#REAL GLASS ?
–> I'd suggest you take the time to investigate and get off of the stale
rhetoric the dealer gave you. <–
I apologise if my comments seemed to be "stale rhetoric"… we're beta testers
for GIG, and perhaps our inside experience of the features and bugs has
coloured our perspective on the issue.
–> your comparison with Wavefront, SoftImage and Alias, your way off
the mark, everyone of those programs specifically offers tools that
aren't available with the GIG interface <–
I've also had the opportunity to work with Wavefront and Alias (not
the newest releases, but recently) and readily admit that each has
its strengths and weaknesses. Alias has superior modelling [no
doubt], Wavefront offers better tools in Advanced Visualizer [at
costs to match] and SoftImage was ahead of many others in Metaball
technology and in their "flocking" heirarchical procedures for
grouped animation. Each could be considered a leader in their
respective bailiwick, but they sometimes suffer from their cumbersome
interfaces (GIG may be redundant in mouse-click %, but it is
consistent [training time shorter]) and $$$.
GIG is not intended to do all things better <and clearly doesn't>. I
have my pet peeves, and the clients we have resold the software to
have also passed on their beefs… however, we have been successful
in getting features changed and added {the original version of GIG
didn't offer .dxf or IGES import- now it does}.
But unless we wanted to increase our cost by 600 % (for example Alias
Power Animator's cost versus GIG), we can get a functional solution
that gives us a significant competitive advantage (not to mention
qualitative) over non-workstation software for a reasonable
investment. Days instead of weeks, real glass instead of blurred
reflection maps, and better price/performance are the motivations for
us to recommend it to our clients.
If I could find a better solution (in a comparable budget) I would
jump in and check it out with vigour. I keep my hand in wherever I
get an opportunity (chats with the developers and CEOs are often
better at revealing truth than conversations with the marketing
people… surprise <g>!) At this point, I'm also pushing Alias for a
client who doesn't know which package he needs, but has more
requirements in Alias' field than GIGs.
At the end of the day, expectations -both quality and cost- need to
be realistic and synchronous. For those who are limited by cash to
the PC world, 3DStudio shines (but doesn't raytrace). At the Reality
Engine level, assuming that cost isn't an object, one could chose
Wavefront, Alias, etc. and get stunning results which justify the
investment made due to their 'graphique verite'. Picking a winner in
the middle ground is a little bit tougher… GIG is better than some
and worse than others (and we're working on some of each).
I look forward to improvements in all of the software mentioned,
because I believe that these tools will form the foundations for the
imaging and visual media of the next generation.
<Remember, they put men on the moon with 8k… now people put that on
their wrist {for less money}!>
–> As a person who has run all of the systems you mentioned on
systems from the Indigo to the Reality Engines, I can honestly say
that Gig was our least favorite <–
OK, the obvious question would be… what was your favourite
(hardware/software/solution) and why?
It's valuable to find someone who's been there (since there isn't much
support on CI$ for SGI tools).
I'd be curious to correspond with you further on what you see as the
(dis)/advantages of each through your exposure to the high-end world.
Are you strictly a user of these programs, or do you consult and
pitch for your favourites? Do you agree or disagree with my
suggestion that people look into INDY? Can you fill me in on ANIM8
INC?