Attached Link: http://home.att.net/~JVNautilus/Hunley/reconstruction.html

Grayhuze: Let me second your request. I've been modeling in RayDream for years and I'm very comfortable there. Each time I've started a new model in Carrara or transported a RayDream model over, bad things have happened. And I find the Cararra interface muddy in appearance, and slow. Since RayDream is a real orphan I'm afraid there's little hope.

Very nice looking. How about a quibble? The length of the ladder would change the quote form "a small step for a man" to "one hell of a step for a man".

Just one more thing. RDS Free Form objects sometimes don't come through boolean operations very well. I get around this either of two ways: o Jump into the Mesh Form modeler, cranking the face properties slider all the way up (800% I think) and perform the boolean on the converted object. o Export the object as a DXF and reimport it, again performing the boolean on the new object. -Michael

I've tried similar things in the past with varying success. Make sure "light through transparency" is enabled and "soft shadows" needs to be selected.

I sent some sample HTML code to you via the message system. I once posted code like this and the BBS system choked. I don't know what would happen here, but this is safer I think. Please note there are many options that can be used that I have not explained and that the camera settings have no relationship with the real world. I have a PDF from MetaStream I can e-mail you if you give me an address. Michael

MetaStream 3 requires a broadcast ID to be viewed. It's a way to get commercial content suppliers to pay. Carrara and RayDream, and the other legacy programs currently export MetaStream 2 or 1.x. As far as I know these will display without an ID. I currently display many MTS files on my website. Michael http://home.att.net/~karen.crisafulli

Just a note about not knowing the sender: the virus propagates by sending to all contacts in the address book, so there is a good chance you will know the sender.

Hence forth I'll be careful with those powerful angle brackets. -Michael

3D Explorer, a fine program for viewing, converting and keeping track of 3D (and 2D) files is shareware available at http://www.xdsoft.com/explorer. 3D Win is another shareware program available at http://www.stmuc.com/thbaier/. Crossroads is a third program, freeware, at http://www.europa.com/~keithr/crossroads/. -Michael

You need an html page with tag code. The tag parameters control the Metastream window and how the model looks and acts. You will find examples and explanations at the Metastream pages on the Metacreations site. Just follow the Metastream and "developers" links. I use Metastream on my own pages quite a bit. Michael http://home.att.net/~karen.crisafulli/some-designs.html

I tried a different spline, but similar spline, and that loaded ok. As I said, the original loads in RayDream, but it must be different in some way. They are both simple curved lines. Anyway, I feel better now.

Just an overview from my quick first looks (Windows)- Some Carrara pluses: o The hierarchy window is much easier to read than RD o Magnification is much more versatile than RD's binary 2,4,8,etc. o Easy view changes for top/left/front, etc. Some Carrara minuses: o Some of the screen is uselessly tied up with pretty gizmos o The font interface is ridiculously slow if you many fonts installed -Michael

Clint: I seem to remember this described as a "feature" of Carrara in a Q&A session, with some remark that you can do everything in Carrara and if you can't, well, there's ALT-Tab. It was one of my initial negatives about the program. -Michael

You can do both. MetaCreations is migrating RayDream and Infini-D to Carrara. 5.5 is the last RayDream. If you upgrade to 5.5 and register you can apply that upgrade cost to Carrara. Carrara will have the MetaCreations GUI like Poser and Bryce and presumably will grow. Check the MetaCreations site for more details. Personally I like the RayDream interface and I'm a little leery of the coming one. I expect I'll keep using 5.5 but also go to Carrara and use it alongside. Michael http://home.att.net/~karen.crisafulli