I need some advice regarding the specific use of tools within any number of three dimensional modelling software packages. My questions; here follow.

Currently I'm using a selection of packages in my modelling. What I use, very much depends on what I want to achieve. Either way, the packages I use are as follows; Bryce5, Infini-D 4.5 and Strata 3D 3.0. I also have access to Cinema 4D, Lightwave and Ray Dream Studio (all the latest versions; what it is to work for a design agency ;)) but I haven't had an opportunity to get to grips with them.

Q1) I'm looking for a package that has an excellent, versatile and all encompassing spline-modeller. Can anyone recommend one? NB. Complexity is not an issue. All comers welcome.

Q2) If I already have such a package (see list above) then can anyone point me in the direction of some good tutorials for 'said' product?

Thankyou for your time

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Electric Image Universe has had some good rewievs, but has always been considered complex, but if it is not an issue you might want to check it out. in one review it was said to have "an excellent NURBS modeler" and it's rendering quality has been compared to PRRenderman and mental ray, and it renders complex scenes faster than nearly any other package (raytracking is a rescent addition).
it has been used for for example starWars episode 1. i don't have any personal experience with the program myself tho. (url="http://"http://www.electricimage.com")www.electricimage.com(/url)

And LW is very well capable of smooth organic modelling if that's what you want, just that it has no nURBS doesn't mean anything.

i have no links to tutorials tho, expect for strata. (url="http://"http://www.stratacafe.com")www.stratacafe.com(/url) (url="http://"http://www.stratazine.com")www.stratazine.com(/url)

ComputerLizard

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Go for Lightwave. You'll have to go to a store like Border's though and get a tutorial because Lightwave is damn confusing.

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i was interrupted when i was typing my last post, so i continue here.

actually LW is pretty clear and straight forward and is in fact the easiest to use of the programs of that calibre i have tried (i am in fact looking for a higher-end package myself, and i supposse you know of my "try before i buy" policy. i WILL pay eventually, when i have become convinced of a program's superiority). besize the manual is good, if rather long.

Cinema 4d is an integrated program (all things are done in the same package) as opposed to the split design of LW and EIU.

Anyways Cinema4d XL has some spiffy NURBS tools and XL7 has Smells Like Almonds shaders which makes it superior to lightwave in that sense. Electric image universe wich i mentioned earlier also has good shaders. where LW wins is in (character) animation tools, openGL previewing (just don't use an nVidia card) and it has a lot of plug-ins aviable. i like the interface, too.

something about EIU can be explained by it's history: it's been "away" for a while but is now back in buisness and has a bit of catching up to do, which resultsin lack of character animation tools and caustics, which will (as far as i know) be fixed in the upcoming EIU4 update.

LW and cinema4d tend to be updated regularily and often, which is also a good thing. it's hard to say about EIU tho, for the reason noted before.

EIU is not an option for me however, it is far too difficult.

also amapi 4.15 can be downloaded for free at www. insidecg.com. it is a NURBS modeler, but i had trouble installing it (error of type -39 detected when i tried opening the installer app). might be just me, then agin it might not.

the reason i always answer these kinds of questions is that i'm trying to find out the answer myself

ComputerLizard

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"Please call us! We will provide you with any emergency." - (url="http://"http://www.engrish.com")www.engrish.com(/url)

Question...Are any of the Strata's Mac OS X compatible?

Thanks.

--Alexis

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(url="http://"http://www.ap3d.com/betterspace/betterspace-tut-00.htm")http://www.ap3d.com/...pace-tut-00.htm(/url)

I dunno if it really has what you're looking for, but I learned a lot about 3D stuff, even tho I use Strata and not Lightwave. I wish I used Lightwave.

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The above posts doesnt look like an answers to your question. You are looking for the spline modeler, right? ComputerLizard: ElectricImage is not that good as a modeler. In fact it can be called a modeler only in its latest version 3.0, which has got preaty nice NURBS. The modeling in the earlier versions of EI sucks.And besides that EI cost more then Lightwave I think.Lightwave itself is in noway a spline modeler. And its MetaNURBS is just what Newtek calls the subdivision surfaces. now for the answer to your question, Hudson.Anfortunately its not gonna be much better then the posts above.Cinema4D has splines and Nurbs, I tried Demo and didnt like it. The interface sucks and needs a lot of customizing (just my personal point of view).i like splinemodeling myself, in fact I never modeled with polygons in my life. Well, youre preaty good in Infini-D modeler. Still its not much powerfull.The only splinemodeler that I can suggest using is the one that Im using now.Shade R4 Pro (they reliesed R5 2 month ago). Its just great.The problem is that they make it here in Japan and I dont know how you can get it abroad.But anyway if you be interested, try the website of its makers - company called Expression Tools.I think the international homepage adress was (url="http://"http://www.expressiontools.com/")http://www.expressiontools.com/(/url) You can get there demo and try it yourself, they may have info about the sailes abroad.

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(This message has been edited by Slav (edited 11-07-2001).)

Thanks all, looks like I've some hunting to do...

Any more, anyone?

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EIU 3 was the version i was referring to. i can't say i've had experience with it, but i have read some positive reviews. EIU costs $895 which is cheaper than LW when i last checked, plus you get the version4 when it is released for free.

The thing is it shouldn't really matter how the shape was achived, so if LW has no spline modeler it's not stopping you from making smooth organic shapes, many high(est)-end apps also use subdivision surfaces (softimage XSI uses them as the main modeling tool i think). besize polygons render faster than NURBS or other splines, wich in turn makes animations way faster to render.

i find people usually tend to prefer local software, ie. finns might like realsoft3d better, while japanese prefer shade and americans like LW. i don't know of any strictly british 3d software tho... then again i don't think many of you have heared of realsoft 3d either.

ComputerLizard

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Quote

Originally posted by ComputerLizard:
**
i find people usually tend to prefer local software, ie. finns might like realsoft3d better, while japanese prefer shade and americans like LW. i don't know of any strictly british 3d software tho... then again i don't think many of you have heared of realsoft 3d either.

ComputerLizard
**

Im not Japanese, Im Ukrainean. I dont know about this local software likings thing. I actualy wanted LW, but was talked into buying Shade when was going to computer school here.And now though I can buy LW, I dont think its wise to ditch 600$ peace of soft just because I can buy other one.And besides I realy like Shade.As for the polygons and splines - I think its just personal likings. I like splines because at work I use mostly 2D (using Illustrator, Quark, Photoshop), so Im kind of get used to vector stuff a long time ago. And Ive heard about Realsoft3D (I even have its Demo,darn Windows stuff).Never tried it but according to the reviews its a nice peace of soft with great caustics, motion blur and other effects. The problem only seems to be is that all those effects implementations (calculations) requares from the user a good knowledge of physics (not me ).So it`s kind of difficult to learn.

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go with lw, the whole reason my parents are getting me a g4 is because I needed a faster machine to run it well. The UI is great, but since the whole thing is so complex, seeing it for the fist time (or second or hundredth) can be a bit daunting. But once you get the hang of it, it's a great interface.

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what are you people talking about, lightwave has no splines? well, ive been using splines in lightwave for quite awhile, soo... thats a bit of a shock for me

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DeAdBoY-
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I used to have Solidthinking 4, but it sucked :frown:. I hear that Lightwave is the best 3D Modeller around, but I have little experience with it. Mechanisto is always good

I've been using C4D XL for quite a few years now, and I must say, It is great for modelling...
If you're new to 3D, C4D's hyperNURBS are soooo easy to creaty amazing modelling with. First time a tried hyperNURBS (in v.6) I created a very cool spaceship in a matter of minutes (yes, Im not kidding). I'lll post a model of it if you're interessted, it's so freaking easy to do it...

to all you LW guys, I'm sure that LW is a more powerful application, but if you're new and you wan't to create something fast and cool, C4D is IT! Also the SLA shaders rock, you can make anything with that!!! Tho they are pretty difficult to get the hang of, the presets are way cool too.!

Cheers
Denb

PS: Go to ww.postforum.com/forums/list.php?f=6 for a C4D forum, It's great too.

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The answer is, obviously, 42!

LW has metaNURBS that are essentially the same thing as HyperNURBS in c4d. i think LW is easier to use but the SLA shaders in C4DXL7 do seriously kick butt.

ComputerLizard

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"Please call us! We will provide you with any emergency." - (url="http://"http://www.engrish.com")www.engrish.com(/url)

Quote

Originally posted by DeAdBoY:
**what are you people talking about, lightwave has no splines? well, ive been using splines in lightwave for quite awhile, soo... thats a bit of a shock for me:)
**

And what splines are you talking about? Im not for sure that familier with LW as you are, so let me use Newtek words:"LightWave 3D is true, realtime sub-division surface modeler" (Newtek homepage,Prodacts, LightWave).One more reference to use is the list of LW features (url="http://"http://www.lightwave3d.com/product/feature_list.html")[http://www.lightwave...ature_list.html](http://www.lightwave3d.com/product/feature_list.html "External link")(/url) I havent seen Splines there. So do you use word "splines" for metaNURBS.

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Quote

Originally posted by Slav:
**And what splines are you talking about? Im not for sure that familier with LW as you are, so let me use Newtek words:"LightWave 3D is true, realtime sub-division surface modeler" (Newtek homepage,Prodacts, LightWave).One more reference to use is the list of LW features[http://www.lightwave...ature_list.html](http://www.lightwave3d.com/product/feature_list.html "External link") I havent seen Splines there. So do you use word "splines" for metaNURBS.

**

splines and metaNURBS are two different things. lightwave DOES have spline modeling... but it also has metaNURBS, which they seem to really want to get out into the public. Ive been using lightwave since febuary... i know what im talking about

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DeAdBoY-
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more proof that splines in lightwave exist.... this huge tutorial about making the whitestar in lightwave, using splines! (url="http://"http://www.ap3d.com/ws/ws_tutorial_intro.htm")http://www.ap3d.com/...orial_intro.htm(/url)

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DeAdBoY-
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Amorphium, made by the same company which made Electric Image Universe, is pretty good. I'm not too sure about ships but its got the only real time 3D editing, which would be good with landscaping or making ppl.
(url="http://"http://www.amorphium.com")http://www.amorphium.com(/url)

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Quote

Originally posted by Jak205:
**its got the only real time 3D editing, which would be good with landscaping or making ppl.
**

erm, the only real time 3D editing, huh? thats intresting...

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