trueSpace 6.5

TrueSpace users must be a funny bunch. Their favourite 3D software has arguably the strangest interface we’ve ever encountered. Even the oddball modeller Amapi can’t match it. But while Caligari claims it improves workflow – we don’t doubt that seasoned trueSpace users can whizz round the app like well-oiled squirrels – if you’ve used just about any other pro 3D app, trueSpace will annoy and confound you.

The app is placed in the mid-range, so it competes with Cinema 4D R8 core. Interface aside, trueSpace 6.5 has a veritable cornucopia of 3D goodies in store, which seems to enable it to compete with more advanced 3D apps. For its modest price, you get NURBS, polygons, hierarchical Subdivision Surfaces, character animation tools, dynamics and physics simulation, radiosity, function curves, interactive rendering... The feature list goes on and on, and contains virtually every 3D buzzword going, apart from HDRI and subsurface scattering.

The overall impression you get of trueSpace from the Caligari Website is a program driven by strong marketing. In use, the features listed on the site don’t feel nearly as slick as they appear. What’s most annoying is the fact that all of the tools and functions, regardless of purpose, are shoved together in a heap of buttons at the bottom of the screen. There’s minimal segregation of buttons by type, action or mode, although there is grouping in pop-ups. However, even this grouping can be confusing, and all too often you’re left wondering where a given tool is. At least Caligari provides an ‘icon finder’ if you get lost.

New in version 6.5, as mentioned, are hierarchical Subdivision Surfaces, or Subdivision Layers. These work much like those in Maya, enabling you to add layers of subdivision and edit the surface of each layer or ‘cage’. The subdivision can be applied locally to selected polygons, making it an efficient way to add local detail to a model. Animation is well catered for, and the system features a new non-linear editing scheme. You can display keys only, or function curves for motion channels, but there doesn’t seem to be support for independent-channel keyframe editing. You can only move keys temporally in the keyframe view, which displays motion channels as a single track.

There are some other useful new additions to this upgrade. These include global find and replace, geometry painting, local physics attributes, improved fillets and rounding (which were already very good).

trueSpace 6.5 is a very feature-orientated package, which is fine for the price, but don’t be fooled by the long list – it’s not in the same league as LightWave or Cinema 4D. These programs show their mettle by offering a workflow that’s robust and well thought out; they offer a serious solution to genuine 3D problems. When things go wrong in trueSpace, you often find yourself with few options to remedy the situation. If you intend to pursue 3D as a primary discipline, look elsewhere.