3ds and beyond
Mike, I'm very happy that you're finally up and running fine. Excellent.
Regarding your questions… I can't comment on future releases, but there
are some things in version 1.0 that will handle most of what you asked for.
Objects CAN cast shadows on themselves. We do it all the time. We've got
an entire tape at Siggraph that contains self-shadowing characters.
You can get "visible lightbeam" effects by making a conical beam object and
using Additive transparency on it. Just focus the hotspot and falloff to
be the same size as your cone and it works perfectly. We'll try to get
these working with fog in r2.
As KevinK said, you can make the camera follow its target by slaving them
to the save path and sliding the camera keys back in time. Works perfectly.
Well, I'm off to Siggraph for a week to show off our new tapes and images.
I'll catch you after the 3rd!