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08/22/2007
Adventures in Software
A huge post this, but it's been a long adventure, and still not fully over.
Over the last year or so I've been putting together a spec for a new PC, which I now have, for the sole purpose of following my hobby in 3D artwork. If you think of the creation of this artwork as a process, then I'll explain the choices I've made and not made. Now I know there will be a lot of disagreement to my choices, but at least you'll see how I got there.
OK, so I bought the PC and straight away I bought a standalone programme called Groboto: Groboto
It costs $79 but I got $20 off just for downloading a voucher. If you have a 64bit system you'll need a couple of extra bits to get it to work:
First you'll need SP2: SP2
Then a small programme called Net 2.0: Net 2
Install those and it will work fine. It's a crazy little programme that makes geometric patterns with little "bots". There's some video tutorials that I followed and after that it's pretty straightforward. It really is a lovely programme for art, and the geometry can also be exported into other 3D programmes.
OK, now the main starting programme for me is Poser, currently on Version 7: Poser
It's a bit of software that creates and poses people, as well as robots, dinosaurs etc. It's great fun, but I've never really got on with the programme as a complete solution. When asked what it does, I usually come up with the very tacky answer of "it's a bit like dressing up dolls, but in 3D", I know a terrible explanation, and yet not wholly off the mark. The fact you can get some photo realistic images does'nt change that.
For rendering and compositing, until now I've used Bryce: Bryce
Bryce 5.5 is actually free at the moment for download. I'm on 6, but feeling the limitations a bit. Dont get me wrong, Bryce is a wonderful little package and responsible for me getting into this hobby in the first place back in the early 90's. Lately though I've wanted to take my renders to a new level (Brycers will argue that it can handle what I want) but I'm carrying on with my conviction. I've spent a lot of time researching and demo-ing, and just about finished my expedition for a replacement. So the question was now....which package to assemble and render in?
I'll just branch off here (no pun intended), to say I also downloaded the free Ivy generator programme from Thomas Luft: Ivy Generator
All you do is import an object and get ivy to grow on it. The export only saves the ivy, so you need to somehow put the object and ivy back together. I found that to place the Ivy and object together after the ivy creation was best done in the also free Daz studio, and then re-save the combined object: Daz Studio
Right, back on track... When I bought Poser, I managed to get it in a bundle deal with Vue 5: Vue
Now a lot of people do some wonderful images in Vue, but I have to say I found it a bit tricky. It has some fantastic features though, it can generate an eco-system of sorts of plants, cars, anything really. The demo shows a road being populated by cars in seconds, the same can be done with a mountain and trees! I've kept it on my system, but I was'nt comfortable with it being the final word...so I carried on looking.
I then got a lot of favourable comments about Carrara: Carrara
So, I downloaded the demo, it's very impressive, but when I looked at the Carrara gallery at Renderosity I was a bit skeptical: Renderosity
In my opinion it seemed only a few people seemed to be getting really good results from it. This makes me worry it's harder to learn than it looks. What is nice about it is that it has a Bryce type feel to it mixed with a bit of Vue. It's not that difficult to pick up, could probably stand being learned by experimentation, like Bryce, but... I kept looking. I then tried downloading the free Maya PLE: Maya
This now takes me into the realm of the "big boys", which could also be translated as "money, money, money" I followed the built in video tutorials and felt slightly more confident of attempting to learn one of the "higher end" packages. I'd tried Studio Max a few years ago, and did'nt get on with it, even with my "Book for Dummies", it was just so different from what I was used to at the time, so I never really considered this much loved application seriously.
Anyway, I ordered Carrara 5, mainly because I got it second hand for a song (I think most users are anticipating version 6), but felt uneasy almost immidiatley afterwards. I know, talk about being a wimp! Anyway, my wife, who is my greatest supporter, said if I'd spent so much money on my new system I should get the best software to produce it. So, at this moment in time, Carrara is yet to arrive, and I've not gone with Maya, but with Cinema 4D: Cinema 4D
All it took was a glimpse again at the Renderosity gallery for this product to make me think this was the one.
I chose this software also, because I got a little bit further with the demo than I expected, and also because there is some software that can bridge the gap from poser to C4D in much the same way as Vue can handle Poser files. Interposer: Interposer
It costs $150 (not bought it yet) and can create, pose and texture Poser models straight within Cinema 4D. Also, because I'd made a bit of money selling some models, I also bought Maxwell Render: Maxwell Render
I've heard a lot about it, and seen some nice renders with it, and I'm hoping it will be pretty easy to use. (Not arrived yet). I think it will just open up a scene from C4D and render it with it's powers.
Other than that, I'd also read a lot about ZBrush 3 after starting a subscription to 3D World: ZBrush
So I ordered that too. It sounds like a 3D sculpting tool, in much the same way that I sculpt for real with Super Sculpey, so if there's a chance to make my own 3D busts etc I'll give it a go. What a spending spree! It's pretty daunting too, as I have a lot of software to learn and a huge investment to make work.
Last but not least, I've just got Terragen: Terragen
It's a free programme that a $99 registration fee can fully unlock. I looked at both this landscape generator and the well respected GeoControl: GeoControl
But I got on a lot better with Terragen so picked that one. I liked it over geo due to the ability to place the camera anywhere within the scene and, hoping the unlock works, render photo quality images from the software. There's also a list of plug-ins on the site to take it into other programmes, again, including C4D.
And now the final part of the process, post production. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator: Photoshop
Available as part of the CS suite and again on order. This can make corrections to colour channels and curves, add effects and resize artwork. Illustrator can add some lovely vectorisation to your images. I use them at work every day on the Mac and they are indispensible. Adding backgrounds, effects, also, if there's something that you just CAN'T get right in a pose or render, then Photoshop can usually sort it out too with a little trickery.
So when it's all arrived I have the tall order of learning it all and making it work. Some I know allready, some I've never tried in my life (currently no available demo of ZBrush!) I hope to have something good to show for this huge investment (thankyou Standard Life shares!!!), if I can't keep an eye out in the free ads (joke).
Plans for the future? Well, I still have Interposer to buy, but when I'm finally in a state to start spending again I've also been looking at Wacoms range of Graphics tablets: Wacom
And maybe I'll intergrate my own brushstrokes into my work.
11:44 Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
08/21/2007
For Sale: Ma.K / SF3D / Maschinen Krieger Collection
I recently cleared out my modelling room to add an office to it and decided to wean my collection a bit. The kits to be sacrificed to space are the Maschinen Krieger/SF3D/Ma.K kits I've collected over the years. So here's the list:
All kits are 1/20 scale in original packaging.
Box Name: Kit Name: Price £:
SF3D Original Hornisse 30
Ma.K Fledermaus 30
Ma.K Krote 30
Ma.K Fireball SG 20
Maschinen Krieger Racoon 10
Maschinen Krieger Heinrich 10
Maschinen Krieger Kauz 10
OK, now the next list are kits that have all been started (not by myself I add) and thus will all need a little care and attention to bring them to a state your happy with. Because of this, I have marked them at exactly half the price I would sell if they were in good condition. The condition does not affect these kits being completed to a normal standard, but they will need some attention.
SF3D Original Jerry 15
SF3D Original SAFS 5
SF3D Original Konrad 5
SF3D Original Fireball 5
SF3D Original PKA 5
SF3D Figure Set 1 5
SF3D Figure Set 2 5
And to end with I have the Tamiya Pit Crew that some people like to customise to 1/20 figures/pilots etc. £5
Please feel free to make your wishes known as to which kit(s) you would like but I reserve the right to give first call to anyone who wants to buy the complete set for a reduced price of £150 (full price would be £185) so I will wait a while for such a buyer before committing to smaller sales.
These will be advertised elsewhere too.
Payments can be made by PayPal
Postage will be calculated on actual weight and destination. If you would like to upgrade postage to a carrier service that can be arranged.
Please feel free to PM me or e-mail directly to faraway.pictures@virgin.net
Pictures of kits can be viewed at this website: http://www.maschinenkrueger.com/mdls.html
Update: Well that was quick....ALL SOLD!
10:30 Posted in Scale Models | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
08/17/2007
Groboto
I've just bought a crazy little programme called Groboto
It makes some incredibly complex 3D shapes and patterns, and is also quite fun to learn.
I also managed to get $20 off buy just asking for a coupon at the site!
Anyway, if you have a 64bit OS like I have you'll need a couple of extra bits to make it work.
First go over to Microsoft and download the SP2.
You will then need Net 2.0
Install those and it will work no problem!
11:41 Posted in 3D | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Razzle Dazzle
Just to let you know, there's a lot happening at DAZ at the moment.
Not only can you now get Bryce 5.5 FREE! but they've just unleashed there newest version of Daz Studio, again, free.
If that's not all you can get some figure packs free too including V3 A3 M3 and even the Mil Dragon.
Definatley woth a look.
11:34 Posted in 3D | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
08/03/2007
My New System
Well, it's been a long time coming, but I finally have my new PC.
I took a long time speccing it out, with so many questions asked at http://www.renderosity.com/index.php over the last months from Graphics Cards, Operating System, Monitor Size, Poser Utilities, Runtime Organisation to just about every item that goes in a PC. (I make my living on Macs, so PC's are pretty unknown to me).
Also, a big thankyou to The Fixer, my fellow Welshy there, who gave my spec a good going over offering advice and giving me plenty of ammunition for my visit to the shop (I spoke the words he gave me and they understood!).
So, the plan I had was to use the online shop: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/index.php who seemed to be offering a very good service at a good price. I changed this plan after a while and decided to give my local PC shop www.kscomputerstore.co.uk/ a crack at matching the spec I'd printed off. They not only matched it but bettered it. I also felt a lot better about having someone nearby responsible, which was a good move in the end as one of the technicians came round and helped install it for me!
So, what did I get:
Monitor: Acer 24" Widescreen £346.57
Case: Alpine Silver £53.65
Power Supply: Tagan 800w £140.00
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R £99.00
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3Ghz £173.00
Memory: Corsair 6400 4 x 1GB £158.00
Disk Drives: Liteon DVD-RW x 2 £54.00
Hard Drives: 500GB Seagate x 2 £160.00
Graphics Card: 8800GTS Nvidia £184.00
USB Adaptor: PCi 5 Port £9.31
Network: ASUS Wireless Adaptor £23.20
Software: Windows XP Pro 64 £89.00
Software: Nero 7 £Free
Labour: £Free
Keyboard: Logitech £6.84
Mouse: USB Optical £Free
Speakers: 2.1 Ozaki £Free
Total: £1496.57
As said before, I'm pretty new to PC's so I'm still setting things up. I have Poser installed and had a quick play last night. I quickly added 4 figures, moved them around very quickly and rendered. Took about 30secs for a 1020x768 Firefly render. I wont be using Poser for rendering though, so it was just a play.
I've just downloaded SP2 and NetFX to get Groboto to work on the system.
Other than that, I have plans to get the Adobe CS suite and also Cinema 4D and use the plug in to work Poser files there and render them....but that's all a couple of pay packets away.
10:44 Posted in 3D | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
08/02/2007
Happy Birthday
Just a quick note.
I visit and post on Scale Model World's website every now and then, they have a very diverse range of interests there, from female figures to scratchbuilt tanks, something for everyone.
It's still pretty new, in fact, it's 1 year old!
Scale Model World.Net
14:57 Posted in Scale Models | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this