CompuServe Messages

Yes, I was comparing 4D to 3D. I haven't used any of the other 3D programs, except for a bit of fooling around in stores (unless you count DBW_Render, quite some time ago). I was underwhelmed by Silver's object creation facilities, although it is a little unfair of me to compare it to Sculpt's since I am so much more familiar with the latter. A fair review would require equal time spent with each. And a poor object editor is not the handicap it once was, what with Modeler-3D and InterChange. I've seen some output from Silver, and it looks quite impressive, especially with the terrain module. I'll be sticking with the Sculpt series because of the time I already have invested a lot of time in it and am now quite comfortable with it — and it is a powerful piece of software. I'm sure that people who have used the other 3D software out there would be glad to give you their opinion. As for recommendations within the Sculpt series, it depends what you want to do. If you just want to dabble in ray-tracing, then Sculpt-3D is a bargain. If you want to add the capability to animate your creations, then Animate-3D will do this for you (it is not a stand-alone product; it modifies Sculpt to create a new program called Sculpt-Animate). If you feel the need for more precision, speed, and an improved user interface along with more tools to help you along, then Sculpt-Animate 4D is the (considerably more expensive) thing for you. Hope this helps.