3D modeling/rendering on 68K Macs

[joshc]

Has anyone done any kind of 3D work on a 68K Mac, and if so what software did they use and how did the experience go? It would be neat to see any examples people might have of what they created on their 68K machines...I guess we'll allow PPC too ;-)

Something triggered some memories for me, I cannot remember what, but I have a vivid memory of using Bryce 2 on a Performa 6200 in my childhood to create some pretty neat stuff...

But now I'd like to play with Stratavision on one of my 68K Macs, perhaps my accelerated SE/30 or my LC II, I don't really have a 'goal' per-se, I just think it would be cool.

 

[jessenator]

MacroModel (which I havent found yet)

Macro Extreme 3D (on Macintosh Garden (PPC))

Model Maker(?)

I dont recall if Adobe Dimensions (more of a revolve/extrude/bevel tool) was 68k compatible. This was before it got shoved into illustrator and thrn taken out again.

I too have Bryce memories. These were from the first local tech show I went to, showcasing the G3's speed. I think they had some 8x00 or 6x00 for comparison.

 

[joshc]

Yes, Bryce was horrendously slow at rendering on the 6200 (not really what those machines were made for anyway), I remember just going off and doing something else while it rendered. Looking forward to that feeling again if I try and do any 3D on my SE/30 or LC II Bring on the lack of speed....

This looks neat but I think it's probably PPC only... https://www.macintoshrepository.org/2338-macromedia-extreme-3d

 

[jessenator]

https://www.macintoshrepository.org/275-modelshop

This is what I was thinking about. I tried it on my plus and the experience was egregious...

I did try 3dStudio DOS on both dosbox and a 386 of a friend's. That was slow, but also the orthographic-only views were tedious. I work in Maya, so going backward is a bit painful :lol:

Gives you a lot of respect for the cgi pioneers, that's for sure!

 

[LaPorta]

Ray Dream?

 

[nglevin]

There's a lineage between a couple of the tools named here; Paracomp (Swivel 3D, ModelShop [as told by a fellow that worked on it], and a few clipart disks) merged with MacroMind to become MacroMind-Paracomp before it merged with yet another company to become Macromedia, where one of the Paracomp 3D tools became MacroModel and eventually became rebranded again as Extreme 3D before it shut down with a PPC-only Extreme 3D 2.0 release.

(As the majority of these tools never found an audience besides bundles with ClarisCAD and Director releases, I'd have to flip through magazines to pin down dates for when these things happened.)

You can find the full version of Extreme 3D 1.0 on some circa 1997 Mac magazine CDs (August?) when it was briefly given away for as a freebie, it was the very last 68040 compatible version made. Don't expect anything terribly fast.

A slightly better experience might be had with sticking with 2D CAD tools like ClarisCAD for "3D" work, if that version of ModelShop dates to when it had ClarisCAD import/export capabilities.

David Alan Smith's Virtus Corporation made a fair amount of 3D CAD software for the Mac, based around the same "fast" 3D engine used for The Colony on the Mac Plus. That might still require Mac II hardware or better, you'll definitely want a bigger screen than a compact Mac's for that.

 

[MOS8_030]

I used Strata 3D and Bryce a bit on my 840av back-in-the-day.

Mostly just playing around. Seems like I remember one of them could use the DSP when rendering.

 

[lobust]

I played around with 3d rendering when I was a kid on my LCIII, and kept it up for a while, now I work in industrial 3D, NX, Solidworks etc.

The one I really want to try is MacBravo by Schlumberger, which I believe was something of a milestone in 3D cad user interfaces, purely because of being on the mac.

Impossible to find a copy though.

 

[Byrd]

I used Strata 3D and Bryce a bit on my 840av back-in-the-day.

Mostly just playing around. Seems like I remember one of them could use the DSP when rendering.

Bryce was really just a fancy tech demo to show off your Mac, in the day.  I don't think anyone used it apart from "playing around".  It kind of reminds me of an iOS app though in it's interface and functionality, way ahead of its time.

 

[nglevin]

You could say the same of several of the Kai-branded tools.

KPT2 had gel buttons before there was ever a Mac OS X.

 

[jessenator]

I can't find the source anymore, but I recall reading that PRMan/Renderman was used on render farms made up mainly of SE/30s (due to their computing economy), and then frames were viewed on a II-series with color capability. Not that you'd readily find an ancient version of it floating around the clearnet though.

 

[Crutch]

Well, there was always Mac3D?

I used Infini-D to create QuickTime movies of spinning extruded text for a (never-released) Qbert clone video game on an 8100 much later. It was terrific for my purposes and its time. 

 

[MOS8_030]

Well, there was always Mac3D?

I have an original copy of that on floppy. Crude, but interesting.

I'm pretty sure I have an old copy of KPT somewhere too. (Probably on my 8500.)

 

[joshc]

 render farms made up mainly of SE/30s (due to their computing economy)

Just to see a photo of an SE/30 render farm would be amazing. If I win the lottery, I know what to do with the money now.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I used Strata 3D and Bryce a bit on my 840av back-in-the-day.

Mostly just playing around. Seems like I remember one of them could use the DSP when rendering.

You got me curious, pulled out the manual for PICTURE PRESS that came with the SuperMac/STORM DSP card, but it only has references to Photoshop and their Plug In. Rendering on a pair of DSPs in 1992 would have been sweet. I wonder if any of the 3D Apps or even 2D CAD systems ever made use of the card' power? Same card, rebranded as PhotoBooster when Radius acquired SuperMac IIRC. That would jibe with later releases of 3D tools.

 

[Cory5412]

I recall reading that PRMan/Renderman was used on render farms made up mainly of SE/30s (due to their computing economy)

If you ever happen to run across the source for that, I would be super interested in seeing it. I know there's a  slice of time in the '80s where that probably was the case, but man it's tough to visualize. (It's also tough to imagine it being worth it even if you save a grand a node, unless this is an effort to make further use of, say, office desktops that are idle at night, and not a dedicated installation.)

 

[joshc]

[No message]

 

[0xABE]

I used Strata Vision3D 4 on our family’s Centris 660AV. I spent a whole summer in that software. Loved the Myst tie-in.