designs. This book goes over a lot of the different tools bloggers use as well as what makes a blog successful.
If you have ever been curious as to how the top blogs came to be, then this book is for you. The interviews reveal a lot of interesting information about the top blogs and their authors. I have to say though, that a lot of the top blogs’ design are terrible and the only reason they can get away with that is because they have the advantage of not only being the first in their niche, but also being around for years. That and great content of course. Read my 
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