#World Builder
10 messages in this thread
Mike,
Regarding my offer to go to Digimation and check out World Builder. I am unable
to get an appointment with the Digimation folks. They are gearing up for the
World Media show and say it would be at least two weeks from now before they
have time. Sorry I wasn't able to help. I see that Martin Foster bought one, so
he will probably give you a better review than I could have anyway. <g>
FWIW, there is an article in 3D Artist #20 about it. It states, "Other features
include clouds, online help, distributed rendering, real and fake shadows, fog
and depth cueing, and especially tight import/export support for 3D Studio
files (so you can build scenes using both programs and render a project in
whichever of the two serves best)."
That is a quote, I didn't construct that one sentence paragraph. <g>
Terry
Terry,
Just an interjection…. I just recieved World Builder the other day,
looks interesting and seems to have alot of power but I haven't had the
opportunity to play with it much. Hear are a few of the 'Quirks' that have
made an impression with me though.
1) Does not and probably will not be able to write to the PAR drive.
(Ouch)
2) On my system, ( which never experienced any such problem) I can not
get the application to run from my system drive, only from the CD
ROM.
Digamation says it might have to do with my ATI Mach32. Hmm ???
3) It does seem to produce some remarkable scenery. ( Thats the bone I
throw them)
4) Rendering a semi complex scene at 752×480 is a time NightMare. It
does'nt seem to have a way to disable rendering to the Camera
Viewport while rendering. ** This may be because I have to run it from
the CD ROM. I would like to hear from someone who is working off
their system drives **
Thats about all I can think of for now. If you have any specific ???s
just leave um here and I'll play some more.
B-
Brendan,
Thanks for jumping in. I'm on the verge of buying it myself, probably already
past the point of no return, but just haven't admitted it.<g>
>> Does not and probably will not be able to write to the PAR drive.<<
Ack! I should be getting the replacement PVR any day now. Are you saying, using
this, I will have two 4giggers sitting there idle?
>>…only from the CD ROM. <<
ACK! ACK! Toooooooooo slow!
>> Rendering a complex scene at 752×480 is a time NightMare. <<
Rendering time is reeeaaally getting depressing. My machine never stops now,
when I'm sleeping, it's rendering. Did Digimation say anything about using it
with MAX and NT? I'm hoping the dual/32 bit enviroment is going to give us a
break with render times. Can you indeed create and render the projects from
either program? (World Builder or 3D Studio)
Thanks again, I was hoping to be able to sit down with it at Digimation and get
some answers. I am going to their booth at the World Media Expo in a week or
so. Maybe I can pin them down to some answers. I want it, I just want it to be
better than it now sounds.
Keep us informed, Terry
Terry,
I've had 1 partial day with world builder and so far I'm impressed, but it's
really too early to tell. We are going to _try_ to use it (in part) for a
high-end Japanese commercial, so I'll be beating on it pretty severely.
It seems to have immense potential and is a huge program (3mb). It'll take a
lot longer to see how well it works for us in production, but we have that 30
day money-back guarantee thing from Digimation.
>> Does not and probably will not be able to write to the PAR drive.<<
don't know. We have a PAR and a PVR and I would never render directly to either
anyway, so it's not an issue. We have plenty of disk space free (18gb and more
available, if necessary).
>>…only from the CD ROM. <<
not for us. It's running fine off the c: drive – we have diamond stealth 64
vram 4mb cards.
>> Rendering a complex scene at 752×480 is a time NightMare. <<
Well, it seems slow with dense vegatation and lakes etc. It took 1.5 hours for
a 720×480 sample image, with no anti-aliasing. But it's unlikely we would have
a scene like that in real life. We're splitting the scene up into layers for
compositing later.
My early impressions are very favourable, but I should be able to give say more
in the coming week.
Martin,
Thanks a lot for the early report, it's a big help. Glad to hear that it runs
off your C: drive. I have the Imagine 128 card, so I'm hoping I have the same
luck. The render times look like they're going to be tough, but I guess you
don't get something for nothing. Oh well, I can work on my sound tracks while
rendering until I get the second unit. The main thing I'm curious about now is,
if it will go NT with MAX.
I will probably wait a few weeks until the expo before buying. So let me know
in the mean time if I should slam on the brakes.
Thanks, Terry
Martin,
<< It seems to have immense potential>>
Agreed, this thing is a monster, with incredible capabilities.
<< We have a PAR and a PVR and I would never render directly to either anyway,
so it's not an issue. >>
Interesting, do you render to system drives, do your compositing and then
go over to your A/V system ? If you don't mind my asking, which video
editor do you use ? I have been using RP and so rendering to the PAR has
always been convienent unless I need the Alpha for compositing then I go
to system drives.
<< 18gb and more available.. >>
Show off !….. <g>
Brendan G.
Terry,
<<Ack! I should be getting the replacement PVR any day now. Are you saying,
using this, I will have two 4giggers sitting there idle?>>
Not neccesarily. Dave at Digamation said that their N/T version will support at
least the PVR, but didn't think it would support the PAR.
<< …only from the CD ROM. >>
This appears to be a 'me' specific problem. I will try it on another system
later today.
<< Keep us informed >>
Will do..
Brendan G.
Brendan,
>>…said their NT version will support at least the PVR…<<
Well, that answers two of my questions. Did he say when the NT version would be
ready, and if there would be an upgrade deal?
>> This appears to be a 'me' specific problem. <<
That 'mach' card you mentioned rang a bell. I'll look back over some old
messages and see if it was the one that was giving everyone so much trouble.
This program sounds like just what I need to open my demo with. I've been
trying to build a lake surrounded by a bank and trees. The water is reflective
enough, but kind of…dead, if you know what I mean. And, I can't find any
stock trees I like. Besides, I hate to just use stock material like 3D clip
art. World Builder sounds like you can 'roll your own' trees and things with
the tools it has.
Thanks for the info, I haven't seen anything yet to stop me from buying it.
Terry
>Ack! I should be getting the replacement PVR any day now.<
Why did you get your PVR replaced, to fix any bugs?
Tim,
>> Why did you get your PVR replaced, to fix any bugs? <<
Yes, the new one is supposed to have all the previously discussed problems
solved. It is now, according to Digital, no longer necessary to change the CPU
clock speed to make it work correctly.
Terry