Design

[baddabang]

I was wondering what the best program would be to render 3D models of buildings/houses. Iv tried CAD and didnt like it. Any one care to help?

[Ferrari Tifosi]

You could try Microstations, its the software we use here at my school for the Engineering and Surveying graphics classes. Give it a shot.

[werty]

i know you can make basically anything with the Rhino software, except its mostly used for cars, but i'm sure it can make anything in 3d

[VtecMini]

3D Studio Max (usually referred to as 3DS Max) is pretty much industry standard. Not that it means it will suit everybody, it's just kinda the 3D modelling equivalent to Adobe Photoshop in terms of user base. You'd have to pay for it of course, unless you wish to illegally download it from a peer to peer program.

If you're after tutorials for 3DS Max (or any other 3D program for that matter), they're plentiful on the net:

www.3dcafe.com
www.3dkingdom.org
www.3dvalley.com
www.renderosity.com

They're all pretty good places to look. If you get stuck, most have a forum which will be full of people willing to aid you.

As far as other programs go, there's Maya 3D, which is probably the most powerful 3D program around today, I've seen models of people made on that which looked photorealistic. Scary as hell. There's also Carrara, Cinema 4D and the aforementioned Rhino. All are really variations on a theme but all have their own strengths.

To be honest I'm a massive fan of Wings 3D, It's ridiculously easy to use, has a good fanbase and is 100% free. The only problem being that it can't render, it can only create models. For rendering you can't go too far wrong with Bryce or Vue d'esprit, although neither of them come free, legally.

If you wanted to implement people or animals into your renders, there's nothing better than Poser.

What's your actual intent with the modelling of houses? Because as far as I'm aware, Architecture is usually done in a CAD program because it has to be properly scaled, else it wouldn't be much use, though I'm not actually sure which program is considered standard. I work in construction, so I can try and find out some time this week if you want.