CompuServe Messages

>>To all the 3D builders both physical and virtual,<< As someone who does both (although it's been heavily weighted on the digital side for the last year or two), I'll try to give you my take on the subject. >>1. Physical models do provide a type of information to the viewer that a flat print or screen can not provide. What is this intangible benefit to using a 3d physical model?<< The most obvious advantage to a physical model is that if you want to see the back of it, you just turn it around. You don't have to wait 3 hrs for a new rendering. This is something you can't do with digital, barring wearing silly looking headgear that costs a bomb and makes you seasick to boot <g>. The intangible factor would have to be the "wow – neat!" element of a physical model. I have to be careful now, as the following are my observations *not* neccessarily my opinions. There is still a power in solid objects that speaks of craftsmanship and skill more directly than computer models. I find a lot of people *expect* computer models to be perfect ("you just push a button, right?") whereas these same people are delighted with a good physical model. I don't think that either method will disappear. I would envision the techniques overlapping more, however. I could easily see more desktop CAD/CAM work leading to a marriage of the two arts. After all, we're only talking about *output* here. One is flat (dye-sub or video screen) that looks 3d but is easy to mail or carry about. The other *is* 3D.