CompuServe Messages

>>Have the child objects been sent out yet to registered users of your Humanoid software?<< No, not to Imagine users. My plan was to handle the Imagine 3.xx upgrades and delivery of Child in one fell swoop. As mentioned in my earlier `Humanoid Update' in GUGRPA, I do have a `Cycle-baby' that I can send out to individuals who get antsy in the meantime. But I want you and other Imagine users to be aware of something. Your upgrade for 3.xx is going to be *free*, and it will include as much IK support as I can manage. I'm doing this out of guilt just for Imagine users, and its going to cost me, but I think Imagine users deserve it as a reward for their extraordinary patience. I've been so tardy in keeping them up to date. And I promised free upgrades to 3.0 for them. In retrospect, it was a mistake for me to ship the Imagine sets before the Child models were done, and to offer the free upgrade. But I was a bit green back when those decisions were made, and just starting my business. I was obviously way too optomistic, and promised things I couldn't deliver as quickly as I thought. (However, I think I've turned over a new leaf on this. You'll notice that all the remarks I've made about KineModelz have been *extremely* tentative, even though *inside* I'm very enthusiastic about their potential.) In additon, I got off the track a bit on the Imagine format when the Amiga began to have its troubles. To stay in business, I had to put more of my focus onto the other formats. That's part of the reason why its taken me so long to get back to this. I don't see any point in releasing a non-IK version of Humanoid for Imagine, and then charge an additional fee for the IK support. There isn't enough traffic on the Imagine version to warrant this. Furthermore, there is no way I could do a States version of Humanoid *without* IK support. The IK in Imagine is going to be largely user defined, because there currently is no way to save the IK Constraints with an Imagine object. The Constraints have to be reset each time you load the figure. So my `support' for IK in this new version will be largely in the form of documentation. Regardless of the IK issue, the models still had to be completely reworked for States, to get rid of all the old Cycle nonsense. And I think most users will find them much easy to use in this next incarnation. Once I have the 3.xx version done, I plan (not promise, mind you) to do a slight price-hike in the software, so it may be to some Imagine users' advantage to buy the software now, and get the free upgrade. I'm still working on the 3.xx upgrade but it should be done shortly. My only problem now is figuring out whether to wait and ship the updates on CD-ROM, or just bite the bullet and send floppies. As I hope you can tell, there's a lot more involved in these updates than simply `finishing the new version'. For one person it's a lot of work. Perhaps someday I'll simply be able to use my mental powers to `will' the upgrades directly to people, or one day I'll be rich enough to get someone else to do all the grunt work. But it don't look like that's gonna happen anytime soon. A rather long winded explanation for a simple question, but I think you're entitled. – Tim