Hey man, It's nice to have other Rhino users around here... Nice looking plane,your gonna love Carrara for rendering... kaom

Screw Bryce 7, I'm holding out for Bryce Studio v10...Lol.. I heard it's going to have Realtim/realworld rendering, and it's supposed to support Full Time Travel....

I like using the sun and a pure white ambient sphere around the scene with no lights, maybe one omni set to about 2 or 3 for shadows.. The light domes are cool, but I like "luminescence mapping"/(fake hdri)...

Another program worth learning is Rhinoceros. The demo, is the full product, the limitaiton is only 25 saves or exports, but it works forever, so you can keep learning it.. Learn all the siftware you can, if you want a job, having many skills in your toolbox is an asset.. Definately learn Maya if you want to go down the paths that use Maya porfessionally.. kaom

Quintron - Are you ready for an Organ Solo Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Any album or live recording.. Nels Cline - Silencer Crash Worship - The Gods Are

I use Rhino for 99.9% of my modeling.. I got it 3 years ago and have never looked back.. I wouldn't want to use anything else.. For me Carrara's modeling is weak..But that's because I'm used to CAD like precison and accuracy.. It depends on what you want to get out of it.. For some things Carraras modeling tools are fine, and then for others, Carrara can't even begin.. Amapi 5 is worth learning, hell it's free with Carrara, .. I think they give it with Carrara because they know that most people are going to want to model with better tools... Nurbs cannot be compared to what is offered in Carrara.. They are vastly superior.. It's like comparing bitmaps to vectors.. 2 different universes...But I do love Carrara for it's Scene/Texturing/Animation/Export/rendering features... I wonder if Eovia is looking into adding Nurbs modeling to Carrara in the future? It would make it a much more powerful program.. kaom

The real version of Carrara supports video files as textures, you can apply video just like a texture...

I think you need to use HDRShop, I shoot pictures of gazing balls and convert them in HDRShop to longintude/latitiude maps... I don't know if you can use a regular tileable image and have it work right.. HDRI images are a whole other ball game than regulat tilaeable stuff... 2 different worlds..

NURBS! And a feature found in Rhino, when you click in the top left of the viewport it maximaizes it. Double clicking it again will put you back to 4 view mode.. And you can resize the individual viewports and create new ones for custom views. I know many will (strongly) disagree with this suggestion.. Move away from the candy KPT interface.. I know it's beautiful and really cool looking, but it subtracts form functionality for being so candy..Make it more like a standard interface, so you can have more tools at your fingertips, without so much clicking to get there. I know some hate it, but Rhino's interface is the perfect 3D workspace. Once you get used to it, it's much faster and productive.. And it applies to other major packages as well..Just my opinions...

This is not going to be good for Bryce...

Flat out, hands down, the best modeler for the money is Rhino. I've ben using since 2001, and havn't looked back. It will do anything you need, architectural, automotive, charcter design. It's basically a really friendly 3D Cad program, and is as accurate as you need. You can model real world objects in Rhino, it's used in everything from automotive design, deisgning buildings, industrial design, many, many products are deisgned using Rhino.. And nomuse is right, there really is no "best", it all depends on what you need and expect form a program. For many people, Rhino is way overkill, for some it's not enough. Cinema has very good modeling tools, not quite as intricate as Rhino's, since it's not a Cad based app, but still very good. I have very mixed feelings on Amapi. Not worth the money, it's almost as much as Rhino.

I could of told you that years ago.. I know that I'm repeating words here, but Rhino is THE preiere modeling app at any price.. I primarily model cars in Rhino. and it's a joy.. Yes it is CAD based, but all 3D programs have CAD roots.. It's also a very capable organic modeler too, look at Teyons work, (Rhino Mod), there is some sick work out of Rhino.. I personally will never look anywhere else for modeling.. I can create any surface or shape I need.. And having CAD precision and snapping powers makes very difficult tasks in other apps seem like cakework.. Not to mention, there are many, many, many, many jobs out there that are Rhino based. It's used in everything from Medical, to Automotive, to motion pictures, knowing Rhino well can make you money. In short, if you can afford it, get Rhino, period.

PS - y@ does some great work. There's a bunch of us car heads in the Rhino forum, come on over and visit... And Rhino plays very nicely with Bryce, it's a KILLER 3D file converter in it's own right..

I've entered into the contest, I have a car I've been working on for over 5 months that I'm submitting. I'm sure I have no chance, but what the hey? And I'd have no problem with a Ferrari SUV, that could be very cool...

You can export polys from Rhino.. But you have to go through the task of learning proper NURBS to Mesh conversion. It's a little bit of a trick, but it's not a problem... You can tell Rhino exactly how many polys to make something. And no, Rhino is definately Subdidvion modeler, NURBS are shiznet...