[Krackers87]

If i ever see someone who made that program its gonna be a ****ing misunderstanding.

Seriously, if not kill i would at least maim the sadistic bastards for selling this piece of crap for money.

Now i move on to learn light wave and 3ds max and try to forget all my experiences with truespace.

All its good for is converting.

[Carl]

if you can't even figure out truespace don't even bother with the other ones.

[Black Wolf]

Why? Max is far, far easier to understand than TS. Everything is labelled and in a logical place, with a logical icon to represent it. TS has... none of the above. So which is easier?

[Carl]

Originally posted by Black Wolf
Why? Max is far, far easier to understand than TS. Everything is labelled and in a logical place, with a logical icon to represent it. TS has... none of the above. So which is easier?

everything that is labeled in max is also labed in TS. everything in TS is in a logical place, and they all have logical icons with pics describing what they do just like in max. what are you talking about?

[Nico]

I can't figure TS out, but I'm fine with max

[Carl]

guess it depends on the person.

also, if you've learned one program, the other may be more difficult. like if you've always walked on your hands your entire life, it would be difficult to try to walk on your feet.

[Carl]

"There is no poopy modifier." -my 3DSMax teacher

[KARMA]

I learned TS5 wihout having even opened a 3d prog before, and without even reading manuals, I just clicked randomly the buttons the first days to understand the overall program philosophy, and as soon as I understood it, I found most of the buttons just were I supposed they should be.
Obviously it required more more time to understand the limits, the tricks and the best strategies, and I'm still learning, but It required (for many reasons) more time to understand the best way to creat ships for the game rather than to understand the best ways to use truespace.
I wasn't able to do the same with max (but admittedly I haven't spent enough time on it).
My opinion is that truespace IS easy and intuitive, and somehow elegant too, but it is organized in a different way than most of other progs.
From my limited experience and from what I heard from others, it is hard to switch from truespace to other progs, or from other progs to truespace.
Truespace is probably more suited for newbies: it has big limits compared to other packages, but (*almost*) all that is needed for lowploy models is there, and it has a pretty fast learning curve.
Once you get used to the on screen view control you don't even neeed other views except for very specific things, I work 90% of my time with only a window in perspective view saving a lot of workspace. I know you can do the same in other progs, but...it isn't the same:)
Probably the hardest step is to understand that most of the modelling tools are subdivided in object tools and point editing tools, that many tools will pop-up just by switching modality between object editing and point editing, althought almost all the other progs do the same (in different ways).
The only tricky part of the interface is to remember where the tools are, since the bars are compressed by default and many icons are hidden, and many advanced options can be accessed only with right click.
Believe it or not, Photoshop is organized in a very similar way, and probably this is why I found immediatly my way in  truespace.
And don't forget that you can completely modify the interface: you can delete, move, add, copy icons, you can create custom toolbars, you can make em persistent, compressed, expanded, or pop-up bars, so if you don't like how the interface is organized (and if you know what the tools do), you can just create your own interface, completely different than the default one.
Since each 3d package has its own philosophy, it is very possible than some people will find extremely simple to understand a specific prog, and extremely difficult to understand others; but I'm talking about understanding how a program is organized, if you have problems instead understanding how/when use specific tools, how/when do things, well expect problems with any 3dprog

[karajorma]

Oh great. Another person want's to start a round of let's bash Truespace.

Ever consider the fact that the problem might be your lack of talent Krackers? As the saying goes "A poor workman blames his tools." I've seen renders done in truespace that put everything I've seen on these boards to shame so I think that your comment that it's only good for converting is a load of crap.  

The simple fact is that just because you don't like something that doesn't make it a crap tool. I personally hated working with Blender but some people don't and if they can work with it and get good results then more power to them.

[Hippo]

whats the current cost of 3dmax nowadays?

[Nico]

too much

Karajorma: I've seen awesome pics done in MS paint.  Don't laugh, it's true. Does that mean Paint is a great prog? No. It means some people have too much time on their hand. Take any of your super beautiful renders from TS, it will take 1/4 the time to do the same in max, LW, maya, or whatever pro prog you want.
The best workman will do his job even with a dull tool, but how long will it take? Think about it, and ask yourself why isn't truespace used for making videogames and movie effects

[Setekh]

Venom's hit the nail on the head (of course). More powerful programs just allow you to reach similar results in less time. That has its ups and downs, I personally am quite fond of taking my time with renders, but if speed is of the essence to you, then you're going to have to fork out for the luxury.

[Turnsky]

comparisons between Paintshop pro and photoshop is an excellent case in point..

[Nico]

Originally posted by Setekh
Venom's hit the nail on the head (of course). More powerful programs just allow you to reach similar results in less time. That has its ups and downs, I personally am quite fond of taking my time with renders, but if speed is of the essence to you, then you're going to have to fork out for the luxury.

Well, I do prefer to spend much time on my renders, but I prefer to spend that "much time" refining lightning and details, than having it wasted coz you're only halfway through the basic layout

[KARMA]

but we never said truespace is a pro prog. It isn't.
But I doubt you absolutely require maya3d to build low poly meshes for a game (althought the new bumped limits of FSO changed a bit the situation in favour of more powerful packages).
I'm sure maya, xsi, lightwave, max or whatever else will speed up your work, like photoshop can speed up your work compared to paintbrush... but even photoshop don't give you much much more than paintbrush if you just want to draw a black line over a white background.
With truespace you can add verts, edges, slice polys, sweep, scale, move, select, use boolean operations, and many other less useful things (not to mention the plugins). Is there really a lot more required for lowpoly models?.
I know that max and others pro progs have many other small tools that sometimes could be useful, and that give results in few clicks when in truespace you have to do a lot more of manual passages, and there are other tools that in TS simply are less reliable, or you simply have a better control of your mesh in other progs.
This doesn't mean that you can't work at excellent levels in truespace (like in paintbrush) but I also doubt that you will see incredible differences with the kind of meshes we are used to work on.
Most of those pro packages are designed for complex scenes, animations, pro renders, and you would probably make them in less that 1/4 of the time that you would spend in TS, but we don't use TS to do them.
And truespace has a rather different workflow than max..some people can love it, others just hate it, this doesn't mean that it is crap or illogic or confusing, it is just different, and I think that sometimes the problems with how it is organized are just lack of patience in understanding or some other times lack of skills.
The program that lets you obtain the best results is not necessarily the most professional (even max isn't the most pro between 3d progs), but the one you are more comfortable with.
I love for example truespace's workflow and organization, I'd just like sometimes more tools and more powerful tools in the same program struct

[KARMA]

Originally posted by KARMA
I love for example truespace's workflow and organization, I'd just like sometimes more tools and more powerful tools in the same program struct

maybe I'm a pervert:nervous:

[diamondgeezer]

I figured out TS5 simply by experimentation and reverse engineering V models (and ICQ coaching from Narol now and again...). I only use the basic features, but it from a beginner's point of view it seems fine. Just save often

[Killfrenzy]

I use TS5 exclusively and don't find much of  a problem with it apart from my lack of talent.

We do have 3DS Max 4.2 in the university network, but I've tinkered with it and have no idea how it works!

With TS I tinkered and got some results, tinkered some more and got better results. Many of my programs are learned by tinkering. Not the most economic way to do it I admit, but that's just me.

Plus I figure, you're going to have to use TS at some point so why not use it all the way?

[diamondgeezer]

Well this is it, building stuff in TS prevents **** ups during conversion from other formats

[Lynx]

I like TS, that is TS 5. I tried the free  3.2 version and have to say that five is lightyears ahead of it. Now if I could rotate textures with it it'd be perfect.