3D Reviews

Reviews here are strictly my own personal opinions. If there's something you would like to see reviewed here, just drop me an e-mail and let me know. I'll try my best to review it in the future.


Marlin Studios Textures CD	CIS: No, not a new hit tv show!	Harnessing 3ds Max 5
Every 3D modeler needs a good source for texturing their 3D models. The novice might grab the free textures off the web,they are fine for beginners, but let's face it, there is a limited number to choose from out there. The more advanced modeler may take his 35mm camera and shoot his own textures, then edit them in PhotoShop or similar program to get what he or she needs, but that's time consuming. The quick and easy way to solve your texture needs is to buy a CD with a variety of textures on it. Which is what I did, I ordered this "City Textures" CD from Marlin Studios. At $159.00 it's a little "pricey" but if you're a serious modeler, well worth the investment. I'm already saving up to buy my next CD from Marlin Studios. The scene below is courtesy of Marlin Studios. It's gorgeous and very realistic. Run your pointer over it, see how plain it would look with out the textures? Having all these great textures on one CD is a big help.	It's a common problem that we all share; having to buy ink for our printers, over and over again. I'm a photography buff and love to share my photos with others. So my printer is constantly running out of ink. The black and white cartridge is about $25.00, and the color is almost $30.00! That's $55.00 every couple of months. I might as well buy stock in Epson! I had to find a more economical way of replacing ink. There's those kits where you take a needle and inject new ink into your old cartridges. Seemed too messy, and too time consuming. The answer presented itself at a trip to MACWORLD Expo at the Moscone Center last year (a great computer show by the way), a booth there featured the answer to my problem; "Continuous Ink System" (CIS) at the 'Think4inc.com' booth. It was a simple idea that made perfect since!	This is the book they gave me at Silicon Valley College while I was studying 3ds Max 5. I found the step-by-step chapters easy to follow, but to be fair, I had alreadystudied Lightwave 3D and had a pretty good understanding of 3D programs. Starting at the front of the book and working your way through the chapters will insure your understanding of how things work. I know you want to jump right to


*"A must have CD for the serious 3D Modeler."*
This ultimate library of city textures allows you to create a detailed street scene or an entire cityscape. Textures are provided for both modern and older cities. A special bonus is an incredibly detailed, Viewpoint city block mesh, which normally retails for $595, yours to use royalty free in your work. The CD-ROM contains two subgroups: 391 city textures, and 105 signs. Included in both are many clip maps with alpha channel transparency. Among the major city texture categories are: 16 roof antennae (clip maps), 8 Concrete's, 38 doors, 5 graffiti's, 8 grates, 22 street and traffic lights (clip maps), 10 metals, 8 roads, 12 rooftops, 65 skyscrapers, and 158 walls. Other categories include textures for bank ATM's, telephones, fire hydrant, fire escape, parking lots, windows, and woods. The sign categories include commercial, danger, parking, pedestrian, speed and traffic. The city textures come in 3 categories: Large (approx. 1600x1200), Medium (66% of Large) and Small (33% of Large). An additional bonus is a collection of cloud, landscape, water and snow photographs.. These textures are also great for 3D art, games, high-end web design, print media, virtual film sets, commercial video, visualizations, or any application requiring the depiction of castles, stone walls, bridges, fireplaces, floors, fences, or exterior decor. They also lend themselves to many uses in 2D graphics programs, such as background patterns in Adobe Photoshop. The textures can be used on all major platforms: PC, Mac, Alpha, and Amiga. A must have CD for the serious 3D Modeler.	Reservoirs that set next to the printer "continuously" feed the ink to the cartridges via long, skinny, plastic tubes. Simple but brilliant! The ink in the CIS is equivalent to 12 sets of Epson ink cartridges! Now, the system cost $179.95, so I didn't have the money last year, but this year I was able to purchase it.$180.00 sounds like a lot, but think about 12 x $55.00! That's $650.00 worth of ink cartridges that I won't have to buy! And as long as I keep feeding this thing ink, (replacement ink is $64.00 for archival, waterproof ink) it's going to continue saving me that money every year. So my ink runs out on my Epson 1270 printer the other night, and I get out the CIS kit. I'm a little hesitant to start on it, the literature says "...no tools necessary...15 minute installation process." Hmmmm, well see. 15 minutes later it was installed, and that was with me photographing every step of the way (see below). One thing they failed to mention is to prime the ink lines, get all the air out of them. My first attempt to print something came out awful! I thought; "Oh no! I hooked something up wrong!" But then looking through the instruction photos,I noticed that all the plastic lines were full of color ink. I held the bottles of ink above the printer and let gravity do it's think. Once the lines were full, I set the bottles back down.The second print was better, but still not right. But by the third print, it looked just as good as the Epson ink cartridges. Continuous Ink System is available from: Think4inc.com, 237 W. Walker St., Prescott, AZ 86303, phone: 1-800-786-5521 or visit their web site at: http://www.think4inc.com
		the special effects, but show some control and take it chapter by chapter. By the end of the book you should be able to navigate your way through the LARGE 3ds Max interface, build simple models, learn modeling techniques, design natural looking materials (for texturing), lighting scenes, control the virtual cameras in a scene, do animation's, and yes all those cool special effects! The book is packed with 130 tutorials and over 1,000 screen captures and illustrations. The CD-ROM is packed with files. Every one of the 130 tutorials in the book is accompanied by at least one scene file. You'll be able to see exactly what the scene should look like, both before and after the tutorial is done. Examples of rendered images and animation are also included. The CD-ROM features video demonstrations that lead you through the steps of working in 3ds max. These video demos are very valuable for getting up to speed quickly in this complex application. NEW FEATURES Some of the new 3ds max features covered in this book include: · Incredible modeling tools within the Editable Poly object · Set Key interface for greater animation control · Better animation editing with the Dope Sheet and Curve Editor · Improved character setup with Skin and Bones · Photometric lights · Advanced Lighting with Light Tracer and Radiosity · Ink 'n Paint material for cartoons and line drawings User Level: Beginner to Intermediate Approx.