And there is SketchUp #2: The Free TrueSpace by Caligari

TrueSpace Visualization
TrueSpace Visualization

Competition is great, isn’t it? This is especially the case when big companies are fighting over a market segment. As I speculated earlier, Microsoft is now following Google’s lead and is releasing Caligari’s TrueSpace 7.6 for free.

I am installing TrueSpace right now and will post some examples soon, but for now the capabilities seem quite promising:

  • VirtualEarth Export – That’s why Microsoft bought it after all
  • Parametric objects, NURBS, Subdivision surfaces
  • Interactive booleans – See example on right
  • Real-time lighting, reflection and refractions – Sweet, I must see this for myself
  • Real-time trees and plants and even cloth behaviour
  • UV Painting
  • Animation and characters

Altogether quite promising… especially for a free software. Now the ball is in Google’s court. Do I hear “SketchUp 7”?

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