Quote

Originally posted by Q-Czar:
**So then comes the task of trying to get OS 8.5, so that I could then get OS 9.
**

Forgive me if Im wrong, but I didnt think you needed to go from 8.5 to get to OS 9 -- I managed to upgrade straight from 8.1 to 9 on my G3. A clean install should sort any problems out.

Anyways, your processor upgrade shouldnt be a problem. Addding the G3 processor to your computer cut out the original one.

Oh, and dont feel you have to pay the full price for older OSes - a friend picked up 8.5 from an Apple retailer in london (UK) for UKŁ5 - it is old software, so shops are trying to get rid of old copies.
I have seen copies of 7.6 being given away at some places.
Look around, you will be surprised!!

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In terms of 3D software, people have mentioned Mechanisto, which I find difficult to use (this may be because I havent had a chance to properly learn it)
However, no-one has mentioned RenderBoy (dont laugh) -- it is a piece of Shareware, and despite the name, is actually pretty damn good.
It may not have all the features of Lightwave, but it is still pretty good. (I used it for most of my 3D work before I got my G3) The bonus is it works pretty well on my old 630.

Aside from that, I also have Strata 3D, which is pretty damn good, although it takes a while to get used to...

Oh, with all this talk of 3D, I hope you are seriously considering Photoshop. It is the best graphics software money can buy. If you cant afford it, I know several people here could tell you where to get it free... but I shouldnt be saying that, should I

-Gildor

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(url="http://"http://www.jonpearse.f2s.com")gildor.tsx.org(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.jonpearse.f2s.com/story/index2.html")Fight for Freedom(/url)
(url="http://"mailto:jon@jonpearse.f2s.com")mailto:jon@jonpearse.f2s.com(/url)jon@jonpearse.f2s.com

There's also Carrara, the descendant of Ray Dream Studio.

Metacreations is in the process of selling it, so I don't know about it's availability.

It does many of the things Ray Dream Studio does, plus has metaballs and some other nice features. Though it lacks some of the plugins (as far as I can tell) that make RDS neat (like glow effects)

I have both RDS and Carrara... it has a VERY quick learning curve, IMO, compared with other products.

As for landscapes... there is a free/shareware product floating around called Terragen. It is, frankly, one of the quickest, easiest to learn, and best terrain generators I've found.

You can find a link to the terragen page and some samples of mine using it from my homepage: (url="http://"http://wtimmins.tripod.com/")http://wtimmins.tripod.com/(/url)

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When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I
know it is wrong.
- Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)

(quote)Originally posted by: Gildor
**Oh, with all this talk of 3D, I hope you are seriously considering Photoshop. It is the best graphics software money can buy. If you cant afford it, I know several people here could tell you where to get it free... but I shouldnt be saying that, should I:)

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

Q-Czar - A member of RA. Ramblers Anonymous

I run Terragen through SoftWindows on my mac, and though incredibly slow to render due to the whole emulation thing, it whips bryce's arse and it's free. (url="http://"http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen")www.planetside.co.uk/terragen(/url)

On other 3d apps, I have Inspire 3D, which is a cut-down version of lightwave, and is good for waht I want it to do. I picked it up for about $500 australian, so probably about US$300. It is basically lightwave, minus some of the snazzier features (hypervoxels, steamer, lscript etc.) I found it easy to learn and it's good for anything from ships to landscapes to trees, there's also a lot of free plug-ins out there for it.

I used Infini-D once and hated it. Basically it felt like an expensive version of Mechanisto which was maybe harder to use but had a raytracing engine.

I've never used Electric Image, but I've heard that it has the fastest rendering engine around from anything short of an SGI program, and I know it was used for SW episode 1 (the CGI was the only good thing about that movie).

Strata Studio Pro I've used a little as well, and didn't like it, although admittedly when I tried it it was summer and really hot, and I was probably not concentrating very well...

As for Poser, I only have version 3, which is a good program on its own, but I found it hard to integrate with other 3D programs in anything other than still images. I'm not sure if Version 4 is any different in this regard, as I haven't had the good fortune to be able to try it out for more than about half an hour.

Well, just my 2 cents (plus 10% GST)
Sheppo

BTW, I believe the Pixar thing you're looking at may be Render Man?

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[http://www.crosswinds.net/~pshep/page
Yeah](http://www.crosswinds.net/~pshep/page<br />
Yeah), so what if I'm an Emo Nerd?

Quote

Originally posted by wtimmins:
**There's also Carrara, the descendant of Ray Dream Studio.

Metacreations is in the process of selling it, so I don't know about it's availability.

It does many of the things Ray Dream Studio does, plus has metaballs and some other nice features. Though it lacks some of the plugins (as far as I can tell) that make RDS neat (like glow effects)

I have both RDS and Carrara... it has a VERY quick learning curve, IMO, compared with other products.

**

You have Carrara!! Drool Drool Drool.
Can i have a copy?
Or the URL for it's web page?

Sory, i lost control.

PS I have RayDream3D

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R & R software

Well, This is my opinion:

Cinema 4D R6
***** By far the best IMO. Methods of modeling are not obvious to all, but do allow on the fly changes to things like boolean, lathes, extrudes etc. Rendering engine is the fastest out there.

Bryce2-4
*** Fairly good modeling, excellant at landscapes. Rendering times leave a lot to be desired

StrataVision 4

• Basic modeling, textures are very basic. Loooong rendering time

Lightwave 5.5

• And we use this how? Capable of apparently astonishing results, but interface is very clunky, not easy to use.

RayDream Studio

• Creates a bus error on OS 9. There is an update somewhere, but doesnt work on the demo, so there is no way I am buying it.

That's my opinions. All graphics I create are made with C4D R6 GO (I cant afford XL now can I

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--blackhole
(url="http://"mailto:blackhole@mac.com")mailto:blackhole@mac.com(/url)blackhole@mac.com

I used Infini-D once and hated it. Basically it felt like an expensive version of
Mechanisto which was maybe harder to use but had a raytracing engine.

That's IYHO, I believe...I use Infini-D and love it. It and Bryce are the only really mac 3D programs I've been able to figure out. And, I have tried Mechanisto. It, like raydream, strata, etc. have simply left me staring blankly.

That, and I frankly haven't seen anything come out of Mechanisto like what I make with Infini-D. (no offense Kwanza, but Mechanisto seems inherently to lack a bit of the realism element in it's renders...)

You have Carrara!! Drool Drool Drool.
Can i have a copy?
Or the URL for it's web page?
(url="http://"http://www.metacreations.com")http://www.metacreations.com(/url)

I have Carrara as well. It is buggy as heck. That, and it's left me staring blankly for a good part too...

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Quote

I used Infini-D once and hated it. Basically it felt like an expensive version of
Mechanisto which was maybe harder to use but had a raytracing engine.

That's IYHO, I believe.

Nah, I hated it in someone else's opinion...:-)
Everyone has their own favourite programs - it's a bit like...something...that I can't quite think of right now. But whatever it is, it's a bit like that...

Sheppo

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[http://www.crosswinds.net/~pshep/page
Yeah](http://www.crosswinds.net/~pshep/page<br />
Yeah), so what if I'm an Emo Nerd?

Quote

Originally posted by blackhole:
**RayDream Studio

• Creates a bus error on OS 9. There is an update somewhere, but doesnt work on the demo, so there is no way I am buying it.**

It works on my G4 with OS 9.0.4 - granted, I don't really use it that much any more. I can send you the patch file, if you'd like.
-david-

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

Quote

Originally posted by CelticStarbase:
**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.
**

Your using Strata Studio Pro I presume (From MacFormat), your Infini-D ship is pretty cool though

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Wham!Man - The original and still the best

Yeah, I got Strata off the MF CD, like I said, I like Strata better than Infini-D, it's more intuitive. How come you don't use Strata, mechanisto is great but wouldn't you like more power?

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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...I own a copy of Lightwave...and all my EV/O/NOVA stuff is done in that. Sure the learning curve is high, but the results are quite good try this site...
(url="http://"http://www.ozemail.com.au/~silverghost1/AThousandWorlds/")www.ozemail.com.au/~silverghost1/AThousandWorlds/(/url)

hope it works...N E Way if you can not get your hands on a copy of it(And a tutorial/Manuel) I can understand how it would be impossible to use (so buy it you cheapasses ). Try Carrara, It is fantastic, being fluent in Bryce and Infini-D I sat down at Carrara and could work it in under 30 minutes. Even for the first timer this kicks ass. My last suggestion,that is if you can't get somethingbetter from a not quite legal source, is a program called Render-Boy. I first started using this beforeI had the money to buy the better stuff. I found it easy to use, and although it lacked a few features it was mostly free, and works bugglessly (last I knew). Hope I haven't bored you all.

:eek: :eek:

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Kberg

We are the Borg.

Lower your shields
and surrender your builds.

We will add your networkable
and technologicaly distinctive game to our own collection.

Your builds will adapt to service us.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

I know they're not exactly the same, but Inspire is very similar to Lightwave, and it wouldn't have taken me more than about a month to get to the stage where I knew how to use everything and make it do basically what I wanted it to. Since then it's just been refining different parts of the modelling and scene setup and stuff.

Sheppo

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[http://www.crosswinds.net/~pshep/page
Yeah](http://www.crosswinds.net/~pshep/page<br />
Yeah), so what if I'm an Emo Nerd?