#Wavefront vs. 3DS
6 messages in this thread
I NEED YOUR OPINION!!!!!!
I work for one of the largest architectural firms in the U.S. We have been
doing some animation and imaging via consultants who use Wavefront. We are
trying to bring animation and photorealistic rendering capabilities in-house.
What is your opinion on the output of these two software packages with respect
to photorealistic output of architectural images? I don't need kinematics, I
don't need to do character animation just walkthroughs, flybys and still
images.
Consider the cost of the software, hardware, third party sofware, support,
platform portability/future, etc.
Other pertinent information:
For Cadd we have a workstation based system that we will upgrade to DEC's Alpha
workstations. The Cadd software we use will be able to run on DEC's Alpha PC's
as well. In addition to CADD, we have for our office support a Novell network
of 45 PC's which includes approximately 8 machines that could conceivably be
used as render nodes for 3DS. We own no video recording equipment save a
consumer grade VCR, we have two Exabyte 8505 tape backup drives.
The major problem I have is the lack of any printed output of excellent quality
architectural images created in 3DS. With images like this in hand I believe
the executive committee would be able to evaluate the two software packages.
If you know of any in print please point me to them. If you can send me any
convincing images I'll give you my FEDEX number so you can send them to me free
of postage.
Thanks to all.
Bob Ritger
Robert,
I think 3ds is a better bet than Wavefront, cost/performance wise. There's
certainly a bright future for 3ds, IMHO.
As far as images go, you could look at the r3 and r2 cd-rom's. There's plenty
of very photo-realistic ones on there. Then, of course, there is the Siggraph
'93 tape which has some nice video stuff on it. If that won't convince "the
suits", then nothing will….
Robert….
I could send you some GIF images of a library I did If you like.
Roger C@V
Technically, the color quality, gamma control, and antialiasing quality of
3DSr3 is exactly equivalent to Wavefront's. There is no reason why you can't
do _better-looking_ walkthroughs with 3DSr3 than you can with Wavefront (since
3DS is so much easier to use).
– G
Robert, I'd like to add my concurence with all the previous comments, and point
out one other significant fact, not that there aren't plenty of others, and
that is how quickly personnel can get trained and adapted to using an animation
package. 3DS is very powerful in terms of features, and at the same time,
within a very short time one can be creating an object, adjusting a camera,
positioning lights and rendering. While it takes time to develop any skill,
the tools are there and the tutorials are well written and the support IMHO is
the best in the industry. In other words your people will get trained quickly
and be productive in a short period of time. This may be one of the most
important considerations for management. There is no doubt that the rendering
quality is there and that 3DS is condusive to architectural walkthroughs
because of the ability to create a splined path for a camera to follow. The
rest will be up to the creative talents of the people working with the package.
3DS has the goods!
-JE
pull down HIGRISE from the 3DS Library here on Forum, and I think Atrium is
here too. … and find other images of Michael Sechman, in the last few years
of Computer pictures etc.and other magazines, it is real art and architecture
(with capital A.)
Use that one image of his in the Siggraph demo and the Executive Commitee will
gasp.