#Real 3D v2
10 messages in this thread
Does anyone know how good (or bad) the new Real 3D v2 is? It looks rather
outstanding feature wise
-Rick
Real 3D v2 is an excellent program. However, the learning curve is
extremely high, as it utilizes a special scripting language to do detailed
work. If you have the time and patience, it is worth it.
I use Imagine myself and will be adding Lightwave (with Toaster) when I
can afford to do so.
-= Vance =- Image Master
Flying high on Black Belt Systems' Imagemaster!
I heard that you can't do scan line rendering on it (only raytrace.) I
don't know if that is true but if it is it can be a Real drawback for
doing proofs.
Andrew
It has a Ham mode and a greyscale mode that are reasonabley fast. But the
dongle, manual, non-working examples and large number of bugs make it a
real chore to get anything done in it. It is the worst 3D program I've
ever tried from a productivity standpoint.
wmc – via Autopilot!
I have used Real 3D V2 for a few months now and have become fairly
proficient at it. It takes some getting use to but once I got the
hang of it, I don't want to go back to any other 3D software. It
does have scanline rendering if the Shawdowless mode is used and the
root structure is set to 'No Reflect'.
I've been using Real 3D for a while so I'll give you some of my
impressions.
First, Real 3D is a ray tracer only. No scanline rendering here. :^) AS
such it's got a reputation for being slow. While it is a bit slow when
doing maximum quality renders so is Imagine. If you want to do test
renders or a bit lower quality anims (scanline quality) the speed is quite
reasonable. At the higher quality render settings the results are as good
as anything I've seen from Imagine or LightWave and the images don't
require the endless test renders that Imagine seems to require to get nice
results.
Now the bad news:
There are a lot of very advanced features and that makes for a pretty
steep learning curve. It does things a lot different than the competition
so experienced animators will have to unlearn some things. New users may
actually have an easier time with it because they're not used to doing
things the way the other guys do them.
The interface is a bit confusing and could use some work but the program
can be easily configured by the user to suit your preferences.
The manual contains a lot of information but it takes some effort to dig
it out. (kind of like the Imagine manual) It could also use more tutorials
but apparently the tech support fellow is working on some. The more
advanced features like gravity and collision detection seem pretty
confusing to me but I have to admit that I haven't put much time into
learning them. I've been concentrating on learning how to do nice still
renders.
If you're willing to invest the time learning it Real 3D is an incredibly
powerful program, but I'd recommend havine someone demo the program for
you before you buy it.
Any specific questions about it?
Its quirky, the manual is all but useless, the tutorials often don't work,
all the example configuration files are only for PAL, the install script
is not CBM standard and doesn't work without serious editing (closer to
rewriting), and some of the examples are too large to even redner on a 20
meg Amiga. At least the tech support is halfway decent.
INHO it is GROSSLY overpriced for what you get. It should be at about
$250, not the "special" $499 price on a $699 retail. Especially since it
has a joystick port dongle with no pass-through that causes some programs
that accept joystick input or mouse input a problem.
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne,
Sounds to me like you must have got one of the first copies. While some of
what you say is valid I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as you seem
to think.
I don't know what you mean by quirky. I keep hearing that Real 3D has a
lot of bugs but after using it for a couple of months I've yet to find
one. The manual DOES need a lot of work but there is still a lot of
information there. The Imagine manual is pretty bad too but a lot of
people still manage. I haven't bothered with most of the tutorials so I
don't know what kind of problems are there, but the ones I have done
seemed to work. The example config files I got with my version (2.34)
seemed to work OK and the install went off without a hitch. As I said I
haven't tried many of the tutorials so I haven't noticed memory problems
with them but I have built some pretty elaborate scenes and have had no
memory problems on my 11 meg machine. :^)
As for the price, what doesn't seem overpriced these days? Real 3D has a
lot of features you can't get on ANY other Amiga program and the render
quality is excellent. Yes, Lightwave is easier to use and also gives great
render quality but it costs 6 times as much, comes with an even more
annoying dongle, and STILL doesn't do everything that Real does.
Also the average mail order price for Real 3D v2.35 is about $400 US. (I
got mine for $450 Canadian)
Real 3D isn't for everyone. It does most things quite a bit differently
than other programs and it IS confusing if you're used to another 3D
package, but it's not the dog you're making it out to be. If you can get
your mind wrapped around the Real 3D way of doing things there's a lot of
good stuff in this program. :^)
I agree,
R3D2 is a nice package with many great modeling functions that do work
just fine for me. The images that I've rendered are quite excelent and
look very nice when displayed directly to AGA on my 1200.
I did some very impresive renderings within just a couple days, but still
have Alot to learn.
As far as speed, the quality of the ray trace renders can be sacrificed
in many ways to give fast test images. Runs pretty fast on my 040 sys.
Seems like it will display to anything (almost) including DCTV very
nicely.
Price isn't bad Relatively.
Haven't really tried any animation functions Yet, This part is tough for
me.
Love, Modeling functions, Renderings, I thought the manual, Potential.
Hate, Non-standard objects!!!, Setup, Dongle.
Cool, Boolean functions, Animation functions.
I guess I should say I've been using LW since Beta, and had a pretty good
head start. I hope this s/w will be supported by other vendors.
….John
Quirk example #1: When doing multiple select it makes a difference if
you "swipe" the selections as opposed to "shift-click" as far as the
order in which items are placed on the stack. Quirk example #2:
Whenever you create a polygon, two points are laid down at the
origin. If you push the first point created onto the stack, then
another point at the end of a common side, and select average you get
a weird result instead of the bisector of the side because of the two
points created at the origin (of which only one is visible!) Quirk
example #3: Lights disappear in the perpective mode. Positioning
then is weird too, especiall the wall or line of lights as there is
no normal to work with.
I could go on for quite a while. I have almost an entire pad of
paper filled with bugs, manual errors (not typos – I marked those in
the manual) inconsistencies between manual and tutorial outcomes,
inconsistencies in tutorials and examples, ways to crash the progam,
RPL handling errors etc. And I didn't even get to the animation
section of the tutorials yet.
However, one man's loss is another's gain. Tell ya what I'm gonna
do! ;^} I bought the progam at NAB in late April. Advetised cost
was $499, but since they had to charg my card in Canadian, on the day
it processed it cost me $519. I'll sell it to you, lock stock and
dongle for $425. This will include the manual with my corrections
for minor things like typos, mis-labeled menu items, missing steps
from examples, some missing headings that add clarity to the text, a
copy of my complete list of bugs, errors, inconsistencies, and
ambiguities, and the "latest" upgrade sent to me about July (after I
contacted tech support and found out I was 5 revisions down on the
current release!) I will also write a letter transferring all
rights of ownershi and registration numbers to you so that you can
hopefully get them to transfer registration to you. If you are
interested, contact me via E-Mail and we can work out the transfer.