Blob modeler for 3DS
anyone who's been wanting to model with Metaballs ought to check out
Steve Anger and Alphonse Hermida's (sp?) new Blob Modeler. It works
with 4 viewports, like 3DS. To use it, you place spheres in the 3D
space and define their 'gravity' (positive or negative). Clicking
preview will display the mesh of a smooth skinned object that follows
the surface. This mesh has adjustable detail level (because the
freeform surface defined by the metaballs is being skinned at a
definable 'resolution'), and can be output to RAW format. RAW is
converted to a 3DS filetype with Steve Anger's RAW23DS.
The results are _very_ organic, and it doesn't take too many metaballs
to get some very lively objects. Because the metaballs are converted
to triangles for 3DS, they are mappable (unlike metaballs). The
downside is that to modify the source metaballs, you have to start
over.