For less than $900, graphics professionals can explore the world of 3-D design with a package that rivals high-end 3-D software. Infini-D. the latest entry in the burgeoning 3-D-design software arena, is a modeler, renderer, and animator that offers true object metamorphosis, freeform objects, 32-bit ray tracing, timebased animation, and multilayer surfaces. What's more, Infini-D’s impressive functionality is presented in a well-integrated package that’s surprisingly straightforward and easy to use.
From Primitives to Free-Forms
For modeling, the $895 Infini-D hovers somewhere between a CAD package and a 3-D modeler. You can create a wide variety of shapes with Infini-D’s modeling tools, but the program lacks the absolute precision of CAD software. Infini-D uses an internal scaling system, which makes it a good choice for concept design but not for real-world drafting.
As an alternative to modeling with Infini-D, you can import models created in CAD packages and saved in the DXF file format. However, be aware that the DXF format is not set in stone. Unlike the reliable process of converting PICT format graphics to TIFF format, converting files to DXF format can distort or rescale the original graphic.
Infini-D supplies six basic predefined primitives for modeling: cubes, spheres, cylinders.cones, 2-D squares, and infinite planes. You can also model more-sophisticated objects in the program's 3D Workshop, using its lathe, extrude, and free-form tools.
A key advantage of Infini-D over other 3-D-design packages is the ease with which you can modify objects once you’ve created them and positioned them in a 3-D scene. Infini-D lets you edit objects away from the clutter of scenes simply by double-clicking on the desired object. The program automatically selects and opens it in 3D Workshop, where you can make your changes.
As you’re modeling objects, Infini-D provides multiple views of your work. Standard views (including Top, Front, and Right) offer fixed perspectives of the 3D Workshop. The Camera View lets you rotate your point of view. By letting you change views. Infini-D makes it a breeze to create asymmetrical, odd shapes with extreme precision.
Move tools let you move objects through vertical or horizontal planes for accurate placement in your world, or scene. Rotation tools rotate objects around a default center point, but you can easily alter the rotation point to allow for combined objects such as hinged doors or elbow joints. You can scale objects uniformly or resize them nonuniformly. using the squash and stretch tools. An extensive dialog box is available for specifying exact parameters for any of these actions.
Hierarchical grouping of objects is available for making complex assemblies from simpler components. What sets Inifini-D apart from other 3-D packages in its price range is that its object grouping is far more sophisticated and multifeatured. With the ability to define complex interrelationships among objects, you can create realistic animation sequences by specifying how interrelated objects move relative to each other in your 3-D world.
Specular International, Infini-D’s maker, shows a definite enthusiasm for fractals, with impressive results. Infini-D's terrain tool lets you create instant landscapes by defining the parameters of mountains (or molehills, for that matter). Because the program models the resulting land masses in a random fashion, they exhibit a natural realism that's difficult to match with traditional hand modeling. The ease of creating compelling terrains makes the process downright addictive.
On the Surface
In addition to ray tracing, Infini-D provides five rendering modes that give color, texture, and other surface qualities to your models. Each mode represents a different trade-off betw een image quality and rendering time. Of course, the higher the quality of the image, the longer it takes to render. In general, it's best to construct scenes in Wireframe mode and then check the progress of your designs, using the various rendering modes, before doing ray tracing.
One drawback of Infini-D is that raytracing takes place in RAM, so if you experience a power interruption or some other disaster that knocks out your Mac, you have to start the process from scratch. This is not a trivial problem, considering how time-consuming ray tracing can be. System 7 users can get around this problem by using virtual memory for ray tracing, because Infini-D is 32-bit clean. However, using virtual memory is quite a hit slower than doing ray tracing in RAM.
Another of Infini-D's strengths is in its handling of surfaces. Any ray tracer provides the basics: transparency, reflectivity, refraction, and cast shadows. These are mere starting points for Infini-D, however. The package includes fractal mapping, tiling, bump mapping, and corrosion. There is even an editable wave effect that looks like rippling water. An extensive library of predefined surfaces accompanies the package, and shareware surface libraries are also available on America Online to supplement these.
To create custom surface compositions, you can combine Infini-D's surfaces with imported PICT or PICS picture files and map the results to any object. The program offers five types of surface maps — Color, Bump. Transparency, Reflection, and Glow — as well as six ways to wrap a surface around an object. The ability to layer and blend ad varieties of surfaces is unique to this class of modeling programs.
You can animate all objects in Infini-D and export animations you compose to other applications, such as MacroMind Director. Infini-D's Sequencer, which edits objects in line, is an event-driven, time-based system that looks for changes in scene objects. This approach differs markedly from the traditional key-frame method most other rendering packages use and somewhat resembles MacroMind Director's Score.
Professional animators will be pleased that SMPTE time code and not the inaccurate dock chip supplied with the Mac manages the Sequencer. The Sequencer's configurable Timebar displays time to a hundredth of a second or in terms of frame numbers, which allows for exact interfacing with high-end animation systems and video equipment.
You can set objects, lights, and cameras to move around scenes on linear or spline paths. Lights and cameras can be locked to objects or to each other to maintain constant effects as you move about in your 3-D world. Infini-D's ability to interpolate virtually anything is what will cause most animators to sit up and take notice. Not only can Infini-D smoothly blend changes in position, orientation, and dimensions over time but it can also interpolate surfaces, lighting colors, and even object shapes. Specular International plans to add TrueType metamorphosis as well, by the third quarter of the year.
The minimum configuration required for running Infini-D is a II-class machine with 4 megabytes of RAM, 8-bit video, a hard disk, and 32-bit Color QuickDraw. Power users, especially animators, will want to use the fastest machine they can afford, equipped with a large monitor, 24-bit video, loads of RAM. and every conceivable accelerator. Ray tracing is a processor-intensive activity, and large, complex images for prepress or long animations can take many hours or even days to process.
The Infini-D package consists of two disks, a tutorial, and a users' manual. The documentation is clear and succinct and includes many clever analogies that speed the learning process. Infini-D is a product with depth, so careful study of the manuals is a necessity. Specular International maintains a forum in the Industry Connection section of America Online as well as a helpful tech-support staff to assist in troubleshooting problems.
The Bottom Line
Infini-D represents a quantum leap for 3-D-design packages priced at less than $1,000. No other competing product in its class comes close to matching Infini-D’s power and the quality of its features, effects, and performance. Moreover, the program's well-integrated path between modeling and rendering is a real strength that's further enhanced by a well-thoughtout and intuitive interface. The program is a must-have for serious modelers, and even high-end-CAD users can benefit from its extra abilities.
Barnard, Doug. (October 1991). Infini-D. MacUser. (pgs. 72, 74).
Note: FPU is required (MC68881 or MC68882, or MC68040 CPU (not MC68LC040).
Specular International
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Infini-Dtm_1.0.2.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
