Don McClure

Well, we've brought as new person on board to help organize the WorldBuilder feature set. His name is David Tracy. David has set up an e-mail address at features@digi-element.com. We are planning an architectural plugin for WorldBuilder and are still taking feedback. Thanks for all of the wonderful advice so far -- and keep it coming!

For good skies I can recommend Aurora -- its a Photoshop plugin that does skies and water with reflections. Its a 2D solution, but skies can work with Field of View so if you need a sky dome is simple. They are also procedural 3D skies so height of POV is not a problem. WorldBuilder is a 3D package similar to Bryce. You can load Viz objects or AutoCAD objects, but the AutoCAD objects -- though I think Viz helps with texturing. Both of these products are available through www.digi-element.com

Being the WorldBuilder guy -- I'm going to go ahead and recommend WorldBuilder http:\\http://www.digi-element.com so -- why Worldbuilder? 1) Creates a dual scene with 3D Viz that shears cameras lighting, etc. and composites the joint render during render time, using everything's native renderer 2) Because of this you don't need to import or export -- just set up a joint render. 3) Imports DEM, gray scale height maps (which is easy from topo maps) and uses splines. 4) Render quality is excellent. Okay -- so there is the WorldBuilder pitch. Don

Sorry it took so long to get back. I was hanging out with Klingons and Stormtroopers at Dragon Con. We have access to technology that does cityscapes procedurally. The problem we always run into is that if you try to put too many features in, you get a 15 pound swiss army knife, which doesn't fit into your pocket. So lets say you have something like WorldBuilder, which does a lot already. We add an easy way to grade roads and an easy way to use a digitized pic as the backdrop in an interesting way. Maybe we ship with a disk with 20 real 3D backdrops as well... How useful would it be to be able to take a picture of a plant, send it to Digital Element with maybe $75 and have us create that exact plant for you in 3D? We have been considering this service for awhile.... So I am forming up the plan for working with Nisus and some folks at CG Architect on this plug-in. Can interested parties e-mail me directly at don@digi-element.com? Once we get the ball rolling I will speak to Herr Mottle about a special room. Probably a WorldBuilder room. --Don

This is pretty good stuff -- I work with WorldBuilder and we are currently looking into either making a plug in for our own product or adding specific functionality for architects and landscape architects. Right now WorldBuilder is used by architects and landscape architects, but I think we want to create a streamlined workflow and some specialized features to make it easier for you guy (and gals). What I might do is try to work with Jeff to create a small group of architects that can help us with making sure this is a good tool for architects. We can throw in some heavily discounted software as well. If you think you might be interested, contact either or both Jeff Mottle and myself. Once we gauge the level of interest, we can figure out what, if anything, makes sense. (By the way, WorldBuilder 3.5 will have true 3D clouds, to answer an earlier post) don@digi-element.com

Being the Worldbuilder guy, I can recommend trying WorldBuilder www.digi-element.com It will composite 3D trees and landscape with your Max or Viz scene during render time, so you can add trees and imagery without modifying your production pipeline. Even witht he Standard version you can import Max or Viz objects and get a good renderable 3D scene.

I would like to find out the overall level of interest in a product that plugs into Max and Viz and deals with outdoor environments -- trees, plants, water. WorldBuilder ( Digital Element )currently plugs into Max and Viz and we are considering a special plug-0in with new features. I'm looking forward to finding out if this is the kind of thing people need. Don

Try Aurora -- its at web page . Its a plug-in that allows you to change the weather very easily. You move everything in the foreground to one layer, delete out the sky with the wand and a little clean-up then Aurora creates a 3D sky. Aurora also handles lighting and water with reflection. Here is a sample: Digital Element Gallery Cheers! Don [ August 20, 2002, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: Don McClure ]