CompuServe Thread

The witching hour approaches… here are a few more: make the "yes/no" dialogue boxes (all dialogue boxes, for that matter) pop up where the cursor is. I think I gave you my Video Post wishlist some time ago, but I'd like to see a sophisticated compositing tool along the lines of (Wavefront's) Composer or Ultimatte, with picture preveiw windows, drag and drop icons representing the file(s) and animations to be processed, a much larger working area (perhaps full screen, or a seperate module), allow keyboard entry for edit decision list type stuff. Definitely include advanced modeling options: NURBS, spline-patch, meta type, deformations by lattice, magnet, other object, solid modeling, etc. I would like to be able to pull on a vertex and have the rest of the vertices move in accordance, like a taffy pull. IK, IK, IK, IK, and IK would be nice, too <g>. Naturally, this implies having dynamics already in place. Skin-type spline patches that will adjust when manipulating the objects it was attached to (seemless joints for IK) – as seen in Dynamation/Kinemation Fixed backgrounds that pan with the camera Cameras that rotate instead of roll, so when linked to an object it will match movements on all axes, and the target won't get confused and start spinning. "Mesh unroll" feature for exporting to paint package to create accurate bitmaps for decaling and texturing Paint on object in real time Real-time shading in user windows, taking advantage of current and future display hardware using a special driver interface or specification or whatever (I'm not a programmer, can you tell <g>?) Definitely more control over the whole user interface. I'd like to be able to switch between the current multiple window/window axis constrained interface, and a full screen one with a user reference plane, and selecteable axis constraints (world coordinates, object coordinates, vertex coordinates, window coordinates). Selecteable fonts, moveable menus and button bars, hide/show menus and buttons, scaleable/tileable/hideable user windows. Lights which cast beams, beams would be represented by special colored cones. Selective raytracing, radiosity (perhaps implemented on the material level, as per Marion Marks' suggestion) Have postage stamp or spherical images of materials available for browsing during object creation/editing without having to switch to materials editor. drivers for Accom, Abekas, and other DDR's. Ability to write directly to Exabyte in YUV color space in Abekas native format. Support for "supers", a la Inscriber (I know, that's stretching it… but this is a "wish" list) All time-related features should be editeable through a special spline and keyboard input project window, that would have a list of objects, a time "spline" for them, would allow relational time/velocity editing (Gary knows what I'm talking about). Would be similar in "look and feel" to new, improved Video Post. Longer project/mesh/material names, with annotation. Postage stamp images for all appropriate projects, meshes, materials, whatever, when making file selections. 3D editor and keyframer should be merged. I can't think of any more, but I'll try to get back before midnight. happy, happy, John Tissavary (La Luna cie)