I am currently downloading demos and trying out several 3D programs that can do organic and "soft shape" modeling. Has anyone else tried the Amapi software? I am limited a good bit by price , so LightWave and others are out of my reach. Would appreciate some feedback. Thanks. carolyn

Try some freeware softwares like these until you can afford Lightwave (very expensive unless you're a student). The 'soft shape' you refer is Nurbs modelling. Like digital clay , I use Rhino3D(.com) for this. I have used Amapi once but I didn't know anything then and I can't say how good it is , but Rhino is excellent. Goto 3D apps forum or stop by our Rhino forum for more info or to see what folks are making with these things. Have fun Carolyn! www.nurbana.cx www.blender.cl www.softy3d.com

Thanks Neil for the 3D modeler tour. I think I may end up with the TrueSpace or the Rhino. I think the Amapi would do fine to start me out as the rank beginner I am but would fall short later on and I'd want to upgrade to a more complex program anyway. Thanks again for the help. Carolyn

I have posted the same problem. I currently use bryce4 and poser. 2 months ago I purchased Ray Dream for basically nothing for modeling but it exists no more so support is harder to come by. I have narroed my choises to True Space4 or lightwave6. From what you have told me True Space is your best choice for the main reason that its easy to learn on and it has a very good render engine. I have been getting alot fo good feedback from True Space users, but since I am currently a student and I can get a good discount I will be getting Lightwave in the comming months. I have found educational version of lightwave for $780 online and True Space for about $300. Since I want to get into 3d animation and modeling I decided to get Lightwave because of it's great rendering engine and capabilities. Good luck on the search, Lilmikee

I don't do much in the way of modeling so can't offer a worthwhile opinion. However if you are considering TrueSpace and you're on a very tight budget, the publisher has TS ver 3 on sale for $99. I believe it's only going to last a few more days so if you're interested take a look at their site quickly. www.caligari.com As someone else suggested, Amapi 4.1 was given away free with the May 2000 issue of Digit magazine. It's not too old so perhaps you can still find a copy somewhere. Amapi's site has an update to 4.15 which apparently corrects some of the stability problems. Can't really say as I have the magazine but haven't tried Amapi yet.

Hi, Carolyn, From my experience with Amapi 3-4 and Truespace 2-4, I'd strongly recommend Truespace for organic work. Truespace v. 3 has a great renderer and offers both sculpting, NURBS, metaballs and a very strong set of vertex manipulation tools - not to mention quite a few great plugins for organic work. Amapi has a reasonable renderer and reasonably good vertex manip.s, only simulated NURBS, and no metaballs. And you won't get Amapi for $99. And no, I'm not working for Caligari :-) Have fun

I would recommend Amapi. I don't agree that it's an entry level modeling application. I've tried my share of modelers, and Amapi beats them all. You can model just about anything in it, and, if you need precision, it's capable of CAD like exactness. The render options are basic, with that I'll agree, but other than that, it's a great modeler. Also, technical support is excellent and friendly. It beats trueSpace by miles -I've used trueSpace since it was Caligari for the Amiga.-Nando