#Info about 3DS
12 messages in this thread
I am considering buying 3DStudio and would like some information about it.
I "grew up" on POV and recently moved to Playmation. While Playmation has
a great interface, I'm not totally satisified with the Rendering results.
Playmation
is spline based and it is very easy to create objects, but it falls down when
trying
to create objects based on real world dimensions. I would appreciate any
comments on the following questions:
1. I understand that 3DS is polygon based. Does it have features to create
curved
surfaces easily?
2. Can you extrude 2d objects into the 3rd dimension?
3. Can you rotate an object about a point to create a new object?
4. What is the "Lofter"?
5. What is the Yost Group and what is their relationship with Autodesk?
6. How is the interface in 3DS. Easy to use?
7. Are animation capabilities built into 3DS?
8. I would like to try to get ahold of a used copy R1 or R2 (I think my wife
would kill me if I bought the full package) which I could upgrade to R3.
Any suggestions where I could look for such a package?
Thanks for your help.
You're going to get a lot of answers to your questions, but just let
me tell you that I started with Playmation and went to 3DStudio
because I could see that I wanted to do 3D animations (from the
Playmation) but I needed more power. 3DStudio is everything I ever
thought it would be…and more. It's about 100 times faster than
Playmation, the quality is at least ten times as good, and now that
I've read Michelle's books I think it's much easier to use than
Playmation.
It is a different approach — it doesn't have the same character
based animation stuff — but it can do anything you ever wanted to do
with animation, and then some. I've never regretted the money I
spent on 3DS (unlike Playmation).
You can definitely make curved surfaces easily, you can extrude 2D
into 3D (and with some cool tools that make some VERY impressive
stuff easy — I made a cactus the other night that was dead on and I
can't draw to save my life). You can rotate objects, much as in
Playmation, but there are other lofting tools (lofting takes a 2D
object into a 3D one) that do things Playmation couldn't dream of.
The Yost group IS 3DStudio (they are the software engineers) and a
better support team you couldn't wish for (here on CIS).
Interfaces are as good as they get in DOS, meaning adequate (although
I do like R3 being able to define your own keystrokes — why NOT the
material editor?). If I were you, I'd go ahead and buy R3 and just
make sure you remind your wife of the legal penaties for murder in
your state.
Thanks for the great reply. After reading all the messages in ASOFT,
seeing all the great images that people have uploaded, and reading
about all the stuff on the CDROM, I am really interested in getting
3DS. I talked to a lady today who is part of a 3DS users group in the
bay area. She said that she knows of no one that paid full price for
the product. They all got it either through promotional upgrades from
Autocad, or some other deals. You might think I am cheap, but I am
interested in ray-tracing as a hobby and won't be making any money
off of it. So I am still hoping that I can find a used copy somewhere
which I can upgrade. Regarding Playmation, I was slightly
disappointed after using it for a few weeks. I am hesitant to upgrade
to Promation when it comes out for fear of it having the same flaws.
Regards, Peter.
Peter – FWIW the shareware ray-tracer POV has some add-ons that allow
it to work with 3DS files. Last time I checked they were working on
support of materials, but didn't have it yet. By now they might have,
as that was many months ago. I, too, own Playmation and haven't
touched it (except to zip the files to make more room on the ol'
drive) in ages and ages.
>> in the bay area. <<
If you have any more questions and want to talk to someone, give us a
call; we're located in San Rafael, CA.
Hey, I just saw in this month's Hi-Color that R3 was being offered at
educational discounts — if you're a student or have one in the family
you might quality (I don't know exactly how one qualifies — can you
just sign up for a class somewhere?).
I didn't pay "full" price — dealers offer discounts that are typically
several hundred dollars off the list — but you're still going to end
up spending a few thousand. Trust me — this stuff is worth it big
time. I do this for a hobby as well (making me a relative loner here
on the forum, as most everyone here makes money off this stuff — hence
they can afford all the high end hardware), I'm not independently
wealthy, I have a wife who wants lots of stuff (and gets most of what
she wants, although I'm not sure I can get a job in Florida as she
really wants to live there) and I'm so glad I bought
3D I can't tell you. I've spent money I've regretted — this is not the
case here. "Start by admitting from cradle to tomb, it isn't that long
a stay."
Mike – Lat I checked, the educational discount on 3DS was only for
staff, not students. That's year-old info, tho'. FWIW
Peter:
With regards to 3DStudio…
>>1. I understand that 3DS is polygon based. Does it have features to create
curved surfaces easily?<<
Everything in polygon based modeling has to be (by definition) faceted
, in terms of the geometry. Smooth, curved surfaces are simulated at
the rendering level and 3DStudio handles that very well.
>>2. Can you extrude 2d objects into the 3rd dimension?<<
Yes. 3DS includes a 2d editor that can be used to created objects to
be extruded, revolved, etc. You can also import 2d objects from other
programs.
>>3. Can you rotate an object about a point to create a new object?<<
Yes, you can rotate 2d objects into 3d objects.
>>4. What is the "Lofter"?<<
"Lofting" is the act of extruding 2d objects along a path to create 3d
objects. The path need not be straight or made up of a single
segment. In fact, it can even be circular.
>>5. What is the Yost Group and what is their relationship with
Autodesk?<<
Better answered by the Yosties. The Yost group creates 3DS for
Autodesk, to the best of my understanding.
>>6. How is the interface in 3DS. Easy to use?<<
This is, of course, subjective but considering the complexity of the
tasks, yes it's very easy to use. If you're coming from POV (which I
have used) and Playmation (which I have not used, but I understand
that it has a steep learning curve) you should have no problem with
3DS.
>>7. Are animation capabilities built into 3DS?<<
Yes. It produces FLI and FLC files but also will render single frames
and on the high end has many features to help it link up with frame
accurate video controllers.
>>8. I would like to try to get ahold of a used copy R1 or R2 (I think my wife
would kill me if I bought the full package) which I could upgrade to R3.
Any suggestions where I could look for such a package?<<
I'm no help here.
And now as payment you must answer a question <g>:
Does Playmation export model geometry and if so what formats does it
support? I'm wondering if it would be useful as an external modeler
for some forms.
Bruce – PMJI, but I have used Playmation for modelling/exporting to 3DS with
limited success. Some (read that as a large number but small percentage) of the
faces of objects have faces flipped the wrong way or missing entirely. The
flipped ones are easy to deal with (object/unify) but the missing faces are a
pain in the Editor. I'm better at editing now than I was when I tried this
last, tho', so maybe it would be easier for me now… I have found that
modeling in 3DS is easier and I have made fairly organic shapes. FWIW
David Taffet
Playmation is capable of exporting DXF files which are "approximations" of
the splines. It is not capable of importing anything (a serious drawback which
I believe they are addressing in Promation).
By the way, thanks for the reply.
Check out message 63127. There's a copy of R2 for sale.
– Jack