A small request.... :-)

> At 11:46 PM 8/12/99 +0100, you wrote:

> Has anyone maybe already modelled any of the ships in 3D on their

I don't know about good enough to publish but I threw together a model of a
NAC Arapaho Class Corvette yesterday and did some renders. It's very
basic; no insignia or fancy F/X.

The results can be seen at:

> At 11:46 PM 8/12/99 +0100, you wrote:

Had a quick look, and these are VERY good indeed........ can I get back to you
on them soon?

> At 11:46 PM 8/12/99 +0100, you wrote:

Consider me duly impressed. *Very* nice.

> Ndege Diamond wrote:

> At 11:46 PM 8/12/99 +0100, you wrote:

> At 12:05 PM 8/15/99 -0700, you wrote:

Oh my, those *are* nice. What did you use?

VERY nice texturing on the Arapaho model!

I'm also downloading chview and Wilbur now, thanks for the links (and samples
!).

> At 12:05 PM -0700 8/15/99, Ndege Diamond wrote:

Very good. I've already set it as my wallpaper...

Any change you could do some more, perhaps @ very high resolution (i.e.
1600x1200), I need a good wallpaper for windows...

"Windows 95: 32-bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16-bit patch
to
an 8-bit operating system originally coded for a 4-bit microprocessor,
written by a 2-bit company that can't stand for 1 bit of competition." -
Unknown Christopher Pratt valen@gatecom.com

[quoted original message omitted]

> Christopher Pratt wrote:

> Any change you could do some more, perhaps @ very high resolution

That's a gotcha actually - wouldn't production quality ones be required
to be a
significant size - particularly if being used for the front cover? Mucho
RAM needed I think.

        TTFN
Jon (Scowling at his Mac 'cos RD Studio 4 doesn't like OS
8.6..)

> On 16-Aug-99 at 09:08, Jonathan White (Jonw@nessie.mcc.ac.uk) wrote:

Shouldn't be a problem on a modern OS with virtual memory, it just gets a bit
slow, but when you run a render overnight anyway...

BTW, Has apple finally followed the rest of the world with swapping to disk
for virtual memory?

> That's a gotcha actually - wouldn't production quality ones be

64Mb+ machine should be Ok, depends how efficient the renderer is,
but a 1600+ rez image is still going to crawl. For a print cover
300 dpi (11.81 dpmm) should be good enough - that would be a
resolution of

3507 x 2480 x 3 (24 bit) = 27 Mb

> Roger Books wrote:

> Shouldn't be a problem on a modern OS with virtual memory, it just

Which it would have to be if you're using your hard disk drive as RAM. It's a
feasible thing to do but let's not suggest it's in any way practical. As it
happens RAM is cheap enough these days that it's less of an issue than it used
to be. I was just mentioning it so someone didn't get caught out and had their
rendering software throw a wobbler after several hours of rendering time
through
running out of RAM - been there, done that, banged my head against the
table. Now getting my favourite modelling software running on my new computer
so I can
get involved in this venture,  that's a non-trivial problem :).
Longstanding list members know of my fondness for CGI and the fact that I
can't do any just when this comes along is quite.. irksome.

> BTW, Has apple finally followed the rest of the world with swapping

Note: This is not not /not/ the place for that sort of discussion. Just
because I'm not officially list admin any more doesn't mean I'll let this sort
of thing go on;).

                                TTFN
                                            Jon

> On Sun, 15 Aug 1999, Don Greenfield wrote:

> Oh my, those *are* nice. What did you use?

Rather nice, I'd have to say as well. Was it done on a PC or a Macintosh?

ryan, waiting for the new G3/400 with 100 mb of ram to arrive...

I wonder who has a good macintish based 3d app around here...I've got minicad
already, I could start some wireframes as I have a good supply of NAC figures
already. Some components would be easily reusable. Especially bridge
components.

> At 08:54 AM 8/16/99 -0400, you wrote:

I put up 1024x760 versions of the pics at the same addys. They are not
retouched so they are a bit darker. When I first did them I thought of them as
being several AU out, but for viewing reasons I retouched them.

Senior Lurker,

> At 7:32 PM -0400 8/16/99, Ryan M Gill wrote:
Especially
> bridge components.

I run InfiniD (which reads almost anything) and recommend Ray Dream as a good
tool for working with meshes. Sadly, my portfolio isn't online right now, so I
can't show off at the moment.

> Ryan M Gill wrote:

> ryan, waiting for the new G3/400 with 100 mb of ram to arrive...
Especially
> bridge components.

I can recommend Ray Dream Studio, but version 4 (it's up to 5 in the shops) is
very flakey on my new G3. In the UK there's a special offer running that
you can get the cut down version - just called Ray Dream - plus the last
but one versions of Poser (human modelling) and Bryce (landscape modelling)
for 99 pounds. Given they each individually cost more than that to buy it's an
excellent offer if you can get it.

I'm also seriously looking at Cinema4D Go, which is very versatile and cheap.
Problem is that version is limited to rendering at NTSC screen resolution
(576Xsomething) so it would be no good for paper illustration. Next version up
(C4d SE) is around 300 quid, which is a bit heavy for a hobbyist, but that's
about what RD studio is too.

NOTE: All the programs mentioned are available for both Windows and Mac before
anyone starts.

You can D/l demos of the ray dream/poser/bryce apps from
www.metacreations.com and demos of the various version of Cinema 4D can be got
via www.hisoft.co.uk

                                            TTFN
                                                        Jon