Yep, you guessed it, another strata 3D dilemma!

They just keep coming don't they?

Allright, from all you gurus, what would you say is the best thing to use for point by point editing (man thats frustrating... can't seem to get them in line!). Bezier Surface, or polygon mesh? Mesh seems to work best at first, but you can't add points.

Any other general tips on point editing would be great too.

Thanks guys...

~A~

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"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-

Beizer.

The polygonal works ok, when you have a hard surface with minimal polys. However if you've got a smooth surface with tons of polys, use the Beizer.

Strata is NOT exactly the program I would be trying to do this in. I've heard great things about Wings 3D being a good mesh modeler, if you have OS X.2 you might want to try it out.

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"Two things are certian in this life. The universe, and human stupidity. ...Though i'm not so sure about the universe."

I use (url="http://"http://www.codenautics.com/meshwork/index.html")Meshworks(/url) for all my point modelling. Infact (url="http://"http://homepage.mac.com/ewanc/mc/update1.jpg")this entire ship(/url) was modelled in Meshworks and imported to Strata for rendering. Wings 3D isnt exactly point modelling, and I find it really hard to use.

Just a note, meshworks isnt entirely OS X compatible yet, it used to use Quickdraw 3D for its 3D previews but since QD 3D isnt in OS X, they still have to inplement the new preview system. That will be in the next update supposedly. Still, its a really good point modeller.

ewan

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(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/ewan/")Ewan's Lair(/url) | (url="http://"http://dreamwave.evula.net")Dreamwave(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.northernswamp.com")Northern Swamp(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.com")EVula's Lair(/url)
"In this world gone mad, we won't spank the monkey - the monkey will spank us!"

(This message has been edited by Jules (edited 05-04-2003).)

Quote

Originally posted by Skyfox:
**Beizer.
**

Nice to see advice from you... your work in strata was what inspired me to make the switch from mechanisto... 🙂

And yours too Jules.

I can't seem to get the hang of manipulating stuff in the bezier mode... it all goes... wierd.

Any tips or links? Or does practice make perfect?

Jules: Meshworks eh? Whats the pricetag? No wait, don't bother, I'll check the link.

Is it any good?

Thanks guys, this is great.

~A~

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"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-

Price is $20 or $30, I cant remember. You can use it unregistered as long as your model has less that 200 vertices I think. Its kind of a low number, but you can work around it by splitting the model up into various different parts. This is also useful for texturing in Strata.

It is a really good point modeller, I havent found ANYTHING better 🙂

ewan

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(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/ewan/")Ewan's Lair(/url) | (url="http://"http://dreamwave.evula.net")Dreamwave(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.northernswamp.com")Northern Swamp(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.com")EVula's Lair(/url)
"In this world gone mad, we won't spank the monkey - the monkey will spank us!"

Thanks Jules... I'm getting it now.

Skyfox: Another thing: What did you use (generally) to make your... Shark I think it was.

The whole trying to make things angular was the clincher in switching.

Thanks again.

~A~

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"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-

Hope Skyfox doesnt mind me answering that one for him, but in the topic he said about 90% of it was made from skinned objects. Skyfox uses Strata 3D 3.7 Plus though which has a lot more modelling features than what you will be using.

ewan

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(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/ewan/")Ewan's Lair(/url) | (url="http://"http://dreamwave.evula.net")Dreamwave(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.northernswamp.com")Northern Swamp(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.com")EVula's Lair(/url)
"In this world gone mad, we won't spank the monkey - the monkey will spank us!"

POV-Ray! It can't do point editing, but it is the most powerful modeler I have ever seen (with the possible exception of Lightwave). The learning curve is steep, but the help files are great (it's impossible to do anything without them)! Go (url="http://"http://www.povray.org")here(/url) to get it free!

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There are no true experts, only fools who believe they know everything. Believe me, I'm an expert on this.

I highly recommend (url="http://"http://www.wings3d.com/")Wings3D(/url). Reasons: It is free, easy to use, very powerful, and quite intuitive. I think it's based on Nendo. The idea is that you start with a primitive, like a cube or sphere. Then you can perform myriads of operations on vertices, edges, faces, or whole polyhedrons (like extruding, subdividing, cutting, etc.). Most operations can be done "by eye" or numerically. You can export the model to .3ds, import it into whatever renderer you like, texture it, and render. Works perfectly for me.

-Vaumnou

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Did you know that 63.8% of quoted statistics are made up on the spot?
"He's too late. SEE?!? THE CLIFFS OF INSANITY!!! Hurry up!"

I dont know, I found Wings incredibly hard to use. I just kept buggering things up constantly... Its probably just me though I have seen some amazing stuff created with it.

ewan

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(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/ewan/")Ewan's Lair(/url) | (url="http://"http://dreamwave.evula.net")Dreamwave(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.northernswamp.com")Northern Swamp(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.com")EVula's Lair(/url)
"In this world gone mad, we won't spank the monkey - the monkey will spank us!"

I really don't see how you can get the hang of MeshWorks. I downloaded it a while ago, and played with it on and off for a while, but never got anything too good with it. I'm probably just not used to looking at things in 3 panels. I remember another 3D program I used, Mirage, that was like that, but still it takes some getting used to.

I was just wondering, did you use any files to help you learn the program, or did you just sit there and toy with it?

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Eat blazing electric death!
(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/infernostudios/ept/")Unofficial EV and EVO Ports(/url): Betas 3 and 2

Quote

Originally posted by Jules:
**Hope Skyfox doesnt mind me answering that one for him, but in the topic he said about 90% of it was made from skinned objects. Skyfox uses Strata 3D 3.7 Plus though which has a lot more modelling features than what you will be using.

ewan

**

Really?

I know I can get my hands on Pro 3.8... Is it worth it?

~A~

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"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-

Why dont you download the demo and find out? Just go the the (url="http://"http://www.strata.com")Strata(/url) website and there is a link there to download it (you may need to go to the Pro page). Its a fully featured trial that watermarks the images. Good though 🙂

ewan

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(url="http://"http://www.evula.org/ewan/")Ewan's Lair(/url) | (url="http://"http://dreamwave.evula.net")Dreamwave(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.northernswamp.com")Northern Swamp(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.com")EVula's Lair(/url)
"In this world gone mad, we won't spank the monkey - the monkey will spank us!"

Sounds good. I also will probably have access to formZ, cause my brother needs it for architetcture...

I'll give that a shot too. Wow... not bad.

Thanks for all your help guys, I got a ship going in the normal strata, looking good. Thanks for the advice, happy modeling.

~A~

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"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-

Anyone who is having trouble with Wings should check out the tutorials that you can find just by searching google. I'm lousy at drawing and I have trouble with Strata and Max but this program makes my current concept actually possible.

Talent drives most of you, but for those of us who can't draw or have trouble with it, this is the berries!

(edit)
Here is an exammple of what I was able to do in one day. I've played with this program for less than a week, and I can do (url="http://"http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/ngc7293/Wings3dprog.htm")this(/url). Granted it (and the webpage) are not ver pretty, but the idea that it took me a a few hours to put it together makes me think this is a great program.(/edit)
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Ivanova: "I can only conclude that I am paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate."

(This message has been edited by Vast Deathmaster (edited 05-07-2003).)