#World Builder
Mike, as to your questions regarding World Builder from Digimation/AnimaTek.
It's A LOT better than Vistapro! (Mucho mas bucks, too!) It looks like 2 of
your 3 questions have been answered already, so I'll try to answer your third.
I spent some time w/ David A. from Digimation as he demo'd WB at SIGGRAPH. The
question came up in the crowd about integration with 3DS animations and here's
what was demo'd/said :
WB has the same "Merge" diag. box that 3DS does (it includes Objects, Lights,
Cameras, Animation). When bringing in objects, it brings in ALL the object's
material settings, too. WB's materials editor is the same -button for button-
as 3DS r.4. So you get all your textures and subtle settings. Because WB
generates outdoor scenes,they added a "Parallel Light" to its light settings to
simulate sunlight, which has all the color controls our regular 3DS lights have
now. One downside, WB's renderer does not support IPAS routines. So any effects
would have to take place elsewhere.
As for scene import/export, there are 3 basic ways to do it. I'm sure there are
more if you get real creative! First, you can render your imported animations
directly in WB. This can be done two ways: if your animation paths do not rely
on the landscape's geometry, you can animate it all in 3DS and import your
cameras, objects, and animations. If your animations depend on the landscape,
WB can export scenes/specific objects as DXF files (with parameters for mesh
detail -I think-) and animate in 3DS, then import cameras, objects, and
animations back into the official world in WB for final render.
OR—- you can generate a landscape in WB, save as a .3ds file, open in 3DS
itsself, and then render. The problem with this method is that you will loose
the objects that WB created with fractal methods. These include: grass (you
will only get the simple mesh spikes used to spawn the fractal grass), water
(you get the surface, but not the waves or refracted reflections), some other
fractal plants (the majority are meshes -I think-), and the skys with fractal
clouds (which could be rendered in WB and used later as a background element in
3DS.)
OR—- You can render the scene in WB, asking it to save the Z buffer info.
Then, once in 3DS, you load the WB scene in Video Post and do your final render
with 3DS honoring the Z buffer info generated by World Builder. Digimation has
an animation of a T-Rex walking thru grass that was animated this way. You can
see its toes rendered thru the grass as it stomps around!
As far as creating wild abstract worlds go, WB can handle it. I have been
wanting a copy of KPT Bryce since it shipped, but HSC doesn't seem too
interested in doing a PC version. So when I saw images for WB, I thought this
might be my answer. So I have been doing some serious comparisons since then
and WB is looking like the winner! Especially since it is currently shipping
(Bryce isn't out for Windows yet), it does animation (we will have to wait for
Bryce's Pro version), it imports 3DS objects/scenes, and it cost's the same as
Bryce-Pro will (whenever it ships).
In order to create some other-worldly scenes like Bryce, WB has the tools to do
it. All the geography is made of simple splines. You can alter the sample
scenes that come with WB, or create your own wild landscapes like in the demo
renderings from Bryce. WB uses texture maps and bump maps to do most of it's
detailing – so covering a mountain with 'happy faces' is possible . . . or
pulsing blue veiny things . . . or plaid . . . or – you get my point! <G> You
can also import ANY object as a 'plant'. David A. imported a cow and WB
randomly placed it all over a landscape! Instant herd! The scale on any object
can also be changed to create some Dali-like worlds. The skys are a combination
of Vistapro-like cloud commands and 3DS color choosers so you can make stormy
Mars skies or beautiful Earth sunsets.
As you can see, I'm pretty sold on it! And I just recieved a note from a dealer
that has a special on it (until AUG.18th!) for $135 LESS than other specials.
The dealer's name is Michael Cortese at CIS# 71035,743. I'm calling on Monday
for mine!
Did I answer your question? This post is so long that I hope so!!!
Sincerely, Sean Platter