#3D modeling
Continued from previous message- 2 of 3
Lightwave has the ability to create primitives, as well as 2D shapes.
Like 3DS you can extrude and lathe these shapes, but with less
versatility. Lightwave also has the ability to model with spline
patches. However, using Lightwave's spline patches isn't easy, or
versatile. In fact, it is almost as useless as 3DS's bevel.
Actually, some would disagree. Seaquest was supposedly modeled with
Lightwave's spline patches. Modeler's real strength is in its ability
to manipulate points and polygons. This is accomplished two ways, by
simply dragging them around, or using some of the many powerful tools
intended for this. These tools include shear, twist, multiple forms
of taper, magnet, vortex, multiple forms of pole, beveling that
works, patch, skin, morph, multiple types of cloning, jitter,
boolean, etc. These are useful and very easy to use. With magnet,
you can select an area of an object and tug on it just like a real
magnet. Jitter randomizes points within an object. This is very
usefull for making rock forms such as astroids and cliffs. Modeler
also has excellent drilling tools. These are used to punch holes in
objects, using either 2D or 3D objects as templates. What seperates
these from boolean is that they don't need to intersect the object
being drilled. It is great for doing things like making holes in
walls where doors will go. But by far the best feature of modeler is
metaform. Metaform is a type of subdividing. Primitives are used to
create smoothly curved objects. This is useful for making very
complex organic objects. I modeled a very complex chandalier in just
a few hours. Metaform isn't particularly accurate and sometimes the
polygon count gets way out of hand, but those are my only complaints.
Modeler also has a powerful macro implementation. Using Arexx, you
can program macros do do almost anything ranging from centering an
object to creating router bits for beveling. Macros aren't as
versatile as IPAS modules, but you can easily create them yourself.
Newtek includes a ton of them with the program. Modeler is rough
around the edges in some spots. It is difficult to accurately model
some types of complex non-organic objects. There are also more things
to worry about (like non planar polygons, polygon alignment, stray
points, etc.) than 3DS.
A winner can't really be declared in modeling. Each one has its
strengths and weaknesses. I often model the basic shape of an object
in 3DS and import it into Lightwave for refinement. Since Autodesk
pulled spline patch modeling out of R4, Lightwave 4.0 will likely
take the lead in modeling.
Both programs have similar animation systems. 3DS uses the Keyframer
for all animation. Motion can be created using either keyframing or
importing a spline path from the Shaper. A slider along the bottom
of the screen is used to cycle through the frames. There are also
VCR-type controls on the bottom right. Creating a keyframe is as
simple as moving the the frame you want and moving, or rotating the
object to the desired position. There is no need to set the
keyframe. This is sometimes a problem because if you move something
and want to move it back you have to go into the tracks submenu and
delete the keyframe. This can be annoying. 3DS has excellent
hierarchy creation tools. You can assign objects to copy every
motion of their parent, or just certain types (ie rotation, position,
scale, or squash). The tracks submenu is another excellent feature.
It allows you to easily move, copy, or delete keyframes. The keys
submenu allows you to change the continuity, bias, tension, ease in,
and ease out, for each keyframe. Each type of motion (ie. position)
can be independantly adjusted. However, the graphic representation
of motion shows only the current frame, and it is not very easy to
understand just what it is doing.
Ipas modules are available to do special types of animation (such as
particle animation, manta wave, and melt). 3DS also provides the
standard morphing features. Cameras (3DS can use multiple cameras,
Lightwave can only use one) are controlled by moving the actual
camera and the camera's target. to move the camera you select the
actual camera and move it, to rotate where it is viewing, you move
the target. There are no provisions for changing the heading and
pitch using degrees. Spotlights function the same way.
Lightwave is similar to 3DS in motion creation. Lightwave also uses
keyframing and spline paths. A timeline is moved to the desired
frame, the object is positioned and then the keyframe is set. By
manually setting the keyframe you avoid having to take the time to
delete the frame if you don't like it, but it is easy to forget that
to set it, change the current frame, and lose your keyframe setting.
Lightwave has similar hierarchy controls as 3DS, but lacks the
ability to lock only certain types of movement. The scene menu and
motion control graph offer similar features as the tracks submenu in
3DS. In the motion graph tension, bias, and continuity can be
changed. Lightwave has no ease-in or ease-out features, but because
of how tension is set, they are not necessary. The advantage
Lightwave has in this area is that all keyframes are shown at once.
They are linked by visual splines. This is a superior method to
3DS's keys submenu because it lets you see the whole picture.
Lightwave has similar morphing features to 3DS. Cameras and lights
are rotated using heading, pitch, and bank. This generally provides
greater accuracy. You can also assign targets which function
identically to 3DS's. Lightwave has two very unique animation
capabilities. One is bones. Bones are used to organically deform
objects. They are set as children to the parent object. The most
obvious use is in character animation(ie a walking cow). They are
sometimes unpredictable, but if used right are very powerful. The
other feature is displacement mapping. Displacement mapping moves
polygons within an object similarly to texture mapping. In my
opinion this is one of the best features available on a desktop 3D
program. It can be used for a large number of applications, such as
creating water that laps up and down on the side of a boat, a
realistic waving flag, grass blowing in a breeze, embossed images,
procedural craters on an asteroid, or even blowing apart a brick wall.
The quality of the displacement mapped objects is stunning. The
procedurallly created water is truly photorealistic. All of these
are impossible with 3DS. Also many more things can be animated in
Lightwave than 3DS. These include fog, dithering, saturation, and
textures. Third party animation enhancements are also available.
Advantage……………….Lightwave. Even though 3DS has slighty
more versatility with hierarchies and motion smoothing, I still find
it easier to create the motion I want in Lightwave. It has a very
unique "feel" to it that is unexplainable. Plus with all of the
other features it gives Lightwave the definite advantage. Even with
the stack of IPAS modules that I have, I still like Lightwaves
animation capabilities more.
Lighting is where some of the greatest differences between the two
programs exist. 3DS has two types of lights; spot and omni. Omni
lights shine in all directions. They can assigned a color, strength,
and fall off. Spot lights are more versatile. Spotlights can cast
shadows. They can be either circular or rectangular. The biggest
advantage 3DS's spotlights have is that they can project an image.
This is very useful for faking effects such as light shining through
a stain glass window, or faking shadows. They render very fast and
do a good job. Both types of lights can exclude specified objects.
Lightwave has three types of lights; distant, point, and spotlight.
All three types can cast shadows. Point lights are very similar to
3DS's omni lights. Distant lights act as a light infinitely far from
the scene. They are primarily used to simulate the sun's light (this
is impossible to do accurately in 3DS). Lightwave's spotlights are
similar to 3DS's except they cannot exclude specified objects,
project an image, or cast a rectangular light.
3DS wins the lighting catagory. The versatility they offer is much
greater than Lightwaves lights. The image projection is a fantastic
feature. It can be duplicated by Lightwave, but it is difficult and
time consuming.
Texture mapping is considerably different between the two programs.
3DS creates the textures in the Material Editor, and applies them in
the Editor. It has the standard parameters for creating the
textures(ie transparency, diffusion, specularity, bump…). It also
has some unique parameters such as blur reflection. Reflections can
be created without raytracing which speeds up rendering
considerably. However, their quality is considerably worse than ray
traced reflections. All parameters can be controlled with alpha
channel maps. Textures can be applied using planar, cylindrical,
spherical, and cubic methods. They are assigned within the Editor.
The method it uses to assign textures is tedious, especially on
complex objects. Mapping coordinates can be applied to objects
created in the Lofter. Smoothing groups are also clumsy. The
Materials Editor is much nicer looking then Lightwave's surface menu.
It renders samples of the texture at the top of the screen. This is
a big plus. Procedural textures are available via IPAS, but IMO most
are not very good.