Attached Link: http://www.luxology.net/event/2003/siggraph/modo-shapeshift.aspx

Just thought I'd share these in case some of you didn't know about them. I've been watching out for Clay (not to be confused with MarbleClay) for some time. It's reputed to be an excellent and intuitive modeller, but all the beta team will say about it is that it's fun! It's being developed by one man and development seems to have slowed recently, AmbientWhisper (a beta tester) estimates 2 years before release,which is a damn shame, I was hoping it was close to completion. I've only just heard of Modo, I have very little info about it but it's rumoured to be a superb sub-d modeller in a similar vein to Mirai, Nendo and Wings with a touch of SoftImage thrown in!. From what I've read it's just a modeller and texturer, I'm not sure it will even render and definately no animation tools. The interface can be drasticly changed to mimic other modelers which is an interesting idea though I wonder if it makes the code unnecessarily complex and prone to bugs? Here's the links this one is Modo - Baz

Attached Link: http://www.rocket3d.com/

And this one is Clay, currently offline.

Cool links. I've heard about Clay too...been wanting to get my hands on it for awhile now so I can get an idea of the interface.

Might be worth volunteering to be a beta tester? I don't know if any more are needed and the developer is pretty fussy about who tests it but I would have thought someone of your experience would be a useful addition to the beta team :o)

Attached Link: http://www.nevercenter.com/

Silo, demo/pricing later this week I believe, Mac/Linux versions later this year?

Modo will be an evolution of LightWave's modeler (it is being developed by the original LightWave team).

Ah, thanks for the info CIM, I thought it looked related, so that stuff I wrote about being a sub-d modeller is probably rubbish :o) I was going by rumours (never a good idea) That bodes well for the quality of the app but not so well for the pricing point, I kinda suspected it would be pricey anyway. Still if it's just a modeller maybe it won't be too expensive, I hope! - Baz

Take a close look at Modo from Luxology. http://www.luxology.com/modo/201/ I am a Mac user on G5 dual 2.7 They recently showed off their new version, Modo 201 which will be released either in november or december 2005. I am new to 3D. I was learning Maya till i saw Modo. I was totally blown away by. I have downloaded a demo of Modo 103 ( the present version) and am learning it and enjoying the experience. They have free video tutorials on web site to help learn as well. Modo 201 introduces modeling, painting and texturing and rendering in one environment. No need to use another software to texture your creations! Modo makes using Maya and cinema 4D a pain in the backside.