[WinMac] Re: SGI & 3D
Alex Dearden(pata[at]tampabay.rr.com)
Wed, 3 Feb 1999 21:25:20 -0500
>I like working on Macs for graphics/Web work, and will doubtless continue
>to use them, but I am at a crossroad with 3D work. I need much more power
>and there are more programs available for IRIX/SG & NT workstations that
>offer what I need...(With a price tag I don't need ofcourse!). I don't
>think Maya is an option on my budget, but maybe I can scrape up enough for
>SoftImage.
Susan, take a look at TrueSpace from Caligari software (www.caligari.com)
for NT. Seems to be an excelent 3D program with a price tag of $599. It
has gotten very good reviews. I'm evaluating it to see if I buy it and
like what I see so far. But I want a 3D program I can use in my Mac since
that's where I've got all my other graphics stuff.
For the Mac there is an excelent 3D program called Cinema 4D XL ($1,999
ouch!) but they make an SE version without NURBS or Bones ($999 still
ouch!) and a very good Cinema 4D GO version without NURBS or Bones and
some other features, a bargain for $199. The interface is one of the best
I've seen or used. Better than Infini-D or Studio Pro. try the demos at
www.maxon.com. I tried them and fell in love. In fact, I have the program
open right now and haven't shut my Mac down in 5 days 'cause the demo
won't allow you to save. I have left Ciname 4D open and opened other 3D
apps and closed them and ran Netscape and Internet Explorer at the same
time, checked my email, connected to the NT server I have here, used DAVE
to connect to and share files with Win98 and nothing has crashed!!! Real
solid programming for this 3D app. Also, the rendering is lightning fast.
Try them, you won't be disappointed.
As to the O2 issue, I wrote George Maestri (he's a well-known guy in the
3D arena, wrote a whole bunch of books on 3D, one of which is used as a
text-book in digital animation courses called Digital Character
Animation), anyway I asked him about the new SGIs and what he htought
about going from a true RISC architecture to (Intel) CISC, etc. and he
told me that nowadays a lot of 3D software runs faster on NT and on
PowerPC chips (on the Mac believe it or not) than on Irix!!! I didn't
know about this, but this guy should know, this is what he does all day
long...
Alex Dearden
pata@doglover.com
* Windows-MacOS Cooperation List *
* FAQ: <http://www.darryl.com/winmacfaq/> *
* Archives: <http://www.darryl.com/winmac/> *
* Subscribe: <mailto:winmac-on@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Subscribe Digest: <mailto:winmac-digest@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Unsubscribe: <mailto:winmac-off@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2
on Wed Feb 03 1999 - 18:28:41 PST
|