by Joel Howe
6-July-2009
Like many people, I am quick to complain when a product or service doesn't live up to expectations. Today I am going to buck that trend and write about a company with a product and customer support that continuously exceeds my expectations, nPower Software.
A Superbly Crafted Plug-In
I have been a customer of nPower Software for years, using their products for CAD-based product animation projects. Current 3ds max users are likely to be using nPower's ProBoolean tools, which are now included as a standard part of 3ds max. I want to specifically address Power Translators, which allows me to import and manipulate NURBS data in 3ds max. This handy plugin takes NURBS analytical surfaces (in the form of IGES or STEP files) and brings them into 3ds max as hierarchical objects with mesh surfaces generated directly from the original CAD model definitions. These objects allow for changing the density of the mesh at any time, even automatically changing topology as a function of distance from the camera. Very cool!
While I am plugging away, let's talk about what's new in version 6. If you are upgrading, make sure you uninstall Version 5 before installing the Version 6! Once I read and followed the directions properly, installation went smoothly. I had no problem opening or rendering any of the very complex models legacy models I had from recent projects. Here are some new features that I am really loving:
- UVW Unwrap:
Unwrap NURBS objects in 3ds max's standard UVW Unwrap dialog box. I am still playing with it, but it looks really slickly integrated.
(Update: Look for full support for mesh-independent, NURBS-based UVW textures in upcoming patch 6.1)
- Improved multi-threaded performance:
My Core i7 system rarely gets pushed this hard outside of rendering.
- Improved stability:
No crashes since V6 has been installed properly, even with huge assemblies.
My favorite new trick is using Mental Ray's Arch & Design material and and its Cutout map to "section" assemblies. Sections and cutaways were always a kludge before, using crash-prone boolean subtracts to section a part and capping the resulting holes. Now I can put a UVW Mapping modifier on a part, map a cutout black/white gradient to the new map channel, and see sexy soft-edged sections! No resource intensive boolean operations, and I can animate the section by animating either the gradient or the mapping coordinates.
A Well Deserved Plug
So Power Translators, in a word, rocks, but I am just as impressed with the company. The staff at nPower seems small but tireless in my experience. This is apparent to me as the number of names that I have dealt with is very short, but the wait time for email responses is equally short. David "nPower_Dave" Gill is always replying to forum posts as well as my emails, and support for any questions I have regarding licensing or installations have been answered quickly by Dave and/or Erik. So not only do they have a great group of developers working on the product, but they have some real customer support heroes as well.
Kudos to nPower Software and the new V6 Power Translators! Between this update and my 3ds max 2010 upgrade, I have to say it has been one heck of a spring. My animation workflow has never looked so good!
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