CompuServe Messages

Mark: I think that if you can keep everything in memory, you get the best possible speed. I know from experience (and from the manuals!) that if an Animator Pro animation is too big to fit into memory you get a visible pause in the replayed flic when it hits the disk to get the rest of the FLIC. I suggest more memory, particularly if you are going to move to 3DS eventually, for two reasons: It is probably the cheapest improvement that you can make in your system, and it makes a substantial difference in the rendering speed. If you hit your memory limit it really slows down and stays slow. Adding more memory lets you do bigger, more complex scenes. I've never used Deluxe Animation, so I can't compare it to Animator Pro, but I've been happy with Animator Pro. I bought 3DS after I got more experience with animation, because "real" 3D effects are a lot easier with a real 3D system. The best that you can do with a 2D package is to fake the perspective. Chris P.S. As I always point out to the people at work, you don't always need photorealistic 3D rendering to tell your story – remember the RoadRunner vs. Coyote cartoons? They got their stories across quite well without realistic rendering, "real 3D", or even dialog!