At 03:22 AM 5/13/2006 +0100, you wrote:
Hi Jean, Tim and all,
Just to say - keep this topic going - even expand it. I think lots of
listers may find the views of those participating to be really
interesting, I know I do. I enjoyed the little joust with Carlo recently.
I look forward to reading these posts from you guys. It might be
controversial, but at least its lively and healthy.
Agreed! Thanks everyone for sharing some interesting viewpoints.
My 2 cts:
I'm often involved in importing architectural scenes made with Autocad. The
latest version ditched 3ds export... hm, RS can't import 3ds from Acad
anyway. So I have to resort to 3dsmax to import dwg and from there export
3ds. What I get in RS is often only useful as a 2d overlay, it would take
too much time to fix the mess... the cad people are often sloppy and don't
realize their output could be part of a production pipeline. They never
heard of IGES or .obj...
Also: one 3ds isn't the other, dxf isn't dxf... You really can't trust a
spec sheet, you have to test things and base your workflow on practical
experience. With many import/exports in the workflow, the risk that
something isn't compatible grows. And it often ends up too big or too
small, or tilted, so you have to fix those things manually each time...
Like many people here, I'm now stuck with RS because I don't want to learn
another fullblown 3d app. I grew into it since V1.4 on the Amiga.. loved it
ever since.
About rendering: I don't want to use another renderer because of VSL. I
spent a lot of time playing with VSL and don't want to throw that away.
Besides that, render quality can be phenomenal!
For production, Realsoft's GI is problematic because 1) it's slow 2) it's
too resource hungry, especially for print resolution pics and animations 3)
AA and blur problems 4) glass and reflection problems. That doesn't mean
you can't produce great pictures with it - I just think it's not wise to
use it if you have tight deadlines.
It wouldn't hurt RS to add a few more import/export options. There's no
question it's too isolated now. I really need dwg import for production
work... and please, I want to export complete models including textures,
uvw and animation!
-Mark H
