CompuServe Messages

>>and how fast it is. They claim it's fast (what manufacturer doesn't :^), but I have no real basis for comparison (much to expensive for my taste). One plus it does have is that it can split up a rendering of a picture over a network (like Renderman, I guess). They (the people that make it) are out of Germany, so maybe we can get David to ask them, eh ;^). >>Shadow thread (assuming you mean shadow maps) They're brutal, ugly, have to be tweaked to look right a great deal of the time…and are sometimes the only way to get something in on time. As an example; one of last year's projects involved 3 250,000 poly. meshes used in an animation (the total animation count ended up being 15000+frames). W/a single traced shadow, it took more than a half hour to render a frame on a P5-60; w/a single shadow mapped spot, it never took more than 10 minutes. The end result was ugly (I had to keep things low so it would get done), but added definition that wouldn't have been there w/out shadows and met the customer's needs. I think there should at least be the option for them; it could mean the difference 'twixt getting things done and not (assuming you have the memory to spare). John Stetzer JWS