Having a ticketing system w/ some system of response should be basic tho. I unfortunately have had very similiar experiences. Lots of marketing at multiple addresses, but 6 days to just respond to request. v3 says XP, but it does have errors more frequently, not really crashes. v4 can really crawl on some renders, I hadn't experienced crashing tho. Could let go of processes better tho. Video card drivers and memory issues would be first on my list. Do you get a message? Have you done a thorough test of ram with memT86? Run an extended test. I have seen ram pass regular test fine, but not extended which takes much longer. Just minor deviations in timing or voltage can cause bad problems. I would really check video card and drivers first tho.You may already have check lots of stuff tho so forgive me if I am covering old ground.

Somehow I don't think the a word would be very funny. It also doesn't make sense. Sorry...just seemed in bad taste.

Apparently, there have been some compatibility issues w/ these devices and other devices. That would be the pits. However, looks like v9 uses an activation code. Since this is cheaper and easier to manage seems more prudent.

Well it would help if it was a pass thru, tying up a port for that is a waste. I am not so sure that the savings get passed onto customers, but that would be nice. Having to increase profits every year can have a down side. Shonner, I am sorry that has been your experience with techs. While it may be your experience, that is sad, it certainly has not been my experience. I don't fault people for earning a living, there is a fine line tho, at times, just like with education.

I do like that they are letting you update from any previous version. It does bother me alot that many companies now make you upgrade w/ each version or you can't upgrade at all. When you are the only game in town I guess you can, but that doesn't mean you should. They don't seem to really appreciate their customers. Altho if you are publicly traded company you have to be greedy by law.

In LW forum they said they are working on a downloadable cd. Just found out they require a usb lock...very annoying. I understand piracy is a problem, but I wish they would focus more on customers and product than on over the top security choices. Serious waste of a port. I don't like how many of these software companies try to make everyone seem a border criminal. The opensource community seems to largely feel that way too. I have seen cad programs w/ this. It appears 8.5 update is including a 64-bit port, but I am not sure about details.

LW really needs to get a downloadable demo. Not too thrilled to have to request a demo cd. I particularly don't like the color choices. I would like to see more customization in all these programs. Since artist are using them it should be obvious that these things would be important. I think being able to read or see what you need w/o craning on a good sized screen should be obvious. C4 layout isn't bad, just don't really need different rooms and they change the way things work depending on what modeler you are in, not sure why. The screen colors are not so great tho and font adjustment would be nice.

Someone over do it on the dance floor? :)

You definitely need something to supplement the primarily landscape tools you mentioned. You do have to spend time on any tool to really figure out what it can do. Poser also is specialized and as stated can work with it, however you really need a plugin for good support. C3 really needs landscape help so those programs should help. It contains modeling features that should fill in gaps with those programs. Since someone else bought it for you it is certainly worth your time to see what it can do.

Bit Late..don't know if you got this figured out, but if you click on the scene in the hierachy tree then you can edit the "realistic sky" under atmosphere and there are moon settings there. I suppose you can also place a primitive that has been altered as a shader over that area. Playing w/ transparency channel. You could also do some work post process. Really depends on what you are going for.

In the browser there should be a brown icon for adding a new folder. Then drill down to the folder w/ the textures. However, keeping a large amount of things in the tray will burn up more resources. If you turn off some of the ui functions under preferences this is supposed to help too w/ some memory. They don't add anything really to the program so...Have fun.

btw, rustboy is amazing. He must have the patience and commitment of a saint to produce the way he did. Either that or serious OCD :D I would be interested how much C4 was used (tho I know infini was the previous SW before it became carrara) wow.

Yeah, It is a fine line between productivity and over kill:D VUE 5 infinite I was eyeballing because I like Landscapes. I think the open source community is also waking people up. Where are good places to get the scoop on LW? What are their upgrades like cost-wise? C5 may be awesome, just seems like C4 is a bit overpriced. The plugin people handle their plugin upgrades well tho. Certain things need to be built in to a modern 3D program. There literally was not a single book written for c4 and only one for c3. LW8 maybe slow on rendering ...will check it out tho.(wow says free up to 9 included). I have entered a dimension far beyond 3 I can tell you that, w/ all to consider:D

I was confused about this also. 2 tickets to eovia and at least a week later still no clarification(acted like I was asking a complicated question) The daz models that come with it are they the freebies you can get at daz or the high res(pz or daz)...thanks. Couldn't tell me that either. I thought it worked well w/ 6 but dynamic hair has issues. Edit: I see it says 4&5, I thought someone said they were using it with 6 tho.

Message edited on: 09/06/2005 02:40

Thanks...believe me I am lurking and trying the demo. They include the amazing render w/ caustics etc.... I am concerned about the fact that they upgrade weird...you pretty much pay for 6 to 6.5, also flakiness.(I do remember this)It has tons in this deal, but I actually am turned off by so many plugins. They say 5 and up. I want to know what I have when I upgrade w/o all that headache. Also 7 is still not out.(no network stuff tho)I definitely am realizing that the render in c4p is very good tho(import/export too). This is what you get.(trueSpace6.6 plus aniPak, dePak, fxPak and rayPak - These Paks add easier control over skeletons, water surfaces that respond to animated objects, additional modeling tools for creating edge loops, new rendering options for the ultimate in realism such as caustics and global illumination, ways to simulate the movement of cloth, and much more!)The modeling and materials sound intrigueing... I was really hoping for more from Amapi.I would love to use my wacom tablet more in 3D work. For cheap program curvy 3d is pretty interesting.