Re: FLASH: What is the best 3D package to use with Flash?

[J. Lutes (pixelTwiddler)]

>Actually Strata Extensions aren't overpriced at all. And the cool thing is

>you can do quite a bit without them.


Unofficial rumor: There is a Flash export extension being developed for

Strata (at least as of the 3D Conference & Expo -- May 7-11).  I'll try to

verify this.  This would make Strata a good choice because of the nature of

the giveaway, not because of its features.


To recommend "a good 3-D package for Flash 3D" would really depend on what

you want to see as final output, or how little effort you are willing to

expend for the result.  Nothing in the market is cleaner/more accurate or

more efficient in the resulting Flash output file sizes than Rhinoceros

from Robert McNeel & Associates (www.rhino3d.com), but this comes at the

cost of having to manually animate things, not shading/coloring the output

result -- just lines, and having to import AI files into Flash.  OTOH,

nothing yet shades objects like Swift3D (www.erain.com).  Though not a

modeler in and of itself (unless you are joking), it can be used in

conjunction with any modeler which outputs .3DS/.PRJ (3D Studio r.4) files

(animation and base colors included) -- for low cost modeling, a good Mac

modeler is Pixels3d (www.pixels3d.com).  A good bang-for-the-buck piece of

software is Inspire3D (www.newtek.com).  It's a watered down Lightwave that

is available for both popular computing platforms.  I've used and taught it

in both flavors.  It's great! Be advised, Swift3D has its own set of

limitations, especially in the shading/lighting department.


Simply because of the two good 3-D conversion options (not to mention the

possibilities for modeling and animating) available for 3D Studio Max, I

would recommend this package (Max).  No Mac version in sight, and it can be

pricy.  The plug-ins are Vecta3D (www.ideaworks3d.com) and Illustrate! 4.1

(www.davidgould.com).  Discreet (www.discreet.com) is building the

IdeaWorks3D technology (Vecta3D) into future Max releases, for better or

worse.


As a heads up...  David Gould, developer of Illustrate! for 3DS Max intends

to make a version for Maya.  Alias|Wavefront has announced they are porting

Maya to the Mac.  If you can afford it, this will be nice, as Illustrate!

is more accurate and more efficient in the output result compared to

Vecta3D, though Illustrate! has some quirks too, and there is no telling

how the Maya plug-in will compare to the 3D Studio plug-in.



-

J A S O N   L U T E S

ICQ: pixelTwiddler (#18046724)

E-mail:

jasongrafikimagism [dot] com

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