Question

[EremiticWolf]

Hello, yep I have a question about Inspire 3D. I found a copy that is still in it's box and I should get it sometime next week. I have heard that Newtek has discontinued Inspire 3D. If this is true is there a website that I can get some of the updates and/or fixes?
I plan on updating to Lightwave 3D probably next year when I'll have enough saved. So until then I'm going to need to find the fixes/upgrades. Thanks in advance! :-)

Thank you for your time.

[EremiticWolf]

Originally posted by EremiticWolf
Hello, yep I have a question about Inspire 3D. I found a copy that is still in it's box and I should get it sometime next week. I have heard that Newtek has discontinued Inspire 3D. If this is true is there a website that I can get some of the updates and/or fixes?
I plan on updating to Lightwave 3D probably next year when I'll have enough saved. So until then I'm going to need to find the fixes/upgrades. Thanks in advance! :-)

Thank you for your time.

I guess I should add that I bought the program from EBay.
Or does anyone even use this program anymore?

[CTRL+X]

I still use 5.6 which is alot like inspire. though, I don't know alot about the differences between the two.

I had heard once that there once was plugins or scripts that gave inspire almost the same functionality as LW, but that may or may not be true.


I know alot of LW5.6 plugins work with inspire, so, if you need anything I may be able to help.

[EremiticWolf]

Originally posted by CTRL+X
I still use 5.6 which is alot like inspire. though, I don't know alot about the differences between the two.

I had heard once that there once was plugins or scripts that gave inspire almost the same functionality as LW, but that may or may not be true.


I know alot of LW5.6 plugins work with inspire, so, if you need anything I may be able to help.

First off thank you for replying. :-) Any help that you can give me would be very welcome. :-)

[CTRL+X]

well when you get a specific question just send me a P.M. on this board


Take Care

[txbob]

Inspire doesn't support numeric data input in many places, which would drive experienced lw users insame. The idea was for it to be more "hands on" in nature rather than number oriented....

There was a plug-in availible that added the numerics to inspire, and that alone IMHO would be a great step.

Another curious thing is that Inspire supports a lot of features that are #1 undocumented, and #2 there aren't any buttons for! When the program was produced, newtek basically re-designed the interface of 5.0 lw, and it will actually render scenes created in LightWave, using features that aren't officially "in" inspire!

[CTRL+X]

I just noticed recently that my older version of Messiah 1.5.7 supports Inspire... you get great charcter and effects aniamtion into inspire through Messiah

[RachelK]

The place that used to have a pile of Inspire plugins was Teddy Tan's Reservoir 3D. However, he let the site lapse with the discontinuation of Inspire. I think, though, that if you join the Inspire3D Yahoo group <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/INSPIRE3D/>, you'll find that several of the members have the plugins. For example, I have the spline modeling plugins that were on Teddy's site.

The other main plugin for Inspire is LD Tools. In my opinion, it makes Inspire worthwhile. The LD Tools plugins for numeric input and beveling are excellent, better in some ways than the current LW numeric input and bevel tools. The Linear Designs site <http://lineardesigns.com/> is undergoing "redesign" (I'm not sure if this is facetious or not), but I'm sure you could find the plugin on eBay.

Plus, there are lots of tricks that, as others have noted, the manuals don't tell you. For example, as shipped, Inspire 3D doesn't include gradients, but if you download the gradients plugin from the Newtek website and use it with Marvin Landis' CTBFtoy <http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/lw/ctbftoy.html>, you get a fully-usable gradient tool.

Hmm, can't think of anything else at the moment...

[EremiticWolf]

Thank you everyone for the replies. :-)
RachelK do you know where I can download the spline patching toolkit since the main site is gone? I have also posted the question at the Yahoo forum. :-)

[Roundpixel]

Although i´m on LW 7.5 now, i still have around my old Inspire, which i boot everynow and then.

Inspire was an 85% of full LW 5.6.
That absent 15% had the high-end functionality present in LW, which included HYpervoxels, Steamer, Natural Shaders, advanced IK, numeric input in Modeler, posibility to display images in Modeler viewports, and had only 4 layers available in Modeler (LW had 10 layers), as well as only 2 slots for plugins in Layout.

The render engine was the same present in Lightwave, but for animated scenes the resolution was limited to 640x480 (which was closer to NTSC than it was to PAL rez, you lucky guys). For still image rendering there was no limitation (well, the same rez available for LW)

It´s a pretty amazing piece of software, for beginners and for everyone wanting to model and animate in a more "primitive" way, which is something that gives you experience.

It supports most of the old LW 5.x plugins, and there were, as someone already said, plugins to add those numeric inputs in Modeler (though to be honest, i hardly ever used them).

It was a pitty NT discontinued it. The only thing i missed was those images in modeler viewports, as it was advertised this feature was available, and it wasn´t, which rendered the soft almost useles to graphic designers (it was advertised as a great tool for them). No logo tracing capabilities.....:confused:

JC

[txbob]

Originally posted by Roundpixel
Although i´m on LW 7.5 now, i still have around my old Inspire, which i boot everynow and then.

The only thing i missed was those images in modeler viewports, as it was advertised this feature was available, and it wasn´t, which rendered the soft almost useles to graphic designers (it was advertised as a great tool for them). No logo tracing capabilities.....:confused:

JC

Are you sure? I seem to remeber doing that in inspire at one point...

[Roundpixel]

I´m sure it won´t allow to display images in Modeler viewports, unless there was a newer version released or a patch (that i´m not aware of) solving the problem.

I can remember me claiming in the mailing lists available at that time to no avail.

JC

[txbob]

my bad....

I used to work at newtek back in the topeka days.... I never bought inspire, but used it a bit.... I could well be wrong about this..

[Roundpixel]

:) No prob, it´s been a long time since those days.

Time is what made me forget something important on my previous longer post.
Inspire doesn´t include Crumple within its procedural shaders, which is somewhat "fun", as this shader comes close second to fractal noise in usefulness.

Anyway CTBFToy, by Marvin Landis, has procedurals similar to Crumple and it works in Inspire. (As does the Shades Project, by the same author, well, started by him). Those plugins are still available at: http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/lw/

JC

[EremiticWolf]

Just to let everyone know, I've upgraded to Lightwave 7.5c
:-)