3DVIA
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Interesting, I just d/l'd it and it seems okay...but!...no Orbit tool! Thats an important feature IMO.
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Solo, there is an orbit tool and quite a good one. Watch the tutorials
for instruction to use with mouse.Mike
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Ah...see it now, thanks.
The texture editor is definately a winner, so easy to scale and manipulate.
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I tested it some time ago - first impression - bleah (some things didnt worked, ...)
2nd chance now - one minus, it wants to be installed only on
drive. -
I'm surprised we hadn't heard about this before, they've been set up since March. Looks like a serious competitor / blatant copy. 3Dvia is teamed up with Microsoft's Virtual Earth. Clearly then Microsoft's attempt to build a 3d world themselves using their Photosynch system in aeroplanes isn't going to plan. Does anybody know about the licensing constraints and terms of use for Virtual Earth? If it is more flexible than Google Earth, I think this could see some movement away from GE. I hope not though as we now have GE clients.
I'm not knocking SU, but this looks like the first serious competitor in the same niche.
I take some of that back, I've just downloaded it, it doesn't appear to have half as many functions as SU.
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pros:
- clean, big interface with nice icons
- soft sun shadows
- thick lines for move/manipulate
cons:
- hard to work after used to SU workflow
- middle mouse button + left to orbit - yuck
- not enough features to work on bigger project
- enter your login details on each open
- where is the open/import ?
conclusion: uninstall
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If I may paste from the above linked article...
"To summarize I would give this first version a 6 out of 10. I think its a great little program but has a long way to go before it is as powerful as sketchup and can boast as many features. I can’t imagine it will be long before it presents a very tempting alternative. It does seem Microsoft are targeting the novice user which is an interesting decision."
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Lets see how I do with it as a moderate user. Just downloaded and will be looking at it tomorrow.
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Well, no such luck with this program. Apparently it doesnt play well with my computer, because every time I get to about 70% through the install my computer crashes. Hard.
Locks up for about 10 seconds then SPLAT!
Im trying to install on XP Pro, but im not gonna even bother trying it on Home right now.
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http://www.earthware.co.uk/blog/
Interesting blog on the subject.
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