Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!super!udel!mmdf From: kvancamp@ardec.arpa (Ken Van Camp) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Sculpt-4D Upgrade Message-ID: <4182@louie.udel.EDU> Date: 22 Sep 88 19:09:18 GMT Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU Lines: 34 I just got my announcement from Byte by Byte about the Sculpt-4D upgrade. Trying to decide whether it is worth it to upgrade, I have a few questions/comments: (1) Sculpt-4D is apparently faster than Sculpt-3D at rendering and refreshing the tri-view, but no estimates on how fast were given. Can someone provide me with some sample ray tracing times comparing the two programs for the same model? Or at least give a seat-of-the-pants estimate? (2) The new features alone do not seem worth the huge price increase for me. (This is not a flame, just a personal lack of interest in most of the new features.) What I was really waiting for was texture mapping, which Eric Graham said he was working on a year ago. My gut reaction is to wait for 3-Tuple, rather than spending the money on Sculpt-4D right now. Fred Mitchell says he already has texture mapping in 3-Tuple, and you can map any IFF file onto a surface. (Has anybody seen this?) (3) Upgrade prices are somewhat strange. You can buy Sculpt-4D for $499.95. Or you can upgrade from Sculpt-3D for $345. (Sculpt-3D only lists for $100, and you can buy it at the discount houses for about $70, so go buy it quick and get $150 off the price!) Or you can upgrade from both Sculpt-3D and Animate-3D for $195. (You can buy Animate-3D for under $100 at discount, so buy it now and knock off another $150!) Hmmm. --Ken Van Camp ARPANET: kvancamp@ARDEC.ARPA -or- kvancamp@AC4.PICA.MIL BITNET: (use above through normal gateways) USENET: uunet!ardec.arpa!kvancamp@UUNET.UU.NET 'Tis better to Shell than to shell out the dough.