#3D modeling
Since I'm still waiting for 3DS R4, I'll use R3 for my comparison. To
be fair, I'll compare it to Lightwave 3.5 (4.0 will be competing with
R4). As far as I know, 3DS R4 only adds features without changing
the interface. Lightwave 4.0 will probably have minor interface
changes to conform with the operating system it is being used on.
Being the human that I am, I could make some mistakes, so keep that
in mind. Also, this is just my opinion. If anyone has any other
opinions, I'd love to here them. Anyway, here it goes.
Both programs follow the typical modular format. 3DS has 5 sections;
Shaper, Lofter, Editor, Keyframer, and Materials Editor. Lightwave
has two; Modeler and Layout.
3DS's interface, with the exception of the Materials Editor, consists
of a bar across the top with several pull down menus. These access
general functions such as loading, saving, adjusting parameters, and
changing modules. A column goes down the right side which contains
the features specific to the module. In the uppermost section of
this column is the main menu. Each time you access a submenu, it is
placed below the entire main menu. This is a minor irritation to
me. I would prefer the submenu open directly below the button I just
clicked. The bottom right has tools used to manipulate the views.
These are more versatile and intuitive than Lightwave's. The views
are divided up into four sections; each can be assigned a different
POV (such as camera, light, front, left, or user) Across the bottom
is a message bar which acts as an online help as well as showing the
status of certain operations. Some portions of the interface are
tedious. The program presents the "are you sure you want to do that?
Y/N" question way too often. If I click on a viewport to render I am
pretty sure I want that viewport to render. Thankfully, there are not
too many of these types of "bothers". Overall the setup is well
thought out and extremely versatile.
Lightwave's interface is similar to 3DS's. Modeler and Layout have
different interfaces. Modeler consists of a bar across the top which
contains the main menus (Objects, Modify, Multiply, Tools, and
Display), as well as the "layer" buttons. These are used to modify
several sections of the model or several models individually without
having to manually select polygons (an excellent feature). When a
menu button is pressed, the submenu opens in the left side column, as
opposed to "pulling down". Keep in mind that these are not
program-specific buttons, they are module-specific (the menu on the
right hand side of 3DS is it's counterpart). Nearly every button
provides a numeric input which is easily accessible as well as the
standard mouse input. One nice feature is the ability to approximate
your input with the mouse, click undo, and then numeric. The numeric
display shows the mouse inputs you just entered. Then you can polish
them. This provides a high degree of precision without having to
think of the exact coordinates in your mind. The bottom left
contains two small boxes. One shows the coordinates in 3D space of
the mouse pointer. The other displays the grid size. The bottom left
contains the selection tools (point, polygon, and volume). as well as
a box which displays the number of selected points or polygons. The
bottom right contains the much used Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo
buttons. Like 3DS, modeler uses 4 selectable views. One irritation
is the lack of precision the mouse affords. However this is due to
the Amiga's low resolution screen. This will be remedied in the PC
release. Lightwave adheres better to unit systems (meters, feet,
etc.) than 3DS. Every numeric input box shows the unit next to it.
Also, the units are dynamic. When you have a large grid, instead of
showing 10000 meters, it says 10 kilometers. This makes it much
easier to create life size models. Modeler does a good job of having
a large number of options onscreen without being overbearing. IMO
Modeler contains no substantial interface deficiencies.
Layout's interface is a bit different than Modelers. Instead of four
views, there is only one. This presents a tradeoff. The view is
larger and more detailed, but contains less information. I
personally prefer a four view screen running at 1600×1280 on a 21
inch monitor, but this is impossible on an Amiga. I wouldn't be
surprised if a four view mode was incorporated into the PC release. A
string of menus (Scene, Objects, Surfaces, Images, Lights, Camera,
Effects, Record, Options, and ScreamerNet) run across the top. These
menus contain an unique mixture of sub-screens, pulldown menus,
sliders, and numeric input fields. These are very intuitive and well
thought out. A column on the left side contains the buttons used for
manipulating the "movables". Also in this column are several often
used buttons (motion graph, preview, render, numeric input, etc.).
The bottom contains Information regarding selected items and
keyframes. This is also where the provisions for manipulating key
frames and creating hierarchies are. The bottom right contains two
black boxes. One displays the grid size. The other switches between
the rotation and position of the selected object. Layout's interface
is less versatile than 3DS's equivalent module (Keyframer). However
it is more intuitive and it takes less time to navigate. Layout is
massive. The first time I used it it was a bit overwhelming, but
within minutes I had it figured out. Newtek did a fantastic job of
organizing a huge amount of information in an intuitive way.
Which interface is better? IMO Lightwave barely nudges 3DS out.
However, it is so close that many people would say the reverse. It
comes down to personal preference.
Now on to modeling. Both programs offer adequate modelers, although
neither is the ultimate. 3DS excels in creating basic forms of
objects, but falls flat on its face in creating organic objects and
manipulating already created objects. The three modules that are
involved in the modeling process are Shaper, Lofter, and Editor.
In Shaper, you create 2D shapes, using bezier splines. These can be
open or closed and are very easy to create. After they are initially
created, you can do the standard scale, rotate, move, etc. to them as
well as more powerful manipulations such as booleon. Shapes created
here can be used in lofter to created 3D objects, or in Keyframer to
be used as animation paths.
Lofter is where 3D objects are made. It does it's job well.
Generally you import a selected shape from Shaper to be used as a
template. You either extrude or loft this shape. The tools for
doing these are very powerful. For instance, you can extrude a shape
and vary its thickness along the length of the extrude. This would
be useful for making an object such as an accordian. The versatility
of extruding and lofting is excellent. However, the best feature of
the Lofter is fit to shape. Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure how to
describe it and I don't have the manual in front of me. Basically it
lets you create complex objects easily. A tutorial included with 3DS
shows how to make a hammer head with very little effort. Creating a
hammer head in Lightwave would be very difficult. Lofter, because of
its complexity, takes some effort to learn. One feature that drives
me nuts is bevel. Beveling text is a nightmare. If an object has
any inset angles bevel rejects them. For all intents and purposes,
3DS's bevel is useless. This annoyance aside, Lofter is excellent.
Editor contains features for manipulating objects created in the
Lofter as well as provisions for creating standard primitives. The
tool set for manipulating objects is weak. It consists of the
standard 2D and 3D scale, rotate, etc. The only powerful feature is
boolean, which is common these days. The boolean sometimes doesn't
work the way you'd like but it is acceptable. Thankfully IPAS
routines are available to further manipulate objects. However,
because of the nature of IPAS, they aren't always as versatile as
they could be. Other IPAS modules are available which model from the
ground up, most notably metaballs.
Lightwave takes a different approach to modeling than 3DS. Unlike
3DS, Lightwave can use polygons with any number of sides. This
improves it's versatility throughout the program, but causes some
problems. If a polygon isn't planar it will cause rendering errors.
Also, things go crazy when you use bones or displacement mapping on
non-triangle polygons. Thankfully it is easy to correct these
problems. Having the ability to use multi-sided polygons has its
advantages. Using large, multi-sided polygons improves rendering
speed. In addition, Lightwave can use true particles. This comes in
handy when you want to make a star field you can fly through without
little triangle-shaped stars zooming by. Other applications for one
and two point polygons are lasers, explosions, fields of grass, fur,
etc.. Whoa, I'm digressing. Anyway, when modeling you have to keep
this in mind.