(OT) 3D Contest this Weekend, Give it a Shot

[Lynn Fredricks]

> Are there any sample models that can be downloaded? From a 
> quick look it seems that the formats are ones that I wouldn't 
> be able to use, at least not in Director or Unity. Do any of 
> the sets have 3DS or FBX formats?

Models are licensed in two ways: art (Art) and real-time (PRO). The art
license is for pure rendering to images or animation, so doing a Myst style
game is fine with the Art license. Under the Pro license, its possible to
export geometry for use in a real time situation like a game. While the art
license versions are in specific formats, ie Vue, Shade, Bryce, Poser, the
3DS version is also included. The PRO license gets you everything in all the
art licenses, plus the original .max files. With those, its possible to
generate an fbx. You can also generate FBX from Shade Professional as well,
that works great in Unity (the Shade Facebook page has a link to a ustream
movie showing this).

This contest though is just to suggest new themes and styles. The suggester
of the most interesting one will get a copy of Shade Professional, which
usually costs $749.

As an aside, most 3D animation packages can generate animation in Quicktime
format - but the irony is that if you want to generate a QTVR - pano or
object - movie, you'd be better doing it on Windows. Apple's pretty much
given up on supporting QTVR on the Mac, but they simply leave it in on
Windows. Weird, and sort of sad.

Best regards,

Lynn Fredricks
President
Proactive International, LLC

- Because it is about who you know.(tm)
http://www.proactive-intl.com