rticle generators, for dust and smoke) are now standard, along with OpenGL drivers, for real-time viewing of smoothly rendered, lit, and textured surfaces.
Still, 3-D animation programs are complex application suites for modeling, texturing, animating, and rendering, each a deep discipline unto itself. Add new animation plug-ins such as third-party render shaders and dynamic-behavior tools, and usability can wind up like the Tower of Babel. In fact, every 3-D application takes a different approach to unifying its elements, with the result that no program's interface resembles another's.
To see where 3-D is at, we reviewed Newtek's LightWave, Kinetix's 3D Studio Max, and Softimage.
LightWave 5.5
LightWave
began life on the Amiga, but it now comes for Alpha, Intel, Mac, Silicon Graphics, and Sun platforms. LightWave is
popular in TV production, used in shows such as
Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,
and
Hercules
.
The program's impressive feature set includes modeling, animation, and efficient ray-traced rendering. You can network render on up to 999 machines without expensive multiple CPU licenses.
Version 5.5 replaces the original clunky Amiga-like interface with a clean, new look. You can easily access all the elements of the program, and the menu layout is legible and good. Subtle color coding of screen elements is a big help.
Unlike the other programs, with LightWave, you must switch between the two components, Modeler and Layout. In Modeler, you create, manipulate, and combine objects. Some tools, such as MetaNURBS (nonuniform rational B-splines), aren't as powerful as those found elsewhere, but its overall capabilities are good. When you complete a model, you put it into Layout for scene composition, texturing, lighting, animation, special effects, and rendering.
Modeler win
dows all zoom together, and you can't resize the many floating panels. Layout has Top, Bottom, Side, Perspective, and Camera views, but you can use only one at a time. You can't move a camera in Top view and see the result in Camera view.
Ray-tracing antialiased images is typically time- and processor-intensive, but LightWave has one of the best-performing ray-trace renderers on the market. Plug-ins make it possible to render 3-D scenes to look like cartoon cel animations and to show lens flares, fog, and particle blur at resolutions of up to 8000 by 8000 pixels.
Overall, LightWave 5.5 represents an
outstanding
price/performance value.
3D Studio Max 1.2 and 2.0
Released in 1996, Kinetix's
3D Studio Max
was the first 3-D product written from the ground up for NT. It takes full advantage of NT's multithreading and features a unique architecture. Essentially, Max is a skeleton fleshed with plug-in components for modeling, materials, particle
systems, and rendering. The Max plug-in Software Development Kit (SDK) is free with the program, letting others extend its capabilities.
For example, Biped and Physique are powerful Max plug-ins for animating and skinning two-legged creatures. Animatek's WorldBuilder lets you build whole worlds with plants, bodies of water, and seasons, and composite them with Max files. Second Nature's Hypermatter gives objects and characters animatable properties such as rubberiness (they bounce) or weightlessness (they blow away), all without time-consuming key-frame animation. But plug-ins are expensive. Adding those mentioned costs more than buying Max.
Another innovative approach to modeling is the Object Stack, a listing system whereby every change you make to an object is accessible for further modification. The stack is collapsible, and you can animate virtually all the modifiers.
Max has achieved a dominant position in the NT 3-D scene. However, despite standard multimedia features (e.g., audio- an
d video-post tools), it lacks some features to compete successfully at the higher end, particularly in movie production. To address these deficiencies, Kinetix added 1000 new features to version 2.0, which we tested in beta.
Max 2.0's extended capabilities include relational NURBS modeling, selective ray-tracing, expanded lighting controls, and comprehensive 2-D and 3-D snap controls. Of particular note is the retooled Materials and Asset Management Navigation component, which now features thumbnails at every level of deep multilayered texture elements. This often-overlooked essential is the best we've seen to date.
Max 2.0 now includes dynamics and robust particle generation. A new scripting tool lets users create customized scripts and then generates an integrated working Max interface. This automates many tasks that previously took multiple steps.
With its free distributed rendering for up to 10,000 machines, Max 2.0
redefines
professional 3-D price/performance.
Softimage 3.7
Softimage has long been Hollywood's premier 3-D character-animation program, used for everything from the elephants in
Jumanji
to the T-rex in
Jurassic Park
. The program consists of modules: Model, Motion, Actor, Matter, and Tools. It's updated quarterly.
The program comes as Softimage 3D or Softimage Extreme. Extreme adds a Particle System component and the Mental Ray distributed renderer. Additional Mental Ray licenses cost $2495 per processor.
Softimage 3.7
for NT is essentially a shell written around the original Unix version. It's virtually identical to its Silicon Graphics counterpart in look, feel, performance, and Unix file management. This program is remarkably Windows-unfriendly.
Unlike its competition, Softimage supports only a few graphics modes (1024 by 768, 1280 by 1024, and 1600 by 1200 pixels) on one monitor. You have to convert standard image files (e.g., TIFF and TGA) to Softimage's own PIC format, although you ca
n export Softimage files to major film and video formats, plus Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) 2.0 and Nintendo 64. The program lacks audio features, and only the Mental Ray module is multithreaded.
We had difficulty installing both Softimage and its Flex/LM license manager, and they needed ongoing attention and handling. This was the only product for which we needed the company's technical help.
Many options are buried deep in menu layers, and the organization of features often seems random. Still, the program is surprisingly intuitive and fluid to work with, albeit with a steep learning curve.
Softimage's powerful modeling tools, though not as capable as those in Silicon Graphics' Alias, were the best of this group, featuring NURBS, patches, polygons, and metaballs. The ability to create bone hierarchies and skin them with envelopes or meshes is powerful and intuitive.
Likewise, the animation tools in Actor and Motion are best of class: powerful, precise, and easy to use. Y
ou can link sophisticated motion-capture controls to an external MIDI box to control complex body movements and facial expressions. The included particle package is robust.
The Matter module comes with an interactive 3-D paint program. However, its capabilities aren't up to 4D Vision's 4DPaint (which plugs into Max and Softimage), nor does it have the natural media brushes found in MetaCreations' Detailer.
The native ray-tracer in Softimage 3D is very fast and exceptionally efficient at antialiasing. Softimage Extreme's Mental Ray is a distributed, extensible, programmable ray-tracer that can provide looks and effects such as fur, volumetric lights, water, lens flares, and atmospheres.
For most BYTE readers, 3D Studio Max 1.2 wins on price, setup, and learning curve. However, Max 1.2 is
outclassed
by Softimage in modeling, dynamics, and rendering. Like comparing a Range Rover to an 18-wheeler, each has a best use, depending on specific need. If you're out to produce mov
ie-quality animation, Softimage justifies the effort and cost.
More 3-D in the NT Pipeline
As these three products show, the 3-D field is extremely competitive. In addition to 3D Studio Max 2.0, LightWave 6.0 is on its way, and the next version of Softimage, code-named Sumatra, promises to be NT-friendly and have a new rendering scheme.
Other Silicon Graphics and Mac 3-D products such as Houdini, Strata 3-D, and Electric Image are in beta testing for NT. Also, low-priced products such as Macromedia's Extreme 3D, Caligari's trueSpace 3, and MetaCreations' Ray Dream 3D add powerful tools with every release. Even Alias's renderer works under NT, as will its next incarnation, code-named Maya.
Two trends are opening up the world of 3-D to new users. First, workstation-class graphics systems and software will continue to become faster, cheaper, and more powerful. Second, there will be lots of jobs for 3-D animators, as small production companies become competitive with larger houses. Als
o, many more design-related businesses can now do their own production in-house. Professional-level 3-D animation under NT is here to stay.
Also see the Web Exclusive version of Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor on the BYTE Site for continuing coverage of 3-D graphics hardware and software.
Product Information
LightWave 5.5.....................$ 1,995 Windows 95, NT, Mac OS
..................................$ 2,995 Silicon Graphics or Sun
Newtek
Topeka, KS
Phone: 210-370-8000
Fax: 210-370-8001
Internet:
http://www.newtek.com/
Enter 1007 on Inquiry Card.
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3-D Animation Blossoms on NT
