'Poser'-like software for backgrounds

August 5, 2018 9:23 AM

I am trying to recall the name of a specific piece of free(?) software (or possibly a website) that allows the user to design and create simple 3-D room interiors/backgrounds for art reference - where basic shapes/furniture items can be assembled into a configuration of the user's choice, and then used as reference for drawings, in order to assist with mapping out perspective, lighting, etc.

I have seen a long post extolling the virtues of this software whoosh past on my Tumblr dashboard a few times, and am currently hunting through my "liked posts" to try and find it, but have failed to turn it up so far. (Next time I will actually reblog it so I can actually find it again... :P )

Alternatively, if anyone knows of any other software that does pretty much the same thing and is Linux-friendly (or, at the least, capable of running more or less smoothly under WINE), I would welcome recommendations! Thanks very much.

posted by Morfil Ffyrnig to Technology (6 answers total)

Best answer: Sketchup?
posted by TheGoodBlood at 9:27 AM on August 5, 2018 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I don't think that's the one I recall, but it's definitely a promising-looking candidate in which I'm going to have a dabble today - thank you! :)
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 9:37 AM on August 5, 2018

Best answer: It looks like this is a thing, in that there are a few different options - not sure which of these was referred to in the blog post, but googling gives:
- DesignDoll, which looks like it can also do backgrounds;
- Anatomy360, which seems to be much more photorealistic;
- It also sounds like a lot of people use tools designed for 3d animation for this, since it's an easy(ish) way to get 3d models - people were suggesting Poser and Daz, as well as Blender.

It would also be worth looking through the lists here and here, especially since I don't know what of the above is available on Linux. Apart from Blender, but you'd have to create/import your own models in that case.
posted by sagc at 10:50 AM on August 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I realize now, of course, that's not exactly what you're looking for - for more emphasis on the rooms themselves, I found RoomSketcher, which I think will let you take 3d snapshots of a 2d plan.

Search for '3d room planner' gets you things like this, which might be even closer to what you're after - but requires signing up.
posted by sagc at 11:27 AM on August 5, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: There is Sweet Home 3D, which probably isn't specifically for what you're trying to do, but may serve the purpose.

As for the Tumblr posts, I'll take a wild guess and suggest they may be talking about either Fire Alpaca or the older MangaLabo (which apparently has a newer release on Steam as described on the company's main site).

Unfortunately neither appears to have a Linux release, though I have come across a couple search results of people attempting to get Fire Alpaca running under WINE.
posted by redrawturtle at 6:49 PM on August 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I just wanted to come back to note that the tool they give you to make a 3D reference in Fire Alpaca is a little bare bones-- meaning you can only do boxes and planes-- but either way, I hope you've found what you were looking for (and sorry for wandering back in like this!)
posted by redrawturtle at 7:44 PM on August 6, 2018 [1 favorite]