CompuServe Messages

Greg– I think you missed the point of my note. Mike H. said that in the past many people complained about Imagine without citing anything specific that needed changing, and that Impulse was open to any suggestions as to ways to improve the program. Dutifully, I sat down and tried to think of things that might make Imagine better, or more user-friendly. I ended up having to delete the beginning and end of my original note because it was (apparently) too big to upload as a forum message. Here is the original beginning to the note (the parts in quotations): "I am constantly hearing or reading that Imagine's interface is not user-friendly, or that it is difficult to use. While there is some truth to this accusation, I think it would be more accurate to say that Imagine is difficult to LEARN (especially for the PC user, for whom Imagine seems counter-intuitive). Once you get the basics down, Imagine becomes a joy to work with. In fact, Imagine is, in some ways, a victim of its own success–it is an extremely powerful and moderately complex program, and there is a significant learning curve involved to be able to move from making shiny spheres floating over a plaid background to making anything your mind can imagine…" "I think, in the short run, new Imagine users become very easily frustrated with the program and take it out on the Impulse gang and the program itself. Eventually, these new users either become seasoned Imagineers and stop griping (well, mostly) or they give up and abandon Imagine as not worth the trouble. The problem is, seasoned users generally go on to forget just how difficult it was to LEARN TO USE Imagine, and new users don't know enough about the way Imagine works to offer any useful suggestions for improving the program. I've been using Imagine for about 6 months and thus fall somewhere between brand new user and veteran Imagineer (though probably a lot closer to the former than the later), so I thought that perhaps I can offer some useful suggestions. (or perhaps not! <G>)" The rest of the note is exactly as posted, except for the very end, which I also excised to make it fit: "Hope this is of some help and didn't sound too demanding or preachy (or stupid). I would like to see Imagine a tad easier to use for my own selfish reasons <G>, but I would also like to see it easier for the new user to learn, so that Imagine can become the modeling/rendering/animation program of choice on the PC. Really, I think Imagine is just fantastic! Keep up the good work!" You see, I was trying, in my own fumbling way, to make some suggestions for improving the interface. I was trying to be helpful. I WAS NOT moaning, "How do you do this and that?" Indeed, I made most of the suggestions knowing full well that there was A WAY to do what I mentioned…but an awkward or cumbersome way, and I was suggesting what I thought was a BETTER WAY. Maybe I was wrong in numerous instances…but so what? I certainly wasn't demanding that Impulse make these changes immediately…or else! <G> No, I was simply free-associating, and hoping that some of what came to mind might actually be of some use. Naturally, some of it wouldn't be. In fact, I'm sure in retrospect that some of my suggestions are down-right useless…but some of them aren't, and THEY WERE ALL MADE WITH THE BEST INTENTIONS. Which, I believe, brings us to your response to my note… >> "I like some of your ideas…I've had them as well. There are some things that you mention that can already be done." << Yes, Greg. I know. >> "That can get very ugly and slow in complex scenes. Try this…select the path or object you want to edit. Then Multi-Select the objects you want to be redrawn. Then…edit the object. Now when you are in points mode…any refresh will contain the other multi-selected objects." << What I was getting at was, why should I have to multi-select objects I want redrawn? You don't have to do that when working in other modes. It's an additional step with no added benefit (or, at least, no added benefit that I can see). >> "Each object is loaded as a separate object in the Stage. If you decided to ungroup an object in the stage, a new actor position would have to be added to the Action Editor screen for that now new object. Ok…thats no problem. BUT, you would also have to then save each of these new separated objects to your HD so that when you opened up this project at some later time, each now separated object can be loaded. This procedure of saving objects separately is done in the Detail editor…where all of the object editing features exist." << Great, but why can't we do it in the stage as well? I suppose that, until very recently, you would have told me that I can't change object attributes in the Stage editor, either–that this is only done in the Detail editor. Fine, except that Impulse just added this capability in 3.1. Well, if they can add attributes to the stage, why can't they add grouping/ungrouping? >> "It does this if you really go far beyond your memory capacity. What needs to be done is to inform the user that some of the scene will not render due to memory limits." << Excuse me, Greg, but isn't that essentially what I said? I said something like, "Imagine should inform users if there is insufficient memory to render a scene," or words to that affect. Perhaps I am not being semantically precise enough for you, but, to me, Imagine rendering only part of my picture qualifies as "insufficient memory to render a scene." << "You must specify the path where you want the QRENDER image to be saved in your PREFERENCES editor. Once a path is given…Imagine will allow you to rename your qrenders." >> A useful tidbit of knowledge, which I thank you for…but why doesn't Imagine save to a default directory if you don't specify one? Or, at the very least, inform you of what you did wrong, and let you try it again? Every single program I own does one or the other…except Imagine. >> "IT'S IN THERE…Click on LIGHT LINES in the STAGE. This will give you a visual cue as to where the lights are shining. The "rings" for intensity are not needed for anything other than the DIMINISH intensity lights. All other lights light up the scene evenly. As for "optimum" distances to place lights…there is no such thing. People have different tastes as to what "look" they want & like." << I was well aware of the light lines feature. I was not, however, aware that the intensity of light does not change except for DIMINISH…probably because in all the renders I've done I always click on diminish, for more realistic lighting. My mistake, but an honest one. >> "IT'S IN THERE. In the stage you can make an anim in SOLID or WIREFRAME mode. If you want solid you must be in SOLID mode. Then select the make anim selection from the menu (Last menu selection). When played you can view it in the stage, step through it, stop it, etc. There is also an Onion Skin feature in the stage." << Yes, Greg. I know how to make pencil test anim in the stage–I've only done it about a thousand times–but, as I said in my note, it would be nice to make a COLOR or SHADED test anim IN THE STAGE. You see, this would be a NEW FEATURE. >> "You can find out how long any image took to render by clicking on the frame, and selecting INFO." << Sigh. Yes. I know that, too. But when you are rendering a thousand-frame animation, it would be nice to periodically check on how long it is taking to render individual frames without interrupting the rendering process–this way, you can at least guesstimate when you will be done. >> "Imagine reads TIF uncompressed, TGA uncompressed, IFF (compressed and uncompressed), LBM (compressed and Uncompressed) for Backdrops and for brushmaps."<< But not BMP or GIF, as I suggested. >> "Online Help, many more requesters, etc. I'd want to pass on that…maybe in a Windows version only because it's expected to be in there. Why not just read the manual, rather than cluttering the HD with help files, and bloating the software more? If one did they'd know that TGA files can be read, that LIGHT lines are there, that you can make pencil tests in the stage, that you need to select an object to change it's attributes, etc. <g> Sorry…that was kinda snippy. << Yes, it was "kind of snippy." In fact, it was rather rude. Especially since I already knew how to do all of that–except, admittedly, I was under the impression that Imagine can only read TIF files for backdrops–my mistake: I looked up BACKDROP in the index of the 3.0 manual, and it directed me to page 266 where it only mentions TIF files. So, you see, I got this mistaken idea from READING THE MANUAL, not from NOT READING IT. I was not suggesting online help, or a number of the other features I mentioned, because I deeply desire them, but because I think they would greatly help NEW USERS. That was the whole thrust of this thread: Someone is considering buying Imagine, but is put off by the interface. Mike welcomes suggestions to improve it. I offer some. And you, Greg, act instead like I am begging for help! I think that you have forgotten what it is like to be new to (and confused by) Imagine. It is a great program, but it can be very frustrating at times. I was simply offering some ideas (good and bad) for making it LESS FRUSTRATING. Isn't this a worthy goal for us to have? It seems to me that most of your suggestions center around the idea that we should all change to fit the program, rather than–perish the thought!–the program changing to suit us better. Bernie