Any 3D artists interested in trying a very powerful modeling application for free might want to look at Caligari trueSpace. Caligari was purchased by Microsoft, and is now giving away the latest version 7.6 of trueSpace for free. My first 3D application was trueSpace1.0, but I ended up with Carrara and Vue as my primary 3D applications. The free version is the complete commercial version with no limitations. The video tuts are also free.

TrueSpace has modeling capabilities beyond Carrara (and cerainly Vue), IMHO, and has a real time rendering engine that is close to photographic, and is FAST! With my GT8800, it is WAY beyond the Carrara and Vue OpenGL modes -- as I just discovered.

Do you have a URL for it?

http://www.caligari.com/

Attached Link: http://cart1.caligari.com/web/trueSpaceREg.aspx

  I downloaded it and have taken a look at it  but the GUI isn't very nice IMHO.

 PC only...  hate all the maintenance, hate dealing with virus protection, hate Adware...I just hate PC's!!!!  why don't people realize macs have less problems.. ( not that they don't have any... just a lot less)   hmmm go figure they got bought out by Microsoft...  

Yeah...I kinda feel the same way about Chrysler and Ford.   :rolleyes:

But then....as my brother always says...."if I had some ham I'd have some ham and eggs....if I had some eggs".

Tom if everybody went to Macs they would have just as many viruses. Windows is targeted because it is dominate. I have used many PC's for a long time and have no virus issues. You just need to setup a system properly. The HW is really no different. And Mac's have plenty of sw upgrades, incompatibilities, lack of docs, specs, support etc... On a "PC" you can have linux or whatever, don't have to have MS.There unfortunately is SW that people use that is windows only tho.

Quote - Tom if everybody went to Macs they would have just as many viruses. Windows is targeted because it is dominate. I have used many PC's for a long time and have no virus issues. You just need to setup a system properly. The HW is really no different. And Mac's have plenty of sw upgrades, incompatibilities, lack of docs, specs, support etc... On a "PC" you can have linux or whatever, don't have to have MS.There unfortunately is SW that people use that is windows only tho.

Oh in most cases you're right!!  not going to get into the big wintel/mac war .. just pisses me off when a larger company in any graphics field doesn't see the benefit of mac over PC  OK, less sales, but 80% fewer service calls...one of the highest costs to any software company!!  less sales but more profit per sale.... 

I work on both.. and yes macs have issues like any high tech item... but things happen much less and  are much easier to fix for the average user on a mac... I hear all the time about people who have no issues on PCs.... the catch here... 99% of them are techy people... not the average everyday person who wants to get work done WITH a computer, not have to work ON the computer.

OK cost.. well after you pay for all your Adware, Spyware, virus protection... bla bla bla.. your cost is over that of a mac in less than 2 yrs ( you keep paying for your virus... every yr)

OK then speed tests... take the basic mac against the same setup PC... if you use it normally ( not closed off to the world in it's own little hole in the wallwithout any internet) the Mac will smoke it... not because it really is any faster but because it doesn't have 100 extra things happening in the background....

believe me... I deal with both systems... fixing them for people everyday... i get almost no calls from people after they get a mac... once in awhile i get a "wow.. how can I do that?" but not many..." AHHHH my computer keeps crashing"

OK... I'm done venting... was just more pissed that another company thinks Macs are a waste... reason I got carrara in the first place...

I don't think truespace has ever been mac compatible, it's nothing to do with ms, so I'm not sure what the outrage is all about. I guess if you want to limit yourself to purely using a mac, then you just have to get used to missing out occasionally.

There's always bootcamp, but then that doesn't solve the issue of macos being number two, does it? ;)

Oh how silly!  I have a Mac Pro 8 core with Mac OS (obviously) and Win Vista Business 64-bit on a separate 250Gb HD.

Best hardware/OS for the $$$, and the best Vista platform!  I render Vue scenes on the Vista side, as Vue is about 40% faster than the Mac version (32-bit only), and uses my 10 Gb of RAM nicely. I do prefer the Mac's wonderfull OS, but I prefer the 40% reduction in render times even more.

Just run Bootcamp, and trueSpace will work fine on your Mac! ; )  To me, the Mac vs. PC debate is over, and such debates are a waste of Intel CPU clock cycles.

In regards to Spyware and Viruses. For Spyware, just run another browser other than IE. I use Opera, and I can go a month without scanning with SpyBot S&D (FREE). It will find nothing as long as I stick with Opera. If I uses IE for one afternoon it finds all kinds of crap. Either way, Spybot S&D is free and works wonderfully if you must use IE. As for virus protection. AVG Free works great. To be honest though I have never gotten a virus since getting on the internet in 96'. Most viruses are spread either through warez or file sharing programs. Go figure. I didnt start using a virus protection program until a few years ago, AVG. Sounds risky I know, but if people would use a little common sense when downloading and sharing files they would be virus free. A router/firewall combo is actually a better investment. Most people have no idea how often their computer is hit by outside attackers.

Quote - In regards to Spyware and Viruses. For Spyware, just run another browser other than IE. I use Opera, and I can go a month without scanning with SpyBot S&D (FREE). It will find nothing as long as I stick with Opera. If I uses IE for one afternoon it finds all kinds of crap. .

How strange...I use nothing but IE..since Navigator went under...and I also have had SD almost since it first came out...and I run it probably every couple of months, when I think to do it.  I haven't had spyware on my pc in so long I can't remember when the last time was...certainly it was before IE7 came out.....I also use AVG free...
I wonder what it is that I do with IE that you weren't doing?

Um, isn't this forum for Carrara? Why is this here AGAIN? They need to move on .....