Free Windows Wallpaper and 3d Backgrounds. Customize your Desktop!
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Links
Top Links - The most relevant 3d Art links around.
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Other 3d Art and Wallpaper Sites
The Wallpaper Vault - A great resource site with listings of the top wallpaper sites on the web, 3d and otherwise.
Visual Paradox - Another great free wallpaper site done by Brian Kissinger. I love his images, very talented. Check him out.
Art of Greg Martin - Beautifully rendered space scenes and a wonderful site make this a favorite.
MikeBonnell.com - Superb 3d wallpaper here. This stuff is simply amazing. The things Mike does with 3d art should not be missed.
PlasmaDesign - Great wallpaper as well as dual screen versions, PSP wallpaper, and PowerBook wallpaper. Nice.
Cognitive Distortion - Sometimes I can't tell if these are real images or art! Offers both a free and member gallery. Even has animated desktop wallpaper. Good stuff.
While You Were Asleep - Very nice gallery here. Check it out.
Savinoff Design Studios - Breathtaking scenes. The use of light and shadow here is stunning. Definitely work a look.
3d Art Communities
Gfxartist.com - Great artists, great forums, and a great resource.
123d 3d Art Community - Another superb resource for art, models, and tutorials.
Deviant Art - This is a great site for both the artist and those that love to gaze. If you can't find the wallpaper you're looking for elsewhere - check here. A great community.
CGSociety.com - This is a community more geared toward professional 3d art - animation, movies, and advertising
3d Software I Use
Bryce 5.5 - Currently owned by Daz3d, Bryce has been a staple of 3d imaging for many years. Many of the images done in my gallery are rendered in Bryce.
Poser - Poser is a program specifically designed to recreate the human (and sometimes non-human) form in 3d. It allows you to pose a model in many different ways (hence the name Poser) and either render it within the program, or export it into another 3d program for rendering. If you see a person or an animal in one of my images, chances are it started in Poser.
Vue - Vue is a program similar to Bryce in that it creates 3d worlds complete with landscapes and lighting. It is a bit more advanced than Bryce, and has some really amazing capabilities. I use Vue 5 Infinite.
Carrara - Another program similar to Bryce, and now also owned by Daz3d, Carrara is a very excellent and affordable world renderer.
Daz Studio - Daz Studio is a free (yes free!) program built by Daz3d to allow users of Bryce to work with Poser models... without needing to actually buy Poser. While Daz Studio is certainly a worthy addition to the toolkit, especially for the price, I still prefer Poser.
Terragen - Terragen is, in a word, amazing. It has an ability to create near photo realistic (with some skill of course) terrains and skies. You can get a free version, though it does have some limitations. For free though, it is absolutely worth checking out if you're interested.
3D Studio Max - This is one of the most popular 3d modelers around. It allows you to build almost anything in 3d, and export it for almost any purpose... images, games, animations, movies, etc. It has a steep learning curve, but is a very powerful program.
Lightwave - Lightwave is a superb rendering program, and can do some amazing things with light and shadow. I have yet to truly play with Lightwave enough to fully appreciate it, but I'm looking forward to the day when I can do just a fraction of what the program is capable of.
Adobe Photoshop - Not actually a 3d program, but I use a little bit of Photoshop on all my renders. It really helps 'tweak' and image and make it look just like I want it. I would be lost without Photoshop. It's also great for... well.. photos.
Other useful links
BaconMap - This is an Open Source IT Resource Mapping software that I helped design and code at NMSU. It's free, if you're into that sort of thing, and actually pretty neat. Even if you're not into it, you can still stop by the site and play with the demo. :)
WindowBlinds - This is a really neat program. It allows you to completely customize your Windows desktop. You can change just about anything, and make your desktop unique.
StyleXP - Very similar to Window Blinds, this program allows you to customize Windows. You can even make your taskbar transparent or change your startup screen.
Astro Gemini - Some amazing 3d screensavers here. Definitely worth checking out.
ObjectDock - Made by the same company as WindowBlinds, Object dock allows you to reduce the clutter of icons on your desktop by arranging everything into docks. Very useful - I keep all my 3d programs in a dock. :)
