This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (524 messages)
Thanks, guys. Actually, I can't take credit for that joke. It was from an ad in computer magazines LONG ago in the days when EGA was new (I think that was in the Precambrian period…). The ad showed a box of 16 Crayolas spilled open with several of the crayons…
#Virtuosity screening
Message #195280
I'm just now getting this far down in my back messages and have read 58 messages in the thread on Virtuosity. One comment struck me: you did the holographic head with a box of Crayolas? I'd like more info on this: was it the CGA box (16 crayons) or the…
That may be, but I was also incorrect with the whole Video Post idea. It won't work. At all. Period. Why not? Because you can't apply either Alpha or a Transition (which also would've worked by using the same scanline-masking bitmap) to a "[KF Scene]" (or an .IXP Process for…
We've run into that problem as well. Apparently, MAGIC4 uses the wrong value from 3DS as its "current frame" counter, using instead a "current FIELD" counter. A possible workaround might entail enabling FIELD-NO-DOUBLE in 3DS.SET (r"4" only), but that's a pain when you have several network slaves and only want…
ANIMATOR PRO AND PENTIUM
Message #192499
I don't know if your problem has already been solved yet. I just read your message and haven't seen any replies other than Dave's. Phar Lap Error 35 means that a 386 or better (which Phar Lap 386|DOS-Extender, by definition, requires) is already in "Virtual Mode" under the control of…
I did not get to go to SIGgraph this year, so no, I haven't seen MAX in action. I don't care how good it is, though. I'll rave and drool all you could possibly want during working hours. But when I get home it's time to read some novels and…
Agreed. But there is something to be said for being able to do even simple 3D DVE moves in real time in a non-linear editor. Granted, it doesn't even come close to the Video Toaster in terms of flexibility of transitions, but then again the Toaster isn't designed to be…
Thanks for letting us know. Will there be such a list posted any time soon?
I'd like to join that club! What are the dues? Seriously, 3DS is a _tool,_ not a way of life. So long as it remains the best tool for the money to do the tasks we need it to do, we will continue to use it and support it and…
No, but the person in question was asking for a list of bugs, not a form for reporting bugs. You said nothing to indicate that the file is not at all what they were looking for. To ALL: _is_ there a list of bugs available? If so, where? — Joel…
Animator Studio
Message #191771
I don't know if your problem with blurring on a #9 card on saves to stills has been solved yet, but if not, you may be able to use this workaround: Copy the frame or other image you wish to save to the Windows Clipboard, then switch to another graphics…
#AS GPF ???
Message #191770
If this has not been solved yet, try downloading and installing the latest OLE 2.1 or whatever the latest version is from the Microsoft Download Library. — Joel Rea @ M&M Communications Concepts
No I haven't seen that, but I will! Thanks! — Joel Rea
Yes, I do remember FOCAL. Do you remember TECO? How about SABR and RALF? OS-8? The various EduSystems? DECtape? 🙂
AniStudio Disappointment
Message #190702
We find AAS disappointing for the reasons Mike mentioned, and also because a powerful stand-alone application costing four figures should not be beaten in usability by a toss-in applet that's part of a program costing less than half as much. I speak of CorelMOVE, which is bundled with CorelDRAW 5.…
Well, my employer does prefer me to use the company account for company business, but there is a more important reason I won't be here under my personal account. That's because it will be _my_ _personal_ account, and I will use it for _my_ _personal_ benefit. As much as I…
#Cartoon Animation
Message #190700
Some time ago I started an "IPAS Suggestions" thread for people to post ideas for IPAS vendors to develop. One of my own suggestions was for a 3D Studio .AXP or .IXP that could cause rendered objects to have cartoon-like outlines, thus allowing the full power of 3DS to be…
FLC Compressor Driver
Message #190699
Check out Smacker from RAD Software. It compresses even better than FLC, and like FLC is optimized for 8-bit color depths, and can do lossy or lossless and even allow you to do variable compression on a per-frame basis (do these frames lossless, and these frames with low lossiness, and…
#Sound Features
Message #190698
The .AVI file format itself doesn't accept MIDI data directly (the newest release of QuickTime does, however). There are workarounds, though. #1. You can use any language capable of controlling MDI to initiate a MIDI file playback just before or just after initiating .AVI file playback. Both are MCI devices.…
Bug Reports?
Message #190697
Uh, no, Mark. AASBUG.TXT is NOT a list of bugs. It is a FORM for REPORTING bugs. — Joel Rea @ M&M Communications Concepts
The file "R4FEAT.TXT" which Gary uploaded and we downloaded does not contain the text "preliminary and subject to change" or indeed anything at all about "subject to change" or even the word "change" anywhere in it. Indeed, I posted some time ago that all of this could have been alleviated…
Thanks. I guess I do seem a bit cynical at times. I can see how the phrase "not done right" could be inferred as an attack against the programmers or marketers responsible for whatever I think wasn't "done right," but that's never what I intended to imply. And I can…
WAAH! OUR CorelDraw 5 didn't come with any Ray Dream 3! I guess that's what we get for buying software when it comes out instead of waiting until the sales drop and the publishers get desperate to shore up the sales… 🙁 — Joel Rea @ M&M Communications Concepts
One "Killer IPAS" I've envisioned recently is a generic SKY.IXP that does what STARS3.IXP plus can handle sky coloration for any time of day, and has parameters for generating a variety of fractal-computed clouds (even animated if you wish), and also encompasses SOLTRK or SUNPATH so that the position of…
Did I say it was "useless"? I can't remember and don't have time to check in Auto-Filed. I thought I said it was one that isn't necessary for most purposes. There is a big difference between the two.
executable flic player
Message #189806
PMJI, but may I suggest RAD Software's Smacker 2.0? It comes with DOS and Windows versions. Smacker is a Video and Animation Compressor that is optimized specifically for 8-bit .FLCs, unlike QuickTime and Microsoft AVI. It can compress 8-bit animations much, much tighter than any other compression method (including PKzip)…
#2D Texured Surfaces
Message #189805
May I recommend CorelDRAW 4 or later? It has .DXF import and can fill any shape with a bitmap (as well as some beautiful fractal-generated textures that have to be seen to be appreciated).
Okay, I concede that I may have been assuming too much. But I have been a programmer for longer than some people here have been breathing. I am right now a Windows and Mac developer, and have worked on award-winning Apple II games in the 80s. I program in the…
Grahame, uh, the reason you haven't seen my posts more than once a month or two months has nothing to do with my gender (which is male). It has to do with the fact that until very recently (as in today as I type this) the city I live in…
I'm not young. I'm 36. I'm sorry if people perceive my messages as negative. I simply intended them as attempts to inform. There is plenty of gushing praise for 3DS and the numerous plug-ins from many here (myself included), yet no one says that unrelenting praise "undermines credibility," and of…
I'm not Marion. He is my employer. I'm one of his employees. But this is his account. As for my perceived negativity, perhaps I should make something clear: I feel that when people (corporations are legally people) make promises, they should keep them, or at least attempt to make good…
The format of the .ASC file written when you do a 3D Editor/Keyframer Save As "*.ASC" is pretty much self-explanatory. Check it out. The .3DS and .PRJ file formats are a bit tricker, but as I said, for just trying out some algorithms for intelligent mapping, .ASC works fine. Once…
Paul, see my reply to Mike about CIS _finally_ doing what I told them would be a prerequisite for me to get my own personal account (namely, treating Shreveport like the moderate-sized MSA it is rather than as some hick town out in the boonies by FINALLY giving us a…
Mike, I just saw your message today after having come back from Labor Day vacation. What timing! There was NO WAY we were going to download an over-half-a-meg file at 2400bps and current CIS rates just to make a point. But this very day CIS _finally_ saw fit to bless…
Uh, who's "Bill"? There is no "Bill" at M&M Communications Concepts. As for "flame messages," I guess either you or Compuserve has a way different definition of "flame" than the other systems I use more (GEnie, etc.). To me, a "flame" is a rant that contains personal or argumentum ad…
Well, okay. That's good news. But I hope it wasn't because they felt "sorry for me," but rather because they felt bad about reneging on a promise they made to we their loyal customers. With this they are showing that they do care about keeping their word, and I am…
Thanks, David. 🙂
(If anyone knows how to post a Reply to a thread and address it to ALL, please let me know. I know this is addressed to Aleksey, but it's intended for ALL, and I didn't want to start a whole new thread.) Good points on timesaving. That certainly applies to…
ACK!! I don't know what happened! I'll blame it on WinCIM or CSNav. Seriously, the message SHOULD have read as follows: Actually, someone who thinks they know how to do this automated mapping need not know how to do IPASes to try out their algorithms. Just save a 3D Editor…
Can you think of any other reason? I mean, the whole point of POCO was to implement in a programming language the entire features of Animator Pro, including all of the menu commands. It's not like Gary could have FORGOTTEN that there was a Paste Swap command — it's RIGHT…
#Nurbs in 3ds
Message #188163
I haven't been keeping up with the boards lately, but the "one guy even said they were planning legal action…" sounds like something someone might say who misremembered something I posted some time ago. I NEVER said we were planning legal action. What I said was that I was concerned…
#POCO Manual?
Message #188162
I agree with all the kudos of POCO. I am BITTERLY disappointed that this wonderful feature was left entirely out of Animator Studio with no viable replacement available (gee, you guys could at LEAST have given us some sort of OLE Automation capabilities that we could call from Visual BASIC…
#Animator Studio NEWS!!!
Message #188161
What is this "!c!" upgrade people are referring to? Or is it supposed to be "1c!" with the final "!" simply being an exclamation point at the end of the sentence, but the first one being a mistakenly-[Shift]ed [1]? What bugs do this upgrade correct? Apparently the original messages on…
#3ds Mapping Plug-in
Message #188160
Actually, someone who thinks they know how to do this automated mapping need not know how to do IPASes to try out their algorithms. Just save a 3D Editor scene as a .ASC file (one of the choices given when you do Save As). The resulting file can be read…
Yow! That's an EXCELLENT idea! I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it, as that concept is basically what my FIELDER.POC (here in the Library) POCO routine does in Animator Pro! Actually, you only need ONE alpha mask file. The Video Post Queue should look like this (view this with…
What we did was use animated Matte Objects to selectively reveal portions of the neon tubes. It wasn't perfect but it was smooth. Adding Motion Blur to both the ball and the Matte rectangles helped adjust for timing errors between the two and also enhanced the smoothness.
#IPAS U DON'T need!
Message #188157
I've noticed that a good many well-known IPAS routines actually don't do anything that you can't do without them — sometimes easier and better without them! One of these is still included with 3DSr"4" even though it became totally obsolete with 3DSr3, and others are being marketed by major IPAS…
render tiles wish
Message #188156
Rather than tiles, it may be easier to implement it as rendering horizontal "slices" (whole scanline groups), or perhaps interlacing the scanlines. If you have 10 machines and you're rendering an image of 2,000×1,000 resolution, each machine could render 100 scanlines, either in chunks (machine 1 renders scan lines 1…
#Audio CoreComps?
Message #188155
I second that Wish! I've heard of another 3D program that already has this ability. 3DS MAX needs it badly!
#A couple o wishes
Message #188154
Neil, many moons ago I posted a suggestion that would encompass your #1 and then some. Yet, looking at 3DSMAX2.GIF in the Library which shows the Materials Editor for the new 3D Studio MAX, they not only didn't implement it, they didn't make ANY changes AT ALL to the Materials…
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