I'm trying to make my own plug ships, so, are there any good graphics programs, because Clarisworks just doesnt cut it. Thanks a lot for any info

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well, it depends on how much you are willing to pay. If you have a large budget, go for lightwave. It is a great program, too bad I don't have it, and it is probably worth the money. if you can't afford lightwave you can get other 3d programs.

here is the general package you will want:

you are going to want Bryce ( (url="http://"http://www.corel.com")www.corel.com(/url) ), Photoshop ( (url="http://"http://www.adobe.com")www.adobe.com(/url) ) and strata 3D ( (url="http://"http://www.strata.com")www.strata.com(/url) ).

Of course if you don't want to pay, you can get somebody to do your graphics for you...

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"I'm getting out of this place alive even if it kills me!"

Bryce Bryce Bryce Bryce Bryce! I have made all of my ships in Bryce! Bryce is cool! Bryce is fun! Bryce is easy! Bryce is good for animation! Bryce is good for textures! Bryce is good for modeling! Bryce is... help I ran out of things to say.

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Your pet poodle is flying loop-de-loops over my microchips! The poodle is coming! The poodle is coming! (Don't ask )

POV-Ray is good, too. But most people seem not to like it. It's free though, so you might want to give it a try. (url="http://"http://www.povray.org/")http://www.povray.org/(/url)

You can see some examples of POV-Ray stuff in the image gallery, though you might have to dig a bit.

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(Insert Signature Here)

Or if you want to follow what all the high-end people are doing now, get Maya or 3D Studio Max. I have never used either (surprise surprise) but they seem to be the best...

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--sitharus
(url="http://"http://www.evp.f2s.com/boards/")The Alternative EV/O Boards(/url) (url="http://"mailto:sitharus@ureach.com")mailto:sitharus@ureach.com(/url)sitharus@ureach.com

(QUOTE)Originally posted by Capt'n Hector:
(zot)
you are going to want Bryce ( (url="http://"http://www.corel.com")www.corel.com(/url) ), Photoshop ( (url="http://"http://www.adobe.com")www.adobe.com(/url) ) and strata 3D ( (url="http://"http://www.strata.com")www.strata.com(/url) ).

/QUOTE)
strata 3D is free, but the others there are pretty pricey - especially photoshop, although an LE version might not be too bad.

Color It! (if it still exists) was always a great entry level photoshop style pixel graphics program. I've seen it on magazine cover CDs now and again. Search on the web and you should be able to get a copy inexpensively.

Bryce is cool, but I haven't been able to get a real copy because of the price ($US are way to expensive these days ) . Check out Vista Pro as a landscape renderer, my copy is from a MacFormat (UK) magazine cover CD, v1.0 was (is?) given away as a temptation for getting v2.0. Search for it on the web and it might be an inexpensive way to get into the planetscape graphics. It isn't quite as nice as Bryce, but it can use USGS elevation data file to render realistic landscapes.

Ralph

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I tried to download Strata 3D, but it needs system 8.5 or higher. I dont have that, and I have PovRay on my computer but it is to difficult to use. I would like to make 2D ships and as Type R said it, Claris Works dosent cut it!

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How do you keep a blond entertained for hours?
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How do you keep a blond entertained for hours? Look above for answer.

I think it depends on how you think. Strata-3d is fairly easy to use and free. Mechanisto is, well, different. You don't need to register because as far as anyone knows the person who wrote it fell off the face of the earth. Anyways, some people have had very good results, others (including myself) have diddley to show for the time and effort we put into it. To do either well go for Photoshop. It's expensive; maybe you can find a good price on ebay. That seems to work for people looking for good prices on Bryce. I've personally never used bryce. I am trying to do landscapes in Pixels, without much success. Hard to do anything complex, ya know? With landscapes, you could probably convince someone to do them for you.

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"Get with the krizapee taste of Rocket Fuel malt liqueur. Rocket Fuel's got the upstate prison flavor that keeps you ugly all night. So when you wanna get sick, remember: Nothing makes your feet stank like Rocket Fuel malt liquer. Damn! it's krizapee."

I use Strata Studio Pro 2.1

I love it. It's fast and has some cool features. Bryce is a tad expensive, but the best way to get hold of good commercial programs for your mac is to buy them second hand from auction sites!

The programs don't decay or anything when someone else has used them, and when I got my copy of Strata SP 2.1 from (url="http://"http://www.sold.com.au")www.sold.com.au(/url) (I'm an Aussie), The Reference guide had a heap of gnarley texture types in it in pencil from the previous owner. Talk about timesaving.

I have seen many copies of Bryce, Ray Dream, PhotoShop, etc go through most of the places I buy stuff from.

Majordomo
Captain of the Guard.

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Quote

Originally posted by rebelswin_85:
Mechanisto is, well, different.

I would recommend Mechanisto, which is what I went to when I got tired of making ships in Clarisworks ;). It's not as hard to use as people make out (I mean, if I can use it...) and if you have good textures you can produce ships that are quite respectable. Also it works on all Macs (within reason, I imagine...).

Another ap you might find useful is Mordant, which is a painting program. It's free, and it was designed for the express purpose of making texture maps. It's limited as far as general graphics use, but it has a good variety of paintbushes and alot of blending features Clarisworks doesn't have. Using them together you can make textures just as good as those produced by Photoshop. The only problem is I don't know if it's readily available... it seems the other day I was suggesting the program to someone else and couldn't find anyplace to download it. If you want it and can't find it anywhere you can email me and I'll send you a copy.

Also Graphic Converter is always good to have.

In case you haven't done so, i would suggest you do a search on these boards for the word '3D' or something like that, there have been quite a number of useful tips flying around. I'm currently using mechanisto myself, which gave me some pleasing results after only a few weeks of 3D experience.

A few general remarks i think most people will agree with:

1. Don't underestimate the importance of textures and bump maps
2. Don't just ignore the lighting - play around with it a bit
3. Keep a balance between what you want to do and what you can do
4. Always try something new and you'll find stuff you never expected...

Sarcas

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Strata 3d is magnificent and free.

Bryce 2 has appeared on the covers of magazines, and is almost as good as Bryce 4 except for the animation, which you don't really need since Strata is much better for ships.

Graphic Converter is shareware, and has many of the features of photoshop that you actually need (and some features that you need, such as CLUTs, which Photoshop doesn't have).

Pixels 3d is currently available for free. It has very powerful modelling, but most people find it unintuitive and a tad buggy.

Poser 2 has appeared on the covers of magazines. This is excellent software, well worth obtaining. Poser 2 is in fact a mature product. Poser 3 and 4 really take Poser into another dimension. In fact, it would be worth the new owners of Poser spinning off Poser 2 as a separate product.

Clayscape (www.jarfish.com) is a must have modeller which everyone should have as an addon. It is free.

Painter Classic comes free with a Grafire pad. The combination is unique and remarkable. Painter 3d, which is very welcome, comes free with Poser 4.

Check out (url="http://"http://www.versiontracker.com")www.versiontracker.com(/url) regularly for new add-on products, such as texture-magic.

Remember that Color-it, which used to be available for free, can use any Photoshop plugins up to a certain date, which means you can probably use the share ware LunarCell and SolarCell.

I hope this helps.

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M A R T I N • T U R N E R

I may be really out of it, but how long has MT been a mod?

If anyone wants mordant, I found it at:
(url="http://"http://macfreewares.myspot.com/sit/mordant.sit")http://macfreewares....sit/mordant.sit(/url)
And it's a great program.
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My (url="http://"http://type11designs.netfirms.com/")website(/url)
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"Last night as I lay in bed looking at the stars I thought, where the hell is the ceiling?"

(This message has been edited by Type11 (edited 12-25-2000).)

Are there any 2D programs that I could use easily?

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How do you keep a blond entertained for hours?
Look below for answer.
How do you keep a blond entertained for hours? Look above for answer.

I have the same problem I don't have mac 8.5 so I can't use Strata, BUT I have to use Mechanisto. I have just recently figured some stuff out with it but it is a pain in the butt to use. For some reason the maneurvering system (rotate, slide, etc.) doesn't work well and the shaders are a bit hard to create and still get what you want.

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Email:Ionstorm332@yahoo.com
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Quote

Originally posted by blackhole:
**Or if you want to follow what all the high-end people are doing now, get Maya or 3D Studio Max. I have never used either (surprise surprise) but they seem to be the best...

**

Heh, 3d studio max is pc only too bad, a nice program we have it at school, but lightwave is better, just costs like 8 times more. Maya, oh geese, will require OS-X first but thats the least of your worries, as its price is deep into 5 digits.

Chamrin