This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (66 messages)
Hi Alec, Actually, protected Director movies are loaded from CDs all the time… if not, there'd be a heckuva lot less CDs being made! But the .DXR format is a destination format — a final format, not an interim format that's converted into other things. It has too much logic…
Hi Rick, These are Macromedia Director 4.0 files. They are interactive sprite-based animation with text, audio, and video, and are designed to play back only as a resource to the executable with which they shipped. Regards, John Dowdell Macromedia Tech Support
Good luck on it, Joe… although there can seem to be obstacles at first, I can assure you that if you keep on pushing, you'll get what you want. (Hmm, one other thought: Most 3D people I've met have used more than one tool. The same concepts of 3D animation…
Eh… rising tide lifts all boats, that's where the field is at right now. jd PS: Just before posting this I learned that Garry Weill and the Indeo gang have apparently uploaded a new AVI QT interconverter called "SmartVid". It's still beta, runs on Windows, and is in the Intel…
Say, Ian? There was a change awhile back… distribution of the QTW runtime libraries is free now. The big obligation is to run the installation routines correctly, so that the DLLs go into the correct place — this was not a condition with QTW1.x. And for Terry, yes, a QT…
Hi John, Actually, Swivel 1.52 was _long_ before my time… I came in as a 2.0-boy about four years back. Version 2.04 was released in… oh… April '93? as a maintenance release for 68040 machines. I'd be surprised if the basic format has changed much… I know that 1.x files…
Say, Mike, if I can jump in, I'd highly encourage you to take advantage of any and all local user groups that are available to you… the benefits in meeting people face-to-face alone dwarf any contributions to keeping such meetings going. The people you meet there you may know for…
[Sorry for delay… found this in my outbox when I got back from vacation last week.] Hi John, There's no resource fork to a MacroModel file… it's designed so the same file can be worked with on either platform. For 3DW, there's the header (refers mostly to location of geometry),…
[Sorry for delay… found this in my outbox when I got back from vacation last week.] Hi John, There's no resource fork to a MacroModel file… it's designed so the same file can be worked with on either platform. For 3DW, there's the header (refers mostly to location of geometry),…
Hi Joseph, If you've got a CD-ROM, then take a look into your local technical bookstore — many tools these days have non-saving demo versions available on CDs included with books… useful resource. Regards, John Dowdell Macromedia Tech Support
Hi David, pmji, but lighting of internal spaces is a very tricky problem in 3D graphics. We make the assumption "that over there is a light, and this over here is a wall, and lights emit light and walls do not" but — if you take a glance at the…
Hi John, I recall picking up a kit for Specular's Animation Assistants on their AOL forum. Their included plug-ins include a banking one (roll varies with yaw), and two others I forget. From what I recall it was limited to motion… no geometry, camera, or compositing effects. Yikes on that…
Hi Tim, True, what you mention about those listed tools not having third-party plug-in developers. Then again, the only published API in that list that I'm aware of is from Specular, and no one (to my knowledge) has taken them up on it. This seems to be the limiting factor……
And thank you for letting me respond, Konstantin… appreciated. Regards, John Dowdell Macromedia Tech Support
Hi Tim, Glad you pulled Bill Allen in on this… the magazine's a great resource. And nobody's done more work with file formats than John Foust… cool. There are VRML docs on the web… believe it's through SGI's home page… but I haven't hit them yet. Suspect it would be…
Hi Alan, It's reached the point where I can't say much. It's taken longer to get started than I had hoped, but has had the advantage of being able to be replanned around new developments, and is now exploiting a richer vein than I had previously thought possible. As you…
Hi Ian, fwiw (and pmji), MacroModel will accept open Bezier curves, either from PostScript drawing programs or natively drawn within MacroModel, and extrude, sweep, lathe or skin them into 3D. The Bezier curve is retained as defining geometry and can be subsequently manipulated (eg, changing the path of the fence);…
Hmm… sidethought on your observation on new feature requiring change to the format… I believe QuickDraw 3D's file format allows for custom data structures… if a program can support it it will read it, but if not, then it should just ignore it, is what my memory is. jd
#11005-
3D Exchange Standard
Message #11113
Hi Tim, Good topic. I don't have the full picture by any means, but can add a bit here and there, broken out by format: DXF: Yup, go bye-bye, please. Better than nothing, but everyone who's used more than one tool must know its drawbacks by now. RIB: This was…
Nice to see you on CompuServe. Just wanted to pass along that I've really liked the dancing cars… great work!
Hi Charlie, Microsoft's Video for Windows Developers Kit contains a Mac floppy which has a converter utility on it. This reads in the playback information from the AVI file and makes a Mac resource, essentially imitating a Mac QuickTime file. Although I haven't gotten hands-on with this utility, there is…
Hi Richard, I understand that there's some discussion of OpenGL in the MSWIN32 forum. There's also a Usenet newsgroup you can subscribe to called comp.graphics.opengl. Other than that, sorry, no word! Regards, John Dowdell Macromedia Tech Support
Hi Jim, The learning curve for Macromedia Director (note name) is long, but also gentle, and there is no need to take advantage of all the depth available in the tool. If your current interest is confined to animation then you can get results quickly. If you later wish to…
Hi Matt, Best resource I know of for QTW installation and play is Bob Currier's documentation in one of the libraries of the Macintosh Multimedia Forum (GO MACMEDIA). If my memory's not *too* flaky it's called QTWDOC.TXT. fwiw, QTW 2.0 is due RSN and is said to have an easier…
Hi Mike, pmji… the animation engine in Macromedia Director is based upon "sprites". A sprite is a single graphic from the media database (called the "Cast Window", up to 32K castmembers per movie), which is on the screen at a certain point in time. We can layer up to 48…
Hi Martha, Have you considered converting the FLCs to AVI files? It may take a little experimenting to get the right codec and quality settings, but for much content this might provide a way to get your presentation done in time. Believe that you can locate utilities for this conversion…
Hi Tommy, In addition to what Brian's said, have you been able to check the integrity of this FLC before bringing it into another application? Have you tried running it in a simple FLC player, or in Microsoft's Media Player? You mention that you use this process successfully for other…
Hi Wayne, Uh, "CD-ROM Valley"? Doesn't that come on after "Bonanza" on Thursday nights…? Not sure if you're talking about the San Francisco Bay Area, but there's definitely a lot of CD production going on around here. Where are you going, and when? Things calm down a bit in the…
cool! jd
I agree with you… it would be cool to be able to use both Type 1 and TrueType fonts simultaneously. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen, and I don't know the techy reason why. If it's any consolation, though, it's the same thing on the Mac! Re the missing back: Hmm… was…
Thanks for the tip, John, I'll keep an eye out for it, but… JUJU SHAMPOO? Sounds pretty… well… *weird*, but on your recommendation, sounds like I've gotta go find me some of that weird shampoo, thanks….
Hi William, Seconding the comments of the other participants, and also: — I saw a very effective use of opacity mapping by Alan Henry in Phil Shaddock's "3D Modeling Lab" [Waite Group Press, 1994]. He modeled a closeup of a honeybee in Imagine/PC, and the body had some fairly convincing…
Hi David, "The best (and only really) way to do beveled text is to use outline in the shaper." Or, you could use MacroModel to lay it out and bevel it in a snap. Choose the resolution you'd like for the model, export as DXF and poof! that's it! It's…
Hi Sze, "3D Modeling Lab", by Phlip Shaddock, is from the Waite Group Press, as Wes States. Its ISBN code is 1-878739-52-2. Price is $39.95, and it includes Imagine 2.0 for the PC. The Waite Group Press can be reached at 800/788-3123, or 510/658-3453. It's an excllent book, with a…
Hi Wade, Right-on in general… a little more info here from Craig Birkmaier's article in the January "Videography". He got this from the folks at Sarnoff labs. All errors of interpretation are strictly my own. Both JPEG and MPEG rely on intra-coded pictures, or "I" frames. All compression is based…
Alright! Now, when d'ya think we'll see the Hernandez Bros. in 3D…? jd
Hi Jack, Hope this doesn't "read" funny, but fyi, Photoshop has classically hip methods of alpha control. The RGB channels have feathered edges, as do the alphas… one of the strengths of Photoshop is the ability it affords to manipulate any number of alpha channels with the full range of…
Hi Gary, I'm a little uncomfortable with doing sales-ish things in another vendor's forum… would feel better if our hosts here at Autodesk gave an explicit go-ahead for info on tools complementary to 3D Studio. A better course might be to GO MACROM… good amount of multimedia talk, and interesting…
Hi Scott, Michael Barnsley and company at IFS in Atlanta developed a number of techniques using "fractal compression". They were to be marketed by a company named TMM (sorry, forgot what the letters stand for) in California. If memory serves correctly, then I believe TMM folded within the last few…
#97512-
Help me animate
Message #98114
Hi Jeffery, Just in case you were talking about the principles of animation, instead of just computer-based work, here are a couple of excellent resources: "Animation From Script To Screen" by Shamus Culhane [St. Martins, 1988] "The Animator's Workbook" by Tony White [Watson-Guptill, 1988] "The Animation Book" by Kit Laybourne…
#97523-
#shaper get shape
Message #98112
Hi Gary, Another option, in addition to Wade's, is to use a modeler that allows you to create geometry in direct relation to other objects. The type of task you describe is easier when modeling in the real world rather than in a modal editor. Suppose you've drawn a 2D…
Hi George, You may also wish to check with the folks at Knowledge Revolution… their "Working Model" program exports physically-based data in a variety of formats, including Wavefront, Macromedia Three-D, and tab-delimited text. One of those would likely be translatable into a format you can use. Working Model's designed for…
Hi Bill, I'm not as active in this Forum as I used to be, but caught your posting that you had difficulties with MacroModel. I'd be interested in precisely how you'd like to see it enhanced in the next rev, as would the entire 3D team. Please come on by…
Hi Michael, An effective way to make a glowing neon tube is to do it in two passes… once with the fully rendered scene, once with all objects removed except for the tubing. Keep the same camera path. Blur each frame of the tube-only animation. If your software supports alpha…
Hi Paul, I suspect you may know this already, but the SIGGRAPH proceedings do have a number of papers on hair, from Ken Perlin's 1989 work on HyperTextures up through the Hitachi folks' 1992 paper on "Extracting the Natural Beauty of Hair", complete with dynamic collision avoidance for bobbed hairstyles,…
I haven't worked with Vellum's DXF files, so I can't speak from experience here. From the symptoms you describe I suspect the DXF segments are not fully joined together. MacroModel will create endcaps for solid shapes, not open shapes. Even if endpoints for two different lines are coincident, they will…
Hi John, No, the answer isn't obvious…don't worry, you're right at the cutting edge! I've only worked with Showplace 1.x, and have not yet had time with version 2.0. Unless there's been a major change in its RIB file output, the following method should allow for CSG operations in Showplace.…
Hey Mark! Howya been? I'm not sure of the innards of ModelMover, as it was licensed from Kandu software…it's a subset of their CADMover program, designed to translate DXF, Sculpt 3D, Super 3D and IGES to 3DGF format for import into Macromedia Three-D. To the best of my knowledge, ModelMover…
Hi Dorian, Glad that the un-shadowed images are rendering well…thank goodness for small blessings, huh? 😉 First: the MacroModel shadowlight shaders (.slo) do lie in the "Shaders & Textures" folder in the System Folder, yes? (The .sl files are text files we can open, tweak, and recompile into new .slo's…
Painter X3
Message #7264
Say…you may wish to check out an announcement made by Mark Zimmer & Co. of Fractal Design…a new extension to their Painter program will apparently allow for painting of texture maps directly upon 3D objects. The implications of this are pretty important. No release date yet…GO COMART, section 10 for…
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