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Caligari trueSpace 7.5 (Cadalyst Labs Review)
1 Apr, 2008 By: IDSA ,Mike Hudspeth3D Modeling software offers new character, animation, and virtual-space features.
A lot of 3D modelers are out there on the market. There's practically one for every field: architecture, engineering, gaming, and art. Some modelers serve only their niche, and others cross over to other disciplines to become bigger players. One such modeler is trueSpace 7.5 from Caligari. Caligari is the first to tell you that trueSpace 7.5 is not really a CAD program. The company prefers to position it as a complement to CAD.
 Caligari trueSpace 7.5 |
Back in 1985, trueSpace started on the Amiga platform. (Oh, come on, you remember those computers. My older brother swore by them. I opted for a PC.) As you know, just as VHS won the video-format wars over Betamax, the PC beat out most of its competition. (Note that this is not a comment on the relative merits of Windows versus Mac versus Linux versus anything else.) But rather than fold up and die with the platform, trueSpace switched over to Windows and is very popular today. I've watched it for many years. It has always been a very interesting product with a loyal following.
For trueSpace 7.5, Caligari totally rewrote the code from the ground up. In an endeavor of that magni- tude, you would expect many things to fall through the cracks, and Caligari knows this. As a result, when you fire up trueSpace 7.5 one of the first things you might notice are tabs across the top of the graphics window (figure 1). Workspace is trueSpace 7.5, and Model is trueSpace 6.6. trueSpace 6.6 is available because not all of the previous functionality has migrated over to trueSpace 7.5 quite yet. Cali- gari didn't want its customers losing functionality, so they gave them both versions.
 Figure 1. The interface is decidedly not Windows standard. It s not too hard to find your way around, though, once you get used to it. |
Easy Modeling
Modeling in trueSpace 7.5 is a snap. You start out with a primitive and then you push and pull it and add or remove sweeps, vertices, and faces until you're satisfied with the results. A new tool called Displacement Map Paint allows you to paint deformations directly onto the surface of the object. Wherever the cursor touches the object, the model will either stick out or fall in, depending on your settings. This tool is a very freeform way to model. You can assign exact numbers to everything so you are in control at all times. You have Boolean functions available on the Model side, so you can model using multiple shapes as targets and tools. A repeat function works for commands such as Move and Copy. Many, many hot keys will make your life easier — for example, x is for rotate, z is for move, and c is for scale. The software features huge libraries of premade models, scenes, and materials for you to choose from, or you can create your own.
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