Rendering Programs

AgentZero · #1 November 19th, 2004, 03:48 PM

Arg! Had a big long lovely post written up, then my computer crashed and I don't have time to rewrite it in it's entirety. Essence of it was I'm looking for a new rendering program because the on I use (Bryce) doesn't export to anything that can be converted to .X so is no good for Starfury/SE5.
I prefer something similar to Bryce, which uses the 'Lego' approach, ie: taking basic geometric shapes and sticking them together to make whatever you want. Tried Doga but want more freedom. Oh, & there was a shameless plug for my new shipset so see above.

Atrocities · #2 November 19th, 2004, 03:54 PM

Maya, 3d studio Max. Both have a steep learning curve, and both cost a lot of $$$$$$$$$ and then some more $$$$$$$$ with additional $$$$$$$ and you had bette figure for even more $$$$$$$$.

Aiken · #3 November 19th, 2004, 05:01 PM

Blender (blender.org) with DirectX Exporter (http://projects.blender.org/projects/directxexporter/)
It's GPLed, btw

Ed Kolis · #4 November 19th, 2004, 07:30 PM

Art of Illusion doesn't export to .X, but it exports to .obj which can fairly easily be converted to .X, it has a procedural texture designer second to none, and it has a great built-in renderer, almost as good as Povray!

Wings 3D also doesn't export to .X, but it exports to .obj as well (also .3ds and a number of other formats) and has an insane number of commands for working with polygon meshes.

Right now I like to make objects in Wings, then export them to .obj and load them into AoI to put on textures and do the final render. Here's an example:

BTW, I think what you're looking for is a MODELLING program - a renderer is what produces the picture on the screen

David E. Gervais · #5 November 19th, 2004, 08:40 PM

Here's a different source for 3D Modeling that you might not be aware of. And at $69us, it's not a bad deal..

http://3dcanvas.thegamecreators.com/

Cheers!

P.S. I might be getting this for xmas, along with DarkBAsic Professional. It's been too long since I dove into programming and I want to get my feet wet. DarkBasic Professional looks like a good (and easy) programming alternative to 'C '

AgentZero · #6 November 19th, 2004, 08:47 PM

Right. I should have mentioned, money is an issue. That's the main reason I haven't strayed from Bryce already. Already paid for it, don't really want to fork out for another one. And the fact that Bryce is brilliant (just have a look at http://www.daz3d.com/galleries/index.php?cat=327 to see what I mean), it's just the exporting thing is a bit of a problem. And since work and so forth keeps me from really spending a lot of time learning a new program, I'd prefer something quite similar to the one I have now. Problem is, most programs seem to involve taking a cube or something and bending, stretching and twisting it into the shape you want, and I just have a lot harder time wrapping my head around that than I do snapping a bunch of pieces together to create something. Guess I'll just have to learn, if I want to keep up with the times...

David E. Gervais · #7 November 19th, 2004, 09:13 PM

I agree Bryce is a great program, I have purchased the Corel Version just prior to the franchise being sold to Daz. and when Daz got it and offered it for a low intro price of $59 I bought their Version too. THe funny thing is that the Daz Version still says 'Corel' when loading. LOL I guess they were too anxious to start selling their new baby and forgot to do some simple search and replace renaming.

Anyway, Like I said I'm planning on getting DarkBasic Professional for xmas. I took a look at their 3DCanvas program and it seems to have alot of functions similar to bryce,.. boleen oppersations, cloning (ctrl+D in bryce) and the biggest selling point is the list of import/export file formats. All in all very impressive. It looks like a better product than TrueSpace and that one sells for $399 or more depending on the time of the year. I'm a cash-strapped pauper myself (and a bit of a miser.) so I fully understand any hesitation on making purchases. But, I also find it hard to resist when I find a product that looks as good as the 3DCanvas and at a reasonable (compared to the compitition) price.

Right now I use Anim8or a freeware 3D modeling program to make any widgets or doodads. but it too falls a bit short in the file export options. Although it does export .3ds and .obj and most programs will import those.

Anyway, I'm not a salesperson, and only intended to share some info I found and thought might be of interest.

Cheers!

narf poit chez BOOM · #8 November 19th, 2004, 10:36 PM

DBP's rotation works weird IMO. And the collision sucks. There's expansion packs that fix that.

AgentZero · #9 November 20th, 2004, 09:37 AM

3DCanvas does look quite interesting. Got myself the trial Version, so maybe I'll find time to tinker around with it. The ability to export directly to .X (once I pay for it) would be rather handy. gameSpace looks pretty sweet as well, but that pricetag is a bit hefty.
David, I've been looking at DarkBasic and I'm just curious about one thing. Is DB geared towards a specific type of game, as all the screenshots seem to suggest action/FPS games or can it handle pretty much anything?

David E. Gervais · #10 November 20th, 2004, 12:31 PM

I don't think DBPro is geared specifically towards a single type of game, I plan on doing 2D puzzle type games, so aside from possibly making a nifty 3D splash intro or some such thing I'll be sticking to the basic 2D stuff. I looked at a list of their 2D and 3D commands and they seem to cover all the bases.

Way back when I remember trying a special Version of DarkBAsic that was downloadable for people interested in entering a Alienware PC demo contest. In 4 lines of code I made a spinning se5 CD Rom with label and shiny side surface. the only drawback with the demo Version is that it only functionned for the time the contest was running and when you compiled the game/demo the exe was a whopping 5meg in size. (yes even my 4 lines of code ended up as a 5 meg exe.) I hear that the full Version will only link the 'used' functions and therefore make for much smaller exe.

Anyway, the 3DCanvas/DBPro combo seems like a good deal. But getting it will depend on whet kind of budget I have after buying all the gifts for xmas. chances are I'll have to wait til 2005 to get it. Unless I borrow some money which I don't like doing.

Anyway, let me know how you find the demo of 3DCanvas. I'd be interested in your opinion.

Cheers!