No one 3D application has all the features I need for my projects. I have often found myself using multiple programs to complete a single project. Problems sometimes arise when I have to convert files to different formats for use in different programs.  In an ideal world I would only need one tool: My Dream 3D App! Here is a wish list of 10 features for the perfect 3D app.

1. UV mapping like Silo3D & UVMapper.
   UVMapper has an easy to use interface for creating basic UV maps. Silo can create UV maps and straighten them using its vertex, edge and face manipulator tools. My dream app would have the best features of both of these pr0grams.
2. Texture painting like Blacksmith3D & BodyPaint3D.
   Once an object has been UV mapped, Blacksmith3D allows the user to paint directly on the object in the round. No more fiddling with seams. You can paint a 3D model as if you were painting a sculpture. Bodypaint3D is a more advanced version of this lower priced tool with painting features similar to Photoshop.
3. Figure animation like DazStudio’s Animate.
   The Animate plug-in for DazStudio is better at blending together separate animations than Poser. I have also found that for popular Daz figures such as Victoria 4 and Michael 4, DazStudio is much more accurate for posing. My ideal app would have these superior animation qualities.
4. Face creation like FaceGen.
   The face room feature of Poser gives digital artists the freedom to create new faces for Poser figures. Unfortunately, it does not work with Daz figures. FaceGen is a very expensive tool which can transform the face of any 3D figure into a face from a well-lit photo.
5. Line-fitting like Shade3D.
   Shade3D can wrap 3D surfaces around any figure using its line-fit feature. This makes it useful for creating clothing.
6. Cloth room like Poser.
   Although DazStudio now has a cloth simulation feature, it is still not as flexible as Poser’s Cloth Room. Poser allows any object to be converted to cloth, provided it does not intersect itself; Daz Studio has special requirements for clotg creation using proprietary developer tools. At the time of this writing, these developer tools have not been released.
7. Lighting and Rendering like Vue Infinite.
   As evidenced by movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean II, Vue can generate images with highly polished levels of realism, provided you have the right hardware.
8. Vertex, face and edge manipulation like Silo3D.
   This feature of Silo3D makes it extremely useful for creating morphs for figures and modifying other objects. The user can precisely control where each vertex, edge or face moves allowing for the creation of zipper morphs for example. Another advantage of Silo3D is that it preserves vertex order so that you don’t end up with a morphing mess!
9. Environment creation like Vue.
   Vue can randomly generate trees, mountains and skies. My 3D app would have this feature to create realistic environments for 3D figures.
10. Sculpting like Z-Brush.
    Even if my dream 3D app could create any face from any well-lit photo, it would still be nice to be able to sculpt new features into that face (e.g. scars, moles etc.). Having done physical sculpture with clay, I can honestly say that Zbrush is as close to that experience on computer.

When I first started in 3-D design, some terms were familiar to me because I had studied university-level mathematics but many new terms were thrown at me that I did not understand. Over time I came to understand what these meant and I would like to share this knowledge with those new to 3-D. These definitions are entirely my own. I reserve the right to change them at any time.

	Bezier Curve: A curve that is defined by a series of control points. Manipulating the control points reshapes the curve. Bezier curves belong to a class of curves called splines.
	Bump Map: A UV map where black represents shadowed areas, white represents lighted areas, and shades of gray represent different levels of lighting. Bump maps create the illusion of detail much the same way actors use makeup to appear like they have deep scars or wrinkles. Bump maps do not alter the underlying geometry. Compare this to displacement maps.
	COLLADA (*.dae): A Universal industry standard format used for saving 3-D files and transfering them from one application to another. COLLADA is managed by the not-for-profit technology consortium, the Khronos Group.
Crease Angle: This is the value used to smooth out a polygonal surface. Higher angles result in greater smoothing. Lower angles result in a “blockier” looking image.
Diffuse Color: The light reflected from an object when exposed to pure white light. This represents the true color of an object.
	Displacement Map: A specialized UV Map where black represents flattened areas, white represents raised areas, and shades of gray represent different levels of height. Displacement Maps alter the location of vertices and edges in the underlying object. In general, it is much easier to modify geometry with a displacement map than to add additional faces.
Edge: A line defined by two vertices on a polygonal surface.
Face: A single quadrilateral made up of 4 edges and 4 vertices or a single triangle made up of 3 edges and 3 vertices.
Global Illumination: All the light in a scene, including direct illumination from light sources such as lamps and the sun, as well as indirect illumination due to light reflected from objects in the scene. For example, when near a red shiny object, some of the surrounding objects pick-up reflected red light. Calculating global illumination is a computationally expensive process.
Least Squares Conformal Mapping (LSCM): LSCM reduces the amount of distortion in a UV map by keeping each grid as square as possible.
	Morph: As a verb, the process of changing a 3-D object into another object without changing the number or order of edges and vertices. This is most commonly used to transform the face or body of one figure into another. As a noun, the result of this process, hence “Elite Morph for Victoria 4″. The advantage of morphing is that one high quality figure can be used to represent multiple characters.
	Non-Manifold Surface: These types of surfaces can break many 3-D applications, especially Poser’s Cloth Room. Real-world solids have the property that, at every section on the surface, a small enough ball around that section is divided into exactly two pieces, one inside and one outside the surface. Non-manifold surfaces are physically impossible objects because they violate this rule. For example, a ball no matter how small could be divided into more than two pieces when passing through a section of a non-mainfold surface. This can be described mathematically but there is no way to visualize it.
Silo from Nevercenter gives 3-D artists a quick method for finding non-manifold surfaces. Go into Silo’s Selection menu under Select Special Geometry and select edges with more than two faces (opt Edges with faces > 2). This will highlight the nonmanifold surfaces in your 3-d mesh.
Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline (NURB): A curve or bumpy surface in 3-D space that is defined by a series of control points and a knot vector. Manipulating the control points reshapes the NURB. NURBS differ from Bezier Curves in that the control points are given different weights or levels of emphasis.
Normal: An imaginary arrow that points out from a 3-D surface. The direction of a normal determines how an object is displayed.
Polygonal surface: A 3-D surface made up of many faces.
Render: As a verb, render is the process of creating a 2-D bitmap image from a 3-D model using realistic lighting and reflection. As a noun, render is the end result of this process.
Specular Reflection: Highlights. Shiny object have a higher specular reflection than matte objects.
Spline: A curve that is made up of pieces of smaller curves. Each piece is defined by a different equation.
Transparency Map: A UV Map where black represents invisibility, white represents opaqueness, and shades of gray represent different levels of transparency. Transparency maps are useful for creating realistic looking hair and skin.
Texture Map: A UV Map that applies color to an object.
	UV Mapping: The process by which a 2-Dimensional texture is applied to a 3-Dimensional surface. UV mapping allows digital artists to “fake” detail in a 3-D object, thus reducing development time. UV unwrapping involves the inverse process, flattening a 3D object into a 2D texture.
Vertex: A point. The plural of vertex is vertices.
Wavefront Object (*.obj): The most common type of polygonal surface. It was the de-facto standard used for transferring 3-D objects from one 3-D application to another. The COLLADA format is replacing it.

…Or 5 More Things I wish I knew before wasting many hours doing the wrong things modeling Poser Clothes!

1. Don’t use triangles in your mesh.
2. Keep your meshes as straight as possible.
3. Group your meshes as you model them.
4. Use Multiple Threads in Poser for your renders.
5. Be careful of exploding Morphs!

Continuing in the tradition of 10 tips for making poser clothes, here are 5 more helpful tips. There is some math involved but don’t worry, you won’t have to do any calculations!

1. Don’t use triangles in your mesh.

If you plan to use the clothes you have modeled in Poser’s Cloth Room, triangles will kill the simulation process. If you try sub-dividing a  triangle mesh using Nevercenter’s Silo (type ‘C’), the result will be a mesh with huge gaps; some polygons will be smooth while others fly hundreds of units away from your figure. There is  probably a mathematical reason for this; all manipulations in 3D Applications are based upon linear algebra. I suspect division by zero may be the culprit. At any rate, its best to avoid triangle meshes. Better to use meshes composed of quadrilaterals (4-sided shapes. e.g. squares, rectangles, trapezoids, and parallelograms).

2.Keep your meshes as straight as possible.
This tip makes a big difference in UV mapping. the closer to 90 degree (right) angles the mesh is, the easier it is to create a smooth UV Map over-top the mesh. The ideal mesh would consist entirely of rectangles. To create realistic looking folds it sometimes becomes necessary to violate this tip but try as much as possible to follow it.

3.Group your meshes as you model them.
What newbies often do is create clothing as a single object and then create groups for the abdomen, chest, etc. afterward. To save time and to ensure your clothes bend as naturally as possible, it is best to define the groups as you model them. Depending upon your modeler, you may be able to copy the exact locations of the body parts of your target figure (Victoria 4, Apollo Maximus, etc.).

4. Use Multiple Threads in Poser for your renders.
Splitting your render into separate threads will speed up rendering time. I also found it prevented a problem with crashing in Poser 7. The maximum number of threads you can use is 4 in Poser 7. I tried rendering a separate process but I found that actually slows things down. You can find these controls on a Mac under Poser 7 > Preferences > Render. On a PC, Edit > Preferences > Render.

5. Be careful of exploding Morphs!
This tip applies to all figures, not just clothes. When creating morphs, be careful which programs you use to create them. Edge order matters for morphs and some modelers will change the order of your edges resulting in the exploding mess shown at the start of this article. If you create morphs within Poser itself this is usually not an issue but Poser has limited morph creation tools. I use Nevercenter’s Silo for morph creation. This tool is extremely powerful for creating morphs, improving models made in other programs and making models from scratch.