Does anyone of you know a good freeware/shareware 3d animation/rendering tool?

It should be rather selfexplaining and easy to use. I got an old full version of NeoN 3d at home, but that technology is rather outdated. Most actual effects are simply missing.

But it had one advantage: Constructing objects and animating them was really a pleasant thing. The interface was very intuitive and easy to learn. Almost every function was accessible via an icon, that clearly showed what it did.

Animation phases could be controlled via timesplines.

The object editor was easy to use. Extruding shapes with beveled edges was a thing of 4 or 5 clicks.

So what I'm looking for is a tool that is as user friendly as NeoN 3d was, but with newer features and functions.

Any ideas?

well i think the best tool to start rendering is 3dmax, cause all "grater" 3d programs work somehow the same.
but 3dmax is very expensive.
thee is a free, downcutted version of 3dmax, named gmax. it is designed for developers, like modders, to make contents for games. I never tried it but you could try it to see if you like the 3dmax system, the interface should be nearly the same.

gmax can't handle the 3dsmax sod exporter plugin, as far i know. the thing is, all good 3d rendering apps ARE expensive, but all of them have trial versions offered by their manufacturers

DOCa Cola