[geeks] Oops...

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Sun, Jan 13, 2002 at 01:25:24AM +0000, Kris Kirby wrote:

> As for 3D Studio MAX, I just wanted to try it out -- the only time I see
> it is on TV on the "Movie Magic" specials... I have the feeling POVRAY
> would probably do me for now, but I just want to see what the hub-bub is
> all about... and they don't make shareware for $400(0?) programs...

I've used most major versions of 3DS Max.  R3 is livable, but not great.  I'm 
eager to try R4.  Does R3 have subdivision surfaces?  I've never thought to 
investigate that. 

My general impressions of 3DSMax is that it has a very solid core.  This is
evidenced through the plugins.  In old school Lightwave (haven't used anything
newer than 5.5) sophisticated plugins tended to be very klunky, pleasant.  In
3DSMax, plugins tend to feel like they were just always part of the system. 
Plus, it appears that all aspects of the system are well exposed to plugins.  
Several years ago, I heard that a lot of 3DSMax is plugins and that if you get
the pro SDK, you also recieve something like 60% of the 3DSMax source code.  
Also, I think the modifier stack is pretty good.

Of particular interest, are plugings like Shag: Fur, ClotheReyes, and 
DirtyReyes on the rendering end.  Even more interesting though is the 
HyperMatter dynamics system, and most mind blowing of all is the Character 
Studio system.  Character Studio was originally designed by dancers for 
choreographing animated dance, and that is just a briliant way of doing a lot
of character animation.

So, as an animation system, 3DSMax is pretty good, if you can afford several 
thousand dollars worth of plugins.  Otherwise 3DSMax ranges from hum-drum to
downright pathetic (R2.5 still didn't have built in bones, not sure about R3
since we now have character studio at school).

As a modelling program, I used to think that Max was OK, but starting with 
R2.5, my opinion of it dropped rapidly.  See, I tend to work in polygons, or
when available, subdivision surfaces.  I think Bezier patches are also kinda
decent for somethings, and blobs are perfect for others.  Starting in R2, 3DS
began pushing NURBS modelling hard (R2 sucked at it also, to add insult to 
injury), and they went and move some important polygon modelling tools of the
main pallate (or whatever the official term for the bar to the right is) and
place in on a menu that took quite an increased number of clicks to get to.  
That just made me so mad.

Also, 3DS Max doesn't offer a treeview like higher end programs do.  Neither
did Lightwave. 

The 3D programs that I really enjoyed are Lightwave 5.5.  Jimmy Neutron was 
done in a combination of Lightwave and Messiah:Studio (this originally was
project:Messiah, but apparently the coders found the API too limiting so they
spun off a seperate program that imports lightwave and other models and spits
animated characters back to lightwave).  I'm sure they used a version of
Lightwave newer than 5.5 though.

I also really enjoyed Softimage3D 3.9.  I haven't tried XSI.  Until Maya came
along, this was considered the best character animation program.  It supported
extremely usefull things like being able to set up sliders for moving things
(like controlling facial expressions), a treeview (nice for adjusting and
manipulating hierarchies, as well as quickly selecting what you want from 
complex scenes), and it's UI is layed out well.

I've never had a chance to use Maya.  I wish I could, since I think it would
probably be very informative, but it is too darn expensive, even for students.

I'm currently using Blender3D the most.  Here my view is mixed.  It has the 
most powerfull treeview I've seen.  It can in many ways act like the 3DSMax
modifier stack (modifiers show up as items in an objects tree).  It has a plug
in system for Python, and the API allows you to manipulate virtually 
everything in the dataset.  I'm not sure how well it can integrate into the UI.
It has the modelling tools I love, strong polygon and subdivision surface 
support.  If I can't set up on screen sliders, I can at least write a plugin to
interface with a midi slider box, or a pop up a GTK window on a second monitor.

Yet despite all those positives, I just can't flow in Blender like I can in
Lightwave or Softimage.  The buttons and other features seem to be layed out
well, I just don't get along with the way the mouse manipulates 3D space that
well.  They use a guestural system that has taken a lot of work to get used to.
The programmers and longtime users are aware of people like me having 
difficulty.  They insist that it is because they are doing it a better way, and
that users just need to adjust.

Blender has the potential to be as good or better than Lightwave.  People don't
seem to take it seriously enough though.  I don't really think that Blender
is anywhere near close to being able to take on Maya or XSI, nor do I ever
expect to get there.

--
Joshua D. Boyd