Attached Link: http://www.dvgarage.com/

I don't want to start an interpackage incident but.... Has anybody used Electric image (Universe)? any opinions good or bad? I know some of you out there do pro video..? The thing is that the DVGarage is selling the 3D toolkit (which is basically a little brother of the Universe package with a lot of tutotarials for $100.00 bucks! The thing is that I have about 2 days to decide because the offer ends soon (tipical...) I love Carrara but when I try to do animations, I'm finding a lot of errors (The motion paths don't work proper, jittering textures that shouldn't jitter... etc. etc.) This package is for Broadcast and film (I don't think it renders very big for print, but that's no problem since Carrara does...) I know it used to be THE package for 3D animations in the Mac a couple of years ago. But now there is more competition. I think they could complement each other... I remember attending a MacWorld Expo some years back and there was this Hollywood studio that did blue screen work for StarTrek, FOX News with Electric Image (render) and Infini-D (modeling) it didn't have a modeler then... Pretty amazing stuff... What do you think? is it easy to learn? any pros, cons that you know? Any comment would be appreciated Thanks everybody

For over six years I have been a avid user of (EI) Electric Image from 2.5 to U4. I've found it is a great program for post-production animation. It's modeling program has a much higher learning curve than Carrara, but that can be expected from a higher-end program. It's low-cost is a plus, but it's third party plugin can cost you a bundle. My only complaint is it's "limited" modeling import/export capibilities. It's very limited on that front. Macintosh users can download a converter program from the website. As for the PC users, well your stuck with rebuilding all your models from scratch. Maybe version 5 has more import features. Hope this will help --Ashley3D

I went from Carrara 1.1 to the toolkit last year and have never regretted it. The phong renderer is very fast, which is real handy when rendering light and material tests. I still use Carrara for some file conversions and to increase polygon mesh resolutions (EI modeler uses nurbs not polygons). I upgraded to the full version of EIU because of raytracing and the plugins available. Be prepared to spend some cash on plugs because there are some great plugins available (check the EIU website for links). I just picked up the psunami plugin from the Northernlights December sale. Great water plugin.

The toolkit should get you up to speed pretty quick and is definitely worth buying. There is also a great book which was just released "Professional 3D with EIU" by Lance Evans.

Hope this gives you a little more insight.

Tim

Thanks . Sounds good to me. I'll probably still model in Amapi and Carrara for a while but I'm going to start to import and make test renders i into EI. I'll still wait for Carrara 3 before buying the Universe 5 package.. but I guess I'm going to the Dark Side too.. A while back somebody from Renderosity asked if we wanted to add a EI forum... I guess we can start one now....

Hi, thought I'd chime in here. I've used the 3dtoolkit for a while, but like Carrara much much more. The 3dtoolkit EI renders fast, but the workflow isn't to my liking (separate modeling and animation applications), and its texture mapping capabilities are weak. If you are into animation, the 3dtoolkit (essentially EI 2.9) doesn't offer that much more than Carrara - no IK, just deformations and FK - but the F-curve graph editor is nice. Although the renderer is fast, it doesn't have GI or caustics, or even area lights for that matter. I like the modeler, though, as its nurb rounding makes objects render more realistically. I think Carrara needs a better vertex modeler. On the Mac, use Transporter (classic app only), which you can download via the EI website for file conversion.