Vintage: TrueSpace 5 (German) serial included

TrueSpace 5 (Review from 2001)

		 Caligari's TrueSpace has been around for a number of years and has always offered a  

solid set of tools for a reasonable price. Version 5 builds on this

legacy with a number of new tools and some interface improvements.

TrueSpace presents itself with a single perspective view, but you also can

configure it to show orthographic views. The interface is entirely

icon-based, which means all operations are represented as pictures, with

a text description that shows up on the taskbar. This looks great, but

initially I found some icons a bit hard to decipher, making me want

basic pull-down menus. After a day or so, though, I had most of the

icons memorized, which made the interface fairly quick.

TrueSpace 5's radiosity feature enables users to obtain realistic lighting conditions both in the viewport and for rendering.

One of the most significant improvements to Version 5 is the completion of

the NURBS modeler that initially shipped with Version 4. The software

enables you to draw NURBS curves and manipulate them using the new draw

panel, which gives each curve its own miniature editing window within

the 3D environment. Oddly, NURBS curves in TrueSpace use Bezier-type

control handles rather than the more standard NURBS weights. This seems

to work fine, but it might be confusing to seasoned NURBS modelers.

After you draw your curves, you can create patches using a skinning tool,

which allows for multiple outlines to create a patch. You also can

create surfaces using the loft and birail tools. TrueSpace enables you

to draw trim curves directly on a NURBS surface to cut a hole in a

patch. One thing missing is the ability to project existing curves onto a

surface, which can make the modeling process more accurate than

re-creating these curves from scratch.

TrueSpace also has some nice tools for attaching patches to each other. You can create blend

surfaces to join surfaces with circular outlines, such as the end of an

arm to a trim curve on a torso.

TrueSpace has always had polygonal modeling tools and has supported subdivision surfaces for the

past few releases. Subdivision surfaces make modeling organic surfaces

very easy, and TrueSpace's subdivision tools work much like those in

most other packages. When a surface is subdivided, the original

polygonal surface appears as a "cage," superimposed over the smooth

subdivided surface. You can then edit or animate the cage.

Polygonal modeling in TrueSpace starts with primitives, such as spheres and

cubes. TrueSpace has a terrific interface for creating these objects

called the Magic Ring widget, which lets you draw new primitives

interactively. After you create a primitive, you can modify it. The

polygonal modeler is basic but is easy to use and gets the job done. It

enables you to manipulate points, edges, or faces for sculpting the

shape of an object. For adding detail, you can perform such operations

as beveling and extruding polygons. Unlike with more advanced modelers,

you cannot use these operations on edges or vertices.

Animation also is available for moving objects within a 3D space. For character

animation, TrueSpace offers an IK system with skeletal deformation. The

IK works a bit differently from other implementations in that it uses a

software "pin" to specify the IK chain at any given moment. As such, if

you move a character's hand, for example, and the pin is at the

shoulder, you will reposition only the arm. If the pin is at the hip,

you also will reposition the shoulders and spine. This is a different

way of working, but it has advantages in its flexibility.

TrueSpace's material editor has been completely redesigned. One unique feature that

I really liked is the new IIR (incremental image rendering) technology,

which enables you to move a resizable material editing window over any

part of the scene and edit materials directly on scene objects. This

enables you to see how a material will look in the context of your scene

for final rendering, which speeds production significantly.

Rendering is based on the Lightworks Pro rendering engine from Lightwork Design.

TrueSpace offers a variety of lights, including physically accurate

lighting, based on actual, manufactured light models for tasks such as

architectural design. The renderer's quality is excellent, and it offers

radiosity, which models the scattering of light within a scene.

Overall, TrueSpace is a great application for the price. It offers a fairly

complete set of features that enable the software to do many different

tasks very well. It has user-friendly implementations of all the major

features that an artist would need, plus it produces good-looking

renders. TrueSpace fills that niche in the market for those who need a

quality 3D package but can't justify spending many thousands of dollars.

Price: $795

Minimum System Requirements: Windows 95/98/2000/NT; Pentium II; 64MB of RAM; 50MB of free hard-disk space

Caligari Corp.