CompuServe Messages

I have used both Mac and PC 3D systems a good deal. The Mac programs I used, (MacroModel, Director 3-D, Showplace, Renderman, etc.), all work well but are fairly slow (I was using Quadra 950s). They crashed a lot (and I mean a lot), frustrating the hell out of me. Renderman image quality is excellent but special f/x are difficult at best. My main gripes with Macs is that the operating system eats up tons of memory and bogs all programs down. I think, though, that Power PC native programs are supposed to deal with that. 3D Studio has been wonderful. It creates great looks and I have yet to have it crash (knock on wood). Its documentation and tutorials are infinitely better than any of the Mac programs I used. Running under DOS, it's much more efficient at utilizing the system's speed. Hardware and software support is tremendous – look at this forum. With a Pentium 90 selling for $2,500-3,000 well configured and 3DS for about the same, you would have a complete system for only slightly more than the comparable Mac hardware alone. To me the choice is clear. Cheers, John