MICROSOFT now owns TRUESPACE ...

[Apoclypse]

Well MS did buy and Softimage before they were sold to Avid. The word on the street was that back before Pixar made Toy Story (and it made money) Jobs was in talk with MS to sell the studio to them.

Maybe Microsoft wants an easy to use simple 3d app to go with their enthusiast game sdk that they release last year. Something like Truespace would be perfect for that type of market.

[ctguitars]

Hi Apoclypse,

Mmmm ... Im not so sure. This is all about Google, Google Earth and Virtual Worlds online. Potentially Truespace is now a weapon in MS'es arsenal in the war that is brewing between MS and Google on these fronts.

I would put a small bet on TS being steered toward this environment - online 3D. To become little more than an app to create avatars, online world content and the like. Also geared toward the average MS Office type, non3D, nontech, office/home user.

It is now WHOLLY owned by MS, so Roman, as much as he may think otherwise has lost complete control of this apps direction.

My two cents
Aidan

[cookepuss]

Makes sense to me. Windows is unbelievably buggy and outdated. trueSpace is unbelievably buggy and outdated. Neither company really listens to their consumer base. Its a match made in heaven. ;)

Seriously though. Mazal tov to MS. Maybe they can make some sense out of that mess of an app. I abandoned it at around v6, having been a user since v1.0. However, the app started falling apart somewhere between the excellent v3 and the questionable v4.

Who knows what MS' plan is anyway? I doubt that they want the Calgiari code base because of its *cough* sophistication. For that, they would have bought companies with more advanced software.

[ctguitars]

Be that as it may Cookepuss,

BUT - as I said over at the "Calisoft" forums:

if you read the MICROSOFT VIRTUAL EARTH ( hint ... hint ... the name says it all ) Blog entry here:

http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/...98!11432.entry (http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2BBC66E99FDCDB98!11432.entry)

You should see that TS has been bought for a SPECIFIC use, it is being absorbed - yes, but it is not being absorbed as just another app so that MS can get into the Commercial 3D market, they tried this with SOFTIMAGE a while back and spat it back out. It is being absorbed specifically into the Virtual World / Virtual Earth area. This area DOES NOT NEED the same toolset as Commercial 3D applications use.

Things have improved considerably with v7.5. Before this bomb shell - all the focus was on dumping the old I/F and tools of v6 and migrating them to the newer realtime Workspace interface, which is nice.

Now we may never know,

I think the overall thing here is MS and 3D ... an area they were not involved in much, so we were safe :) ... but not now!

Cheers
Aidan

[BookMansBlues]

or maybe both? :)

I started out with truespace2, I think that it's funny that they are now part of MS. Though other than that I'm not sure what to think about it. I havent used Truspace in about 11 years but this does peek my curiosity. :P

[vmpre]

Be that as it may Cookepuss,

BUT - as I said over at the "Calisoft" forums:

if you read the MICROSOFT VIRTUAL EARTH ( hint ... hint ... the name says it all ) Blog entry here:

http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/...98!11432.entry (http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/blog/cns%212BBC66E99FDCDB98%2111432.entry)

You should see that TS has been bought for a SPECIFIC use, it is being absorbed - yes, but it is not being absorbed as just another app so that MS can get into the Commercial 3D market, they tried this with SOFTIMAGE a while back and spat it back out. It is being absorbed specifically into the Virtual World / Virtual Earth area. This area DOES NOT NEED the same toolset as Commercial 3D applications use.

Things have improved considerably with v7.5. Before this bomb shell - all the focus was on dumping the old I/F and tools of v6 and migrating them to the newer realtime Workspace interface, which is nice.

Now we may never know,

I think the overall thing here is MS and 3D ... an area they were not involved in much, so we were safe :) ... but not now!

Cheers
Aidan

Softimage was purchased by MS to get high end 3D onto its Windows NT platform. MS needed a company that would prove Windows NT as an alternative to SGI for high end 3d graphics. So MS bought Softimage, which ported Softimage 3D to NT and boom...effectively creating a whole new market for MS. Once that was done, there was no longer a need for high end 3D apps at MS and then sold it to Avid. Which makes more sense considering that Softimage DS was just about to launch and compete with Avid products.

I suspect you are right in that the purchase of TS has more to do with competing with Google Sketch Up.

My 2 cents

[dprgb]

I also forgot this, but when Microsoft sold Softimage to Avid they got a 9% share of Avid.

[Szos]

In the bigger picture, I see this purchase being intertwined with Vista's new 3D vector-based GUI.

[CHRiTTeR]

I'm just glad its not max, maya or xsi :D

[bluecanvas]

Hasta la vista, Truespace! :argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh:

I hope Google doesn't buy some other 3D application to retaliate. Neither company belongs in the 3D space.

[mummey]

Hasta la vista, Truespace! :argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh:

I hope Google doesn't buy some other 3D application to retaliate. Neither company belongs in the 3D space.

Google already owns and maintains SketchUp. This deal is mostly like to compete in that functionality.

[Xevious]

I think Microsoft is spreading themselves too thin.

They are fighting Apple for the Ipod market.
They are fighting Sony for the videogame market.
They are fighting Google for the internet.
They are gearing up for a war against Adobe.

Now they want to jump into an oversaturated 3D market. Makes no sense to me.

[cookepuss]

You should see that TS has been bought for a SPECIFIC use
I read the Caligari post. However, what is said and what is done isn't always the same thing. Anybody who has ever followed the exploits of either MS or Caligari knows this to be true. We only have their word to go by right now, but I'm not a big with making with the trust with either of them. Old habits, I guess.

Things have improved considerably with v7.5. Before this bomb shell - all the focus was on dumping the old I/F and tools of v6 and migrating them to the newer realtime Workspace interface, which is nice.
"The best laid plans of mice and men...."
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Take your pick on which one is more appropriate here. TS7 was critically applauded for the ideas behind it. It was just as critically panned for features only being partially implemented. When it comes down to it, tS7 was prematurely released. One could guess that they had a certain self-imposed deadline to make by hook or crook. Make it they did, but at what cost?

I see any buyout of Caligari as a good thing, regardless of the purchaser. Both the app and the company (imho) need more solid direction. trueSpace users are by far the most forgiving and apologetic artists on the planet, second maye only to A:M users. For a very long time, I was one of them. I'd have certainly apologized for the myriad number of half-implemented, half-@$$ed, and half-stable features. After a while, I got tired with the fact that 50% of trueSpace's big features were barely more than technical proofs of high concepts. Remember the facial animator? Ugh! :p

I'm not trying to knock trueSpace or Caligari, but I see the situation not as it should be, but as it is. Although it is no longer represents an ovewhelmingly high dollar to feature, especially in this fiercly competitive market, it does indeed represent a value. At the same time, it is also the poster child for flawed design, implementation, and the oppressive weight of legacy architecture.

Acquisition, even by Microsoft, can only represent a positive. Again, even if they only claim that it is with a specific focus, the hope that one thing will lead to another may bring this once shining product back into the spotlight proper.

I think the overall thing here is MS and 3D ...
Again, let's not forget Softimage or how that ended up.

As it has been said, the obvious motivation here is for MS to compete with Google. They see trueSpace's relatively interesting feature set and power level, combined with the toy-like interface, and they see something that can be opened up to a wider market.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see trueSpace's tools augmented to support Xbox or Vista hobbyist game development.

With some decent planning, MS could be onto something here. Again, decent planning and tighter code control are a must though.


Anyway, that's just my opinion. I've grown a little jaded regarding trueSpace & Caligari over the years. I hope for the best. I want the best. I'm just not holding my breath much anymore.

Let's just hope that when MS gets bored with Caligari, which they might, that they don't leave it a dried up and used up husk of a company.

[bluecanvas]

Google already owns and maintains SketchUp. This deal is mostly like to compete in that functionality.

Sketchup is a basic 3D modeling tool. Truespace is a complete 3D package with dynamics, scripting and character design functions geared towards creating things like 3D avatars for multiuser spaces. Truespace also has more history behind it. Even I used some version way back. Might have been V1 or V2. Can't remember.

Google would have to buy something like Poser/Carrara to compete with it. And if they do that two major entry-level priced 3D packages that a lot of less well off 3D artists use disappear from the market and get knocked together in some big boy competition to create some interactive 3D fluff for web 2.0.

Maybe they won't "disappear" as such but the development focus is probably not going to be CG. And I don't think that's fair for people who've invested years into using these tools.

[bluecanvas]

I think Microsoft is spreading themselves too thin.

They are fighting Apple for the Ipod market.
They are fighting Sony for the videogame market.
They are fighting Google for the internet.
They are gearing up for a war against Adobe.

Then again, what is Apple doing in consumer electronics? That used to be Sony, Phillips, JVC and so on. What is Sony doing in the videogame market? Used to be Sega, Atari, Nintendo. What is Google doing trying to create office and productivity apps that run on the net? That's Microsoft's area. What on earth is Adobe doing building dev platforms for corporate web publishing? And why did they kill a major brand like Macromedia doing it?

All of these companies are in each other's hair these days. And frankly none of them are doing a particularly brilliant job in areas outside their core competence.

[mummey]

Sketchup is a basic 3D modeling tool. Truespace is a complete 3D package with dynamics, scripting and character design functions geared towards creating things like 3D avatars for multiuser spaces. Truespace also has more history behind it. Even I used some version way back. Might have been V1 or V2. Can't remember.

Google would have to buy something like Poser/Carrara to compete with it. And if they do that two major entry-level priced 3D packages that a lot of less well off 3D artists use disappear from the market and get knocked together in some big boy competition to create some interactive 3D fluff for web 2.0.

Maybe they won't "disappear" as such but the development focus is probably not going to be CG. And I don't think that's fair for people who've invested years into using these tools.

Microsoft bought a company to better compete with the tools Google already has, not the tools you seem to think Google might buy in response. Also, this appears to be a purchase where Microsoft cares very little about the users of the existing products long-term, and instead is more interested in getting the IP to work with their own products.

Shed a tear for Truespace, then move on in your life. :shrug:

[Saurus]

As somebody said, TS buyout has to do more with google than wanting to compete in professional 3D market. They probably strip down TS and use it as a content creation tool for web application. Softimage purchase was just to get NT into VFX market and once that market was created, they sold Softimage.

[bluecanvas]

As somebody said, TS buyout has to do more with google than wanting to compete in professional 3D market. They probably strip down TS and use it as a content creation tool for web application. Softimage purchase was just to get NT into VFX market and once that market was created, they sold Softimage.

Its probably this MS is after. Virtual multiuser meeting places with animated avatars that can be tacked on to something like Virtual Earth

http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts75/Brochure/truePlaces.asp?SubCate=S2forum

If that's what they are after you can forget about the CG side of Truespace. I remember XSI 1.0 after Softimage was sold to Avid. Lets just say that it wasn't terribly impressive.

[Array]

Hasta la vista, Truespace! :argh::argh::argh::argh::argh::argh:

I hope Google doesn't buy some other 3D application to retaliate. Neither company belongs in the 3D space.

Microsoft buying up Softimage in the 90's is probably one of the best things that has ever happened in terms of making 3d applications accessible to a wider audience. They ported Soft|3d to Windows NT, which in turn forced Alias|Wavefront to compete by releasing Maya for the same platform. After that, Microsoft went on to start the development of Softimage|XSI, which is a truly inspiration piece of sfotware.

Would you rather still be in a world where you need a 100k+ workstation/software solution just to LEARN 3d? Just relax, sit back, and see where the market goes.

Oh, and it could've always been Autodesk that made this purchase ;)

[bluecanvas]

Would you rather still be in a world where you need a 100k+ workstation/software solution just to LEARN 3d? Just relax, sit back, and see where the market goes.

It seems to me that you are distorting history a bit. Lightwave, Cinema 4D and Truespace were on Amiga long before MS bought Softimage. 3D Studio for DOS came out in 1990. I think it was in V4 and fairly widespread and popular by the time MS bought Soft.

It was never necessary to have an SGI workstation or ultra expensive software like Alias Studio and Softimage to learn 3D. There were more affordable 3D packages available for machines like Amigas, Atari STs and DOS PCs.

And if Soft and Alias hadn't been ported to PC you'd probably have bigger, badder versions of 3DMAX, Cinema 4D and Lightwave dominating the PC landscape today. All XSI and Maya did on PC at the end of the day was to draw a lot of new users away from the established desktop 3D packages. And I'm not convinced that that was a good thing.

[ctguitars]

Hi Guys,

And the press says:

http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/02...ual-earth-team (http://www.dmwmedia.com/news/2008/02/07/microsoft-buys-3d-animation-firm-caligari-virtual-earth-team)

Ohhhh this one should make ye squirm:

http://www.liveside.net/blogs/main/a...expansion.aspx (http://www.liveside.net/blogs/main/archive/2008/02/07/microsoft-buys-caligari-for-virtual-earth-3d-expansion.aspx)

Now that one is rather throw away is it not ...


http://arstechnica.com/journals/micr...uires-caligari (http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2008/02/07/microsoft-acquires-caligari)

AND NOW FOR THE KILLER:

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/m...ves/131304.asp (http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/archives/131304.asp)

"A Microsoft representative says Caligari's technology will be incorporated into future versions of Microsoft Virtual Earth"

So their now, do you all feel more at ease,

Aidan

[scorpion007]

All XSI and Maya did on PC at the end of the day was to draw a lot of new users away from the established desktop 3D packages. And I'm not convinced that that was a good thing.
Does that translate to: "I'm not sure that competition is a good thing"?

[Boone]

The only thing that I have against TrueSpace is the crashes and bug-issues. Upon trying to install the 7.0 demo the damn thing didnt even load up! Thankfully that has been resolved in version 7.5...:scream: But as a budget app its good. If you need a professional app then obviously you need to start the bidding with Lightwave or C4D instead.

Anyway, TrueSpace hasnt really had that much muscle behind it compared to the likes of Autodesk, Softimage, NewTek etc so this comes as good news. With a bit of luck MicroSoft will give Caligari the resources it needs to tackle its infamous stability and bug issues.

Will Caligari take the 3D world by storm? No, I wouldnt think so but if Caligari is given some part of the DirectX10 developement team they could be in with a chance to become one of the more favourable game-content packages. After all, TrueSpace was one of the first packages to feature DirectX .X format support and display modes. When you think about it, not even Max or Maya(both of which cost thousands more than TrueSpace) come with such file format support without the aid of plugins. Both companies have an oppertunity here but we shall have to wait and see.

[Kabab]

I'm not to sure its for the Virtual earth / online comunity stuff because MS is already working very closely with Dassault on these type of things and DS already has very good technology.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/oct07/10-183DVIAPR.mspx

" “Our alliance with Dassault Systèmes, a company that has 26 years of technology experience in 3-D modeling, will help us bring a new level of realism to Virtual Earth,” said Stephen Lawler, general manager of Virtual Earth at Microsoft."

I think its got more to do with XNA.

[ctguitars]

Huh,

The quote you gave just said -

"... will help us bring a new level of realism to Virtual Earth"

How not Virtual earth is that.

As an aside its being talked bout over at the Blender Forums too: Cyborg Dragon left this :)

Truespace home basic
Truespace home business
Truespace business
Truespace home advanced
Truespace business basic
Truespace enterprise
Truespace commercial basic
Truespace commercial advanced
Truespace cinematic
Truespace production suite edition
Truespace Ultimate
Truespace business advanced
Truespace freelancer studio
Truespace studio advanced

And it will only run on Vista and have flashy eyecandy that will require a 256 meg GPU

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Aidan
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/images/misc/progress.gif

[Saurus]

It seems to me that you are distorting history a bit. Lightwave, Cinema 4D and Truespace were on Amiga long before MS bought Softimage. 3D Studio for DOS came out in 1990. I think it was in V4 and fairly widespread and popular by the time MS bought Soft.

It was never necessary to have an SGI workstation or ultra expensive software like Alias Studio and Softimage to learn 3D. There were more affordable 3D packages available for machines like Amigas, Atari STs and DOS PCs.

And if Soft and Alias hadn't been ported to PC you'd probably have bigger, badder versions of 3DMAX, Cinema 4D and Lightwave dominating the PC landscape today. All XSI and Maya did on PC at the end of the day was to draw a lot of new users away from the established desktop 3D packages. And I'm not convinced that that was a good thing.

I agree with Array that MS did make "high end" 3D application available to smaller lower budget studios. Hate MS or not, I think MS action did force Alias to make Maya available to NT workstations. For all Alias care, they probably rather have Maya exclusively run on their SGI machines. Yeah, NT 3D workstation eventually killed the SGI. Back then, all those 3D software you mentioned were not considered feature movie caliber. I remember a TV series called Babylon 5 using LW and that was such a huge accomplishment.

[arquebus]

Truespace home basic
Truespace home business
Truespace business
Truespace home advanced
Truespace business basic
Truespace enterprise
Truespace commercial basic
Truespace commercial advanced
Truespace cinematic
Truespace production suite edition
Truespace Ultimate
Truespace business advanced
Truespace freelancer studio
Truespace studio advanced

And it will only run on Vista and have flashy eyecandy that will require a 256 meg GPU

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Its about time a package like this gets accessable to the average consumer. MS will be able to price this like a regular consumer app rather than the usual $300 to $500 that these type of apps go for. A broader consumer base will help the cg software industry as a whole.

[Kabab]

Huh,

The quote you gave just said -

"... will help us bring a new level of realism to Virtual Earth"

How not Virtual earth is that.
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/images/misc/progress.gif

Did you miss the bit that said "Our alliance with Dassault Systèmes"

[CHRiTTeR]

well i have to say, last time i checked true space was a loooong time ago and all i remember is that i didnt like it, but i must admit, looking at their site again. Those realtime renderings look pretty amazing!!! Thats something other big 3D apps could learn from.

i mean, realtime sss and stuff?! Thats pretty cool! :scream:

[Als]

This is great news.
MS and TS deserve each other!

But I just realised how TS is so much better then maya.
Check this comparison:

http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts75/Brochure/Comparison_tables.asp?Cate=BProducts&SubCate=ComparisonTables

heh!


Als

[cookepuss]

This is great news.
MS and TS deserve each other!

But I just realised how TS is so much better then maya.
Check this comparison:

http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts75/Brochure/Comparison_tables.asp?Cate=BProducts&SubCate=ComparisonTables

heh!


Als

Surely. It's a Caligari world and we just live in it. :) You know what you call that? Chutzpah. To compare a low/mid-range app to the pro industry leaders.... I don't know who they think they're fooling with that comparison chart. Technically, that stuff is accurate. I reality, its like comparing a Ford Focus to a Ferrari. The both are cars and both get you from point A to point B, but they're in way different leagues. Let's not even mention the fact that probably the greatest majority of trueSpace's user base is probably made of of students, hobbyists, and low volume freelancerss. If tS were really as great as the PR people would have you believe, we would probably have seen more "x movie was made with Caligari trueSpace" type of press releases. Bush league.

Anyway, MS can do what they want with trueSpace. Times are changing and maybe its time for trueSpace to venture out into new-ish territory. They tried to get into the jewel, games, and web publishing markets - with varying "success". Maybe they'll strike gold this time. Anything can happen. After all, its a Caligari world... you know the rest. :p

(Oy... sprained my ole jaded sarcasm bone. ;)

[bluecanvas]

Does that translate to: "I'm not sure that competition is a good thing"?

Ask people doing Lightwave, MAX, Cinema 4D and other 3D at the time what Alias's "all big 3D and VFX is done with Maya" marketing campaign did to their job opportunities and people's perception of what can or cannot be done with their software.

You're talking about competition but I remember Hollywood VFX done with tens of millions of dollars and lots of custom in-house tools being attributed solely to the strength of Maya to make other 3D packages and their users look inferior.

That was anti-competitive more than anything. It cost lots of people on other 3D software a shot at doing VFX and other higher-end 3D work. It devalued the effort people put into learning other 3D tools.

Things may be different today but Alias's aggressive marketing strategy hurt the chances of a lot of other 3D users at the time.

[Kabab]

Ask people doing Lightwave, MAX, Cinema 4D and other 3D at the time what Alias's "all big 3D and VFX is done with Maya" marketing campaign did to their job opportunities and people's perception of what can or cannot be done with their software.

You're talking about competition but I remember Hollywood VFX done with tens of millions of dollars and lots of custom in-house tools being attributed solely to the strength of Maya to make other 3D packages and their users look inferior.

That was anti-competitive more than anything. It cost lots of people on other 3D software a shot at doing VFX and other higher-end 3D work. It devalued the effort people put into learning other 3D tools.

Things may be different today but Alias's aggressive marketing strategy hurt the chances of a lot of other 3D users at the time.
Was a master stroke from Alias :D goto hand it to thier marketing team...

[bluecanvas]

Was a master stroke from Alias :D goto hand it to thier marketing team...

The future belongs to CG tools that allow a single artist or small group of creatives to produce a longer CG narrative in a humanly acceptable time frame, preferably without going mad, bankrupt or ending up at the doctor with acute RSI.

Marketing will not earn anyone a place in that future.

[Kabab]

The future belongs to CG tools that allow a single artist or small group of creatives to produce a longer CG narrative in a humanly acceptable time frame, preferably without going mad, bankrupt or ending up at the doctor with acute RSI.

Marketing will not earn anyone a place in that future.
Are you kidding?

Marketing is an extremely important factor in being sucesfull..

If people don't know about you or have the wrong perception your product is going no where.

[bluecanvas]

Are you kidding?

Marketing is an extremely important factor in being sucesfull..

If people don't know about you or have the wrong perception your product is going no where.

There is a major thing that distinguishes independent artists and producers from people who sit in cushy studio jobs. They actively seek out the tools that allow what they want to happen to happen within the means they have at their disposal.

If a tool doesn't deliver it gets stamped "unsuitable". No amount of fancy marketing can change that.

A tool that allows independent people to swing their production into gear will need very little advertising. The minute someone discovers its strengths word about it will spread and recommendations will go flying.

[Kabab]

There is a major thing that distinguishes independent artists and producers from people who sit in cushy studio jobs. They actively seek out the tools that allow what they want to happen to happen within the means they have at their disposal.

If a tool doesn't deliver it gets stamped "unsuitable". No amount of fancy marketing can change that.
Well if your still talking in context of Alias their products have well and truly delivered they simply got ahead by having 2 things a better product and marketing strategy.

A tool that allows independent people to swing their production into gear will need very little advertising. The minute someone discovers its strengths word about it will spread and recommendations will go flying.
Unless your product is absolutely revolutionary this isn't going to happen, it's still going to take truck loads of marketing to get the message to the masses.

That last bit of software which did what you described was Zbrush imho and even then they still do heaps of marketing..

[bigbad]

Read somewhere that Microsoft were very intrested in Blender 3D. Now that they bought TrueSpace I can imagine what they will use the open source code of Blender.

Yes. They are that evil.:deal:

[Improv]

Read somewhere that Microsoft were very intrested in Blender 3D. Now that they bought TrueSpace I can imagine what they will use the open source code of Blender.

Yes. They are that evil.:deal:

Thanks for the laugh! :-)

If you want to really laugh, go to the Caligari (TrueSpace) web forums and read some of the threads on this in the last two days-they are too,too funny-half the people there think that this virtual world stuff is the next gold rush and that MS is going to to lead them to the promised land! :rolleyes:

Personally, I like what one person posted:

"I cried as the children read those books on the screen that had just been purchased virtually and downloaded. I was sad looking at the excessively obese, pale, sickly children, remembering a time when everyone, not just children, actually interacted with each other, not just a mouse and a widget. When friends were REAL people, not a handful of polygons on a screen. When you went out and enjoyed and experienced what the cities, towns, villages and countryside had to offer for real, not just an idealistic rendering on a screen. I remember the time before all you did all day was sit on the sofa and interact with the screen that the life expectancy of an average human was above thirty five.

Virtual living? That's not living. If that's the future I want out. "

Amen to that! Art should reflect life, not the reverse. But hey, this is commerce, not art! :rolleyes:

[Boone]

This is great news.
MS and TS deserve each other!

But I just realised how TS is so much better then maya.
Check this comparison:

http://www.caligari.com/products/tr...omparisonTables (http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts75/Brochure/Comparison_tables.asp?Cate=BProducts&SubCate=ComparisonTables)

heh!


Als


Now if Caligari could just add "Bug free stability" to that list I would smile.

[thethule]

TS is still around??? Wow....next you will tell me that Amapi is too.

Oh, wait..

Seriously, are people really upset that MS is going to inject money and marketing into their dying program? Or is it just the usual childish knee jerk reaction to anything Microsoft?

Sheesh

And frankly, in my opinion, there really is no excuse/reason to still be using TS. You have very cheap/PLE versions of most high end programs now, programs that all potential employers will be using. So why waste your time with one that most people forgot about years ago?


Marc

[R10k]

So why waste your time with one that most people forgot about years ago?

Seriously bud, that's just one heck of a dumb question. Considering what TS can do, it's more than capable for some professional uses, and for the home 3D artist as well. I moved on from it a few years ago mainly because Caligari refused to rethink their horrible camera system, but the program did (from what I understand) develop into an app which perfectly catered for a lot of casual 3D users (whose goal in life wasn't to train themselves up for a job in 3D) and provide them with some unique 3D options. I mean, sheesh, can you image using a ple version to create art, just for the pure enjoyment of it? "Sure!" you might say, thinking of Houdini and it's lack of a watermark. But, the problem is that Houdini isn't aimed at the beginner, while Truespace is. And what about Blender? Why wouldn't someone just use that instead? Some do, but then Truespace offers a pretty nice realtime 3D environment to play with and a shared space system to work with others on 3D projects.

Truespace has never been top of the pops in terms of functionality- everyone knows that. But, what it has always offered is just what a lot of casual 3D people have wanted, and that's an environment to play around in, and be creative.

[thethule]

Seriously bud, that's just one heck of a dumb question. Considering what TS can do, it's more than capable for some professional uses, and for the home 3D artist as well. I moved on from it a few years ago mainly because Caligari refused to rethink their horrible camera system, but the program did (from what I understand) develop into an app which perfectly catered for a lot of casual 3D users (whose goal in life wasn't to train themselves up for a job in 3D) and provide them with some unique 3D options. I mean, sheesh, can you image using a ple version to create art, just for the pure enjoyment of it? "Sure!" you might say, thinking of Houdini and it's lack of a watermark. But, the problem is that Houdini isn't aimed at the beginner, while Truespace is. And what about Blender? Why wouldn't someone just use that instead? Some do, but then Truespace offers a pretty nice realtime 3D environment to play with and a shared space system to work with others on 3D projects.

Truespace has never been top of the pops in terms of functionality- everyone knows that. But, what it has always offered is just what a lot of casual 3D people have wanted, and that's an environment to play around in, and be creative.


Fair enough. I guess it has it place. I suppose, not everyone is lookign for a job in the biz, and some users just want to play around and do it as a hobby.

But most people DID forget about it years ago and the fact remains that XSI is as cheap to buy and maya is not much more and both will have far more users online and hence far more support,

[cresshead]

i tried out truespace back in 95-96 when i first got windows 95 on my p60...i just couldn't get on with the U.I so i went onto buy bryce3d and newtek inspire 3d...from there to 3dsmax2.5 in 1999 and then also lightwave and lightscape

TS was left behind in my eyes waaay back, so at least it has a possible future that can carve it's own niche into a 3d area which will be good really.

good luck to them, at least they'll have good funding for development for future versions
more that can be said for the snail like pace of some other 3d apps.

[R10k]

But most people DID forget about it years ago and the fact remains that XSI is as cheap to buy and maya is not much more and both will have far more users online and hence far more support,

That's why I went with XSI ;) (although in fairness, XSI is a scary program for many beginners)

[Gwot]

I'm guessing that it's the newer stuff like the virtual environments and the new d3d accelerated work space that had a lot to do with Microsoft's purchase decision. These things are unique to trueSpace. The nodal access to stuff under the hood, including scripting was a pretty good addition too. The rest of the app may not be up to 'pro' standards, but Caligari definitely was on the right track with those things I just listed.

[richcz3]

Add me to the list of people who tried TS in 93-94 not sure? It had some good tools, but I couldn't stick with it. Just like today - it was hard to see one app meet all of ones needs.

MS bought the company behind their Expressions Suite so I'm not at all surprised they would buy a 3D app to supplemant that. I bet they will synch it up in some way with Expressions Suite in their bid to widen their tool sets for online publishing.

Google purchased (@Last Software) Sketchup and made it an integral tool for content creation for Google Earth. The difference between Google and MS is that Google sees the value of keeping versions free and accesable to new users to build up a strong user base. Better chance to become an adopted standard.

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