Hi all,
today i’ve downloaded SILO 3D
It’s very easy, in a couple of hour you can obtein more.
Someone use this software or can suggest other?
I use Lightwave, but is too much big and annoyng…
Bye
Leo
I’m a Silo user and I gotta say it’s the best modeler I’ve worked with. I’ve used wings3d, blender, cinema 4d, maya PLE and Silo’s workflow for modeling has been the quickest (for me). One thing I love about Silo is that there really isn’t anything GUI wise holding you back. In Cinema 4D the 3d viewport is tiny on my 1024x768 resulution monitor so Silo gives you a lot more room to work with. The best thing to do I found is to use a nice customized button setting that has all the buttons easily accessable in the center and then use the spacebar to toggle the menu. So until you get used to the keyboard shortcuts you can just press spacebar (after disabling the buttons from the display menu) to bring up the buttons. Here’s the one I’m using now (done by Sokar) http://www.silo3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=113
Thanks Sok for that one 
Currently I’m working on my devil head I modeled in Silo and brought into Zbrush. Hopefully I’ll have some WIP pics to post of it later today since I have the day off…ahhh. If you have any questions check out the Silo forum, a lot of questions will probably have been answered in there but if not the guys over there are quick to respond.
pnoland
I heard silo is good. Also some of the original lightwave team are now almost ready to put out modo.
might look at that one.
Silo is a great modeling tool,i didnt liked it when it was new but now im using it together with amapi and i can say that silo is a great tool,very easy to understand and very easy to use.it makes a lot of fun to model with silo.
Hi leo
Sure You have made the good choice!
As soon as they add the “Snap” to a point, Silo will be quasi perfect !
(just exist “snap” to a grid)
It’s like Zbrush, very funny to use 
Pilou
Big difference than Wings3D : boolean Functions :ex:
I used to use 3D Studio MAX as my primary modeler. I recently purchased Silo and I am very, very happy. As others have said here, it is a fast and fun to use modeler. I plan to model all my models in it and then use MAX for rendering/Animation.
BTW - Wings3D is nice (and free) but it is not as nice (IMHO) as Silo is.
>> I use Lightwave, but is too much big and >> annoyng…
Hey, i use LW too! Iam very happy with it…
Once you have found your own workflow, you become very, very fast in modeling!
Most people use LW for box-modeling like in wings3d. That is not my way… i model point-by-point, poly-by-poly, but at the same speed!
Whats wrong with it? Maybe i can explain some things to you… (iam using it since version 4) I know EVERYTHING! 
This model was done poly by poly in Silo. It’s capable of doing box and p by p styles.
http://www.pixolator.com/zbc-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=016249
Hi all,
thx for the fast reply.
Probably(surely) i’m going purchase Silo.
To MK2: Thx for your reply and your help.
I speak english not very well when i say annoyng, i used Lightwave from many years, but i’ve read more book about this soft, it’s a powerful software, probably to much for me.
I’m not a pro, i’ve not more time to spent around 3d, then if i make in 2 hours somethingh with a downloaded software and the same in Lightwave with my experience take more time…the choice is simple.
Often the result are a little bit unpredictable with metanurbs, tension, and bevel…
Thx again
Bye
Leo
Tho I’m a relative beginner to 3D I’ve tried lots of 3D programs. The only ones I’ve actually enjoyed while learning are Silo and Curvy3D.
I’d love to spend more time with Lightwave and Poser but I get so annoyed with the convolutions of their interfaces I keep leaving them. I don’t want to fight a program, I want to use it.
Alan
played with the silo learing edition for a bit now and while it sure is a great tool and an excellent modeller (gotta love working in smoothed wire mode dragging around 5 subdiv levels in realtime ) i do still prefer Wings3D, because …
i just hate the ‘standard’ selection technique that almost every 3d app forces me to use:
1-click a vertex/edge/face
2-press and hold shift key
3-spin/zoom/pan model like crazy
4-click another v/e/f
5-realize you hit the wrong one
6-undo/deselct
7-retry
and i love the wings/nendo/mirai style, where you can actually see what’s going to get selected and you don’t even have to switch to fro between edge/vertex/face modes
also, silo won’t let me extrude/bevel vertices and edges (at least i didn’t succeed in finding that command)
too many buttons! unfortunately you can’t reconfigure the RMB menu and well, sure you can customize the whole interface to your hearts content, it’s still a bunch of tiny buttons you need to identify
the mirror mode feels quirky and is a tad complicated to use
special key combos to ‘convert’ selections instead of switching modes while retaining my selection
another detail i love about wings is the ‘expand/shrink selection’ thing, +/- keys simply select all elements next to the ones that are active, instead of all e/v/f in your model
and i miss my axis! since i always switch off the annoying ground planes / grids i tend to get lost in space when spinning stuff around if there are no visible redgreenblue helpers
besides all this it’s a wonderful tool and i’ll probably buy and use it for its strong points: realtime subdivs, texture mode, the brilliant manipulator concept, excellent spline based tools, speeeeeed, building things poly-by-poly, the split tool … and and and
my 2 cents
addition: oh yes, booleans are another silo benefit! thx frenchy
even tho’ booleans are pretty useless for low poly work, imho
Well…
I have been trying out silo for quite some time now, it was given to me as a gift…
This post made me re-install it, and upgrade it…
Perhaps it is because I use wings all the time, but I realy prefer wings over silo…
I guess the Biggest reason is that I get better results from the AUV mapper in wings…(I have been doing it for so long, I can do it in wings blindfolded )
I own DeepUV… Man what a waste, Wish I would have had Silo or Wings back when I bought it… UV mapping is a Breeze in both wings and Silo… I feel realy silly about DeepUV now.
also the material properties in wings Export to other applications better… I use VRML and Viewpoint… I get much better results with wings as far as keeping the open GL material properties…
I do like all the modeling tools in Silo… There are some features i realy enjoy, I like the customization of the Context menu the most…
When Price is an Issue, Wings wins hands down… (this is not fair, wings is free)
Wings is also on more platforms than Silo… If you own MAC or Linux or if you have MAC and Linux people you work with… you will be able to use wings on all platforms, and be able to exchange content with all platforms without any file conversion (makeing OBJ or 3DS files when going between applications)…this is great if you have Linux, macOS and windows on same network… all applications open same filetype :D…
Wings is also open source… so if you are a talented person, and you want a feature added… you can add it yourself (or with a team of people)…
It is possible to RAYTRACE straight from wings… I use YAFRAY for quick renderings of charictors and vehicles… Silo wins in the “ease of use” department tho… Yafray, and POVray are not easy to use… even with a GUI… But for free… well dont complain free is free…
as far as free gose… I got Silo for Free as a gift … I also got Wings 3D as a Freebie…
So looking at the price I payed for both of them (nothing), and just looking at how functional they are for me, I choose Wings as my favorite modeling application…
Silo has more Whistles and bells on it, but I am able to produce the same basic models in Wings3D, and i have better Luck useing the wings 3d AUV system… and I enjoy keeping Open GL material properties for use in other applications. i also enjoy useing it in liux without WINE or crossover… I like being able to trade models with my employees that use MAC systems without tesstleateing then exporting models…
Because of the licenceing, Wings and Silo realy should not be compared to each other… it is not realy fair…silo has features that wings dose not… and wings has features that Silo dose not have… I like Owning both of them 
If you are going to spend money on any modeler I HIGHLY suggest Silo over anything else… at around 110$ it is a Steal! (Be sure to get your free copy of wings and YAFRAY too 
)
Thx Polaris30 for the explanation.
Bye
Leo
Wings is also on more platforms than Silo… If you own MAC or Linux or if you have MAC and Linux people you work with… you will be able to use wings on all platforms, and be able to exchange content with all platforms without any file conversion (makeing OBJ or 3DS files when going between applications)…this is great if you have Linux, macOS and windows on same network… all applications open same filetype …
The guys at Nevercenter are currently pushing out a Mac version of Silo. They’re pretty much almost done with it they are just working on the copy protection code before they release the demo. I believe they want to make a Linux version also in the future but they wanted to make sure the Mac release was first. You’re right though that it’s kind of not fair comparing wings to Silo for the face that one is free and one is not. It must be personal preference because I feel Silo is better then wings. I never took the time to properly learn the keyboard shortcuts with wings so I would always be right clicking (which I found annoying). Silo is nice because even if you don’t know the quick keys the menu is so easy to navigate you’ll still quickly find what function you’re looking for. As far as internal rendering Silo can use Povray directly. It’s not as nice as Yafray but you have to remember that they did release a plugin SDK for Silo so all they need is for somebody to create a C++ plugin to export the Silo scene as an XML document that would be compatable with yafray.
Those of you here who are Artists first and Modellers second, and I think there are far less than there ought to be,(ZB2 is an artist’s dream come true)and who are put off by Modeller programs in general as I am, will love Silo. Small enough to get to grips with in a week, powerful enough for complex individual objects to import into your Pixolandscapes or develop further in 3D.
Alan.
I tried this this weekend…
I have little traditional modeling background so I was in over my head… (the interfaces truly drive me mad, why all keyboard commands and hidden features, surely we can do better in this day and age) but the power is evident in this modeler… it seems like the best sub d tool around…
and I found a cool thing… 
if you import a sub d cube from it to zbrush you have a VERY nice platform for further modeling… the topology is good so you even can get creases and stuff better then usual in zb… although i think there’s some methods to make good topology starters in zb I just don’t recall them
so overall, if I can get the time I would like to learn silo, I just wish someone would make a “noob to modeling” interface for it that’s less reliant on keys and such
It’s Wings3D all the way for me! Some people have a really hard time using it, but for me, it’s like second nature.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>(the interfaces truly drive me mad, why all keyboard commands and hidden features, surely we can do better in this day and age)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The UI of Silo is completely configurable. You can create a menu or a button for about any function the software has. So if there is a particular way you like to work, then create it. There are also many user configured UIs that you can download to use.
Now, why then does Silo come with stock with so many keyboard commands? It is simple: it has been proven that people who learn and use the keyboard commands work faster (by far) then those that click buttons. It is most likely one of the reasons that the Z2 Practicle Guide emphasizes keyboard commands while going through the tutorials.
A freind and I where discussing UI tonight…
have you guys seen Lightwave? it looks about the same as VideoToaster did back in the late 1980’s
the cool thing about LW is that it is customizeable… you can add or remove buttons… even make new buttons for plugins
Silo dose this also… which is very nice indeed! you can make look and feel the way you want…
This is one thing i dont like about Wings… I would have to actualy change the sourcecode to tweak the menus or hotkeys…
The menus are set up quite nicely in wings… but there are some things in the tool bar I would like under my right mouse button contex menu also… there are thing I want removed also…
I realy like customization…
But I have been useing wings so long, it realy makes no diffrence anymore…
I am like a wings robot… I dont think about interface at all realy… I just sit down and do things out of habbit… so teh menu placement realy dosent make too much of a diffrence anymore…
LOL! I was helping out a good Friend tonight, who was trying out wings for first time… I think i learned about as much as he did LOL!!!
There are ALOT of features I never use in wings… tonight I found out about some realy cool things in wings 3d…
I am going to install silo on my other system… and play with it some more while this system is tied up… I am sure there are alot of fun little suprises in store for me
thanks again for bringing this thread up…
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> This is one thing i dont like about Wings… I would have to actualy change the sourcecode to tweak the menus or hotkeys… <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Actually in Wings hotkeys are as easy as trueSpace. simplely highlight in the menu, press [Insert] then press key. [Delete] while highlighting to remove. As far as I know, trueSpace is the only other 3d app, that doesn’t make you look in a large list to set hotheys. I never tried Silo though.
I’m traditional box modeler, who knows apps like 3ds Max, Maya, and trueSpace. I’m totally impressed with the modeling features and potential of Wings3D, and I just started trying it. It’s dam fast and easy, after you learn what it can do. The fact that it’s free and open source are an extra coo, since I know how to code. IMO, Wings3D is good company for ZBrush-2.
ADDED:
For the record, Wings3D is strictly a polygonal modeling app, gearing towards sub-division surfaces. There are no NURBS, no Animation and it’s not really a rendering app either. but for what it does, it does it very well.