CompuServe Messages

3D Studio is wonderful, but could use some improvement. I have a LONG wishlist for it, which I haven't yet posted here. I hope Release 3 does incorporate some of my concerns, since they are pretty obvious. Nonetheless, 3DS is wonderful for what it does. It doesn't do the real- time switching and DVI of the Video Toaster, but with a relatively simple technique, you can do any transition on the Video Toaster with 3DS when Video Posting, plus any others you can imagine (the Toaster's transitions are preset in the software — you can't create new ones), including some that would cause a Toaster user's jaw to drop to the floor, bouncing twice in the process. For instance, I can transition between two MOVING video sources, in which the first one shatters into lots of fragments and the fragments then fall off the screen, revealing the second video. The animation (or other motion) is still running on both items while the transition is in progress — and all this is done SOLELY with 3D Studio and my recording equipment, plus an IPAS routine available from the Yost Group (makers of 3DS)! The Video Toaster has a shatter transition, but watch it closely: first off, it's preset — always the same way every time. Secondly, as the pieces fall, the image behind it does not move with the pieces. It's like you're looking at the first scene through a window, and the window shatters — the scene itself doesn't move with the fragments. With the 3DS2 effect I can do, EACH FRAGMENT retains its own portion of the moving scene intact! As the fragments fall, some are tumbling and spinning along 3-D axes, and the portions of the scene on them are displayed in appropriate perspective at all times! The IPAS feature alone of 3DSr2 is worth the money, since it means that the capabilities of 3DS aren't carved in stone. Aspiring programmers can add new features that plug right into the program! There are four types: .IXPs for Image processing via Video Post (currently available effects include simulated lens flares, motion-blurred starfields [the actual constellations as visible from Earth, no less!], glows, highlights, paint effects, transitions, and many others), .PXPs for Procedural Modeling (currently available ones include manta wave deformations, L-tree plant modelling [flowers, trees, bushes, ferns, etc.], and many more), .AXPs for Animation Stand-Ins (some available ones include particle systems such as tornadoes [that one is included with 3DSr2!], fireworks, fountains, rain, snow, etc.), and .SXPs for procedural Surfaces (currently available ones include 3D woodgrain and marble [included with 3DSr2!], smoke, water, planets, splatters, speckles, etc. — some of these are animated, such as the smoke and water!). If you're daring enough, you can get the IPAS Programmer's Toolkit and make your own IPAS routines, for your own use and/or to market! Some IPAS routines are available right here on-line for the downloading!