From: Ernst Kruijff [kruijff@fossi.uni-weimar.de] Sent: Monday, October 11, 1999 11:57 AM To: 3d-ui@hitl.washington.edu Subject: 3d modeling tools Hi Doug, .. in answering your question, we basically use 3DS MAx (version 2.5) for modeling, which seems to have a good VRML2 export. Also, we use, like you too, the complete range of A|W software line (basicaly Studio 9.0, PowerAnimator and Maya 2.0 for NT) for iv export and vrml export. A good tip is also sculptor, a modeling tool developed by david kurmann at ETH Zurich, which is freely available for Irix. Good VRMl2 export too (caad.arch.ethz.ch/~kurmann). However, it is a bit oriented at architecture... and sometimes it is a bit buggy. Some more exotic tools like Nendo are also used here for VRML, but not that much... Cheers, -Ernst ____________________________________________________|Ernst Kruijff Research Scientist | Ph.D. Student Bauhaus-Universitaet Weimar Computer Science in Architecture and Urban Planning (Prof. Donath) Guest Researcher GMD - German National Research Center for Information Technology Virtual Environments Group (IMK.VE), Sankt Augustin http://www.uni-weimar.de/~kruijff ernst.kruijff@archit.uni-weimar.de On Mon, 11 Oct 1999, Doug Bowman wrote: > This is not a very "research-y" question, but I think it's an > important one for those of us building VE applications and > experiments. I'm interested in finding out which 3d modeling > packages people use to create objects for their virtual worlds. > (I know you don't code it all in openGL ;-) ). > > I've used Wavefront (actually the 'model' module of the Wavefront > Advanced Visualizer), Alias, and just a taste of 3D Studio Max > and the free Blender. Wavefront is old and has a horrible interface, > but is fairly reliable (plus the VE software I use already has > a file parser for OBJ files). Alias is nice, but way too expensive > and really geared more towards animation than just modeling. > 3DS Max I couldn't figure out at all, but I understand architects > and other design types love it. It doesn't output OBJ files, to > my knowledge. Blender (my apologies if anyone loves it) has an > incomprehensible interface, but it *is* free. > > So, what else do people use? What are the pros and cons? What platforms > does it run on, and what file formats does it support? > > Best, > --Doug > > -- > Doug A. Bowman, Ph.D. (540) 231-7537 > Assistant Professor bowman@vt.edu > Computer Science www.cs.vt.edu/~bowman/ > Virginia Tech >