[Review] Alias/3 and 4

foetz

Member
Feb 19, 2019
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this is not a full review because most of what i wrote in my v6 review (https://forums.sgi.sh/index.php?threads/review-alias-poweranimator-v6.202/) applies here as well. so i'll keep it to what's different compared to v6.
and for the record, i'm not sure this is actually version 3 because some parts of the program say 3 but some others say 4. maybe we should say that this is a mixed review of alias 3 and 4 :p

  • the most obvious difference first: it's green! indeed and very much so. and the buttons and menus are flat so it would actually pass as a "modern" program if it had anti-aliased fonts.
  • the file browser and some other menus do have the 3d-style buttons already.
  • the other major difference is that it is a pure nurbs program. this means no polygons at all except for imported geometry just like it has been after version 9 once again.
  • the tool options are borderless windows which are glued to the top of the menu bar. you have to use the exit button if you want it to go away.
  • the popup menus which unfortunately i can't make a screenshot of have horizontal white separation lines and the options "button" right to them is a small O with a white vertical separator on the left side. all versions starting with 6 had these shadowed box-like icons instead.
  • the multilister does not include the lights. there's a separate "Light Editor" for them.
  • therefore the multilister is not (yet) called multilister but "Shader Lister".
  • the Shader Lister window's title bar has no icons for the display options. they have to be set via menu.
  • the file menu has neither "open" nor "save". it's called "retrieve" and "store".
  • there are no keyboard shortcuts at all. 100% mouse usage.
  • the renderers cannot save output images with an included alpha channel. the alpha is saved as a separate file.
  • there is no splash screen. it just appears.

in general for 1993 it had quite an impressive set of features. the big problem back then was the texturing. not for too long though because with version 5 alias released studiopaint and the big players like ilm had their own way of painting textures already.
but now without further ado to the most popular part everyone is waiting for: the pics :D
 

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arhiman57

New member
Apr 21, 2020
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Many thanks for this review. It's a pleasure to have fresh info like that on these software :)

Can you give us some info ont the review config ?
 

foetz

Member
Feb 19, 2019
93
47
18
could be but could also mean something else. so i'll wait for his answer.
 

foetz

Member
Feb 19, 2019
93
47
18
for this and the v6 review i used an indigo2 with 160mb ram, an r4400/250 and extreme gfx. irix is 5.3 without xfs.
 

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