Xara 2D drawings to 3D modeling program

[Gare]

That looks so great.. Also easily associates the impression that the 3D modeler programs are on 'higher level', not sure that is true. But... a 2D program like Xara could not compete.

Oh, csehz! You make be want to never post another rendered model again on tg!

There is no competition in art programs...there is only addition. I think I have 400 programs installed, cut that down to about 200 if you discount utilities, but I used everyone of them at least one a month, not giving up a single one (except when one of my $%^# Western Digitals suddenly crashed!)

I have not given up CorelDRAW for Xara,and I have not given up Xara for (expensive) modeling programs.

The truth is that my favorite art tools are sitting on a physical draughting table upstairs and they mostly consist of different harnesses of pencils, and 24 lb. ledger bond paper, kneaded erasers and a whole bunch of ink pens.

Direct contact with what you're creating has it all over using a computer for beginnings to art, revisions, and I must say that the growing niche of computer programs I now use came second, not first, in expressing myself.

I still cannot create the sort of expression in my mind's eye and my heart using graphics programs that I do with a sketch pad. Today, I do my finishing in Xara, auto-tracing my B&W work, and then doing the coloring. Before 1991, I used makers, the same as most other cartoonists and ad agency storyboard artists.

Here's a typeface I conceived of over 20 years ago, but didn't have the technology to bring it to life, as life goes inside a computer! It might be another 20 years to complete it, because I'm easily distracted, but the point is: you see the pencil strokes and the ink-overs? They were the preliminary impressions I created, and I'm using Xara here to create accuracy and consistency among the characters.



Modeling is great: I've indulged myself in it as long as I've used vector drawing programs. But one is not the other, and you need to remember to use the right tool for the right job. I've been cartooning since I was 6 years old (my 61st birthday is tomorrow, so that makes it 55 years of 'tooning endeavors. And I'm not soliciting sympathy for my temporal plight!).

And a pencil and ink are absolutely the right tools for cartooning. Modeling programs suck in comparison. The reason why I model a lot is because I can "see" three dimensions projected onto a 2D monitor screen, and have an innate ease of navigating this faux 3D space, which puts me ahead of the game. If I can draw it, I draw it. If it needs rotation, and different lighting and entirely different reflective textures, a modeling program is my choice of tools.

No competition, csehz, and I must emphasize this. There are no "better" programs (okay, Chrome is better than Opera ), but only specialized tool that you collect. Heck, I have a superb texture making program that won't run in 64x space, so I'm using a virtual machine with Win XP on it just to access one stinking program I need.

I'd be on CG Society and not TalkGrasphics if I felt there was one indisputable terrific piece of software. There isn't.

My Best,

Gary