I've worked with the beta version of Mirage… It's incredible
software. It was developed on an SGI originally to be used on that
platform. The images rival the quality of Alias or Wavefront (I've
worked with both) and the performance is very very good. Naturally
it's not going to render at SGI speeds, but they somehow optimized it
and it really cooks! It's the best solution I've found. BTW – the
book AMT is great too. Most comprehensive work on 3d studio to date.
I've had the AMR book on order since the day it was announced – but
haven't received it yet. Guess I'll have to give those folks a call
and see where it is. Thanks, Eli.