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Shading
Every object in TrueSpace can be shaded with
different material properties such as texture maps, colors, transparency, reflectivity, bumpiness, roughness, ambient glow,  procedural marble, wood or granite effects, and image and environment maps. Mapping images onto objects can also be performed using various forms of projections: planar, cylindrical or spherical. This
gives added control to how images are mapped onto objects. Objects can also be painted on a face or vertex level. Also, material properties can be isolated to a
rectangular area and positioned and maneuvered on the object.
The combination of these effects and colors can produce some stunningly real objects. The soon-to-be released version 3 will also allow
3D painting with 3D brushes. While TrueSpace also comes with a somewhat limited library of material properties (for example, textures simulating glass, metal, granite and so on) that can be applied directly
to objects, the library is flexible and permits the addition of user defined materials.
Real Time Rendering
TrueSpace2 takes advantage of Intel's 3DR real time rendering technology and supported 3D accelerator cards to display objects in
your scene as solid objects with shading in real time.  This is an extremely useful feature. As you are sculpting,
extruding, sweeping and scene building, the objects in your scene are shaded immediately. This can reveal nuances in an object that may not have otherwise been detected until rendered through the camera view.
Real time rendering also helps in the setting up of lighting. Many hours have been spent by modelers in this area. Time is spent in setting light properties and
positioning lights and then more time is spent in waiting as the scene is rendered. More often than not, when the system has completed rendering, the cycle begins again because the lighting is not as it should
be. In TrueSpace2 the general result of a light modification can be seen almost immediately.
Animation
Not only is TrueSpace a good tool for modeling objects and scenes, it also has the added feature of being able to animate these objects and
scenes. Objects can be animated individually and interactively. They can be told to look at other objects, even if those objects are themselves animated and moving around. Objects can be placed on
determined paths and told to look ahead on the path upon which they are traveling. Not only are the object capable of animations, but so are the lights and cameras. Lights can be animated to vary in position and
intensity, and cameras can be placed on paths to sweep through a scene similar to an airplane skimming a landscape. The ability to morph one object into another object is missing, but you can deform an object
in the animation allowing for such effects as the squishing of a ball as it impacts the ground on a bounce.
What's Next?
Release 3 of TrueSpace brings added effects and functionality that truly make this a tool well worth owning. If you already own some 3D
modeling and animation tools it could end up replacing them. It is a very complete package and well worth the cost. The new features that are coming in release 3 are: accurate collision detection, live skin,
plastiform, the ability to add 3D plug-ins, forward dynamics, inverse kinematics, 3D paint with 3D paint brushes , more direct 3D support, 3D sound, VRML 2.0 support and more. For further information about
TrueSpace2 and the upcoming TrueSpace3, please contact Caligari Corporation. They can be found on the web at www.caligari.com
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Please feel free to contact Paul through email and visit the
Electronic Design Studio
web site for a sample of his work.
Copyright ) 1996, 1997 Electronic Design Studio, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission: 1997 desktopPublishing.com |
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