🚀 go-pugleaf

> The newest version of Autodesk 3D Studio MAX for Windows NT is the
> best by far.  They have improved much with the NT version.
> Requirements and price is high though (P100, 32MB, $3500).  There is a
> review of it and another 3d program in PC Magazine July 96.

	Yeah, I get the impression that MAX is pretty solid.  The price 
isn't the problem; I can get it for $995 because I am in college.  I 
just don't run WindowsNT!

>         Yeah, I get the impression that MAX is pretty solid.  The price
> isn't the problem; I can get it for $995 because I am in college.  I
> just don't run WindowsNT!

It will also run on Windows 95 with maybe a few bugs, V 1.1 should fix that.

Jeff
-- 
Student Programmer 3
Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design
Emerging Technology Studio

"Jon E. Schultz II" <jeschult@uiuc.edu> wrote:

>Hey, I'd like some advice.  I want to buy a 3D modeling program, 
>and I would like to know which programs are good.  In looking through 
>the catalog I will purchase from, I see:

>	1.) Fractal Design Stuff
>	2.) Quark Stuff
>	3.) Ray Dream Designer 4	
>	4.) Alias Sketch! 2.0
>	5.) Autodesk 3d Studio
>	6.) 4 Division Animator's pack (A $3,000 value for only $275!  
>                                        Wow wee!...)
>	I hear Autodesk is good, but who knows.  Any suggestions on 
>brands and individual programs?

>	Thanks,
>		Jon
The newest version of Autodesk 3D Studio MAX for Windows NT is the
best by far.  They have improved much with the NT version.
Requirements and price is high though (P100, 32MB, $3500).  There is a
review of it and another 3d program in PC Magazine July 96.


/---------------------------------------------------------------------------\
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|128.174.53.140/hoyty     |If you never try, you'll never gain.             |
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In article <31D18415.41C6@uiuc.edu>, foygel@uiuc.edu says...
>
>Jon E. Schultz II wrote:
>> 
>> > The newest version of Autodesk 3D Studio MAX for Windows NT is the
>> > best by far.  They have improved much with the NT version.
>> > Requirements and price is high though (P100, 32MB, $3500).  There is a
>> > review of it and another 3d program in PC Magazine July 96.
>> 
>>         Yeah, I get the impression that MAX is pretty solid.  The price
>> isn't the problem; I can get it for $995 because I am in college.  I
>                                      ^^^^
>
>Oh, is that all?  Hmm...I might have to get 2 or 3.  Heck, at that price,
>I might have to buy one for all my friends.  What a relief - I thought
>it might be _expensive_.
>
>-Dan
priced alias pa 7.0 or Soft Image lately. how 'bout Prisims?

Jon E. Schultz II wrote:
> 
> Hey, I'd like some advice.  I want to buy a 3D modeling program,
> and I would like to know which programs are good.  In looking through
> the catalog I will purchase from, I see:
> 
>         1.) Fractal Design Stuff
>         2.) Quark Stuff
>         3.) Ray Dream Designer 4
>         4.) Alias Sketch! 2.0
>         5.) Autodesk 3d Studio
>         6.) 4 Division Animator's pack (A $3,000 value for only $275!
>                                         Wow wee!...)
>         I hear Autodesk is good, but who knows.  Any suggestions on
> brands and individual programs?
> 
>         Thanks,
>                 Jon

Why don't you try Lightwave?
-- 
************************************************
I live in the past, the present and the future.
Realize,
I exist in every dimension you can think about
and in every dimension you can't think about.
************************************************

What's so cool about Lightwave?  Some people have told me to go 
for Autodesk, while others swear by Lightwave.  What's the difference?

	Jon

> Why don't you try Lightwave?
***

Please please pleeeeeaaasse do not let this turn into another month long thread of 
mine is better than yours. To answer the question, there are a lot of cool things 
about both programs, and you can't find some features on one that you will find on 
the other, and vice versa. They are both excellent programs that will get the job 
done well. I personally use 3ds and 3ds max because I feel they work best for me. 
You will need to look at the features of each to figure out which one will suit 
you best, or if you can, get both.
Either way, both of these are excellent choices.

Jon E. Schultz II wrote:
> 
> What's so cool about Lightwave?  Some people have told me to go
> for Autodesk, while others swear by Lightwave.  What's the difference?
> 
>         Jon
> 
> > Why don't you try Lightwave?
> ***

Your Name Hsfgasge wrote:
> 
> In article <31D18415.41C6@uiuc.edu>, foygel@uiuc.edu says...
> >
> >Jon E. Schultz II wrote:
> >>
> >> > The newest version of Autodesk 3D Studio MAX for Windows NT is the
> >> > best by far.  They have improved much with the NT version.
> >> > Requirements and price is high though (P100, 32MB, $3500).  There is a
> >> > review of it and another 3d program in PC Magazine July 96.
> >>
> >>         Yeah, I get the impression that MAX is pretty solid.  The price
> >> isn't the problem; I can get it for $995 because I am in college.  I
> >                                      ^^^^
> >
> >Oh, is that all?  Hmm...I might have to get 2 or 3.  Heck, at that price,
> >I might have to buy one for all my friends.  What a relief - I thought
> >it might be _expensive_.

 Well, be warned that this is a student copy, NOT the commercial version.
There are restrictions in this student copy, unlike the R4 student.
For one, the interface screen is a bright green color with student 
clearly marked on it, also NO network rendering, and the rendering engine
has been degraded to only 32bit insted of the 64bit.  There are a few 
other things, you can call Kinetix, or visit the web site ktx.com.

> >
> >-Dan
> priced alias pa 7.0 or Soft Image lately. how 'bout Prisims?

 Both Alias 7.5 and Soft are now under 10 grand.  Thanks to MAX ;-)
-- 
Stewart Allen
Digital Wizard
[---------------------------------
[VR-1 Toronto/Gemsoft Corp.
[www.vr1.com / www.gemsoft.com
[---------------------------------

> Jon E. Schultz II wrote:
> >
> > Hey, I'd like some advice.  I want to buy a 3D modeling program,
> > and I would like to know which programs are good.  In looking through
> > the catalog I will purchase from, I see:
> >
> >         1.) Fractal Design Stuff
> >         2.) Quark Stuff
> >         3.) Ray Dream Designer 4
> >         4.) Alias Sketch! 2.0
> >         5.) Autodesk 3d Studio
> >         6.) 4 Division Animator's pack (A $3,000 value for only $275!
> >                                         Wow wee!...)
> >         I hear Autodesk is good, but who knows.  Any suggestions on
> > brands and individual programs?

Hmmm.. you heard Autodesk is good.. Aren't you already using it?  Since
3d studio is on your list, I assuming you already have the experience
with it don't you?

Hmm.. I am not sure what kind of software you are running right this
minute.  Many people complain to me that Ray Dream Designer 4 is very a
expensive junk.  The program itself has lots bugs and unfriendly
interface.  The render is much slower than True space.  Furthermore, it's
ray tracing isn't as good quality as others.  I also heard of Ray Dream
Designer can't really use windows resource very much.  The programmer of
"RDD4" does like "MENUS".. some people say that the whole program just
lots of icons and those icons don't do as much function.  When you want to
make an object, you have to go though many those icon menus.
Of course.. I had once.  I returned the second day.  It is so slow to load
up. "took me 3 minutes to load up in 486/66 16ram".  After load up, I have
to wait about 5 minutes to look at the menu I have got.  < when I load up,
it has nothing but blank menus.  I decided to wait half hour, it finally
poped up the MENU LIST after 5 minuts. >
From my experience, I don't think I will give ray dream designer a chance
any more.  I don't know if they fix the bug or not. My version was 3.

Chris

On 27 Jun 1996 20:09:45 GMT, you@somehost.somedomain (Your Name 
Hsfgasge) wrote:

> In article <31D18415.41C6@uiuc.edu>, foygel@uiuc.edu says...
> >
> >Jon E. Schultz II wrote:
> >> 
> >> > The newest version of Autodesk 3D Studio MAX for Windows NT is 
the
> >> > best by far.  They have improved much with the NT version.
> >> > Requirements and price is high though (P100, 32MB, $3500).  
There is a
> >> > review of it and another 3d program in PC Magazine July 96.
> >> 
> >>         Yeah, I get the impression that MAX is pretty solid.  
The price
> >> isn't the problem; I can get it for $995 because I am in 
college.  I
> >                                      ^^^^
> >
> >Oh, is that all?  Hmm...I might have to get 2 or 3.  Heck, at that 
price,
> >I might have to buy one for all my friends.  What a relief - I 
thought
> >it might be _expensive_.
> >
> >-Dan
> priced alias pa 7.0 or Soft Image lately. how 'bout Prisims?
> You should check out Lightwave 3D. It exists on SGI, Amiga, Windows 
95, Windows NT,  and soon for PowerMac and SUN. ITs powerful and 
affordable. Its used a lot in Hollywood.

In article
<Pine.A32.3.92a.960701112808.59385C-100000@homer25.u.washington.edu>, "C.
Huang" <chrishu@u.washington.edu> wrote:

> Hmm.. I am not sure what kind of software you are running right this
> minute.  Many people complain to me that Ray Dream Designer 4 is very a
> expensive junk.  The program itself has lots bugs and unfriendly
> interface.  The render is much slower than True space.  Furthermore, it's
> ray tracing isn't as good quality as others.  I also heard of Ray Dream
> Designer can't really use windows resource very much.  The programmer of
> "RDD4" does like "MENUS".. some people say that the whole program just
> lots of icons and those icons don't do as much function.  When you want to
> make an object, you have to go though many those icon menus.
> Of course.. I had once.  I returned the second day.  It is so slow to load
> up. "took me 3 minutes to load up in 486/66 16ram".  After load up, I have
> to wait about 5 minutes to look at the menu I have got.  < when I load up,
> it has nothing but blank menus.  I decided to wait half hour, it finally
> poped up the MENU LIST after 5 minuts. >
> From my experience, I don't think I will give ray dream designer a chance
> any more.  I don't know if they fix the bug or not. My version was 3.
> 
> Chris

I totally disagree. I use Ray Dream Designer on a PowerWave 604/132 with
32 megs of RAM and it ROCKS. It takes about one minute to load, but
considering all the extentions and plug-ins, that's not bad. Rendering at
300 dpi is bad? I've had photographic runout done on RD-4 tracings that
look as good as ANY professional application costing ten times as much. I
think RD-4 is worth it just for the shaders ... you can edit and create
them endlessly ... for BILLIONS of different effects. I also beg to differ
on Mr. Huang's opinion of the icons. They ALL have functions, often many
functions in one. When you have as much going on as in RD-4, you have to
have a LOT of menus and icons.

M.K.

Jon E. Schultz II wrote:
> 
> Hey, I'd like some advice.  I want to buy a 3D modeling program,
> and I would like to know which programs are good.  In looking through
> the catalog I will purchase from, I see:
> 
>         1.) Fractal Design Stuff
>         2.) Quark Stuff
>         3.) Ray Dream Designer 4
>         4.) Alias Sketch! 2.0
>         5.) Autodesk 3d Studio
>         6.) 4 Division Animator's pack (A $3,000 value for only $275!
>                                         Wow wee!...)
>         I hear Autodesk is good, but who knows.  Any suggestions on
> brands and individual programs?
> 
>         Thanks,
>                 Jon

1. Fractal Painter is an *amazing* program, and I highly recommend it, 
but it aint a 3D modeller. They do make Poser, which models 3D human 
forms only.

2. As far as I know, Quark has no 3D program available yet. Quark 
XPress is definitely not what you want (page layout program).

3. A pretty decent program for the price. You can make some 
professional-looking images if you take your time. However, way too 
slow for production work, and the interface can be kludgy. Phong 
renderer sucks, ray tracer nice but slow. Fractal Design just bought 
Ray Dream, so you may see some changes in this product soon (for the 
better IMO).

4. Sketch used to be a really nice little spline-patch modeller with a 
good renderer, but it's been phased out so don't waste your time.

5. 3D Studio: very good midrange modelling/animation package. No longer 
sold or supported, though. 3D Studio MAX looks great so far, but it's 
$3,500 plus you need a pretty hunky (read mucho $$$) system to run it 
on with obscene amounts of RAM. But if you want to get serious about 
3D, get used to it.

6. 4 Division ... sorry, I'm not familiar with this.

Bottom line: get 3DS MAX from Kinetix (Autodesk) if you can afford it.


------------------------------------------
Ben Stahl | VISUAL ANTICS | San Rafael, CA
------------------------------------------

>                                         Wow wee!...)
>         I hear Autodesk is good, but who knows.  Any suggestions on
> brands and individual programs? 

I'd say get 3D Studio, but use Truespace for interactive 
modelling--it's much easier and much more fun to use(real time 3D 
rendering), but less precise of a rendering tool.  It can export 
to 3D studio, however, and Autocad.

"Jon E. Schultz II" <jeschult@uiuc.edu> writes:

>What's so cool about Lightwave?  Some people have told me to go 
>for Autodesk, while others swear by Lightwave.  What's the difference?

	Lightwave is made by and designed for artists, not computer 
people (no value judgment there -- it's just very intuitive and easy to 
use if you've got film/photography experience).  It is on par with 3D 
Studio in terms of capability and quality, and is relatively cheap (don't 
know what the latest price is but I'm almost positive that the regular 
version is below $1000).

	Peter
--
I have always been here........................................p-baer@uiuc.edu

In article <4rf96i$6rp@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>,
baer peter patrick <p-baer@students.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>	Lightwave is made by and designed for artists, not computer 
>people
[...]

	Now, I have to take exception with this; first, all applications
are written by `computer people' by definition.  Perhaps some developers
do better user interface testing and enhancement using
`non-computer-people' than others, but the point still stands.  Second,
all modelers/animators are designed for artists.  This is really a vacuous
argument, if you'll forgive my saying so, and it's getting tiresome to see
repeated so often.

-spc

 /-                        Sean Cier <scier@cmu.edu>                        -\
(             If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes             )
 \-        http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/andrew/usr/scier/www/scier.html        -/

--
 /-                        Sean Cier <scier@cmu.edu>                        -\
(             If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes             )
 \-        http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/andrew/usr/scier/www/scier.html        -/

These discussion are usually futile.

MAX is good for many reasons.
Lightwave is good for a whole bunch of other reasons.
Neither is perfect.
What do you want to do with the tool is a big question.
You should really try and play with both to see which you like better.

I prefer Lightwave.
that doesn't make me think Max is useless its just a preference.

David Baisley
david@columbia.edu