CompuServe Thread

All I can tell you is that I've been doing game graphics with 3DS for some time now (you may want to check out Virgin/Trilobyte's The 7th Guest) and I find 3DS a great package to develop stills and animations for all kinds of video games. Obviously, the SGI solutions are quite nice, but this could be a bit of overkill, depending on what you need to accomplish — not to mention the difference in price! With the awesome improvements in r3, it makes more and more sense to go the 3DS route, in my opinion. Check out both platforms very carefully, address your specific needs and resources, and the answer should become clear. Best of luck and Hello to Portugal! (I miss the portugese food I enjoyed in New England when I lived there…) -Alan Iglesias

I highly suggest that you make a list of features that you absolutely will need, and see which package will best fulfill that list. Remember that 3D capable SGI's run from $18,000 (in U.S.) up to $$$millions. And the software is damned expensive, too. If you are creating PC or "game box" games I can hardly imagine needing the capabilities that Alias or Wavefront have over 3D Studio, and with R3 that gap is closing VERY fast. With the new IPAS interface all those goodies like dynamics, kinematics, and more sophisticated morphing will be possible. If you need NURBS, spline based modelling, then Alias may be your best bet (I've only played with it a little, so I'm also going on other people's comments). A PC based 3DS solution will run under $25,000, including multiple rendering machines, software, and recording equipment (probably not important for games work). I know, because I did it. A company that I deal with has multiple SGI's, and one of their Iris stations equipped with Wavefront (including dynamics module) ran them in excess of $60,000 and that includes just the computer and one software package.

Tito, I second what Alan and John have said. All you have to do is look at what happened to the CAD industry after Adesk got into it. The same is happening with the 3D Graphic and animaiton market. Ang

A PC with 3DStudio is certainly more cost effective that an SGI system but as the others here have said, you need to check your needs. If your output is going to be seen through 256 color MPEG viewers, any visual improvement from the SGI is going to be lost. However if your MPEG output is full screen full color 30 frames/sec, then you can get superior output from a SGI system (with a good artist). You may also find that SGI software has superior modelers. However, remember there is SGI and there is _SGI_. Don't expect miracles from a minimal SGI setup, SGI doesn't start to shine until you get into the $100K range. Don't expect the machines to work themselves either, nothing takes the place of a good artist with a grasp of 3D modeling, _nothing_. For our recent game Voyeur, (on the cover of last week's TIME magazine), all the action is placed against rendered backgrounds from 3D Studio. We still use 3DS even for full-screen full-motion full-color animations in some of our upcomming game titles that use full motion MPEG Digital Video. Good luck, DanP PIMA/POV