This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (3,426 messages)
Yeah, I'm really amazed at the lack of Pentium optimized software out there. There's one big problem with PowerMac: no 3DS – end of story =-( I personally don't like any of the mac 3D tools I've tinkered with. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
A company called in:sync put out a product called RAZOR recently, that will do compositing and other effects. It's windoze software, uses graphical representations of one's images (or text if that's your pleasure), and best of all: does photoshop plug ins! While there are some things I would like to…
Actually, with TapeDisk you've got a regular DOS drive, and you could theoretcally re-arrange or do whatever you do on other DOS drives. There would be no difference, other than speed and access time (much slower, particularly non-linear access!). I don't think frames out of sequence is a big deal…
In addition to what Gary said, you might want to try glow_i.ixp or flare_i.ixp, both available on disk 1 of the Yost IPAS Boutique. They tend to enhance the glint of light effect. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
See my message to John F. … John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I got the info from an EI user who was quite pissed off, but this was some time ago (couple of months) and it sounds like either he was misled or things have changed. I couldn't understand how a company that sells a renderer could afford to not port it…
Ana: the 8th horse(wo)man of the PC Apocalypse John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Here's one: Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease don't put that hideous Animator Pro user interface in this one . John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I think by "video" Scott meant NTSC, which the targa doesn't quite do. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Man, what did you use to calculate that 2 minutes per frame? By your calculations 30 megs would take one hour, which sounds more like one of those lousy Jumbo 120 nightmares than an Exabyte. It takes a couple of seconds to write a 1.2 meg file to my tapes…
Judy, grass is in the same league of difficulty as hair (think about it…). You're really up against it here – but the bump map suggestions should help. You may also want to rethink how you compose your scene, and how much / how close you want the grass to…
I've been told Electric Image WON'T be ported to PowerMac… the authors feel it works "well enough" as is. Man, some things are just too incredible to believe… John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
PReP sounds like a potential solution to the PC nightmare… I hope manufacturers can leave their greed behind (not very optimistic about this…) and actually pull this off, because so far standards are more an interpretation thing than a "standards" thing =-( John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I'm not sure what he company's address is, but I'll try and find out for you. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I agree tape is not for primary storage, but if you're doing animations that take less time to render than to write to either disk OR tape, I'd either like to see what they are, or find out what hardware you're using . My point was that writing to tape…
From what I understand the plus is 1.5 times faster than the old Impression, it comes in PCI, and probably has better VGA support than the Impression. I have no idea if the MGA chipset could do anything with the 3DS renderer. I highly doubt it. The only software I…
I agree. The only objects I don't run through optimize (well, I do, but I make a copy just in case…) are large flat surfaces with reflection maps. These sometimes get weird face artifacts (for lack of a better word). But optimize usually only kills non-essential faces. I've never seen…
Deutsch was my first language. I was born in Frankfurt and grew up in Munich. Moved to the "States" with my family when I was eleven. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
More wishlist: (for brian rudolph…) 1) Dope sheets that include cut and paste and other complete editing capabilities of animation clips for cycling and "stock" stuff 2) Audio support for tracking voice and sound cues. 3) 2D splines (a la Corel Draw!, etc…), and ability to scan pencil art into…
Have fun in Chicago – I really enjoy my visits there. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
No, you have to take care of the YUV conversion since PC-TAR is strictly a tape archive program. PC-TAR is what gets the files onto the tape drive in a UNIX readable format. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I think with a product called TapeDisk you could render directly to the Exabyte. This software driver will assign a dos letter and create a dos partition on your Exabyte drive, so you can use it like an HD. The Exabyte 8505 does @ 30 megabytes per minute writes, so…
While rendering to Exabyte would be a bit slower than HD, I don't see how it could slow rendering down "trememdously". The Exabyte does do 30 megs per minute… John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
The hardware 3D cards do not, at this time, affect 3DS rendering at all. 3DS rendering is done on your computer's CPU only, so whatever you've got there is the deal. You will be able to use Pavel's SANDRA, and it is nice to be able to see the whole…
For theo: Nein, ich bin eigentlich Americaner, aber in Deutschland gebohren und aufgewachsen It's nice to have you and Theo on the forum! John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I hope everything is ok with Jonas and his family… John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I'll have an answer on whether I can get a release on the Mirage part of the TV spots. As a matter of fact, the effect will be used in 3 more spots coming up shortly, though they are just variations on the original spots. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I think you'll find that unless you're planning on dumping more than 2000 frames in a day, and don't mind the lesser quality of the PAR, the Abekas will be a great solution. BetaSP rentals (PVW2800) run @ $300 per day here in SF, and you need insurance or a…
Film Recording
Message #120806
My confusion comes from not understanding exactly what you want to do. Film recording, by my experience, meant sending image files rendered to high res (2kx2k pixels) to a lab that can record these frames to film. Also, I'm not sure if the company in Canada does 16mm. I know…
I'll try and get you the part from the T.V. spot, but I've got to get clearance first – it'll be next week before I know. BTW, did you get my e-mail re bones? cheers, John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I've been having a blast with Mirage, too. Just used it in a series of 3 television spots. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
If you're local, why don't you give me a call, and we can get together. I'll e-mail you my #. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
PCTAR is a freeware program (available in the UNIX forum – go UNIX) that will archive files. TAR is the unix Tape ARchive file format, and since Abekas, SGI, etc… are UNIX boxes, this is what they can read. The process would involve archiving the YUV files to tape with…
I don't really know much about terrazzo. Check out a DTP magazine, I'm sure there'll be an ad for it in any one of them. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I'm using the drivers and have found NO problems. I run in 1024×24, 1152×24, and 1280×16 John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Sounds like you put your ram in in the wrong order. It is extremely important to put ram chips on the MB in a certain order, which will be specified in your MB's manual. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
The ATI is definitely cheaper, but there's a good reason for it . The MGA is faster, I believe, at higher, 24bit resolutions. I run 3DS at 1152x24bit, and don't think the ATI is as fast. Also, the MGA works. Sounds like you need to get a different VGA card.…
Hope you had a good vacation, welcome back. I've been off the forum somewhat myself, and the traffic just gets unbelieveable! I know Matrox is planning a PCI product, but I have no knowledge of details, or when it will be available. When they were developing the MAX, PCI was…
The P5/90 board is manufactured by Intel and uses their Neptune chipset (single processor). I bought it from ASA computers in Santa Clara, but I know it is a fairly common board. I don't know what the specs are, because when I exchanged the OPTI based board for this one…
Just download aaplayhi.exe (in a zip file in the libraries here) and install that on your friend's machine. This will play .flc's. The difference between fli and flc is that fli is limited to 320×200, whereas flc is resolution independant. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Geez, Gus… you're on a major roll today =-) John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Yeah, that thread was pretty mangy. I basically decided gamma was not some sort of absolute mandate of the gods, but just another slider for getting stuff to look better. I'm usually happy with 1.8, though I'll go up or down for certain looks. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Terrazzo is not yet available for PC, as far as I know. XAOS was planning on a PC version, though. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
I knew they were planning on coming out with a 90, but when I got mine it was not yet available. I usually prefer AMI, but the Intel board I got seems to be kicking major butt anyway. John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Welcome back, krazy! John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Great idea, Ara. This seems very doable, but I have no programming knowledge or knowledge of what exactly can be done in 3DS with IPAS. Some of the SGI software can do similar things: Alias 6.0 will be able to read audio files and then link specific pheonims with pre-built…
Seems like a pretty safe configuration (I avoid the ATI cards like the plague, though – waiting 5 minutes to get into the Materials Editor is just a bit much for me ). You probabaly have a memory conflict: time to do some sleuthing. If you need suggestions for getting…
Paul answered that one for you. I've used an Abekas at a post house for capturing video, and I cannot recommend a better method for getting digital video! John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
1.2?! I remember hemming and hawing over that last year. The lowest I used was 1.3, and it was darker than hell (but that's what I wanted). For the regular happy looking logos and stuff I really stick to 1.8. I'll have to do a test next time and re-evaluate.…
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