The battle field a pc, the referee..one PAN with cash to spend. Only one may win my cash...who shall it be? Let the battle begin... I need to know which is better? Who has Ray Dream, who has CD4Go? Who has both? Which is better? I will be using the winner with Poser 4 (and 5 when it ever comes out..) as well as bryce. PAN~

Don't know, but I just picked up Strata StudioPro 2.5.3 at ubid.com for $67 :)

um..thanks..haha..but if I hear ONE more strata shout out...oui! PAN~ :) Say..is that the latest version of strata?

How about Rhino3D?? Now I've thrown you way off, eh?? Back to the info books Pan.... You may have seen it mentioned before on this forum about it's symplicity and usability. Radart, (still waiting for the Squid and, oh yes, that wonderul "liquid" mess someone kept promising to share!!).

oh now I'm REALLY confused...da 'eck? RHINO...how much is that? I'm looking to spend no more than $400 PAN

Ack!! Can you raise the amount to around $900.00?? Better stick with Raydream then. (But wouldn't you be better to hold off till we find out more about this Carrerra thing??). Exactly what is it you intend to do with the software you want to purchase?? Make models, morphs, both?? Make more Pan-Ware clothes?? Make Pan-Ware cars and trucks and space ships?? What you get also depends on what games you want to play with them?? Dish out some more info and perhaps someone on the forum can suggest a $400.00 remedy that's right up your ally rather that spending on something you may find useless to your needs. Also, do some research on the internet. Go to the sites and see how much and what for and, heck, sometimes you can even try out trial versions at places like Zdnet and Tucows, etc...don't know if they have intense graphic try-outs though?? Hope this helps?? Gotta keep the Pan-Ware alive!!! Radart, (dreaming about that squidpie-ala-Codeman dish).

eww.I saw that squid...all I can say is NEEYAA! That all stems back to when I was a kid and I visited the Musuem of Natural History. I was wandering about aimlessly in the 'aquatic' section when I saw a dark corner under the GREAT BLUE WHALE display...I walked over to see what the shadow behind was...only...only..(oh dear gawd..) ONLY TO SEE SOMETHING STARING BACK AT ME!! IT WAS A GIANT SQUID EYE!!! I was looking into the SCARIEST LIFE SIZE MODEL DISPLAY OF A GIANT TROPICAL SQUID!!!! NEEEYAAA!... needless to say I've never been the same since...ackack..oopoopgribbit..gribbit.. PAN~

Hope it didn't "wink" at you?? Now that would be scary.

Strata Studio Pro 2.5.3 is the latest according to their website. There is another 10 lots up for bid at ubid.com. Current bid needed is $17. I am sure it will go up by the time the bidding is over on Thursday. The auction I was in closed on Sunday. I got the software on Tuesday! Check out their website. www.strata.com Losts of stuff, particles, collison detection, bones, etc. in the program. They list the software at $949! It looks great, don't know why its at auction. I am just glad it was. Can never have enough toys! :) PE www.planet-3d.com

He who dies with the most toys wins! (Seen on a car sticker just recently)

I've used both (the Macintosh versions of each). I find Cinema 4D to be easier to use. RDS is showing its age: its different modellers were designed as add-ons to the program and only later bundled in and made to look like a completed whole. I've always found it very cumbersome that the Free Form Modeller is a separate "mode" from the regular modeller, and the Mesh modeller feels like an entirely different program. Cinema 4D is much more consistent in its interface. The downside of Cinema4D is that it isn't from Metacreations: being from the same company means that RDS and Poser tend to interoperate reasonably well. An OBJ file exported from RDS has a good chance of opening up and looking like you expect in Poser. In cases where things don't work, it is generally a "well known" problem for which you can find tutorials explaining how thge fix. Cinema4D on the other hand sometimes does things differently. C4D will create polygons with normals pointing the "wrong" direction for Poser, resulting in models that appear inside out when working in Poser. You can search for Cinema 4D in the Forum to dig up some of my previous posts on the subject. I've always been able to correct the models, it just requires several "Cinema export -> load into Poser -> what on earth is that? -> back to Cinema 4D -> tweak, tweak, tweak -> Cinema export" cycles. Despite the occasional wierdness bringing things into Poser I find myself using Cinema4D for most modelling tasks now. If you use a Macintosh, recently there was a demo version of Cinema4D GO in a computer graphics magazine CD REPLACE. Maxon offers a special upgrade price of $50 to get the full version from the demo. At $50, Cinema definately rates a "buy" recommendation. I paid the full $199 a while back, and am still happy with it. You should search the Forum for Cinema Demo to check into it.

(Boy, the 2000 character limit is a nag). I'll also put in a plug for Nendo, from Nichimen (http://www.nichimen.com/) It is an odd little program, but you get the feel for how it works very quickly. It is great for creating objects from scratch, and it costs $99. I used it for a while, but I bought the SPARC/Solaris version which Nichimen seems to have abandoned at version 1.0 (no Windows here, just Macintoshes and SPARCstations).

Yes, I have heard about this Nendo, Hmm...guess I'll have to research a bit more..I do want to get something that will allow me to create models and so on from scratch..perhaps even animate them..but it must be easy to use... and must be industry standard...or close to it...but what is there that's not 3DStudio Max, Softimage, Lightwave? Is there another cheaper application that will work just as well as the big boys? Or is Cinema the only one out there? I have used their demos on various occassions and to be quite honest have found them to be a bit cryptic and hard to understand...perhaps because a manual was not included with the demo...I don't know. However, I've jumped into things like Poser and Bryce with NO manuals and created incredible images in minutes... When we are talking about Ray Dream being slow and cumbersome..are we talking about Ray Dream 5.5 or an earlier version? PAN~

I have Ray Dream 5.5 running on a blue & white 300mhz G3 Mac and don't find it to be slow at all (it was a drag on my previous 75mhz performa though). I can't say that I find it easy to use, but I'm new to 3d, so almost anything would be hard for me. If you're running on one of the superfast Pentiums and using a 3D card it should be about as fast as it is on the Mac, I would think...

FYI - I've been using RDS for about 2 years. Have played wiht 3DS MAX, Rhino, Nendeo and a few others. I always end up back at RDS. I have a PII 400 with 256mb RAM and a TNT 16mb AGP video card. RDS runs like a bat out of hell on that system. I like RDS personaly. Clint - Ray Dreamers Forum

Interesting thread. I too am on the hunt for a nifty 3d package. (For making Poser props/architecture/etc...) A friend gave me his old copy of RDS 5.0 and I found the interface rather clunky. I've only used it a few days, and it's pooted out on me 5 or 6 times already. I don't know what kind of makeover they gave it in v5.5, but if it was a token version change, I don't think I'd be interested. I suggest you try out as many different packages as you can before you settle. That's my 2 coppers worth. -Nik

Since I'm wary of the Carrara side-grade, I downloaded the Cinema4D XL demo to give it a shot. XL is available for about $500 to RDS users for the next week. I generally do modelling and no animation. After about a half-hour of testing so far I like some of what I've seen about the modeling and dislike some other things, especially in the interface. I've read the GO comments above and wonder what folk think of XL and its value. -Michael

I haven't tried all the programs mentioned above, but I like Rhino. I have RDS and like its procedural shaders, but its modeling paradigm is clunky and underpowered compared to Rhino. But Rhino is expensive (unless you're a student). You might want to look at Sculptor ProTools. It's only about $130. On the surface the interface looks like Rhino, but I don't know about the actual usage. Hey, Metacreations, if you're listening: don't kill RDS, just make its modeler better. There's a lot to like in that program, but the modeler isn't one of them. And, please keep it compatible with all my current plug-ins (I've got a fortune invested there).