Article Abstract:
Autodesk's $895 Animator Studio, a Windows-based 2-D animation software product, now offers 24-bit color and sound support. The interface is more straightforward than the older DOS version, and the learning curve has been substantially shortened. However, those who are accustomed to the DOS version will have to relearn several tasks. The brushes are improved, and users can edit more brush parameters such as softness or edge shape. However, although brush profiles can be modified, they cannot be saved. An animation is created by defining the first and last key frames, and additional key frames for motion and sprite manipulation. The sprite tool is used to load sprites, which can be in several different file formats. Animating a sprite is very easy and intuitive, it is merely dragged along a path. Animator Studio does not offer professional keying and blue-screen features, but it does support alpha channels and masks.
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Article Abstract:
Kinetix' $3,495 3D Studio MAX 1.1 is the best of three evaluated 3D applications for Windows NT. 3D Studio MAX is notable for its advanced interface and built-in support for NT's multithreading capabilities. Models can be viewed as wireframe, faceted or smooth objects. All parameters of the 30-odd modifiers can be animated. 3D Studio MAX can only handle two Boolean objects at once. Once created, though, Boolean objects and subobjects can be manipulated interactively. NewTek's $1,495 LightWave 3D 5.0, a direct port of the Commodore Amiga version, makes a good economical alternative. The $7,995 price of SoftImage's SoftImage 3D is clearly targeted at existing SoftImage shops moving to Windows NT.
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Article Abstract:
Lightscape Technologies' $495 Lightscape Visualization System 3.0 rendering environment offers a powerful radiosity renderer that will appeal to game developers. Radiosity rendering creates images with better visual quality, rendering time and lighting representation than ray tracing. Although typically used in architectural applications, game developers are becoming interested in the realistic look of radiosity rendered images. Working with Lightscape involves importing the desired objects and shapes, specifying material properties, setting up the lighting and then rendering. The addition of more extensive native file-format support is likely to make Lightscape a useful tool for 3D artists.
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