CompuServe Messages

Brian, Could you help me understand whether or not this upgrade will allow for a more powerful cpu in the near future taking advantage of the plug-in format?I hope this question isn't too dumb. I can appreciate the enormous task of porting an entire software pkg and ipas routines to a different cpu but what's got me is the fact that adesk,yost and sgi are working on a project that allows for a 3ds rendering engine for sgi. Why not the inexpensive powerpc 604 or Alpha or hp-risc..etc! Why something like the sgi platform that requires lotto winnings to purchase ? I can see that the small office wasn't on their minds and I understand that it's a big marketplace out there w/ plenty of networks some w/ sgi's. As you pointed out before, You can simulate the same radiosity effects that the turtle-slow raytrace pkg's can give and keep the very fast rendering speeds that we get w/ 3ds3. What has me worried though is the fact that pkg's like Stratavision are rapidly moving to the new powermac cpu. I'm not a scum-sucking- platform-jumper but hey since I'm an architect everyone's figured out what I am it's just a matter of dickering the price! Selective raytracer sounded fantastic but after seeing the render-time penalty that gets tagged on for just shadow ray trace I don't see this possibility for 486 or pentium technology! Thanks,Gary