Hello All, I've noticed that several Carrara adepts mention finding Amapi 3D difficult or impossible to understand, learn, and use. I'm considering producing a demo/proof-of-concept Amapi training CD-ROM, modeled after the lynda.com series, both to enhance my own portfolio as a technology trainer and to pitch to Lynda and others. If there were sufficient interest and money behind it, this demo could eventually turned into an actual full-fledged training product. So, if you're feeling Amapi frustrated and this project sounds interesting to you, I would like to hear from you! Specifically, I'd like you to describe (1) what aspects of the product you find most frustrating (2) which topics would you most like to see covered, ranked in order of priority (the demo will only cover one or a few topics, not the entire product) (3) the contexts (personal/professional environments) you would like to use Amapi in, and the types of projects you would like to use Amapi for. In particular, are you interested in using Amapi as a stand-alone product, or simply as an adjunct modeler for Carrara and other 3D apps? Also, did you attempt the Amapi beginning tutorials (suitcase, vase, cherry, etc.) and how helpful did you find them? I would really like to know if there is a common roadblock that people are running into which prevents them from going any further with the product, and, of course, how significant the demand might be for Amapi training materials. Best regards, Daniel

I am interested! Thanks for offering. cheers, dr geep ;=]

I think it's largely the interface, at least in my case. For example, I have no difficulty sorting out RDS, Carrara, 3DS Max, Lightwave (well... a little Lightwave) and the like, which despite their myriad differences have the same basic setup and way of doing things, but when it comes to something like TrueSpace or Amapi, which also share properties, I generally either end up blithering to myself or attempting to fling expensive pieces of hardware within half an hour of even the simplest task. They just require a completely different approach, one that I at least am not too good at sorting out.

Ugh! I remeber trying out Amapi 4 which came free from a MacAddict CD and I must say, it makes Infini-D look very user-friendly. Instead of using one tool to simply select, resize, group, and move objects they have four or five different damn tools to perform this task. I tried using the online manual to learn the ropes, but it was no help. Maybe I'm just too used to Ray Dream.