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3D World issue 100
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
3D World issue 100 // Roundtable
Post by splinters // Dec 22, 2007, 5:34am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Well, 3D World mag has reached issue 100 and it is a bit special with various features about the industry and the top 100 CGI movies ever as voted for by readers and CG Society members.
Best of all though is the DVD which has loads of content and free stuff, tutorials etc.
Oh, and a free fully working copy of Carrara 5 Pro...can't be bad for £6.
I know I shouldn't be promoting another 'all rounder' software but the mag is a damn good read and the freebie extras are nice!
Merry Xmas all.
:D
EDIT: Worth noting that the Pro version (this free one) has truespace import support too! |
Post by jayr // Dec 24, 2007, 8:01am
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jayr
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i noticed that Carrara 5 Pro has a landscape generator in it, have you tried it? can the results be exported to truespace? |
Post by rjeff // Dec 24, 2007, 8:09am
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rjeff
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Jayr..I do know that Bryce's terrains can be exported to TS...and 5.5 is free now. |
Post by Paul Boland // Dec 24, 2007, 8:58am
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Paul Boland
Total Posts: 383
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I would have bought Bryce except I couldn't figure out how to create my own landscape formations at all. I read the PDF manual and a few websites on the matter, but I kept getting solid, sudden cliffs! I'll be interested in trying out Carrara when I get the issue (early January if I remember). I have my eye on Vue 6.5 Infinate but it's very expensive so going to be a while before I can invest in that. |
Post by kena // Dec 24, 2007, 9:00am
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kena
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if you download "The Gimp", you can put a bunch of black areas, then blur it.
Then reverse the colors, and the white is the high areas, and the black is the low ones.
you can then use ts7.5 workspace side to bring that texture into a plane as a hightmap.
I seem to recall that you can do the blur thing in Photoshop as well, if you have it. |
Post by jamesmc // Dec 24, 2007, 9:04am
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jamesmc
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Here is a Carrara Terrain scene exported as an OBJ. I have a texture baker plugin for Carrara, but didn't bother with it.
I exported the procedural texture at 1024x1024 (probably way too small)
Added a gold metal cube for observational purposes. Subdivided the terrain once.
Nothing special done, I did add dof and sky in tS 7.51 model side. I'm sure if someone took their time, they could do much better, this was a quickie job.
Second image, same scene under carrara renderer. Don't think it is the same terrain, but close enough. :D Anyway, I think because procedural shaders are used in carrara, one will probably have to do their own texture fix up if they bring the terrain into trueSpace.
However, one could go the other way around and use the Carrara render with their imported tS objects. Then carrara becomes a Bryce like application. :D |
Post by ed_baker // Dec 25, 2007, 2:50pm
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ed_baker
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I would have bought Bryce except I couldn't figure out how to create my own landscape formations at all. I read the PDF manual and a few websites on the matter, but I kept getting solid, sudden cliffs! I'll be interested in trying out Carrara when I get the issue (early January if I remember). I have my eye on Vue 6.5 Infinate but it's very expensive so going to be a while before I can invest in that.
Bryce, along with all terrain generating software, is very sensitive to gray scale values. Maybe that might be the reason behind all the sudden cliffs?
Ed |
Post by noko // Dec 25, 2007, 9:04pm
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noko
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I am going to have to check that issue out, finding it here though maybe an issue. Top cgi movies of all time, that would be very interesting to see what ranked where and maybe why. Thanks for the heads up Splinters. |
Post by splinters // Dec 25, 2007, 11:51pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Great to hear from you Dave. I could spoil things for you and tell you the top 10 but the fun is in reading the details about them and looking at the picture. I would never have picked the number one slot, would probably not have made top ten but when you read the story behind it it kinda makes sense.
To give you a sense of scope I think Apollo 13 is at number 100; it's not all about the 'obvious' effects. |
Post by Paul Boland // Dec 26, 2007, 8:50am
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Paul Boland
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Bryce, along with all terrain generating software, is very sensitive to gray scale values. Maybe that might be the reason behind all the sudden cliffs?
Ed
Hi Ed.
Yes, you are correct, it works on a greyscale system and Bryce does have an editor where you can draw your landscapes greyscale map but I found it very hard to work with. After six days of use, all I was producing was sudden, abrupt, sheer-cliff-edged mounds of land so I gave up on it. The demo is for Bryce 5.5 and Bryce 6 is the version currently out so I didn't like that either. For all I know, Bryce 6 is easier to use?!?
I watched the movies on the Vue website for their land creation process and it's stunning! It's all realtime creation too with you pulling up mountains and pushing down valleys. I know E-on Software offer more price friendly versions of their software, Vue Esprite Pro Studio looks great for the price, but the only drawback I see with these is that the vegetation you create to cover your landscapes can't move, it's static. In Vue 6 Infinate, they can move, blow in the wind, etc. That's what I want but at almost €800, it's way out of my current price range.
Thanks though for the bit of help, appreciate it. |
Post by jayr // Jan 2, 2008, 2:50pm
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jayr
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I tried importing a landscape object in to truespace.
It worked, a bit slow becaue i set the texture size to 2000x2000, but it worked.
Look good in lightworks too but unfortunately TS crashed when i tried to render with GI in VRay, i'm giving it another go to morrow though. |
Post by jamesmc // Jan 2, 2008, 2:56pm
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Vue6 Learning Edition is available for download. It's a full implementation of the software. With careful adjustment the watermark...well, you can figure it out. :)
Anyway, a good software to learn and perhaps use for some scene ideas. Hey, those Hollywood people use it sometimes, so must be good. |
Post by Paul Boland // Jan 3, 2008, 9:57am
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Paul Boland
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Picked up 3D World issue 100 today. Haven't read it yet, I'll take it to bed tonight, and I won't spoil it for folks who don't have the issue, but I totally disagree with the Number 1 3D Movie that was picked. Yes, a great movie, no denying that, but numbe 1... No way!! I also have other issues with some of the entries and issues with some missing entries. But whatever about the other 99, Number 1 should have been Toy Story. It was the first of its kind and it's the movie that really kicked off my interest in 3D animation. |
Post by Paul Boland // Jan 3, 2008, 10:01am
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Paul Boland
Total Posts: 383
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Vue6 Learning Edition is available for download. It's a full implementation of the software. With careful adjustment the watermark...well, you can figure it out. :)
Anyway, a good software to learn and perhaps use for some scene ideas. Hey, those Hollywood people use it sometimes, so must be good.
I would LOVE to give this software a try but I can't for the life of me seem to download it!?! Everytime I download it I end up with a corrupted zip file :(. I've tried downloading it from elsewhere, not just my PC, just in case there was an issue on my system somewhere, but no luck at all, got the same corrupted zip file :(. I got onto Eon about this and they've said there is no issue, that the file is fine. I asked them if they would kindly pop it onto a CD-R for me and send it to me, I even offered to pay the postage, but they wouldn't :(.
Don't suppose anyone knows if it ever apeared on a magazine cover disc? |
Post by splinters // Jan 3, 2008, 10:56am
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Picked up 3D World issue 100 today. Haven't read it yet, I'll take it to bed tonight, and I won't spoil it for folks who don't have the issue, but I totally disagree with the Number 1 3D Movie that was picked. Yes, a great movie, no denying that, but numbe 1... No way!! I also have other issues with some of the entries and issues with some missing entries. But whatever about the other 99, Number 1 should have been Toy Story. It was the first of its kind and it's the movie that really kicked off my interest in 3D animation.
I agree Paul, but read the feature on the number 1 choice and it sorta makes sense. Toy Story was the culmination of many short CGI movies and would have been my obvious No.1 choice but then see just how influential on cinema in general the actual no.1 choice has been over the last decade. After reading that I realised that Pixar stuff, while the best of it's kind, is actually niche (cartoon like) stuff. The use of CGI in many of the top 100 is chosen for it's invisibilty...it suspends your disbelief rather than have you going..."mmmm, nice use of SSS, wonder what render engine that is!" |
Post by Steinie // Jan 3, 2008, 2:07pm
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Steinie
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I went to the Store to find the Magazine and found issue 98! It will be a while until we see that one. How about a hint as to what number one is....starts with the letter...?:p |
Post by splinters // Jan 3, 2008, 3:22pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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I went to the Store to find the Magazine and found issue 98! It will be a while until we see that one. How about a hint as to what number one is....starts with the letter...?:p
It's the letter M |
Post by W!ZARD // Jan 4, 2008, 1:27am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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It's the letter M
"M"? I'm guessing 'Monsters Inc'. There's one scene in that movie where Mike Wies..... the green dude with one eye says; "Hmmn, that was weird!" which I think is possibly the funniest moment in any movie ever - I mean, this guy is a green one-eyed blob with arms and legs so he should know weird right? Whatever, it's a piece of superb comic timing.
The only funny one liner that comes even close is in the first Shrek movie when the gingerbread man tells the bad-guy to "Bite me". Damn that is so funny! |
Post by Steinie // Jan 4, 2008, 1:54am
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...trix are for kids!;) My vote would have been Toy Story or Jurassic Park.
Wizard "M" is for Mikey:D |
Post by Paul Boland // Jan 4, 2008, 10:08am
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Monsters Inc totally floored me. I spent the whole time watching the movie just watching Sully's fur (Sully is the furry guy, right?)!!
I still haven't read the article but Toy Story should have got it. I remember when it was coming out and there a lot of rave about it. I'd seen the adverts, the movie clips and knew that I had to go see it.
I walked into the cinema expecting to see a childrens movie created on computer...
...
...I walked out a man with a desire to create my own 3D movie!
Toy Story changed my life. Up to that point, while I was doing 3D work, I wasn't into animation. Sure, I had done some work here and there, but nothing serious. I was a one scene, one pic, guy. The next day I loaded up TrueSpace 2 and dived into animation.
My first works were simple, a cube, a sphere, moving from one side of the screen to the other. Then some basic deformation. Then I created space ships and flew them around the screen.
When Caligari ran an offer to get TrueSpace 5 and AniPak together, I dived on it. Took my while to move over to TrueSpace 5 and even longer to get into AniPak, but it was in there that I found my gem. Puppeteer... Once I got the nack of working with Puppeteer it opened a world of animation for me.
The Shooting Stars gang were born from it and they've been my biggest success to date. What floored me the most with them was that they developed a fan base before work on their game even started!
Puppeteer allowed me to bring to life my Dragon Quest movie, a movie inspired by a piece of music. I got the music on the magazine 3.5" floppy disc back in the 1990's and the second I heard it, the very first time I heard it, the vision for Dragon Quest entered my mind. It took me fifteen years to do it, but in 2006 I completed work on Dragon Quest. I've very proud of it but it's a movie that will always be tainted for me because it was the very last piece of creative work that I did that my poor Ma got to see. A week later, she passed away :(.
Now I'm busy at work on Shooting Stars 2 which, again thanks to Puppeteer, has reached a new goal in that the Shooting Stars gang now have facial animation and that really does bring a whole new dimension to them. I'm also working on my long term movie project, AstoBots.
So many developments, so many achievements, and all because I went to the cinema to see a childrens movie created on computer... ;)
Toy Story changed my life and it is because of that that it should have been number 1. |
Post by behzad // Jan 5, 2008, 3:04am
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Total Posts: 173
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Well, 3D World mag has reached issue 100 and it is a bit special with various features about the industry and the top 100 CGI movies ever as voted for by readers and CG Society members.
Best of all though is the DVD which has loads of content and free stuff, tutorials etc.
Oh, and a free fully working copy of Carrara 5 Pro...can't be bad for £6.
I know I shouldn't be promoting another 'all rounder' software but the mag is a damn good read and the freebie extras are nice!
Merry Xmas all.
:D
EDIT: Worth noting that the Pro version (this free one) has truespace import support too!
I spend over $200 bucks getting carrara 5, many people at daz are shocked to hear of this, I guess daz is trying to increase their user base. Putting this aside the program is amazingly easy to learn and can be a great compliment to TS. :banana: |
Post by RAYMAN // Jan 5, 2008, 3:08am
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RAYMAN
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Its not bad to have another renderer as option ! |
Post by ghost--scout // Jan 5, 2008, 2:30pm
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ghost--scout
Total Posts: 85
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Not to be a dummy, but issue 100 would be Feb2008 right? I'm trying to order it from http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/store/
since I live in the US and I'm not quite sure which one it is. |
Post by splinters // Jan 5, 2008, 3:26pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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The US are almost 2 months behind the UK with this mag but i guess it would be the Feb issue...strange. As long as you get issue 100 you will be alright. |
Post by behzad // Jan 8, 2008, 5:41am
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behzad
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It seems DAZ wants to increase their user base this way. But now users have a variety of 3d applications and love the obj export :jumpy: |
Post by Steinie // Jan 31, 2008, 1:50pm
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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Well Issue 100 of 3D World hit the shelves here today and I snatched up my copy. Can't lose when it comes with a copy of Carrara 5 Pro on DVD. A lot of good articles in this one too. Thanks for the early warning Splinters! |
Post by splinters // Jan 31, 2008, 2:32pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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You are most welcome Steinie...now what do you think of that number 1 movie choice...?? |
Post by clintonman // Jan 31, 2008, 3:49pm
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clintonman
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I'm a US subscribe and didn't get issue 100(yet?). Issue 101 arrived just a few days ago.:confused: This is way way early for me. They must have put me on the UK list. Which would be great except now I'm missing an issue. Even the local bookstore only has issue 99. I sent an email so I'll just have to wait and see what happens. |
Post by splinters // Jan 31, 2008, 11:26pm
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splinters
Total Posts: 4148
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Wow, that is early. I am a UK subscriber and only got issue 101 last week. Nothing to complain about really but you had better chase the missing issue up pretty quick as the 'important' issues (like issue 100) tend to sell out very quickly...even to the point where they have none for back orders. |
Post by clintonman // Feb 1, 2008, 7:09am
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clintonman
Total Posts: 304
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Wow, that is early. I am a UK subscriber and only got issue 101 last week. Nothing to complain about really but you had better chase the missing issue up pretty quick as the 'important' issues (like issue 100) tend to sell out very quickly...even to the point where they have none for back orders.
It's been a couple of days and I haven't heard anything, so I'll likely buy it when it gets to the bookstores and try to extend my subscription by one issue. Better safe than sorry. |
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