3D Modelling - Rendering with Materials - for Free?

[gord]

Hello chaps,

I would like to be able to model and render some quite simple objects quite nicely. Thinking about starting off with some lego blocks and moving forwards from there.

What's the best free software today for modelling and rendering. The items need to have realistic material properties so if they can be included that would be great. For example, plastics, glass etc. And controls for light and reflective surfaces.

Eventually I would like to be able to render something like the chemical nodes on the exxon site. http://www.exxonmobil.co.uk/UK-English/default.aspx Takes a few seconds to load in the flash thing.

That's very smart, being animated, with a glass material and a cubemap of a landscape refracted in the nodes yet a white background. Is this something possible with free software?

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[gord]

The learning cliff is fine. I used to use gmax, the free 3dsmax alternative as a uvwrapper/texture artist. But I think my knowledge is probably quite outdated as that was back when I used to work on CNC Generals mods.

Just seen Kerkythea on another thread. And I've heard a lot about Blender, but it was in its infancy when I first tried it.

 

[gord]

Well, the models I'm drawing won't be too complex. So the modeller is probably less important than the renderer, which should have the material editor, presets, lighting, anti-aliasing options I want to get a high quality professional render.