I have been searching high and low for a high quality, freeware/shareware 3D graphics program, but it seems the closer I get, the bigger a hurdle I have to jump.

So I'm doing the unthinkable. I'm going to buy a high-end commercial package and I need to know which one is best. From those who know, I'd like to know, since so many here use these programs, which of the ones I have listed is the best?

In order to keep it short, I've devised a simple rating system. One star() is poor, and five stars(*****) is excellent. And if you know it, please include the price. Also, if there are any I leave out, add them the thread, along with a rating. Thanks.
()1. Bryce2-4
()2. Strata3DPro
()3. Lightwave
()4. FormZ
()5. ElectricImage
()6. StudioPro
()7. Pixar(Name unknown)
()8. RayDream Studio
()9. Extreme3D
(*)10. Amapi3D studio

Example: Amapi3D - ***

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"Sorry, a system error
occurred.
"Finder"
bus error
-restart-", MyMac

Q-Czar - A member of RA. Ramblers Anonymous

I use Ray Dream Studio, it's pretty good.

Ray Dream Studio: ****

It's also about $150.

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<font color="gold">Bronze: the other gold metal.</font>

I'll rate the programs I've used.
Ray Dream Studio: ****
Comments: Incredibly easy to learn and you can make stuff really fast once you're good with this program. I never told anyone, but it took me less than a month and a half to create MAGMA v1.0, from initial concept to final rendering.
Animation:Master (Hash): *****
Comments: Harder to learn, but the price is right and the rendering engine is photo-realistic.
-david-

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(url="http://"http://www.meowx.com")Meowx Design Studios(/url)
Graphics. Games. And more...

Quote

Originally posted by Meowx Design:
**I'll rate the programs I've used.
Ray Dream Studio: ****
Comments: Incredibly easy to learn and you can make stuff really fast once you're good with this program. I never told anyone, but it took me less than a month and a half to create MAGMA v1.0, from initial concept to final rendering.
Animation:Master (Hash): *****
Comments: Harder to learn, but the price is right and the rendering engine is photo-realistic.
-david-

**

I'd give Ray Dream Studio *** as it really doesn't always do what you expect and has a very PCish interface.
But Animation:Master (Hash) I'd also like to give ***** all though for ship building its not the best at, but organics!!!!
I'd give Strata3D *****
although I've used it since StrataVision 4.0 was for sale than jumped to StudioPro Blitz 1.7.5++
than to StrataStudio Pro 2.5.3... So I've nary had a bad version to deal with.

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"Don't steal. The government hates competition."

Star Trek Escape Velocity
http://homepage.mac.com/startrekev/

My experience is (perhaps) a bit limited, but I can do wonderful things with Bryce and Povray. I give them both 4 star ratings, since neither is absolutely perfect. I'm not sure how much Bryce costs, but Povray is FREE!! The learning curve is a bit steep, but if you want I can send you the templates I use when building ships for EV in Povray. Check it out at (url="http://"http://www.POVRay.org")http://www.POVRay.org(/url)

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(Insert Signature Here)

1. Bryce2-4
***. Great for landscapes and has spiffy procedural texturing options, but isn't very good for objects, and can't really model worth anything. It's about $190, from Corel now.

2. Strata3DPro
Dunno. I've been unimpressed with Strata products...except for what Metzen's brother can do with it. :eek:

3. Lightwave
***** for quality, dunno about usability. You see EV3? It's graphics are Lightwave spawn. It's professional-grade software. I believe it costs a few thousand dollars.

4. FormZ
Dunno also. What I've seen made with it, EV-wise, has been unimpressive. It's rather expensive, IIRC.

5. ElectricImage
I don't think anyone's used it to make ships for EV, but it is also professional-grade. I believe it has been used in ST:Voyager, and some professional guy interviewed in MacAddict uses it, with FormZ to make some spiffy stuff. It costs several thousand dollars.

6. StudioPro
Heh, strata? See above...

7. Pixar(Name unknown)
:eek: It's RenderMan, I believe...dunno if you can even buy it.

8. RayDream Studio
Not really professional-grade, you can make some decent stuff with it (see Meowx) but I don't like it too much.

9. Extreme3D
Was it this or ElectricImage that guy in MacAddict used... Kinda in the same range as it and Lightwave, if memory serves.

10. Amapi3D studio
Heh, useful for making unusual or difficult-in-other-programs objects but anything rendered in it's own engine looks like plastic.

OK, so I didn't rate them with stars, but I gave descriptions which are more useful, right? Right?

FYI, I use Infini-D 4.5 but I don't believe it is available except for old stock anymore.

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Acutually, I too thought that Hash wasn't that good with mechanical type stuff at first. However, once you get good with it, it blows anything else out of the water! Lightwave? StudioMAX? Eelectronic Image? Bah!
Oh, I forgot to rate one more:
Bryce: ****
A one trick pony, but a damn good one. Here, I made a motto for it (take off on Othello's motto (the game, not the guy), anyone remeber Othello?):
BRYCE: A minute to learn, a week to master.
-david-

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(url="http://"http://www.meowx.com")Meowx Design Studios(/url)
Graphics. Games. And more...

(This message has been edited by Meowx Design (edited 09-22-2000).)

BRYCE: A minute to learn, a week to master.

It takes way more than a week to master Bryce. Unless your some graphics guru who knows composure and works 24 hours to figure out the deep texture editor and sky lab...

Heh.

Bryce: A moment to meet, a lifetime to know. Ponder over that one (I don't mean the program, BTW).

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Sure, Bryce may be a one-trick pony, but that one trick can be used for almost anything. I once built a nifty little fighter where I modeled the inside of the cockpit. I hate to think how much effort that would have taken had I had to use separate objects for each piece of the thing! Bryce did it quite nicely with one terrain object. Oh, and the wings were symmetrical lattices, built directly in the terrain editor.

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(Insert Signature Here)

Quote

Originally posted by Talos:
**I use Ray Dream Studio, it's pretty good.

Ray Dream Studio: ****

It's also about $150.

**

You can stll get it?

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R & R software

Quote

Originally posted by Q-Czar:
**
(*)8. RayDream Studio

**

I use Ray Dream 3D, easy to use,*****. FreeFrom modler,*. Interfase,.
All in all ****.
However i don't think it is available enymore :frown:

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R & R software

I rate Strata Pro **** because it's easly, effective, professional, and FREE

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Give a man a match and he'll be warm for an hour... Set him on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
-Polaris Confederate Recruitmant Theme
StarLance

Quote

Originally posted by Slug:
**I rate Strata Pro **** because it's easly, effective, professional, and FREE

**

i want Lightwave...

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DeAdBoY-
(url="http://"http://www.grybs.com/harzius")Harzius Productions(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.IcedEarth.com")Iced Earth(/url)

More power to Mechanisto boys! This is all I can do from hours of watching Bee (I have no clue why) Anyways, he's gone and asked me to upload some stuff for him, so i broke into his house and am doing stuff, no joke.

Well, here's a little picture for you all to enjoy, the power of Mechanisto, or what it's limits are. I made it!
(url="http://"http://www.geocities.com/beezuz26/evost-stuff/cube.gif")www.geocities.com/beezuz26/evost-stuff/cube.gif(/url)

Bye, my Powerbook is better than bee's iMacs.

Quote

Originally posted by DeAdBoY:
**i want Lightwave...;)

**

Attempt to learn as many 3D programs that you can before even thinking of going into lightwave. It will give you a tremendous boon when you first give it a try. Of course you could be a person who sleeps 1 hour a month and attempt to learn it old style --- Trial and Error.

even the tutorials you can buy don't even scratch the surface!!!

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"Don't steal. The government hates competition."

Star Trek Escape Velocity
http://homepage.mac.com/startrekev/

Strata 3D ***** Free
This is professional grade software, with way more features than you need for EVO modelling — although, of course, you could lash out for the stuff that costs money for added features.

Bryce 4 ***
With Bryce you can easily do anything Bryce wants to do. If you haven't got another modelling programme, you'll find pretty quickly that moving away from landscapes Bryce has little to offer.

Poser 4 ***** Ł169
Nothing comes close for human modelling, plus there's thousands of high quality free models and textures to download from (url="http://"http://www.renderosity.com")www.renderosity.com(/url).

Also comes with Painter 3d, which is utterly unique for constructing textures.

Solar Cell and Lunar Cell ***** (2 week trial)
These are photoshop plugins that produce, respectively, suns and planets. Amazing stuff. And you can render hundreds of each in an afternoon, so the time out shouldn't be a problem for your EVO needs.

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M A R T I N • T U R N E R

Quote

Originally posted by Metzen:
**Attempt to learn as many 3D programs that you can before even thinking of going into lightwave. It will give you a tremendous boon when you first give it a try. Of course you could be a person who sleeps 1 hour a month and attempt to learn it old style --- Trial and Error.

even the tutorials you can buy don't even scratch the surface!!!

**

ive tried it before, really easy to make good models, i love it
just dont have it :frown:

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DeAdBoY-
(url="http://"http://www.grybs.com/harzius")Harzius Productions(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.IcedEarth.com")Iced Earth(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by Jannette:
**More power to Mechanisto boys! This is all I can do from hours of watching Bee (I have no clue why) Anyways, he's gone and asked me to upload some stuff for him, so i broke into his house and am doing stuff, no joke.

Well, here's a little picture for you all to enjoy, the power of Mechanisto, or what it's limits are. I made it!
www.geocities.com/beezuz26/evost-stuff/cube.gif

Bye, my Powerbook is better than bee's iMacs. <IMG SRC="http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/webboard/smile.gif" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="15">**

he goes by the name of Kwanza on these boards

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DeAdBoY-
(url="http://"http://www.grybs.com/harzius")Harzius Productions(/url)
(url="http://"http://www.IcedEarth.com")Iced Earth(/url)

I've got Bryce 4, Infinf-D and Strata3d (the free one) I'm just learning how to use them but Bryce is very cool, Strata3d I find is a lot easier to use than Infini-D.

Bryce4: Cool, not very intuitive though.
Infini-D: hate some of the way the controls are laid out, horrible to learn
Strata3D: A lot easier to use than Infini-D, but can't find a mirror function which would be helpfull, or a way to specify the degree of spin.

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(url="http://"http://celticstarbase.tsx.org")http://celticstarbase.tsx.org(/url)
(url="http://"mailto:celticstarbase@esatclear.ie")mailto:celticstarbase@esatclear.ie(/url)celticstarbase@esatclear.ie

Well guys, your input has been invaluable. I didn't even know some of these programs existed, let alone were any good.

Unfortunately, after some preliminary investigation, I've found that I'll be out in the cold. At least as it involves commercial quality 3D graphics. You see, some of the people at the place where I work use Lightwave, and they told me that my primary problem was my OS. After checking it out for myself, I confirmed it. The lowest most of the high-end ones will work is 8.5.

So then comes the task of trying to get OS 8.5, so that I could then get OS 9. Then I find out that I may not be able to get it because of my processor. Well, in all actuality, there are two processors in my Mac. One, the original, is a 90mhzPowerPC. The other, which was installed later, is a 260+mhz G3. I don't know. I'm a bit confused by the whole issue.

On top of that, I now have to pay for OS 8.5(the full price) in order to then be able to use OS 9, which I still have to pay for. That's almost $200. All told, it's just taking too much of a toll on me and my machine. I'll have to be patient, save money, and get a G4.
There is some light in the form of formZ, POVRay, and possibly, Bryce. And Corel is strictly against offering try-before-you-buy SW, meaning I have to buy Bryce before I can see if I like it, which sucks. Oh, and I'll toss one more high-end piece into the ring for people to go at, although I already know it's good: Pixels Animation Studio's Pixel:3D. Also req's 8.5.

If I'm wrong about my predicament, please tell me. Thanks for all the help.

(sorry about the long post, but you know mysig)

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"Sorry, a system error
occurred.
"Finder"
bus error
-restart-", MyMac

Q-Czar - A member of RA. Ramblers Anonymous