Although it’s not as technologically proficient as EverQuest II, World of Warcraft has a more pronounced sense of style. Its cartoony characters and rickety buildings are colorful and lively, and you’ll spend your first few intercity flights gawking at the view. Some zones suffer from a limited palette, but this is minor. Warcraft does have a few flashy effects. When you die, the world turns black-and-white and ethereal, much like the effect in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings when Frodo put on the ring.

Of course, the upside of the relative graphical simplicity is that Warcraft performs significantly better than EverQuest 2 on similar hardware. Having over 512MB of RAM or higher is recommended, however.

Player-versus-player combat, always a divisive issue, is handled particularly well. The races are split into two groups, with humans, dwarves, gnomes, and night elves making up the Alliance and the other four — undead, orcs, tauren, and trolls — forming the Horde. Alliance and Horde characters can’t group together, belong to the same guild, or even communicate under most circumstances.

When creating a character, you can opt for a normal or PvP-enabled server. On normal server, characters are safe from being attacked by other players anywhere in the world, unless they instigate combat by attacking an enemy non-player character or entering an enemy city. In contrast, on PvP servers, players can attack those on the opposing faction without provocation.

Even on a PvP server, players who just want to quest in peace can stick to friendly zones without fear of attack. If you venture into a contested or enemy zone, though, you should be ready to defend yourself — and if you make it to an enemy town, you’d better have some backup. Huge raids on towns were commonplace in the pre-release beta test period, and they’ve already started on the retail servers. More development in these areas is planned, and Blizzard has announced its intention to introduce special, consensual PvP areas on all servers.

Character classes don’t contain many surprises. There’s the familiar triumvirate of damage-soaking warrior, healing priest, and powerful mage, plus a stealthy, high-damage rogue and a number of combination combat and spell-casting classes. Most RPG players will find them familiar, and shouldn’t have trouble finding one that suits their style. Currently, there’s no class that’s clearly weaker than any other. You can also choose to pursue a couple of professions, like blacksmithing or tailoring, which are available to all characters.

In typical Blizzard style, the interface is simple, familiar, and well arranged. Players can perform most basic tasks in a couple of minutes. Customization options for more advanced players are extremely extensive, and third-party plugins are already available to enable all kinds of convenient or informative features.

Casual players will also find World of Warcraft friendly to their needs. If you log off in an inn, you’ll accumulate “rest,” which has the effect of doubling the experience you receive from killing monsters. Log off for long enough (perhaps a week) and you’ll gain this bonus for as long as the next level and a half — so those who can’t spare the time to play every day won’t fall as far behind.

Although the quests fall into the usual stereotypes — collect seven foozles, kill 12 oogaboogers, and various combinations thereof — many of them are linked together, forming larger plots and storylines. If you take the time to explore the backstory and read the dialogue, you’ll find a certain amount of depth to the tales. Some combat-oriented quests take place in “instanced” areas, zones where entry is restricted to one or more groups, so you can quest without fear of interference.

Sure, the repetition characteristic of MMORPGs is here, but Blizzard has done much to minimize its impact. Pointless “grinding,” or repetitive killing for no other purpose than gaining experience, is masked by the large numbers of quests thrust at players of all levels. And incentives for continued play are everywhere — there’s always a tantalizing new spell, instanced encounter, piece of equipment, or quest just around the corner.

While World of Warcraft doesn’t do anything particularly new, it comes with Blizzard’s characteristic shine. It’s clearly a game that’s been loved throughout development, and from past behavior, we’ve no doubt Blizzard will continue to support and extend it in the months to come. If you’re looking for a new MMORPG, then the World of Warcraft is the very first place you should visit.

Release Date: October 21st, 2005 (wide).
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence/gore and language.
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Starring: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Karl Urban, Rosamund Pike, Ben Daniels, Razaaq Adoti
Directed by: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Produced by: John Wells, John D. Schofield,
Lorenzo Di Bonaventura
More….

Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP
Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3
Linux 2.2.5 i386
Linux 2.3.2 PPC
FreeBSD 5.3 i386
Irix 6.5 mips3
Solaris 2.8 sparc

Hardware
300 MHz CPU
128 MB Ram
20 MB free hard disk Space
1024 x 768 px Display with 16 bit color
3 Button Mouse
Open GL Graphics Card with 8 MB Ram

During the Blender Conference 2004 several speakers had a talk about how they apply Blender for their work. Check out the Conference Proceedings.

Professionals and others use Blender for:

Architectural/Industrial applications: Blender lets users create AND deliver superb photo-realistic animation - in convenient, compact files. It’s ideal for walkthroughs. Worried that real-time 3D presentations will strain your budget? Enter Blender: Make models, design, and present interactively in your own product environment, and without straining budgets.

Web Design: Say you’ve got great 3D graphics on your site - but are they interactive? Blender technology makes 3D web publishing state-of-the-art: easy, affordable, fast - interactive.

Branded Advertainment: Blender delivers the marketing message to customers with exciting interactivity. Engage the site viewer - hold their attention by developing advertainment games or combining your market message innovative branded animations.

Character Animation: Blender gives branded characters new, added depth, and great interactivity. Characters can look stunning - stunningly REAL - enabling companies to boost the profile of their brand above the clutter.

e-commerce: Blender helps recreate the in-store experience in real-time. Combine animated rich environments with 3D product modeling, to create a unique retail experience.

Product Modeling: Viewers see more than a rotating object - they pick it up, interact with it, explore its features, customize it - and more. Blender’s the bridge between object and viewer. Powerful, fast and intuitive to use, Blender helps make 3D objects astounding.

e-learning applications: Blender enhances the learning experience. Support course material with interactive models, use Blender to make educational games and 3D modules.

e-marketing: To help realize potential in e-marketing, Blender gives 3D presence. Businesses use Blender for opt-in email, beyond-the-banner advertising, viral marketing, creative sponsorships and much more.

Presentations: We know presentations need competitive edge. And you’ll get it with Blender - Use Blender to enliven PowerPoint, Director and Word. Make compelling interactive 3D websites. The beauty of Blender: you can use it cross-platform.

Post-production/Visual Effects: You’ll appreciate how fast you can create in Blender. And Blender is portable - uniquely convenient. Show your work on the web, even publish cross-platform. Other virtues? Blender’s easy to learn, affordable and integrates seamlessly into your pipeline.

Features

Blender is being released with source codes under the GNU Public License.

Blender therefore is fully free to use and distribute within any educational, professional or commercial environment. Artwork created with Blender - including python scripts - is the sole property of the creator.

Interface

• Revolutionary non-overlapping and non-blocking UI delivers unsurpassed workflow
• Flexible and fully configurable window layout with as many screen setups as you prefer
• Undo support on all levels
• Powerful built-in database system allowing instances, scene management, and dynamic linking multiple project files
• Anti-aliased fonts with international translation support
• Windows for animation curves/keys, outliner, schematic scene diagram, non-linear video sequence editing, character animation action editor, non-linear animation mixer, image/UV editing, file/image selection and file management
• Built-in text editor for annotations and editing Python scripts
• Consistent interface across all platforms

Modeling

• A range of 3D object types including polygon meshes, NURBS surfaces, bezier and B-spline curves, metaballs, vector fonts (TrueType, PostScript, OpenType)
• ‘Smooth proxy’ style catmull-clark subdivision surfaces with optimal iso-lines display and sharpness editing
• Mesh modeling based on vertex, edge and/or face selection
• Boolean mesh functions
• Editing functions such as extrude, bevel, cut, spin, screw, warp, subdivide, noise, smooth Soft selection editing tools for organic modeling
• Python scripting access for custom tools

Animation

• Armature (skeleton) deformation with forward/inverse kinematics, auto skinning and interactive 3D paint for vertex weighting
• Non-linear animation mixer with automated walkcycles along paths
• Constraint system
• Vertex key framing for morphing, with controlling sliders
• Character animation pose editor
• Animatable lattice deformation
• ‘Ipo’ system integrates both motion curve and traditional key-frame editing
• Audio playback, mixing and editing support for sound synchronisation
• Python scripting access for custom and procedural animation effects

Rendering

• Very fast inbuilt raytracer
• Integral support for the famous Yafray render engine
• Oversampling, motion blur, post-production effects, fields, non-square pixels
• Environment maps, halos, lens flares, fog
• Various surface shaders such as Lambert, Phong, Oren-nayar, Blinn, Toon
• Edge rendering for toon shading
• Procedural Textures
• Ambient Occlusion
• Radiosity solver
• Export scripts available for external renderers such as Renderman (RIB), Povray, Virtualight
• UV texture editor with various mesh unwrap modes

Realtime 3D/game creation

• Graphical editor for defining interactive behavior without programming
• Collision detection and dynamics simulation
• Python scripting API for sophisticated control and AI, fully defined advanced game logic
• Supports all OpenGLTM lighting modes, including transparencies, Animated and reflection-mapped textures
• Playback of games and interactive 3D content without compiling or preprocessing
• Audio, using the SDL toolkit
• Multi-layering of Scenes for overlay interfaces

Files

• Save all scene data in a single .blend file
• .blend format supports compression, digital signatures, encryption, forwards/backwards compatibility and can be used as a library to link to from other .blend files
• Read / Write TGA, JPG, PNG, Iris, SGI Movie, IFF, AVI and Quicktime GIF, TIFF, PSD, MOV (Windows and Mac OS X)
• Native import and export for DXF, Inventor and VRML files, with python scripts available for many other 3D formats
• Create stand-alone executables containing interactive 3D content or play back with the 3d web browser plugin

Supported Platforms
Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
Mac OS X
Linux (i386)
Linux (PPC)
FreeBSD 5.3 (i386)
SGI Irix 6.5
Sun Solaris 2.8 (sparc)

System Requirements

System
Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP
Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3
Linux 2.2.5 i386
Linux 2.3.2 PPC
FreeBSD 5.3 i386
Irix 6.5 mips3
Solaris 2.8 sparc

Hardware
300 MHz CPU
128 MB Ram
20 MB free hard disk Space
1024 x 768 px Display with 16 bit color
3 Button Mouse
Open GL Graphics Card with 8 MB Ram

Blender 2.37a Click Here to Download

“Animation:Master” gives both beginning and advanced animators the ability to tell their stories. Remarkably, wrapped into one interface are advanced features like inverse kinematics, ray-tracing, image mapping, and modeling of complex organic and mechanical objects. The revolutionary patch-based technology makes it easy to create natural, fluid-moving characters, scenery, and props.

“Animation:Master”, the 3D motion picture studio is the most powerful and affordable spline based modeling and animation program available. Specifically designed for classic character animation, the drag and drop, customizable interface and powerful motion tools give you the control that is required to tell your story.

Since A:M is geared toward character animation, it gives you the ability to build libraries of actions and characters that can be reused over and over. Its cross platform compatibility? makes A:M an excellent choice for studios with multiple types of systems.? ?

Product Requirements:

Mac OS X 10.3.4 or higher
Video card supporting Quartz Extreme

Download Links:
Download Animation:Master Now (File Size: 21.8M)

Download Animation Master Models

Amapi Pro 7.5 is a flexible and fast 3D modeler, with a user interface recognized as being the most creative in the industry, unequaled in its efficiency at drawing in the 3D space.

Filled with high-end NURBS modeling features, Amapi Pro 7.5 lets you create and edit complex surfaces and volumes and offers a rich tool palette to conceive and invent detailed conceptual designs.

Amapi Pro 7.5 communicates on all levels with engineering departments and manufacturing production tools, and is a perfectly integrated component of the design process.

What’s New

• Amapi Pro 7.5 is the first major release following Amapi Pro. Designed for even greater productivity, Amapi Pro 7.5 contains more new features and enhancements that Amapi Pro users could have ever imagined.
• This version brings Amapi Pro to a new level, incorporating essential new tools and extensions that answer to the demand of professional designers and advanced 3D creators.
• Just take a look at Amapi Pro 7.5’s impressive features list below, and realize the benefits this new release brings.

Key Features
Amapi Pro 7.5 helps creative designers achieve successful results ,by delivering a comprehensive modeling feature-set and advanced capabilities within a natural, elegant and efficient 3D working environment.

Creative 3D Environment

• Intuitive, flexible and fast user interface
• Natural and consistent workflow
• Clear and quick access to tools and options
• Instant rich 3D visualization and manipulation
• Multiple modeling methods: NURBS surfacing, polyhedral box modeling, solid modeling
• Fully editable construction history (Dynamic Geometry™)

Advanced 3D Design Tools

• Full NURBS and Polyhedral modeling engines
• Comprehensive curve and surface construction toolset:
• - Advanced 2D drawing toolbox
• - Generalized extrusions, lofting, hulls
• - Volumes defined by surface boundaries
• - Connecting surfaces
• Hi-end modeling tools:
• - Trimmed Surfaces and Boolean Operators,
• - Variable Filleting, Surface Offset, Thickness
• - Advanced Deformers
• Complete Assembly Toolbox:
• - Copy and Mirror Copy, Repeat Tool
• - Instances and Clones,
• - Groups, Layers

Open and versatile

• Measurements, advanced drawing assistants, printing module
• Professional render module based on Carrara 3
• EPS, OBJ, 3DS, DXF Import / Export formats
• Hi-end Import-Export modules for
• IGES, SAT, STEP, DWG, STL
• Microscribe® digitizer integrated support

System Requirments
WINDOWS

Pentium III or Celeron - 800 MHz or higher
Windows 2000 / XP recommended
256 Mb Physical RAM or more
24-bit Color Display
OpenGL 3D graphics accelerator card
CD-ROM Drive

MAC® OS X

Power Macintosh G4/G5 800Mhz or better
Mac OS X 10.2 or higher
256 Mb Physical RAM or more
24-bit Color Display
OpenGL 3D graphics accelerator card
CD-ROM Drive

arborium Vol. 1 is a collection of High-Res texture maps in Tiff-format (with Aplha Channel). With this product, Sachform Technology continues the successfull line of highquality products aimed at the professional User.

With arborium Vol.1, we are presenting our first texture archive.

arborium Vol.1 is a collection of 65 High Resolution photographs of plants.

They are well suited for architectural visualizations, especially for postproduction retouching within photoshop.

arborium Vol.1 contains various bushes, potted plants, hedges and creeping plants in TIFF format (with alpha-mask) in a resolution of up to 3000 pixel.

Techspecs:

- 65 fotos of plants ( bushes, potted plants, hedges, creeping plants) (539 MB of data)

- resolution 3000×2244 (99%of the fotos)

- TIFF format, LZW compressed with 8bit Alpha-Channel for proper masking

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arborium_mini 1-3 contains each:

5 different Tree Textures of the same Treespecies in High Resolution of 3000×2000 Pixeln in 8bit Tiff format, with Alpha Channel.

Very usefull for architecture visualisation , DTP-Design, realtime applications etc. Localized to all professional 2D und 3D applications.

Espacially for “plantings”, because of the different textures varies every tree and that´s why it supports the realistic look of your work!

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For further information contact:

Jan Haeusle
Sachform Technology
+49(0)6068 – 47341
sales@sachform.de
www.sachform.de