trueSpace or Strata 3D

[garyallred]

Would anyone have any ideas as to which of these 2 programs would be better? I don't need animation at this point, I will mainly be doing 3 dimensional packaging illustrations like jars bottles and boxes. The illustration will be as finished products with copy, logos, photos, etc. mapped into position. (I am new - is "mapped" the right word?)

Thanks for any info.

Gary Allred
gary@theoriginalorg.com

[garyallred]

Would anyone have any ideas as to which of these 2 programs would be better? I don't need animation at this point, I will mainly be doing 3 dimensional packaging illustrations like jars bottles and boxes. The illustration will be as finished products with copy, logos, photos, etc. mapped into position. (I am new - is "mapped" the right word?)

Thanks for any info.

Gary Allred
gary@theoriginalorg.com

[Gary David Bouton]

Gary--

I've tried both and I keep trueSpace around for rendering, not necessarily 'cause it's got good modeling tools. trueSpace is also cheaper than Strata, and if all you are doing is package design, download the demo of Adobe Dimensions on their site, and see how you feel about this $150 program. You can indeed map images and art to the surface of boxes, cyliners, spheres...you simply need to read the docs.

Kindest Regards,

Gary David Bouton
www.boutons.com
Gary@GaryWorld.com
Visit a really large gallery at www.GaryWorld.com!

[Ron Pfister]

Gary A,

Although Truespace is a great render program you might consider Strata3D. The company is offering Strata3DBase for free and their Strata3DPlus is only $149. And, you won't out grow the Strata package in a week, as you might Adobe Dimensions. If you enjoy using Strata3D you can also expand it later on. But again, at no cost you can get a full working version for free that should take care of the needs that you described.

http://www.strata.com/

Render on!

Ronn [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] >

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[Gary David Bouton]

Hi Gary--

As Ron Pfister noted, Strata Pro (in the right hands, such as his!) gives you more "bang for the buck" than trueSpace. Its rendering engine produces amazing volumetric stuff so that you are looking *into* a picture, not simply at it.

Can any other members here recommend a program for package design that hovers around $500? I keep getting told that Rhino and some others are awesome, and my only concern about advice here is what Gary A. *needs*.

Kindest Regards,

Gary David Bouton
www.boutons.com
Gary@GaryWorld.com
Visit a really large gallery at www.GaryWorld.com!

[garyallred]

If Strata is better than trueSpace would I need Plus or Pro to do the things that I mentioned in my first post?

Gary Allred
gary@theoriginalorg.com
www.theoriginalorg.com

[randyrives]

Gary A,

Download the free version. It should do you fine. Later if you like Strata and feel you need more check into the Plus and Pro features then.

Truespace offers more modelling options and has a good renderer (not as fast as Strata's).


Cinema's Art is a little more money $695 but would be a very good product for what you want to do.

Download the free version of Strata NOW! Try the demos for the others. This way you can make a decision based own you way of thinking and working not somebody else's, whose way of thinking might not mesh with yours.

---Randy