You know, the Truespace GUI really hasn't changed that much from versions 1 though 5. Maybe a little explanation on the history of Truespace would help. Truespaces ancestor, called "Caligari" was first released in 1988 for the Commodore Amiga. A lot of the look and function of Truespace is due to the fact that it was an Amiga program, not a Windows program. In 1993, the name of the company (previously "Octree Corporation) was changed to "Caligari". In 1994, the program was renamed, "Truespace" and released for Windows 3.1. (Thats when I first bought it, so Ive been using it on Windows as long as anybody) In 1995, Truespace 2 was released. While it contained a few feature upgrades, it was released primarily with a bunch of rewritten code to deal with Windows 95. The real upgrade came in 1997, with the release of Truespace 3 which added VRML support, inverse kinematics, physics, metaballs, 3D paint and collision detection. In 1998, Truespace 4 was released, now featuring the Lightworks rendering engine with volumetrics and radiosity in addition to a few new 3D tools. Truespace 5, released this year, is the first real step away from the original Amiga GUI, adding "4 window" support ( like Vue has), nurbs modeling, a redesigned material editor, expanded import/export filters and increased render speed. Truespace has always had that "Amiga look" to it, and out of the box isnt set up to function like your typical Windows program. Its VERY icon driven requiring the user to remember what icon does what. Once customized and mastered, however, it becomes both elegant and extremely addictive. Other more standard interfaces such a Max and especially Lightwave begin to seem clunky and cumbersome. For years I bounced between Truespace and Raydream (cursing the fact that I couldnt transfer files between them) before I finally settled on Truespace. (when it got to version 4) The older versions of Truespace had this god-awful SLOOOOW rendering engine that was completely outclassed by Raydreams, but it was soooo much easier to model in Truespace. I wouldnt recommend any version of Truespace below version 4 for anything other than modeling and exporting to another program, however, if modeling is your goal, then Truespace 3 is where the features started piling up. Since you can get it from Caligari for $99, I consider it a good value. -SMT

I'd rather stay in my lane than lay in my stain!