In 2009, Caligari made all its Master Serie courses free for all, and some weeks later the website was closing and this valuable content was lost.
Today, as new 3d hobbyists are joining the community of trueSpace historical users, these tutorials become even more valuable. This page will gather both videos and articles from this time, plus some new content relative to the new tools and plugins being developped. It will try to cover all the aspects of 3D creations with trueSpace7.6

Every software has a lifecycle, and the industry is filled with products that stopped development before they came to achievement.

trueSpace, despite its age, is a fully functionnal program, with its known strenghs and weaknesses. In good hands, it can produce stunning images and animations. It is also the most complete free 3D creation tool to create models for 3D printing. This is probably the reason why it is still catching the attention of a new generation of 3D artists.

---

Getting started with trueSpace 7

If you a purely interested in 3d creation technics in trueSpace, like learning how to create stairs or paint a chair with texture, this tutorial may not be the one to start with, to say the least. We suggest you to pick an other one in the tutorial list.
But if you want to uncover the undersea part of the iceberg, understand the new tS7 philosophy, and realize the great potential this new architecture has to offer, then you are in the right place !  (2 hours)

NURBS toolset

Use NURBS power to create ultimate « Reality Designs. » From 2D curve drawing to NURBS surface creation, learn how tools work and how to use them in various situations, both individually and in combination, to accomplish complex tasks. (1 hour and 32 minutes)

Organic modelling

Learn why animators love Subdivision Surfaces. Covering all basic plus advanced tools, this set of tutorials will give a good understanding of the fundamental manipulation techniques in organic modeling, including metaballs and plastiform. (1 hour and 48 minutes)

Polygonal basics

This truly comprehensive introduction to Polygon Modeling teaches the basics of the Utility, Polygon and Edit tools. Each tutorial is packed with tons of features and even expert users will be surprised by some of the ‘hidden » features. (1 hour and 3 minutes)

trueSpace shaders

Learn how to use the many parameters for some of the shaders included with the Modeler side of trueSpace and how to fully utilize all of them individually and in combinations. This tutorial covers the main Lightworks shaders only, but the same rules apply for V-Ray and 3Delight. (1 hour and 52 minutes)

Texture creation

Using the right textures can add realism and interest to an image, and can easily make or break the end result, yet texturing is a complex and often misunderstood field. This course will take you through making the texture, through to applying it to your objects, through to making your final render. (2 hours)

3D for Illustrator

For an illustrator used to 2D, incorporating 3D into their work can seem daunting! This course introduces you to the workflow in 3D, giving an overview of the process. Then it takes you through using the output to Photoshop compatible PSD format provided by trueSpace for Illustrators and iPak, showing the effects you can achieve using the layers in the PSD file. (1 hour and 2 minutes)

Organic modelling (Workspace tools)

This course by Jack Edwards will show you how to get the best out of the new modeling tools in the workspace! Jack will show you how to work with the new point edit tools to create an organic model using Subdivision Surfaces, covering both the tools and the principles of ensuring a good mesh design for working with SDS. The course is a real eye-opener on new workflows and approaches that will transform how you use the workspace (1 hour 36 minutes)

Spirit of the interface

trueSpace was the first 3D tool with a pervasive use of direct manipulation interface. Its 3D UI controls operate in 3D workspace, not in separate 2D panels, like in most legacy 3D tools. In this introductory course, I will show you in over 100 minutes of video, how this UI will help you to learn 3D authoring faster and become a better 3D artist. (1 hour and 40 minutes)

Guided tour

This serie summs up the benefits of the new trueSpace7 core : its new powerful Point Edition tools, Soft Paint, Real-Time Shaders, Subsurface Scatering, 3D Video, Scripts and Behaviors, the new Animation and Advanced Simulation tools, and the collaboration solution that allows to work together inside the same 3D space.

Simulating the world

Zac Mansfield takes us through the world of Physical Simulation in trueSpace, starting with the different types of materials, going through the settings that affect how an object behaves, then showing how to manipulate the environments that the action takes place in. Finally, some practical examples show how to use all those features to make moving text, a object floating on water, and even a lava lamp. (2 hours)

Animation course

Give your models life! This series by Kevin Barnett teaches basic techniques used to set up and animate hierarchy models, lighting and camera techniques, deformation, vertex and material animation and much more using native trueSpace tools. (1 hour and 32 minutes)

The making of « South Park:Reloaded »

« South Park : Reloaded » proved itself a smash hit, being one of the most popular animations ever in downloaded from the Caligari site. Animator Fernando Hernandez gives you a sneak peek into the making of the animation, showing how he modeled the characters, gave them life through animation, created special effects, and matched it all up to the Matrix : Reloaded trailer. (1 hours and 30 minutes)

Clinton’s trueSpace plugins

Clinton is one of the most prolific trueSpace tools developpers. In this serie he is teaching how to use his new plugins and scripts.  His website is also a huge ressource place for all trueSpace fans : www.clintons3d.com

Trickes & Tips -NURBS tools

In this PDF tutorial, Norm Fortier is making use of several NURBS tools : NURBS primitive, curve to patch projection, destroy construction history, trim, blend surface. This is a most basic example of building objects with nurbs. The curve projection tools make working with NURBS very interesting and enjoyable. With a litle practice, you should be able to work with more complicated objects and ideas!

Motion Studio tutorial series

Although trueSpace’s native bones tools can let you experiment Inverse Kinematics animation, you can’t expect achieving serious character animation without the use of the dedicated plugin : Motion Studio. In this serie, Thomas (DD) is teaching how to install Motion Studio, create bones and skeleton, attach objects, create a working rig, set up and mix poses. Tricks about mechanical rigging and the use of parent object are included in the playlist.

Motion Studio Getting Started tutorial

This tutorial by Frank Ladner is probably the most complete overview of Motion Studio. At the time we build this website, this tutorial is still hosted on Frank’s website although there is no direct link on his homepage. However, in case this link would get lost, a clic on the picture on the left will lead you to the PDF version of this great tutorial. You can also download the ressources files here.

Cloth animation with ClothMotion

Clothmotion is a powerful and easy to use plugin for animating cloths. In this serie, Thomas is showing how to set up a Cloth Motion scene and animate a piece of cloth. You will also see that ClothMotion is not limited to cloths animation : it can be used also to create jelly objects or even waves effect !

Create a Sky Dome

In this short PDF tutorial you will learn how to create a sky dome using a NURBS sphere and a sky texture. Some 3D programs have a built-in skydome generator ; in trueSpace there is no such native tool, you can use either the Infinity2.tsx plugin that is dedicated to skydome and infinite background, or learn from this tutorial how simple it is to generate your own « physical » skydome to manage it from scratch.

Real life colors

Lightworks render engine supports layered material. The use of layers in material edition is fundamental if you want to create realistic materials. In this short PDF tutorial, Stan Slaughter tells the secret of building real-life colors in trueSpace.

iOptDetectors

iOptDetectors is a set of Object Libraries running in trueSpace7 environment. These libraries allows you to import bitmaps or videos from a file, a webcam or an other device supported by DirectX. Data can be applied onto 3D objects, and thanks to trueSpace7’s real-time render engine, the result are shown live on screen.  [more…]

trueSpace4 Bones

This is a very old tutorial about trueSpace’s primitive bones. trueSpace bones actually work, although users tend to prefer Motion Studio plugin because of its workflow and reliability. But we add this short tutorial as a tribute to Frank Riviera, who wrote the first (and last) professional techniques book about trueSpace : Inside trueSpace 4

Introduction to product illustration

If you want to learn about creating an illustration from start to finish, then this course is for you! Learn about modeling (with a comparison of the new and legacy tools in trueSpace7), texturing, lighting, and rendering as David Froude shows you how to make the lightbulb and packaging. (3 hours and 8 minutes) […link to come]

Using CLIPS to create animations

A CLIP is an encapsulated animation associated with a given object. Using a CLIP, you can build animations with hierarchies, like animating a propellor attached to the nose of a plane AND move the plane. Follow this tutorial to learn how to make a good use of this feature.
PDF in English – PDF in French