A fool rabbit ...

[Bob C.]

Hi gidgit,

A very helpful reflection, thanks.

So just download the trial software and give them a test drive? What a concept!

I have used CAD 3D in the past ( a little AutoCAD and more TurboCAD) But I'm still not all that familiar with the "buzz" words seen here. Like:
"dolly cam"
"better virtual mirror"
"subd"
"polyline/spline"
But no matter I'm sure I'll catch on soon enough.

My Win98 AMD Athlon XP 1700 with 256MB mem is flaky (won't always boot the 1st or 2nd try or more!) and I loathe the thought of wiping the hard drive and reloading it again....that can take many hours) so adding programs and removing them leaving all the "debris" on the hard drive doesn't help and is the reason I have not used the "try before you buy" approach much recently.

I do have Norton SystemWorks now with ghost so maybe I should just bite the bullet and do it.

I am eager to try some 3D stuff and have been inspired by some of the great things done here and elsewhere and should just jump in and try it.

Thanks again.

[gidgit]

Hi Bob...

If your machine has a seperate video card then you should have no problems running 3d software meant for Win98... however, if your machine has integrated video, then I fear that this may have an effect on how Wings3d draws out the geometry...

I am not sure about this negative effect when using other 3d software on integrated video, as I have only tested out Wings thus far, via downloading at computer stores on new fast and fun machines...

However, if so, just pop in a middle of the road video card and voila... problem solved

and... Yes, you will pick up on all the buzz words the more you play around with this stuff...

Just pick an app or two, and post some questions if you like, no doubt we have members who are friendly with a wide variety of apps, and who would be only too happy to lend some assistance

happy trials

[Bob C.]

Thanks gidgit,

I have a Voodoo 3 with 8 or 16 MB of on board RAM I think it is the registry and I'm not geeky enough to play there and it does boot.

Anyway I have been looking closely at Wings3D, SILO and Blender. Seems Blender can do modeling, rendering, and animation in one package and do them well (enough). Remember I'm a newbie so the thought of learning 3 new programs seems more daunting than learning a single more "complicated" one. I guess LightWave is like that too (3 in 1) but is not free.

So I'm thinking I will try Blender and see how it goes. I know you use Wings and Ivan uses SILO and LightWave...and.....LOL... Well anyway I will be here bugging you nice folks for sure. Thanks very much for the input.

FYI

Blender site

Bob C.

[This message was edited by Bob C. on December 12, 2003 at 12:30.]

[gidgit]

Bob... I look forward to viewing some Blender shots...

happy creat'n