This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (141 messages)
Terry – I just completed a review for 3D Artist where I indicated that Meshpaint is a "must have" ipas. It's hard to over-emphasize the ease with which it's now possible to paint elaborate maps directly on objects, however complex. I should add that you can also load a brush…
Dietmar – As a DXF "expert" maybe you could help me with this – Any & All – I'm working with a DEM file (digital elevation model) supplied (originally) by the government (US Geological Survey) for an island off the coast of the US. This DEM will need to be…
Mike – Thanks for the rapid response – any pearls of wisdom on what software does a good job of converting DEM to DXF? Does it make any sense to convert to DXF, bring it into Autocad, convert elements to layers/colors, etc., before export to 3DS? Thanks again. Bob Weil
#DXF import to 3DS
Message #179506
Any & All – I'm working with a DEM file (digital elevation model) supplied (originally) by the government (US Geological Survey) for an island off the coast of the US. This DEM will need to be imported into 3DS, and will have a previously ortho-rectified satellite photo mapped to it.…
Peter – Ditto – information for me as well. Thanks. Bob
Jonas – Just thought that I'd add that I posted a similar message on the Gateway forum to my message of 3/8 on this forum – as yet no response. Would have thought someone on their technical side would have looked into it. Oh well – that's customer service for…
Michael – Funny you should mention that – I just plunked down my dime for a TBCIV from a place here in So Cal. I would normally buy mail order to get the lowest price and save the tax, but I got them to come down to $799, plus tax…
Glenn – What do you mean specifically when you say "not matched?" My first sixteen and second sixteen meg are two different types of chips (though the same speed and manufacturer). The newer SIMM accomplishes the same memory with less physical chips. In fact, the Micronics motherboard in my 486…
John – I've done the "minimum boot" routine, which included stripping out the DOS memory manager, drivers for the CD Rom, etc, with only about a 10-20 percent improvement in performance. Of course, this is sufficient improvement to justify a 3D Studio-only boot, which I use when I don't need…
David – One of the neat things about Composer is that it opens up all files as though they have alpha channels – they are floating against a background. These objects can be moved separately, and don't have the annoying "marching ants" you see in Photoshop 2.5 or Photostyler 2.0.…
#Gateway PC Prob w/Studio
Message #157906
I have what I thought was a unique problem, and I've been afraid to come out of the closet with it, BUT NOW I KNOW I'M NOT ALONE! The problem is with 3D Studio and any make of Gateway (confirmed on all 486 DX2-66's through P-100's). Regardless of which video…
Don – Thanks for the quick response! I have both Razor Pro (with the new chip), and Premiere 4, so I guess I'm all set – except the problem of keeping sound in sync with all the editing changes on the PAR. Sounds like you do this in a production…
#PAR for Video Use
Message #157718
To anyone in TV land with experience in the area of extensive video use of the PAR – I'm about to purchase a TBCIV and a second Micropolis 2217A to use in the editting of a 1/2 hour cable channel show. The footage will be shot on SVHS (a Panasonic…
Kevin – That's news to me about the 2217A and the IDE line in general at Micropolis. Good reason to make that jump to a 2217A for my second drive! (I'm not a big Conner fan – and it's a smaller drive!) Thanks for the info. Bob
Kevin – The Micropolis AV drives actually have "continuous" thermal recalibration – kind of like a frost-free refrigerator "defrosting" itself continuously. Let me know when you get any word from DPS on SCSI support. I'm picking up a 3.6 gig DEC drive this week – would be handy for the…
John – Thanks for the additional input – I had the same dilemma you speak of – where the map stretches, rather than having the object scale THRU the texture. In lieu of your beta ipas, maybe Ralph has some additional experience that would help. Ralph! Back at your workstation…
Ralph – Good idea! My next step was to try morph materials – but I didn't think of the angle of having the first material simply be green – this simplifies matters. I could have several morph destinations for each of the major gradient color groups – blue, yellow, orange…
John – Thanks for the suggestion. I was also going to try to do it with morph targets for individual states, and morph materials as they grew. I would morph instead of using scale in the Keyframer. Both approaches have their merits. Thanks again for a great tip! Bob
Kevin – I think the Micropolis drives are considered good for several reasons – > They have good throughput at sustained rates > They have little problem with thermal recalibration (six months and no known instances of it for me) > They are still the largest and fastest IDE drives…
#Mapping Scaling Objects
Message #157151
I need some quick assistance on a minor mapping question. I am trying to edge map a 3D map of the USA with a gradiant going from green to red, so that as the individual states scale outward at different rates to represent their respective levels, the color at the…
you don't want to know – bailing wire wrapped through some available chassis holes, made snug with a sheet metal screw as a shim. . . But it works – and its ever so COOL. Bob
Minor quibble – with 1.27b I was able to simply pick up where I left off in importing files with the same prefix and a frame number that immediately followed the last loaded on the PAR. For some reason, 1.3 will no longer import the next file in the sequence…
I've had good luck with my 1.6 Gig Micropolis 2217A – but I went out right away and bought a muffin fan, which I have pointing directly at the drive. Before that, the drive ran very hot – now it's cool as a cucumber. Had the drive in daily use…
Mike – When you say "opposite of the manufacturer's specifications" I go worried. What should be installed differently than Micropolis indicates? I've been using the PAR (with no problem) for six months. TIA. Bob
Contract Work Opportunit
Message #145377
Infinite Interactions, a ground-breaking start-up multi-media entertainment/F/X company seeks a highly motivated and talented 2D graphic artist for a full-time three-month contract (January through March 1995). Immediate full-time availability is required, within driving distance of Los Angeles. The selected candidate will have their own PC-based computer system(s) and the necessary…
I have the 2217A Micropolis – and gets downright HOT. If you've watched the threads over the last six months about the PAR, a fair number of people have complained about the heat coming off the Micropolis drives (and off the board itself), and there have been reports of drive…
Dennis – >>>How big is a "muffin fan". Well, I guess it's about the size of – uh – a muffin. I have no idea where the name comes from, but their are a variety of sizes. I subsequently realised I paid a little more than I needed per fan,…
John – Ditto! I bought several muffin fans for $12 bucks each and have them pointed at my PAR and at the 2217A Micropolis. I did this after reading threads up here about difficulties people were having with fried drives and corrupted files – no problems of any kind, and…
John – I currently have and am using RazorPro. Can I help you by answering a question? I have used RazorPro to edit PAR .ani files in their native format (with the PAR chip upgrade), and am very impressed. I will be demonstrating the software in January in Southern California…
#PAR/RazorPro 3DS Problem
Message #143433
All and anyone – For some reason, when I pull a particular sequential series of files off the PAR and process them through 3D Studio as a background, 3D Studio draws the files at twice the speed that they were originally laid down at (29.xxx fps). This is true no…
Kyle – Not sure which effect you've used, but I've used waves and ripples, both field- and frame-rendered with no problem. Bob
sherwood – Help a little with this >>>new ver of the par software 34b loads fields backwards
Greg – Hey, old Buddy! A couple months back, I was having a problem calling sequential targas from the PAR for a background, and two ifl files, and getting inconsistent results. Gus told me that this was a limitation caused by not having any buffering available to the software in…
Andrew – If you're trying to pull both sets of sequential files off the PAR simultaneously, I'm sorry to have to tell you that it won't work. Tried before, and learned the hard way that this is a current limitation, since there is no "buffer" to hold several frames concurrently…
Tom – AV drives are the SCSI variety – unfortunately, not the IDE ( that the PAR uses). Nevertheless, I've never seen a problem with Micropolis thermal recalibration. Putting one in a case isn't a bad idea, but the PAR doesn't offer an external port (although you could rig something…
#130753-
PAR-Harddrives
Message #131077
Tom – A good drive is the Micropolis 2217A 1.6 Gig IDE hard drive. This will hold up to 15 minutes of animation – although you'll be most satisfied with the throughput using only the first 2/3 of the disk. Hard Drives International, which advertises in nearly all the trades,…
Martin – Congratulations! You're already able to animate images the size of a postage stamp in your current line of work – what will Virgin have you doing with ferrets??!!! Sounds kinda kinky to me. . . Best o'luck. ( Don't let your PAR gather dust, though – or give…
Roger – If I can put in my two cents, I think that the price for this upgrade is already less than previous upgrades – or am I mistaken? Bob
theo – wish i could say so – I'd call myself a "gentleman amateur," – i have a "real" job 9-5 that pays the real bills rw
Jonas – This is one of the IPASs written by Gus Grubba for the Pyros Partnership. We should probably ask Greg who interested parties should call. . . (Greg?) bob
Gus – >> These brushes "collect" image data and "paint" with it.
theo >>Dus een dringend advies backup-backup-backup-backup de PAR-files.
Gus, or ? – In your experience, what setting is satisfactory (minimal artifacts) for 320X240 avi files that have been converted to sequential targas, enlarged to 512X4??, cranked up with BRTCON and image-processed with an ipas like Pennello? I know much of this is subjective, but from a programmer's perspective,…
Gus – Thanks for the thorough update. I didn't realize that it's not simply a feature that can be added to the ipas. 🙂 Would be nice to have, whoever would need to do it, however. Is anyone from DPS listening? bob
Greg – Bringing any copies to this Saturday's meeting, by any chance? Sure to be a willing group, since we'll be discussing Pennello and Razor. . . bob
Thanks for the input . . . >>You can do this already using the IFL and specifying file in the PXP
#new PAR.EXE
Message #127931
Brick – To pick up on something Don L. mentioned. . . >>a speedy way to resolve the dilema of multi channel rotoscope files
Greg – >>We just finished a PXP which does exactly that – replaces the PXP which comes with the PAR adding your wish list feature set! So you left out the punch line – when and where will this debut??? bob
I've seen a very convincing "sand in an hourglass" effect using, of all things, the bubble ipas from Digimation. The bounding box was turned upside down, and a sand texture was mapped to the bubbles. It was pretty involved, but the effect was very realistic. Unfortunately, it was too subtle…
Gregory – What I was getting at is that the tone used in the question has alot to do with the depth and tone of the answers you get back. You're certainly welcome to your opinion about what constitutes good customer service. An analogy would be entering a room full…
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