Michael Andre

February 1, 2000

Incredibly Realistic, Natural Look

The Camelot Collection, Version 1.1
The Interior Design Collection Version 2.0
The Shark Collection Volume 1, Version 1.0
The Dolphin Collection Volume 1, Version 1.0

WestGate - The Camelot Collection

Given that many users of LightWave 3D and Inspire 3D do not have the time to create a realistic castle with all the furnishings, nor the artistic talent to model interior residential and office objects, or have taken classes to study the anatomy of sharks or dolphins, then turning to Replica Technology's Real-World Scaled 3D Collections is a great idea.

Replica Technology offers four breathtaking collections, The Camelot Collection, The Interior Collection, The Shark Collection Vol. 1 and the Dolphin Collection Vol. 1, each includes a great deal of Scenes, Objects, key-framed Animations, Morph Targets, Bones and Lighting.

Each object includes high-resolution and low-resolution versions. Most of the models use Custom Image Maps or Procedural Texture. Every model is real-world scaled for easy integration of multiple models within a scene (e.g. a shark attacking a dolphin). All models are functional. Doors and drawers can be opened and closed. The sharks and dolphins are animated via Morph Targets and Bones.

Installation

Setting the Content path is a little bit tricky if you load directly from the CD, since Replica Technology did not follow NewTek's Content Directory concept. Instead of having saved the entire objects and image files in subdirectories below the Content Directory, they have saved Scene files inside the Objects/Replica/Camelot/Scenes folder. However, after taking the directory to the Scene file, the objects and images are found automatically and load properly without intervention.

Obviously, if you have enough space, you can also copy the CD content to your hard drive, even though my G4 did not crash once loading a scene from the CD.

Faster is Better

As with all animated realistic scenes requiring a load of objects and textures, rendering is better done on a fast Macintosh.

I am looking forward to LightWave's 6.0 release, which is accelerated for the Macintosh G4 velocity engine. Brad Peebler, vice president of marketing for NewTek, said in a press release of January 4, 2000, San Francisco, MacWorld 2000, "With the new G4 processors, the Apple/LightWave 6.0 combination will represent the fastest rendering solution to provide caustics, radiosity, ray tracing and volumetrics in one system."

The moment LightWave 6.0 is available for the Macintosh, TIEMdesign will review it as soon as possible. So, stay tuned and look us up to see LightWave 6.0 review.

The Camelot Collection

I have personally seen King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein's (in my opinion Walt Disney Land's Cinderella castle is modeled after it) beautiful castle, where he tragically drowned nearby. I have seen the great castles and palaces of England, France, Germany and Austria. These European castles have met their match with the Camelot Castle.

The Camelot Collection features a complete Medieval English castle of the time when King Richard "the Lion heart" of England (1189- 1199) was around. It contains over 420 3D objects, over 100 scenes, a functional drawbridge, five 5-story towers, apartments, gate houses, stables, a chapel, furniture, weapons, etc. You will also enjoy the animated fireplaces, flags, torches and great looking tapestries.

Chapel Entrance, Camelot Entrance, Great Hall and Court Yard

PrisonTower, WestWall and Camelot Inside

It would be great if in future releases Replica Technology would build the fighting knights, ladies, farmers and animals to supplement the castle with life. With their mind to quality, it would be an asset to their other wonderful collections.

The Interior Design Collection

If you want to set up your dream house, create complex residential and office scenes, The Interior Design Collection will assist you.

The Interior Design Collection is Replica Technology's largest collection, giving you control of over 500 3D objects (bathroom, beds, bookcases, cabinets, ceilings, desks, doors, fixtures, floors, household, kitchen, lighting, lumber, moldings, rooms, seating, stairs, storage, tables, walls, windows, etc); it consists of over 150 pieces of furniture, 150 interior construction objects and 4 complete homes. All objects are fully surfaced and functional. For fast results, doors, windows and drawers are animated to open and close. A further sign of professional workmanship is the inclusion of movement constraints for parts and over 100 custom 24-bit texture maps.

One great home I enjoy in the collection is the 1600 square feet Lakeside Home with a view of the mountains from the living room. It also features four bedrooms, kitchen with eating bar, two bathrooms and a deck that surrounds the great room.

Notice the eye for details in the bathroom and on other models.

LakeSide House, LakeSide House and Bedroom

Entertainment Center, Bathroom and Waterbed

The Shark Collection

In my constant search to get a shark in front of my Nikonos underwater camera, I went to a little Island in the Indian Ocean. I finally got the opportunity, but trying to get close to one of these beautiful predators is impossible. The moment you swim towards them they will take off. In contrast, the sharks in The Shark Collection let you get really close.

Do you want to see the Great White Shark, the Great Hammerhead or the Tiger shark? All three are featured in the shark collection. You will find 16 more sharks and all contain key-framed Animation, Morph Targets for facial animation, Bones and Lighting.

Again, what I really enjoyed was the emphasis given to great details. I rendered an animated LightWave scene with the ultimate marine predator, the Great White Shark. Reality is not far from it. This is probably as close as you will ever get to see a Great White Shark in its environment.

Divers Cage

Great White Shark, Ocean Scene and Dock

The Dolphin Collection

One of the most favored animals of children and adults is the very intelligent dolphin. We have all seen them in Sea World showing off their incredible skills.

The Dolphin Collection Volume 1 includes 19 species from the Delphinidae family, featuring half of all living Dolphin species. Besides Flipper the Bottlenose Dolphin, the collection contains an Atlantic Humpbacked, Atlantic Spotted, Atlantic White-Sided, Chilean, Clymene, Commerson's Common, Dusky, False Killer Whale, Fraser's, Heaviside's, Hector's, Hourglass, MelonHeaded Whale, Northern Right Whale, Southern Right Whale, Pantropical Spotted and Pacific White-sided Dolphins.

Ready to render or animate for fast results, the dolphins are well done and appear quite natural looking.

Ocean Scene

Bottlenose Dolphin and Ocean Scene

Buying advice

Replica Technology's collections are true to the statement that a picture speaks a thousand words. Because of the sheer number of Objects, Scenes, etc. it is impossible to mention all of them. For more detailed information go to their web site, www.replica3d.com

If you want incredibly realistic, natural looking 3D models for your next production, you might want to consider Replica Technology.

Copyright © 2000, Michael Andre, All Rights Reserved