Jimco Software Reviews - WorldBuilder Professional 4.1 (continued)
Performance
When I got WorldBuilder, I decided to install it on my Toshiba laptop. It's got a fairly fast Pentium M 735 processor and 32MB of video memory, but it only has 512MB of memory. I was expecting a frustrating experience and poor performance. What I got instead was a big surprise. WorldBuilder performed quite well on my machine. I did notice some substantial slowness when rendering large screens in wireframe and higher, but that's to be expected because of the limited memory in this machine. (A test on my desktop computer with 1GB of memory was quite a bit faster.)
Digital Element recommends 1GB of memory for WorldBuilder. I would recommend that as well. However, you can run WorldBuilder on a machine that meets the minimum system requirements and still have a satisfying experience. That's a big deal to me because I go everywhere with my laptop and do most of my work on it. While writing this review, the majority of my WorldBuilder work was done on my laptop and I was never dissatisfied with the performance.
If you have the need to produce realistic landscape images and/or animations, WorldBuilder is going to offer you many features that other packages can't touch.
Rating
Usability : 5/5
WorldBuilder scores a perfect 5 on Usability. The architecture of WorldBuilder allows you to modify anything in a scene at any point. Experimentation is easy and enjoyable due to features like Incremental Design. Overall, WorldBuilder is just a joy to use.
Interface : 5/5
Another perfect score for the WorldBuilder interface. The layout of WorldBuilder is close to perfect, but if you don't like it, you can modify it as you wish. Everything in WorldBuilder can be moved, resized, removed, etc..
Intuitiveness : 4/5
WorldBuilder scores a 4 out of 5 for intuitiveness only because an application such as WorldBuilder is not intuitive by nature. There are many settings and configuration properties that simply won't make sense without studying the documentation.
Features : 5/5
The feature set of WorldBuilder is incredible. As you're designing a scene in WorldBuilder, you may often find yourself saying "I sure wish I could do X." In almost all cases, you can! It seems that Digital Element has identified every weakness in other landscape generation applications and addressed them all plus many more. You will be amazed at the features in WorldBuilder. I was!
Documentation : 5/5
You can see a sample of some of the documentation in WorldBuilder on the Digital Element Web site. It's obvious that Digital Element has gone to considerable lengths to ensure that you get the most from WorldBuilder. Documentation is chocked full of not only the technical information you need to use the application, but also with tips and tricks that will help you get the most from it. Documentation is available inside the interface for any dialog by simply clicking a question mark button.
In addition to the excellent documentation that ships with WorldBuilder (yes, WorldBuilder includes a high-quality, wire-bound book), Digital Element is also producing Knowledge Modules on CD. These Knowledge Modules include videos that walk you through creating complex scenes in WorldBuilder. They are filled with nuggets of information that you will use over and over to make your scenes stand out from the crowd.
Price vs. Value Ratio : 5/5
WorldBuilder Professional is a beefy $700. However, what you'll get for that $700 is worth much more. If you have the need to produce believably realistic landscape images and/or animations, WorldBuilder is going to offer you many features that other packages can't touch.
If that price is too much for you, you can purchase WorldBuilder Genesis for a very affordable $179. Genesis is not a crippled version of WorldBuilder. Most of the features you've read about in this review are available in both versions.
For a full comparison of WorldBuilder Professional and WorldBuilder Genesis, see the Digital Element Web site.
Reviewer's Tilt : 1/5
This review began with a tilt score of 0. The only reason I increased that score to a 1 out of 5 is because I found myself growing so fond of WorldBuilder while reviewing it. By the end of the review, I felt a tilt of 1 out of 5 was more fair.
Overall : 5/5
WorldBuilder earns an overall score of 5 out of 5. The combination of providing features you can't touch in other applications with the excellent output and usability of WorldBuilder makes it impossible to give it anything less.
Even if you have only a marginal interest in 3D landscape creation applications, you absolutely must give WorldBuilder a try. Digital Element provides a demo version of WorldBuilder Professional and the tutorials on the Digital Element Web site are designed to work with the demo version. You will be amazed at what you can do in WorldBuilder. Everytime I use it, I am amazed all over again.
WorldBuilder Professional 4.1
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