#3D Artist #14?
17 messages in this thread
Hi Folks,
Has anyone here received 3D Artist #14 yet? It's about that time.
Anybody know what's in the this (#14) issue?
Standing by,
Paul
Paul,
<< Has anyone here received 3D Artist #14 yet? >>
nope. not yet.
jonas[adesk]
Is 3D Artist a magazine? How can I subscribe?
Download 3DMAG.TXT from Lib 9.
Dave
Paul, I believe my article concerning the DPS PAR is included in the next 3D
Artist. Should be out anytime now, I should think.
-Alan Iglesias
Alan,
Great, I'll be looking for it. Thanks.
BTW, is the Amiga based PAR the same hardware as the PC version? I'm going to
see a PAR at a Toaster demo next week, so I'm wondering if I can equate the two
except for the obvious platform/OS difference?
Paul
Yes, Paul, it is the same hardware in the Amiga version. This became pretty
obvious when they used an Amiga setup to take my 3DS animations from the same
hard drive I put them on!
However, if you are gonna be looking at an Amiga to judge animation quality,
make sure the animation is Phong rendered to fields, with anti-aliasing on.
Even at these top settings, it doesn't seem as though LightWave's super-sampled
anti-aliasing is gonna give you the edge-quality that 3DS does — especially on
the PAR after some JPEG compression. If you can, try to see some actual 3DS
field-rendered animation for your eyeball test.
-Alan
In addition to what Alan said you should know that the speed of the hard drive
affects the quality as well on the PAR. Ask John Ellis about this. He went
through two drives. What ever the case the quality will only be better that
the Amiga system due to better HD available today if for nothing else.
Good point, Don. I noticed that some of the DPS sample animations were older
ones, obviously copped with the Seagate unit. So all you future PAR dudes and
dudettes, if you are eye-balling some PAR output, not only is 3DS
field-rendered output a good thing to ask about (I've given them some myself
for their tape), but ask if the HD used was one of the the newer Micropolis
units, and was the Block Limit size a healthy one — say, up around the 240-250
range. This should give you an indication of the level of quality you can
expect with the unit.
-Alan
Alan
Are you saying that the block size should be 240-250 with the Micropolis
drives? Mine is set lower and I haven't noticed any problems yet but will boost
it if that's a recommended setting.
Thanks TedB
!^NavFont01F0007MGHHGAA18BB
Hi Ted,
My reccomendation is to ALWAYS start with a high BlkLimit setting when pulling
TGAs to the PAR drive. Start high enough so you get the "Block size Limit too
high" message. This tells you that you have gone beyond the performance
capabilities of the PAR HD. Then back off the Block Size Limit until your TGAs
are being compiled nicely to the PAR. This guarantees that you are getting the
*best* image quality considering your HD and TGA characteristics, with a
minimum of JPEG compression.
I'm not suprised that your stuff looks pretty good at a lower limit. You may or
may not see an immediate improvement with *all* animations. However, using this
method will *always* get you the best results the system can deliver. The only
other consideration would be this: As the HD gets loaded with
ani files, the PAR is forced to use the slower, inside tracks of the HD, and
image quality may degrade a bit, along with noticable lower Block Limit Size
capabilities. A simple archiving of .ani files to DOS and a quick format of the
PAR drive will get ya back to the very top quality the thing can do.
-Alan
Alan
Excellent! I had noticed some trouble when the drive starts to fill and the
files were moving to the inside. I optimize fairly offen but will keep the
reformating in mind. Thanks for the info.
TedB
!^NavFont01F0007MGHHGA706EA
Alan,
Good to see you at NAB, don't forget to send me a copy of that 3DS article you
plaigerized from me. <grinning, ducking and running>.
Bruce N. Goren
Hiya, Bruce!
Yeah, I saw you walking by and said to myself "I _know_ that guy!"<g>
OK, I'll send you a copy of that article (if I have an extra) that we
"researched" together….<g>
-Alan
Hi Paul,
-> anyone here received 3D Artist #14 yet?
Issue 14 is supposed to ship sometime next week, and issue 15 is not too far
behind. There's been some changes at 3DA since they're expanding their staff.
Regards,
-Heinz Schuller
Fly By Nite Studios
Hi Heinz,
<<<Issue 14… issue 15 is not too far behind. There's been some changes at 3DA
since they're expanding their staff. >>>
Cool, I wonder if #15 will have color?
Thanks,
Paul
#14 is in final production….sounds like a new generation for 3DA and Bill and
Sally!
i circled April 20 for my guess at birth date.