CompuServe Messages

Glenn, you should have gotten your Raptor today. (ask me how I know – ESP?) Now that the dust has settled and the soldiers have gone home let me shed my $.02 worth in here. 1) I consider myself an honest person, and I will go on record to say that on average a person making typical scenes will see a 12X increase in speed with a Raptor. The simplest test to this testimonial is to load the Texture Samples scene and put a glass logo in front of it. Turn on Refraction, Reflection and Shadowing and SEE the difference – an honest to God 12X increase over a 4000 040 2) The 4X increase on the Bowling Ball scene I rendered which Erik had uploaded was 4X FASTER THAN HIS ACCELERATED 40Mhz GVP Amiga NOT a stock 040. Please reread my messages to him in order to avoid confusion and false claims. 3) Erik can speak for himself, but I believe he was just trying to assess Exactly how fast the Raptor is – and as the acceleration can sway drastically based on the level of mathematical calculations – no one can say Exactly how fast the Raptor is every time. It's like cars – a Supra Turbo can go 0-60 in 4.6 seconds in Automobile Magazine but 5.3 Seconds when Sports Car International drives the same car (the difference in the case of the Supra was the outside ambient temperature which was lower when tested by Automobile Magazine and the denser air provided more HP for their particular test). 4) I think we should not be obsessed with numbers as they are only one variable. Even if a Raptor is only 8X faster on a particular animation, think of the fact that a job that would take 8 DAYS will now take 1 DAY. I don't care who you are – that is a lot of days to do more work! Unless your time is worthless, then I do not think that this can be ignored. 5) The ability to deliver work on time to clients is the only way for LW users to compete with SoftImage and SGI users who can crank out 3D work. This time savings will also allow most animator to underbid the SGI people as you will be able to do at least 12X as much work in the same amount of time you were doing only one job perviously. 6) I have found Don Peterson and Deskstation to be totally upfront. They had my money for quite some time (and probably long before any of you on the forum) while I was waiting for my machine. Their honesty, and sincerity was the only reason that I forwarded a check to them sight unseen, company unkown, product untested, and only their word for what they were going to send me. I am pleased to say that they have delivered on their promise and more. They are courteous and answer phone calls when you have questions and you won't get put on permanent hold like with Newtek Tech Support. 7) It sounded like emotions got a little out of hand here on Friday and I think it would be a mistake for animators and hardware providers to act in this manner. We both need each other and should strive towards a mutually beneficial relationship. Lets face it without LW users, Deskstation would not have entered the Amiga market, and without Deskstation, LW animators would have to wait weeks to see their work. And as not too many of us have the backing of Steven Spieldberg, I don't think you would have seen too many animators with 20+ A4000's networked (especially not at $6,000 a pop! and Commodore going bust). Again, just my opinion. Adib