GPU rendering and ease of use is what we hold onto with trueSpace it seems. Also the concept of nail based fully IK ragdoll rigs, and collaborative 3D production and sharing spaces.
Today, GPU render based software is catching up and surpassing TS, tho it took 2 years to get to that point. Some are used as plugins for most major software at a very decent price of 99 euro, others were ahead of their game at prices of 4000 dollars, later kettled due to hacking and problems with their market, and others around 1000 dollars for only Maya.
Here are two software packages which surpass or equal to truespace's.
Octane Renderer - 99Euro
http://www.refractivesoftware.com/features.html
By far the best realtime render package available to the market, including plugins for all major software, an easy to use GUI, DOF, motion blur, among other features. At a resonable price, one can use professional software with the latest fast GPU rendering benifits.
Furryball - 999USD
http://furryball.aaa-studio.eu/features.html
Probably the best professional render package in the market, with strong forum activity, tutorials and technical support, It has features like subsurface scattering, realtime hair, millions of polygons, reflection, refraction, GI, realtime displacement maps, and more with full integration into only Maya, this package can be a perfect solution for a medium franchise.
Mach Studio Pro 2 - free
http://download.cnet.com/MachStudio-Pro ... 98419.html
A once leader in the GPU market, partnered with ATI graphics and assisted development by Weta Workshops, the leader in GPU render engines, a now defunct software that was sold to the wrong market at a hefty 4999USD. Due to economical circumstances, and GPU revolutionary ideas, the program was left to the internet free. From realtime reflections, refraction, ambient occlusion, glows, DOF, among other great features, this render package could be your perfect render farm replacement. Tho tutorials, technical support and other features will be hard to come by, due to its quickly dying market. The SDK was never released.
trueSpace 7.61 beta 8 - free
A pioneering software now defunct from 2009, once was the first of GPU based render engines, with realtime physics, hair, cloth, collaborative 3D spaces, and advanced IK, truespace was one of best pioneering 3D authoring software with the latest concept in 3D production at resonable prices. Due to economical troubles, the franchise was kettled. The SDK was released, and it still dates to contain features still only recently being developed by professional software.
I am tempted to use Octane myself, maybe even purchase it, and use it to produce cheap productions here in Colombia. I currently work for a small 3D business here, who has officially produced Colombias first kid's animation series in history. We are ahead of the game here, concerning television, and next year I am the head technical and animation director of the franchise, embarking on a 20 minute series for kids from 3 to 8 years old.
Considering this software to be developing quickly, at a resonable price and it's compatibility with most professional software packages, including blender, this would be the perfect GPU replacement for truespace.
Many people are finally catching onto the idea of GPU systems:
http://blog.renderstream.com/2010/01/ar ... on-part-1/
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/201 ... turity.ars
http://www.3dworldmag.com/2011/01/07/pr ... rendering/
So the future?
Tho working with many autodesk based software (mudbox, maya, softimage, etc) and having tasted blender, vue, and other 3D authoring software... my staff speak Spanish, and most have to take semesters specialized in one particular software to produce art. Many get distracted by the program before the art can even be produced. Many programs are hefty, and tho very stable, robust and useful, many software lack small details like: realtime responsiveness and relativity to a final image, ease of use, efficiency in time, 3D world space manipulation, collaboration, and true IK rigs.
Truespace, tho old and undeveloping, still contains many features even major software do not have.
I fight with Softimage's rigging system (which Maya and 3D max base their rigging off) struggling to make convincing and easy to use rigs. Truespace has the concept right, with complete skelatons that can be used with physics and manipulated like real puppets, introducing new contraints systems. This is very promising. I am yet to produce anything with it, but I'm gonna see how possible it is, find the bugs, and then reevaluate it.
It's ability for 3D production to turn out as a final image is still ahead of it's time, and up to par with most software's modeling tools. It's animation is adequate, and boast of procedural animations and quick physics. It's awesome feature of having a workmate work with me on the same model is a great boost to productivity.
And last but not least, you don't need english to use it, due to it's icon based interface, light and menu free interface, and with ease of acces customization, it's fluid interface beats most other packages when it comes to an artist working, the artist get's his paint brush and paints.
I learnt Softimage enough to produce my 3 minute animations with the talking/dancing fruit (located in the Finished Work) in just under 2 months. But with TS, I learnt it enough to produce similar content in half the time, and with the potential of non English speakers learning the same. I am still learning them both. With Softimage, I had the upper hand over my fellow animators, due to knowing English. They spent 1 year learning what I did in 2 months. But truespace I figured out in less time. And I am sure if I let my colleagues learn TS, it won't take half as long for a similar learning curve. I am already starting to get my artistic hands dirty and have tried develop the software and interface to however I want! And I don't do code!
Considering opensource products, truespace is techincally, under definition, now opensource. It is free, the SDK is open to all, and the platform kernel root is open.
Blender also is open source, but unless I'm a professional programmer, I have no ability to change the program or improve it when needed. Blender has a strong community, and it's a robust program. But again, to learn how to use it is very very hard, and requires as much time learning it's features as it does to actually do them.
Again, I like trueSpace, it's ease of use, it's ease of features and acces, ease of custimization, it's concepts still ahead of it's time and features still up to par with most 3D authoring software even after 2 years. But it saddens me that this is not further developed. It would be cool to see trueSpace 8 be released one day by someone, or even by the a community from a random location in the world, like Blender from South Africa. A world where Ubuntu and Blender go hand in hand with a thirdworld continent, Latin America has similar problems.
I know this program in the world is small, but it can be big. South America, where I work, is a place that has an inferiority complex. They think they need the render farms and the major software that everyone else uses to become good. But they are cheap, and they are poor. GPU based render engines that do not require thousand dollar video cards (like some GPU render engins) are needed for similar production. Productions produced on renderfarm free platforms under the same time is needed. Programs that are easy to learn is what is needed, and something cheap. They need to be able to produce first world content at low costs without the huge sacrifice of the learning curve and techonolgical requirements. TS runs on a laptop......
Also, in the world, animation with rigs based on true IK is unheard of, true IK puppets would be revolutionizing. Truespace has this novel idea of full IK puppets. Meanwhile rigging in softimage, a leader in animation software, is hard, cumbersome, and thro it has IK chains, they are rigged over an old FK rigging hirachy. What would take not 10 seconds to pose a completely natural pose in TS would take a 30 secs or more to complete over a full rig, fighting still with natural positions after the pose done with FK! The maths says it all.
Also, what would be better to have multiple people work on projects around the world over the internet in the same 3D space, to then have them render a production quality video in minutes? Roman said this already..
Truespace has all of that potential. It's concepts are key, and revolutionizing in still more ways than just the old GPU render engine mainstream software are ONLY just catching on! And let alone, GPU rendering is still only a plugin for most software. There is still yet to come a full modelling, collaborative and animation worthy software WITH GPU capabilities!
So I'm sticking to trying to develop it, maybe take it in house to develop it here in Colombia, make it a part of the franchise here, due to it's SDK available to all, and beat the market here by very low cost productions with production cutting features like collaboration, independent free software, GPU based render engines, and the time saved dedicated to the art instead of the render, and rag doll like rigs for speedy and natural and artistic animations.
I could all be wrong, the current program is still beta and has it's issues.... but maybe my little projects i do with TS will convince enough people to develop it and my hopes would be the ability to fund and push for trueSpace 8. (tho I sound stupidly ambitious when i say it) It's concepts were and still are just ahead of it's time. The day may be a long way away, but I love the potential and hope to have a program LIKE trueSpace, or one based off it.
What do you think?
