iDevGames

A History Lesson

Recently, Wired magazine ran an article called “Maya: Doomed on Mac OS X.” The author questions why Maya’s developer, Alias|Wavefront, would spend the resources to bring this powerful 3D application to the Macintosh. He states that our platform has a large graveyard full of failed 3D applications:

“The software seems headed for the well-populated graveyard of dead 3D apps for the Mac, whose residents include MacRenderMan, Swivel 3D, Infini-D, Typestry, PixelPutty, Logomotion, Macromind 3D, Showplace, RayDream Designer, and Strata3D, among others.”

Looking at that list, one would be led to believe that our platform is the “Bermuda Triangle” of 3D applications. However, let’s take a closer look to see how little research the author did in preparing the article. MacRenderMan was based on the award-winning renderer RenderMan by Pixar Animation Studios. The company has ceased development of the low-cost MacRenderMan product and has requested The VALIS Group to phase it out¹. The RenderMan renderer has been seen in countless 3D movies and cutting-edge games. Pixar’s current tool, RenderMan Artist Tools, provides excellent integration between Maya, yet this bridge doesn’t exist at the time of this writing for the Macintosh. However, my opinion is that the CEO of Pixar could easily make it happen. Until then, I’d like to mention that the longtime Macintosh 3D application Pixels3D² exports RIB files for rendering in a RenderMan compliant renderer. Some users have commented that Pixels3D offers features on par with high-end applications such as SoftImage and 3DS Max. Pixels3D version four, shipping soon, will feature a built-in RenderMan compliant renderer called Tempest.

Moving along, we come to Swivel 3D Professional, Three-D and MacroModel. In 1995 Macromedia decided to consolidate these applications into a single product called Extreme 3D. This application was very innovative in its day and boasted a spline-based modeler, RenderMan support and volumetric lights. Sadly, Macromedia stopped development of the program due to several factors. One of those factors was related to the hardware capabilities—the average system did not ship with 3D graphics acceleration, as is the case today. Today, users have much more robust systems and bandwidth access, so Macromedia is moving towards 3D again with their authoring tool Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio. Miriam Geller of Macromedia explains, “3D was one of the most requested features from Director developers. 3D can make games, e-merchandising, and learning applications more effective. This is why Director developers want to utilize 3D and this is why Macromedia has made it happen through Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio.”

The story of Logomotion, Infini-D and RayDream Designer reads like a script from Hollywood. I suppose the best place to start is with Specular International, Ltd. This developer had a nice product line that included Infini-D, TextureScape and Logomotion. Infini-D was its flagship application and was widely used by many Macintosh 3D artists. Logomotion was a simple to use 3D logo creation tool with animation capabilities. In April 1997, just as Infini-D seemed to be catching up to its competitors, MetaTools acquired Specular International Ltd. The MetaTools juggernaut seemed to be part of a lot of the 90s M&A activity in the graphic market. Once a small company called HSC, MetaTools (HSC) introduced a collection of Photoshop plug-ins called Kai’s Power Tools that became a huge hit in 1993. The company rapidly expanded with the release of additional Photoshop and Illustrator plug-ins and made headlines when it licensed and released Live Picture, a high-end painting and compositing application with a price tag of $4,000. In 1995 HSC changed its name to MetaTools and became MetaCreations when it merged with Fractal Design Corp. Best known for their natural painting tool “Painter,” Fractal had completed its acquisition of Ray Dream, Inc. some time earlier. Ray Dream Inc. marketed a range of 3D applications such as Ray Dream Designer and Ray Dream Studio. With the merger, MetaCreations controlled most of the low-end to mid-range Mac 3D products, along with additional graphics tools such as Bryce and Poser. In December 2000, MetaCreations Corp. caused a stir in the Mac graphic community by announcing that they would disengage from most of their graphics line to focus on development and marketing of their 3D technology for the web called MetaStream. With MetaCreations’ implosion, it seemed like 3D on the Mac was dealt a heavy blow. Nevertheless, unlike the author from Wired, I will continue the story.

The Graveyard Shift

Following the days of MetaCreations’ decision, many users were left guessing if a certain graphics company from San Jose, California would pick up the pieces. In the end, Adobe acquired only Canoma (a tool that allows for fast creation of photorealistic 3D models from one or more photographs) and licensed the Carrara technology from Viewpoint, formally MetaCreations. From what I understand, Viewpoint retained the responsibility for supporting the Canoma product, however I wasn’t able to locate any reference to Canoma on their website. Although not connected to Viewpoint or Adobe, the website Canoma.com contains a lot of useful information and resources for users of Canoma. Speaking of Adobe, they offer a 3D product which supports resolution-independent PostScript® output called Adobe Dimensions. It’s been available for many years and is still sold by Adobe, but it seems to be stuck at version 3.01. Perhaps with focus on their new 3D-related technology called Adobe Atmosphere, Dimensions will quietly enter the graveyard.

Longtime Windows developer Corel-which seems to be always remaking itself-gobbled up Painter and Bryce. You’ll be happy to know that Fractal Design Corporation lives on and is doing some consulting for Corel and expects to ship its own products down the road. Poser, the innovative character design program, returned to its “roots” and is now happy and alive at Curious Labs. Like many users, I have always had a difficult time utilizing Poser’s models outside of MetaCreations products. Well, the great news is that Curious Labs has added plug-ins directly to 3DS Max, LightWave 3D, Cinema 4D and some others. This is a great step and should help make Poser part of your Mac 3D tool chest.

Just before MetaCreations went on its vision quest, they launched a program that merged Ray Dream and Infini-D with a whole new GUI and feature set. Now under the company Eovia, Carrara Studio is poised for a strong comeback. Eovia also markets a very powerful 3D modeler called Amapi 3D. Eovia seems to be very committed to the Macintosh platform and I think the next version of Amapi will turn many heads.

We have covered a lot of territory here but one program remains to be taken out of Mr. Grey’s well-populated graveyard: Strata. In fact, his inclusion of Strata in that list led me to question the research that was conducted for the article. Let me confirm for you (and Strata’s investors) that Strata is not only available, but is in better shape then it has ever been. Strata is best known as the company that created the 3D application that rendered the graphics to the mesa-selling game Myst. From its roots in the 3D world, the company expanded into DV and broadened their product line. As a former refugee from the Amiga platform, my first Macintosh 3D application was Strata™ StudioPro Blitz. This was one of the very first PowerPC applications and featured a powerful rendering engine. While the 3D marketplace was shrinking through MetaCreations’ activities, Strata released the ill-fated version 2.0 of its flagship 3D product. Now cross-platform, it showed a glimpse of what the program would become. However, it was extremely buggy, and negative reviews poured in. Strata would later be purchased by a holding company called C3D. Things started to look a lot like MetaCreations as releases slowed down and communication to the user-community slowed to a trickle³. Founders Ken and Gary Bringhurst finally returned Strata to an independent company that has regained the mission that was set out in 1986.

Alive and Rendering

The Wired article failed to mention some applications that Mac users have known for years and also some newcomers making big waves. Since we just covered Strata’s near-death experience, it is only right to cover another company that was in the same situation not too long ago, Electric Image. Once part of Play Inc., they too have returned to their “3D roots.” The Wired article originally listed Electric Image among the dead. However, it was removed midway through the first day. The production credits for Universe⁴ is like a who’s who of Hollywood, including Star Wars: Episode One (despite LucasFilms’ denials), Titanic, Dinosaur, Terminator 2: Judgment Day (ground breaking!), Star Wars Trilogy SE, Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor and countless others. As you can see, they can render with the big boys. In addition to Universe (which will be moving to version 4 soon) they also offer a 3D consumer application that has been getting rave reviews, Amorphium Pro.

In the days before Electric Image had a modeling application, many artists would turn to form-Z by auto-des-sys, Inc. Form-Z’s strong point has always been its ability to work seamlessly on solid and surface modeling. There’s not too much that you can imagine that this tool can’t model. Now up to version 3.9, it has many accolades from the 3DCG press and Macintosh media from around the world.

I recall Martin Hash and his various 3D tools from back in my Amiga days. His company Hash Inc. has been marketing the inexpensive 3D application Animation:Master for some time. The current version is called Animation:Master 2002 and features some of the best tools for creating and animating characters—one of the more difficult aspects of 3D work. That’s no overstatement either; it contains some features that only high-end programs enjoy. The irony of the program is that due to its price (under USD $300), some artists and press have dismissed it as a consumer toy. Perhaps Hash should raise the price to US $2,000 to get some more respect! Before you jump and buy Animation:Master, you should be aware that although the version updates are numerous, I have always found the program to contain some bugs that have kept me from making it an everyday use tool. (In fairness to Hash, I should state that their update schedule is very aggressive.)

Another program that has roots from the Amiga platform is LightWave 3D. This program was slow to catch on with Mac users due to its “different” user-interface but has been gaining converts from many sectors. Because NewTek has been working closely with Apple, Mac OS X users can enjoy a native version. In fact, my sources tell me that LightWave 7 for Mac OS X is outselling the Windows version. LightWave 3D is a great choice for character creation, game developers, and artists producing broadcast media work. And unlike many Mac programs in the past, it enjoys good 3rd party plug-in support. (Actually, Electric Image also gets a nod in this area.) NewTek offered a lower-end version of LightWave 3D called Inspire 3D, however it has been discontinued. A freelance artist informed me that they will be releasing a new application called LightWave Express, which will be more capable than Inspire 3D and less so than LightWave.

New Apps on the Block

Before we get to Maya, which was the purpose of this editorial, we have to discuss a company that aspires to be the number one solution for cross-platform 3D artists. Beginning on the Amiga and hailing from Germany, Maxon Computer, Inc. is building a global presence in the 3D world. Their line, called Cinema 4D, has been winning converts from many of the applications that I have listed. Priced at $1,695 USD for the top-of-the-line Cinema 4D XL, this application features native Mac OS X support, a fast renderer, multiprocessor support and great network rendering. In addition to Cinema 4D XL, Maxon also offers lower-cost versions called Cinema 4D ART and Cinema 4D Go, along with BodyPaint 3D (a tool for creating high-quality detailed textures). Cinema 4D Go is bundled with Apple’s Final Cut Pro and Cinema 4D XL is included in Apple’s Secondary Education Multimedia Bundle.

Defying all concepts of how a 3D application should act, ZBrush has burst on the scene. At first look, it seems to be an Amorphium Pro-clone on steroids, but it is much more! In fact, ZBrush has been chosen as a finalist for Game Developer magazine’s Front Line Awards. I recently had a chance to take this program for a test ride and was extremely impressed—think 2D painting in a 3D world. As I said, Amorphium Pro and the former Fractal tool, Painter 3D, touch on some of its feature set but the program goes far beyond what most traditional 3D applications are capable of.

The developers of 3D applications I have covered thus far have all been based in North American and Europe. Based in Japan, the land of anime and cute characters, e frontier, Inc. has been slowly capturing market share from everyone with their Shade 3D line. I first saw Shade a few years ago and was impressed with its modeling and rendering capabilities. Frequently, foreign developers have a localizer and distributor to help market their Western program. In Shade’s case, the product has been carefully guided to meet the needs of Japanese artists. Since the demand for creating high-quality character animation and stills is very high in Japan, Shade images can be seen everywhere from magazine covers to product advertisements and even many PlayStation 2 games. For the Japanese domestic market, ExpressionTools offers Shade in four versions: Shade Pro, Shade Personal, Shade Debut and iShade. According to representative Shinobu Fukamachi (International Sales), e frontier, Inc. plans to release Shade Professional R5 English in December. If you’d like to learn more or download a demo, you should look at their International page.

Worth the Cost?

Following the negative article by Wired, Alias|Wavefront and Apple were eager to sit down and talk with Mac Central. You can read the damage control in the article “Alias|Wavefront, Apple talk Maya with MacCentral.” After you read the article, take a look at the article’s user comments. There are some interesting comments made by “real-world” 3D computer artists. I’ll make no bold statements that I work in a Hollywood studio nor with an AAA game developer, but let me share my view on this subject. First, most of the quotes in the Wired article seemed a tad off-base:

“…Maya suffers from a prohibitively high price: $7,500. Hardly an impulse buy for most designers.”

My experience is that there are many levels of people working in 3D. They range from a guy who is happy to just make a reflective sphere with a checkerboard ground, to a freelancer who bills the costs of the tools into the project’s bid. Many of them can and do get by with the various tools I have outlined in this editorial. For full-time professionals working in the 3D industry, whether in their own studio or part of a large studio, the investments in the tools they own pay for themselves over the course of a few projects (one if you or the company are very skilled!)

“But I can’t see Mac consumers lining up to buy and learn Maya.”

This is a professional high-end application. It isn’t aimed at your average Mac consumer! We shouldn’t always connect the idea that Mac application equals low-cost tool. While it is true that Maya could be the most expensive application on the Macintosh ever sold, people and companies who work in the business have and do spend much more on hardware and software each year.

“Though Macs are prevalent within the creative core of most ad firms, it’s unlikely they would consider purchasing Maya, or any other such high priced 3D software to build ads with…”

I’m lost with that quote. Yes, Macs are (wisely) utilized in creative agencies, but I don’t think that Alias|Wavefront imagined that web designers would be rushing out to buy Maya to make Flash movies. It’s possible that a marketing intern made the mistake of releasing some PR that was aimed at web designers, but in the end, Maya is going to be used by people who earn their bread and butter by creating games, movie and broadcast content, or other 3D visualization fields.

“It finally endorses the computer as robust enough to run a world-class professional 3D application.”

Finally, something that makes sense. It would have been good to hear from more people who actually work in the 3D industry. Questions like “Would you consider switching your platform to run Maya on a slick and modern OS that was in a screaming machine?” Perhaps a percentage of them will stick to their Iris/Unix/Linux machines, but with the Power Macintosh line (and PowerBooks) getting better and better, I’m sure artists will take a new look at our platform.

Conclusion

I didn’t view the Wired article as Mac-bashing (although some did) but rather a quickly thrown together article to bring in web surfers. Alias|Wavefront has indeed invested a lot of resources to bring Maya to the Macintosh. It is the same investment that developers like Adobe and Macromedia make every day. Is it too expensive? Not for the people who need it. In a way, it will do what ProTools from digidesign has done for the music industry. A basic ProTools professional music system starts at just under $10,000 USD. Yet, it is the standard for professional music production. One request I’d like to make of them is to speed up the release of a multi-threaded renderer along with Mac OS X plug-ins.

On the subject of professional 3D cards lacking on the Mac, the GeForce3 is an excellent card and ATI’s “promised” card also holds potential, but we really need card maker 3Dlabs to find a new Mac partner and not stop at only supporting Apple Cinema Displays. Likewise for graphic card makers FireGL (ATI) and ELSA. It shouldn’t be a huge step to get drivers for a card like the Quadro DCC from ELSA, since it’s basically a revved up Geforce3. On a positive note, if the rumors are true about a 64-bit G5, with speeds at 1.6GHz plus, Apple will have successfully leapfrogged the 64 bit Itanium chip from Intel, which is having trouble making the chip run faster than 800MHz.

My final thoughts are that I hope Maya’s success will lead Discreet to bring 3DS Max over to Mac OS X. Of all the 3D applications on the market today, I strongly feel that tool could benefit Macintosh game developers the most.

Wiredosity

I’m sorry that this editorial didn’t speculate on the the sinking fortunes of Alias|Wavefront’s parent company, Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI), Richard Kerris (former Director of Maya Technologies) now at Apple, or Steve Jobs at the helm of Apple and Pixar. I’ll have to leave that to the rumor sites. However, I’ll make this prediction: seeing how the world has embraced Wireless technology perhaps “Wired” isn’t so relevant anymore. Estimated time of death—Summer 2003.

Notes

I realized that in my listing of “History of 3D” on the Mac, I left out some programs. In an effort to reduce emails with “Hey, how about program XYZ!” I made a little short list:

• Meshwork — Efficient polygon modeler for games
• Organica — Organic modeler
• Sketch! — Former Mac 3D application by Alias|Wavefront
• solidThinking — Modeling and rendering environment
• 3D World — QuickDraw 3D-based modeler/renderer
• VistaPro — Terrain creation from the Amiga platform
• 3D Joy (formerly PresenterModeler 3D) — Was commercial, then free, now commercial?
• RokkakuDaioh — Japanese 3D character modeler
• Mac Sculpt4D — Put them in the graveyard

• Neon, Argon and Xenon (Ashlar-Vellum)

¹ The VALIS Group still supports and sells the VGLooks™ and VGShaders™.

² Formerly called PixelPutty.

³ Actually, there were a lot of PRs released with a lot of marketing mumbo jumbo.

⁴ Formerly Electric Image.

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