CompuServe Messages

Hey Glen, Greetings to the man from Down Under. Just happen to have a catalog right here. There's probaboly one on the way to you too. It just takes a little longer to get to that side of the world. <G> I guess, you'll have to wait until it arrives for the prices. Or you could give 'em a call. Are there many dealers in your neck of the woods? Hey, You'll probably want to get on David Camp's mailing list. He's going to be putting out a newsletter on IPAS routines. And just ifn case you missed his announcement Tim Forcade, Forcade and Associates is doing a book and CD Rom Bundle, entitled: " The 3D Studio/IPAS Visual Reference, " for New Riders Publishing It sounds like a great package and something to look forward to. f Take care, Kevin Gibson Animation Nation -= It's a state of grace.=- Here's the goods: IPAS Description Magic – "your 3D creations fly along with glittering trails of magic sparkles" "…you c ontrol amount, source, and gravity of glittering particles." Bubbles -"produces realistic bubbles for carbonation in soda, champagne, etc. "Add more realism to your underwater scenes. Submarines, scuba divers swimmers, and fish really come to life…" by David C. Thompson Eyebrowse -"lets you view thumbnails of thirty images at a time. With a simple click of the mouse, you can delete, rename or view the image full size. Special options allow you to easily convert, move and resize groups of images from any 3D Studio file format to another. Your printer is also supported to give you hard copy of your images. EyeBrowse is BXP aware so that any new file formats supported through IPAS are instantly recognized." "EyeBrowse sports a full color interface with instant on-line help" Mirage – "apply color shifting, shimmering fades, wave and ripple effects to images with real-time 24-bit color preview. Simulate distortion characteristics from both natural and unnatural elements and animate them over time. Images will uncloak, transport or disintegrate at your command." Engineered by Aaron Ostler and Produced by Gary Gosha Kudos to Mssrs. Gosha and Ostler on a fine product with a unique interface. 3D Power Utilities (from Russia) "…five practical utilities let you align many objects together, automatically set a large number of morph keys, automatically set keyframes for objects following each other (such as a train), and automatically adjust pivots of objects relative to other objects." "…apply special camera mapping coordinates that actually make objects completely blend in with a background until moved. Once moved they can take on all mapping of that background." This last feature is pretty cool. It's sort of like "stealth" technology for 3D Studio animation. Maybe the Russians know more than they let on. <G> Slated for November Release ( according to the catalog ) LenZFX "contains AURA, which produces soft edged, glowing lights around an object. Perfect for spaceship engines, neon lights and more. And STARLIGHT, a cross star filter that produces hilights and sparkles. Every effect in AURA and STARLIGHT can be keyframed." "LENZFX also contains LenZFlare, the photorealistic lens flare based on the popular Photoshop lens flare. and ZFocus, a true racked focus effect. Blur objects based on their distance from the camera… Each effect can be animated over time…" The whole kit and kaboodle comes "wrapped up in a full 24 bit color interface, so you can preview each effect before you render. …makes clever uses of masks so that you can apply an effect exactly where you need it." Also slated for November Release BONES "..the long-awaited skeletal deformation Plug-in routine for 3D Studio. Construct spline skeletons for your object, then bend the Bones and see your object bend, twist and conform to the skeleton. No morph targets needed." Features "real-time shaded preview window." Developed by a real nice guy and one helluva programmer, David C. Thompson, fellow native of Southern Louisiana. David also put his incredible programming skills to work in developing Bubbles. I believe he did Magic too. See ya, KG PS There's a shareware version of Bones from another IPAS developer, Joseph Munkeby, in Library #3. But you already knew that.