I agree. It's not the tool but the artists ability to use the provided tools. Every 3d program does the same thing, manipulate polygons. trueSpace and the creators of poser have formed an alliance recently. So I assume that one day the two programs will work very well with each other. I use trueSpace and can say that it is more than capable of creating people. It has SDS which is a common tool to create heads and bodies. But in then end you'll have to download demos, try them out and pick out one that'll be cost effective for you. Lot's of options out there, including free ones. Vincent D. Brumback

Well so far there is really nothing special Wings does. I'm not trying to start a heated debate or anything. I have trueSpace and Lightwave so I was just wondering what all the excitment was about. Wings is a very powerful free program. Perhaps if I play with it some more I'll understand it better. I like some of its concepts like it selection colors of red, green and yellow that corrispond to warning, caution and all clear. But the problem is finding the time to use it. Modeling is a difficult enough without having to learn another program. Vincent D. Brumback

I need help here. I downloaded Wings after reading about it here and there. I don't get it. If you have a powerful modeling program like Lightwave why would you want to use Wings instead. It seems to be fast and efficient; OpenGL is very fast indeed. But beyond that I don't see beyond that it is a free modeller for free rendering programs. Or explain to me what Wings does better than other modelling programs. Thanks in advance. Vincent D. Brumback

Scott, Hi and how are you. I've just recently started lurking the modeling forum in hopes to pick up a tip or two. I'm a trueSpace user. Who laughed? Hey, I also have Lightwave. But I enjoy tS more. But that is not the point of this discussion is it. "If I create a simple ball prop. I should be able to render it so it looks like a real Ball without any textures applied to it. " There is no program that lets you hit a button to render a simple sphere photo-real. As been stated textures and lighting are key here. If you know your way around 3d and getting all these calls because of your talent then you should be fully aware of this. "I have tried every thing from Maya to 3dwings. And everything in between." I checked out your gallery and since May of 2000 you have posted one Bryce image and the rest are Poser. Don't bother checking my gallery for it would stink it up. I'm just pointing that out. I actually like the one with the pups alot. I'm not saying you haven't tried the other programs either. "Who said it's secret software? Not me. I said "Special". I was just asking what the studios use" In the begining you posted..... "Who is hiding the secret to creating a truly realistic rendering engine?" You don't seem to care for anyone's answer as to what the studios use. I believe if you research the company websites they'll have employment opportunities listed and what software is used. That should answer everything for you. "I know It exists. I've seen the results in lower budget work such as "Walking with Dinosaurs"." If they are on a budget I doubt they are using a expensive secret. Probably Lightwave or Max. Again, researching the company that did the animation will answer this as well. Now comes my uneducated and very novice thoughts. From my reading of 3d it is stated that in order of importance for any 3d image/animation is 1)Lighting 2)textures 3)modeling That vase image by agentsmith is proof to that. An amazing image. From what little I understand of Maya is that the Mental Ray render is programmable. If I'm wrong about this, please, someone inform me. If that is so then perhaps that is where the secret lies. A smart programmer. I doubt that anything I've written will convince you or anyone else for that matter. I wish I could understand your resistance. I hope your travels are succesful but do be more open minded. I do understand where you are coming from. On the Shrek DVD they state that they used only 10% off the shelf programs and the rest they programmed. Also, Messiah was a in house only animation tool for awhile. I'm sure that there are alot of in house tools to help ILM animatior/texture artist/etc. jobs easier than yours or mine. But with effort and a good 3d program, anything can be acomplished. And don't take offense to anything I've posted here. It is not to be that way. I hope I've been of some help. Vincent

trueSpace is a really great tool for modeling. It includes a very healthy dose of polgonal tool as well as Sub-division surface and NURBs. What makes trueSpace unique is its lack of menus. Some say the icons take awhile to learn. But what program doesn't. Another neat trick that trueSpace throws at you is its context sensitive toolbars. When you are editing the mesh of an object a toolbar is floating nearby with the appropriate editing tools. Same goes for NURBs modeling. Also, it is all done in one full screen window for maxium editing. There are also 3d tools for manipulating the object, i.e. rotation and scaling without the need to hit a keyboard shortcut or push a button. For modeling, trueSpace is a very good all around program. Vincent