My name is Tempest, and I just recently procured a copy of Ray Dream Studio. Tips, tricks, adivce, suggestions, anything at all is wellcome. Thanks in advance Tempest

Hi Tempest, Welcome to the forum. RDS is nice...I liked it until I sold it :( Now I wish I had it back. ;) Lets see.... On the right side bar go to Fun Stuff then Carrara/RDS. You should find a few models and shader packs out there. www3dcafe.com is a great place for free models. They also have a tutorial section with a bunch of RDS tutorials out there. There are 2 or 3 really nice books on the market also. If you want the book specifics let me know and I'll get you the Author, ISBN # and Title. If you run into any problems or have questions...please post away. Have a great evening and welcome! Clint

Welcome Tempest. What version of RDS did you get? Have you been modeling in another package or are you new to it all? Ether way you have come to the right place. I have found many answers here merely by ghosting the site. Found even more when I asked. As far as answering you question I will give it a shot. Tips: Save, then save, and then save again. Tricks: I can rub my tummy and pat my heat at the same time. Advice: Jump in with both feet. Don't be afraid of what people think, good or bad. Live. Looking forward to seeing your work. And again welcome -Grimpup

Good questions advice and tricks. In truth, my weapon of choice is Bryce, though im not all that good. I also have dabled in Rhino 3d (im terrible with that) and done a little with Vue de Esprit. I got version 5, and it like walking through dark corridors while blindfolded. Thanks for the kind wellcome Tempest

I know what you mean. I came from and AutoCAD and Pro/Engineer background when I first started with RDS. There are lots of people here with flashlight to show you the way but you will have to take care of the blindfold yourself. I have Bryce also and enjoy it but I like to model and Carrara better suited for that. You may want to hit the Bryce forum here if you havent already. -Grimpup

Wow! Great extended metaphor! Blindfold, flashlights, all that! Tempest - welcome! This is absolutely the place for help and support. I've just moved into RDS 5.5 myself, and even though many of the people in this forum are in Carrara, now, most of the techniques still apply. I guess the basic code in both programs is the same. Best advice from me is to do the tutorial in the manual; it's a great way to get a feel for all the tools. Then, try something on your own. (You might want to avoid trying to move models back and forth between Bryce and RDS, for a while, though, just to get the hang of RDS on its own.) Post it here, ask questions, be open to critique and suggestions, rework it, repost it, lather, rinse, repeat! I've learned so much here, it's amazing. Look forward to seeing your work and getting your input, too!

Welcome to the group. There are a lot of ways to learn, but the best way is jump and try things. Then if it you can't figure it out post a message. Somebody here will have an answer for you. You won't find a more helpful or friendlier group of people anywhere. Keith