Hi everybody!
I'm curious if anyone has tried nPower Software's suite of Max plugins (Power Nurbs, Solids, Translators). They seem to be very very powerful. I have already downloaded the demo and tried to follow the tutorials but to be honest I had a lot of problems. I believe that its my lack of knowlege on all these parameters.. (I wish its my fault cause I don't want to believe that the software is buggy..). Also their tutorials are not step by step so it's difficult to understand what's happening behind the scenes if you are not already familiar with their software's way of reacting with surfaces. Last night I almost had a nervous breakdown tring to make a simple model. 10 kinds of curves, 10 kinds of points, edges that can't be joined, filleting errors etc etc!!..
Some people told me to go the Rhino way which is simpler and cheaper. But how does Rhino's tools compare to nPower's for Max? I definately prefer to work all the way to the end inside Max because this makes it very very easier when it comes to corrections of modelling, nurbs to mesh translation etc.
If someone has an idea on this software please give me a clue..
I'd also be greatful for a car creation tut using PowerNURBS. I have searched the net but have only found their own tutorials.
What I can tell you is... Max isnt good with NURBS eventhough if you have nPower. I use nPower when I export rhino models into max for rendering purpose.
Its best to have Rhino,AST, or such nurbs software if you want to work with NURBS.
So should I forget all about it? I loved the idea of having all this power right inside 3ds max.. The tutorials and the gallery in their site look fantastic. Have you tried using powerNurbs or just the translators?
Are there all the tools (tangency settings, booleans, different sketch curves etc) in Rhino as in powerNurbs for Max or there are things that can't be done in Rhino? (booleans, fillets etc).
Excuse me for the countless questions but I'm ready to purchase one Nurbs package but can't decide which one.. As you might already have figured out I prefer the idea of nPower bundle sitting inside Max but you confused me a little..
So should I forget all about it? I loved the idea of having all this power right inside 3ds max.. The tutorials and the gallery in their site look fantastic. Have you tried using powerNurbs or just the translators?
Are there all the tools (tangency settings, booleans, different sketch curves etc) in Rhino as in powerNurbs for Max or there are things that can't be done in Rhino? (booleans, fillets etc).
Excuse me for the countless questions but I'm ready to purchase one Nurbs package but can't decide which one.. As you might already have figured out I prefer the idea of nPower bundle sitting inside Max but you confused me a little..
Max has primarily been a polygon modeler, mesh editor and render/animation package and is excellent at what it does, but NURBS are a different kettle of fish, Rhino has always been a NURBS modeler and to be honest runs circles round most other modeling software i have tried and that (IMO) includes Max.
If you want/need NURBS then go with Rhino, and now that its starting to use Brazil R/S as a plugin, then with the accuracy of both these products should have you producing some spectacular results.
CPU Intel i5 3570k Memory 8Gbytes HDD Seagate 500Gb SATA II
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TPW : have you seriously tried nPower ? They really rock...they need quite some practice as they got some unusual concepts to them. But they are really flexible and introduce some damn nice stuff. They are WAY beyond Max's nurbs (wich suck monkey ass). They are a great addition to the max toolkit in my eyes.
TPW : have you seriously tried nPower ? They really rock...they need quite some practice as they got some unusual concepts to them. But they are really flexible and introduce some damn nice stuff. They are WAY beyond Max's nurbs (wich suck monkey ass). They are a great addition to the max toolkit in my eyes.
Nope never tried them, you may have a different mentality from me, but Max has since version 5 if i remember rightly, made some kind of feeble attempt to use NURBS, now i am not intending to rubbish a product i have never tried, but my mentality says, you are asking a third party product to deliver the goods on a platform that you and i both agree on, is sorely missing the power of NURBS, and that has never realy supported the use of them other than as a selling gimmick, as in Discreet and Autodesk can hype it up in the specs to say it handles and supports NURBS (yeah right).
All i can say is that both you and Skokk visit http://www.rhino3d.com and give the demo a try, it may only allow 25 saves but it will give you a product to compare nPower Nurbs as a third party plugin to a dedicated NURBS modeler and see which suits your needs best.
CPU Intel i5 3570k Memory 8Gbytes HDD Seagate 500Gb SATA II
Graphics Card Nvidia GTX 560 Monitor Setup 23" Full HD Celcus Flatscreen OS Windows 7
Thanks all of you for the replies. I will check out Rhino's demo right away and report back.
PS: TpwUK you should also check out nPowers demo version (if you are using Max of course..). I'm sure you'll change your opinion right away. nPower Software gave a new dimension to Max's Nurbs modeling. These are definately not just a set of tools. It's a new whole nurbs platform, like a rhino inside Max. If you already know the principles of nurbs modeling you'll face less problems than I did and find these at least creative.
Just to put some things straight...as said above i agree that Max's Nurbs support is more then only laughable....they should just strip it out...it's useless...but PowerNurbs has NOTHING to do with MAX's built in nurbs. They use a completely diff core, that is actually not a pure nurbs core, but a nurbs/brep/solids core that mixes all of the three almost seamless. And as a funny side note this core (wich is done by integrityware) is actually used in Rhino to some extend :
"The new Rhino beta has been released, and it is using GSLib ( GSLib.DLL is installed in the same directory as the Rhino executable ). This version of Rhino is explicitly using IwSurface:ropCurve(), IwCurve::LocalPointSolve(), IwCurve::GlobalPointSolve(), IwSurface::GlobalPointSolve(), and IwCurve::GlobalPropertyAnalysis(). GSLib has helped to make Rhino a better product. Thanks for a good product." --- Dale Lear of Robert McNeel and Associates.
Again, it is a different animal then Max's nurbs, and it introduces some damn nice concepts that i havent seen anywhere else so far.
Another thing that makes it kick the built in nurbs's ass is that fact that they also offer ClassA surfacing.
All in all it is a pretty young product still, but it shows a LOT of potential.
Considering trying the Rhino demo, we actually have a Rhino lic here at work, and i use it from time to time. But i cant be arsed to do so all the time, as my main tool of choice is max, and i have to use it everyday...and everytime i switch between the two i have to get used to them again...like shortcuts, viewport nav etc....i prefer having it all in one app that i know inside out rather then switching around. Not to mention that i dont have to tesselate PowerNurbs, so the actual rendering can be done on a viewbased tesselation basis wich offers a great quality/resource need ratio...
Well that's pretty hard to tell actually. And i wouldnt say that i am "able to handle it" already. The phone is rather simple shapewise. Things like that are easy to accomplish. The biggest factor would be if the one trying to learn it is firm with nurbs modelling in general. Then you should be able to pick it up rather quick i guess.
Can anybody sugest optimal seting for impoted car to look nice in max with
npower translators and are some diferences importing from rhinoceros 3 and rhinoceros 4 pliz ?
ropCurve(), IwCurve::LocalPointSolve(), IwCurve::GlobalPointSolve(), IwSurface::GlobalPointSolve(), and IwCurve::GlobalPropertyAnalysis(). GSLib has helped to make Rhino a better product. Thanks for a good product." --- Dale Lear of Robert McNeel and Associates.
Originally Posted by petter
