#New 3DS'er in town
66 messages in this thread
To the Yost Group,
I just wanted to drop y'all a note and let you know how impressed I am with 3D
Studio. I recently bought a copy of release 2 from a previous owner, and while
I'm waiting for the transfer papers to clear Adesk (so I can upgrade!) I've
been doing the tutorials & such.
I used to believe 3DS was too expensive, and felt that no pc-based 3D software
could really justify the price. I got alot of exposure to your competitor's
products through my professional and private work. Then I got an opportunity to
work with 3DS at a client's site for a few weeks.
Now that I've got a copy and have spent a while with the manuals, I really
appreciate the following:
1. Superb and full documentation, excellent set of tutorials. 2. Painstaking
attention to detail and great depth of features. 3. A clear line of sight from
vision to execution, with results that normally live up to my original concept.
After banging my head against the limitations and shortcomings of other
packages, it's really nice to work with a well-thought out product. I just wish
I hadn't let my bias on the price get in the way of me checking it out sooner.
I've wasted an incredible amount of time.
Anyway, thanks!
-Heinz Schuller
Fly By Nite Studios
Thanks for the kind words, Heinz, and welcome to the forum! If you're having
that much fun with Release 2, you'll have even more fun with R3. Here's to a
swift upgrade!
– Jack
Like Jack said, thank you very much for the eloquent and kind words, Heinz.
I'll explain a bit of the "vision" behind 3ds…
To put it simply, we had done a few 3d modelers on the AtariST in the mid '80s,
and discovered that it was possible to have a system architecture that had
"walls" or "no walls". Our design for 3ds came out of the desire for no walls.
That's it. 3D Studio… Design Without Walls ™.
– G
PS: Of course, we haven't gotten very close to our true goals, but each
version of 3ds teaches us a little more. (slowly slowly)
Hi Addict.
It is like smoking. You don't know when you are hooked until it is too late.
But it Feels SOooo GOoood!!!
Check out IPAS. I don't do this stuff, I just "appreciate it". My Husband does
it.
I just try to keep him in the right kind of HW/SW.
P.S. There is a LOT of Good help on this Forum.
Robin,
<< IPAS.. I don't do it. My Husband does it. I just try to keep him in
the right kind of HW/SW. >>
That's cute :-)…
jonas[adesk]
Hi Robin,
->It is like smoking…
Yes it is. I've been hooked on 3D for years, my computer dealer loves me.
->P.S. There is a LOT of Good help on this Forum.
Absolutely, I've been lurking for some time trying to get a feel of how the
customers feel about 3DS and what problems they experience. Without question
the presence of the Yost Group, Greg Pyros, and other pros here makes the forum
something special in the world of vendor support.
I honestly don't know how these guys do all this amazing 3D work, but still
have the time to help here in the forum. I'm up 'til 3am as it is just getting
my work done! Sleep, what's that?
-Heinz.
>>Check out IPAS. I don't do this stuff, I just "appreciate it". My Husband
does it.
I just try to keep him in the right kind of HW/SW.
<<
you have a sister?<g>
—–beak
Seems to me Robin and I should start a dating service for 3DS guys. We would
allow only women who can truly appreciate a man who spends hours at the PC…
"Look, Susie, I just bought a 1 gig drive!" "Oooh, Peter, it's so BIG!" "Well,
I don't like to brag, but…" "Oh, and look Peter, that beautiful red tape is
moving across your 3D Studio rendering screen again! The way it just flows and
flows and flows forever, it's so lovely and timeless… Let's sit and watch it
together while I rub your back."
On second thought, we might have trouble finding recruits. <g>
Michele
Recruits probably *would* be hard to find, Michele. But you could always write
some fiction on the subject! If you do, I'd definitely buy that book! Just
reading your message makes my back feel better…<g>
-Alan
Jane, staring at the screen, gasped. The "beating heart" animation on the
screen was IDENTICAL to the one Tony showed her the night he proposed!
Her gasp gave way to racking sobs. "How could you do this to me?" she
exclaimed through her tears. "You told me you made that animation just for
me!"
Tony, the pain raw on his face, removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of
his nose, a habit he had developed since marrying Jane. "I got it off the
forum," he said in a voice thick with regret. "I thought you'd never find out
…" His voice trailed off as he became mesmerized by the image on the
screen.
Yes, he had seen the flic in the "What's New" library and thought it would add
the perfect touch to the romantic evening he had planned for Jane. He had told
her he stayed up all night making it just for her. Swooning, she fell into his
arms, whispering her assent as he proposed marriage.
After the wedding he hadn't banked on her becoming so interested in 3DS that
she would get her own CServe ID and start navigating the forum herself,
eventually finding out the painful truth about the animation.
"Blast that forum!" Tony cursed to himself as the heartbeat pounded
soundlessly, endlessly on the monitor. He knew his marriage would never
recover from this crushing blow.
Wow.
This is MUCH better than those coffee commercials!
Just a couple of questions, Michele…Does Jane end up discovering the TRUE
animator who did the Beating Heart and fall in love with him right on the ASOFT
forum?? Does Tony really, in a fit of blind fury, sell his copy of 3DS and
learn to weld? Or worse yet, switch to Crystal 3D?
Who needs paperbacks?
-Alan
I can't tell you the ending, I don't want to ruin it for you. (I also haven't
made it up yet.) But in reality, Jamie Clay made the beating heart animation,
and his wife Jean probably wouldn't appreciate finding this Jane character
pounding on the front door howling for her true love to come out and rescue her
from despair.
It would make a good story, though.
Michele
Thanks for the fun, Michele.
-Alan
As the Mesh Turns…
>>As the Mesh Turns…
or perhaps,
As the Polygon Rotates?
Zakly.
HA! Where's the next episode? This 3D soap stuff could get addicting. <g>
– G
Gary, Got my ipas boutique literature today! Thanks a mint. Very nice! -dave
Glad to hear it, Dave. I got my catalog today too… a very good sign.
– G
This probably an old one for you, but how do we become IPAS developers? We own
Watcom… what's missing and how much? -dave
This is really a question for Jonas. He's the keeper of the IPAS developer
program info.
– G
Hey Michele, you're back (have'nt "seen" you on the forum for a while)!
My husband wants me to tell you he has every book on
3DS ever written and yours are still the best!
We just ordered a Micron 90MHz Pentium (with a 2 Gig SCSI).
He is concerned about the SPACE the dealer suppled software
will occupy (MS WFW/Office).
Meanwhile, dealing with reality, I can hardly wait to encounter SCSI
for the first time.
Nice to "see" ya again.
Robin
P.S. 'Taint the Size that makes the Drive! – yes?
Hi again! Yes I've been pretty absent from the forum in the last nine months
or so. Good to hear from you.
Oh I'm so jealous… I'm still running my 1gig SCSI off my 486. All those gigs
are the wonderful, I must admit, but beware, they fill up faster when you don't
"empty the garbage" like you used to!
My brother-in-law bought a Pentium last month. Every week I am graciously
allowed to sit in the same room with it, for limited periods of time, of
course. Visitors are also required to speak in hushed tones and exit the room
backwards.
Thanks for the comments on the books. There are three more coming in the next
couple of months (written but not run through the publisher's mill yet):
Technical Tips, Materials & Lighting and Animals & People. I hope you enjoy
them as much as the first three!
Michele
Michele,
->"Look, Susie, I just bought a 1 gig drive!"
ROFL! That was absolutely hilarious. Even funnier when I think about my wife
actually doing that. <g>
-Heinz.
Heinz,
>> ->"Look, Susie, I just bought a 1 gig drive!" <<
my wife just asks me how much it cost and gives me a withering look <g>. Makes
me think twice about buying things I can't justify, though 🙂
Martin,
>> my wife just asks me how much it cost and gives me a withering look <g>.
Makes me think twice about buying things I can't justify, though :)<<
Geeezzz Martin…I had to look at the From: heading to see if I just wrote
this. ! <g>
Murph'
James,
>> I had to look at the From: heading to see if I just wrote this.<g> <<
tee hee. I'm sure it's a familiar story to many 🙂
Silly, that's what wives are for, to keep you from spending every last penny on
hardware…isn't that part of the vows?
Michele <can hardly wait for a husband to harass>
<<Michele <can hardly wait for a husband to harass>>>
Michele,
I can hardly wait for a wife that can hardly wait for a husband to harass!<G>
Somewhere out there, there is someone who understands the signifigance of
coming home with a handful of 16MB simms. Like my friends tell me: "Like what?
One day the right one is just going to jump out of the screen at you?"<g> She
would have to.
Kurt (gotta get out sometime) McKeever.
Guys, get a life. <BG>
This thread is great. I'm still waiting to read more of michelle's romance
story. Does the guy become so depressed that he reformats his one gig drive and
installs all the different word processors out there?
Yann "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." Bertaud.
Geez, maybe we should meet. I can get a head start by harassing you a little
right now… "When are you going to stop adjusting the contrast on that texture
map and come to bed! You can't fix it that way, the problem is the brightness,
you fool! And if you had made that model right in the first place you wouldn't
have to boolean out all those little holes! Look, it crashed and you forgot to
click on Hold! Idiot! Read my books next time!" (Stomping noises as I
retreat, ignored, into the bedroom in my slinky negligee, my words having
fallen on deaf ears. I curl up in bed with Disney's The Art of Illusion, and
by the time you come to bed at 5am I am no longer interested.)
On second thought, let's just be friends.
Michele <Hoping never to be a 3D shrew>
<Bg> You could never be a shrew —
–John
Michele,
I normally tend not to jump into these threads, but I wanted to let you
know that I find all your messages just hilarious.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Michele,
Would you care to give the Boston 3DS User group some excerpts of
your 3D Studio romance novel for our news letter.<G> We could always use some
spice to get the people interested. Or start a daytime soap.
JoeD
PS We'll be meeting this Thurs. Drop me a line if your coming.
I would be happy to write a full serial romance for the newsletter. Last week
I was reading Judith Krantz (trash deluxe) and my correspondence was
appropriately colored. Now I've moved on to Atlas Shrugged so my notes will
probably be kind of angular, if you know what I mean.
Michele (me and Dagny go way back)
>>let's just be friends
Aaaaargh, kiss of death. I hate those words. <BG>
Yann
Until you learn to put a capital letter at the front of your name, that's all
you're going to get from me. <g>
Michele
Michele,
>> isn't that part of the vows? <<
I don't remember. My wife made sure I was _really_ drunk by that stage <g>.
in the wilds of Mass, eh? Are you going back downunder to Coochiemudlo for the
northern hemisphere winter months?
>> my wife just asks me how much it cost and gives me a withering look
>> <g>
My wife stopped questioning me about such things after I bought 3DS and it paid
for itself almost immediately. It also helped me land my current job.
David,
>> My wife stopped questioning me about such things after I bought 3DS and it
paid for itself almost immediately. It also helped me land my current job. <<
I wasn't so lucky. I've been freelancing 3 years with 3ds and will likely only
turn a good profit this year. This year's been good to me so far with a 9 month
on-site game contract which doesn't require me to use my own equipment. In the
meantime I've been able to plow back some of the profits into my rendering
"patch" at my home office. The withering looks are just less severe now 🙂
>> I've been freelancing 3 years with 3ds and will likely only turn a
>> good profit this year.
I suppose the key element in this discussion is "freelancing". I very
fortunately landed a "full-time position" as a 3D animator for an automation
design/build company. When I'm not working on "paying" animation jobs, I can
work with the engineering staff on sales and design animations. It's not easy
to place a value on the internal stuff, but since it brings in work for many
people in our machine shop, I'd rank it as pretty valuable.
David,
yes, your history is somewhat different to mine and probably preferable to
many. However, I don't crave a stable, salaried, permanent position in a
company since I find it very stifling. The most I can stand is usually a 6-9
month contract and then I'll be itching to look for something else to keep up
the interest level. I did find it really hard to make a living off small ( <1
month) video projects, then the games came along with their longer time frames.
If I can stay busy with game contracts then things could be a lot worse 🙂
Michele,
>> Let's sit and watch it together while I rub your back."<<
alas, the woman you describe does not exist. If she did, I would have found her
by now. I know, cause I'm one of the Nomadic Rendering Peoples. We wander the
globe in search of CPU time and big monitors, we live on nuts, berries, and
RAM. We also look for the woman you describe. There was a report of one in
France, but it turned out to be a hoax. Sadly, we ruturn to the Dream, whilst
creating large project files that choke rendering farms. This is how I got to
Indonesia, I heard there were "Wanita cantik siapa banyak render"(fine chicks
that do lots of rendering") living in Yogyakarta, but once again my information
was incorrect.
Another problem you might have is that you never know what some of 3dsers look
like. You may find pale, thin, mole-like, sub-human, artist types don't sell
real well to a dating service (sorry dudes). I, of course, am studly.
<grin>
bye,
———————————————–beak
Hey, I didn't know there were any other nomadic wandering peoples on this
forum… while you were in Indonesia, I was scouting the jungles of Papua New
Guinea for the elusive RAM-RAM tree, where the fruit ripens from 640k to 16meg
SIMM panels during the short yet tempestuous monsoon season. Or so legend
says; I never found it.
That's why you have trouble finding us 3DS babes — we're out wandering around
too.
Michele
>>fruit ripens from 640k to 16meg SIMM panels<<
there are such trees, they farm them in Singapore<g>
I'm going there next week to pick a few! look for legal sw too.
and maybe, one never knows, there might be a female of the Nomadic Rendering
Peoples there. you never know.
——beak
>that's why you have trouble finding us 3DS babes
Ah, Michele, don't you know you can have your pick of any of the 3DS gentlemen
(or not, as the case may be) here? Actually, you can probably have more than
just one, and I read much desperation here, so put them out of their misery.
All they ask is that when you speak of this, and you will, be kind.
(And it's quite obvious to me that Jane will actually discover Tony did not
steal the heart off the forum after all. In an amazing twist, she finds out
it's a REAL heart from his former wife, whom he had negleted to tell her about!
As he chases her up the lighthouse steps, and corners her on the windswept
ledge, she warns him not to come any closer. "Don't do it, Tony!" she cries,
"I still love you!" He pays no attention, advancing closer, gun in hand, when
suddenly he realizes the seemingly solid railing he was leaning on does not, in
fact, exist. The bewildered look on his face as he falls into thin air is
answered by Jane. "It was only a RENDERED rail!" she explains, as he meets his
doom on the rocks below. Meanwhile, Detective Jack RAMsey is awaiting below.
He is also in love with Jane… but that's another story).
Mike;
You and Michele should start a book. Hilarious.
Dennis
Heinz –
My sentiments exactly!
Carlton Newton
"1. Superb and full documentation, excellent set of tutorials. 2. Painstaking
attention to detail and great depth…"
Sounds like you're reading our ads! This is great, Heinz. Thanks for the kind
words, it feels great to be associated with such a great product.
Nik
Hi Nik,
->It sounds like you're reading our ads!
Yeah, in retrospect it does. But if you've ever spent countless hours trying to
work around limitations just to bring an idea to fruition, you really
appreciate it when things work like you expect them to. I swear it seemed like
everytime I thought up a great idea I'd hit my head on the ceiling somewhere
along the way.
I've spent several years coding scenes by hand with text-based raytracers. I
demand a high level of control and accuracy, and have been frustrated with alot
of GUI based rendering systems that bleep over the hard details. Alot of
vendors really don't understand how their customers operate, 9 times out of 10
their response is, "Well, why would you want to do that?". I hate that
question, and I hate dead ends. <g>
-Heinz.
Heinz,
I read the entire thread, I am new to animation and I am checking out trueSpace
and Playmation. They seem nice but having different strength, I did not get 3ds
due to price and time-bomb in the product( royalty?).
Is 3DS really worth it? How would it compare with trueSpace and Playmation(
animation master)?
Anyone else have opinions?
Thanks.
Mei-Tien
I've used trueSpace, but not Playmation, and can tell you that there is a big
difference between trueSpace and 3DS. I own an animation shop that does mostly
broadcast oriented work, and could not fit trueSpace in. It is just not
powerful enough where it counts. It has some very nice modeling features, nice
interface, is somewhat stable (runs under windows, so I got some GPF's when
rendering big stuff), but just isn't well setup for doing larger projects. It
also doesn't render to fields, which categorically eliminates it from use in my
shop. It felt more like serious "hobby" software, rather than a professional
broadcast package. Also, its rendered output is not as good as 3D Studio's (I
had several non-animators, as well as myself, check out the results, side by
side). None of the PC packages have as good output, IMHO.
I've tried most animation software out there (except Topas), and don't think
any of them are as complete and perfect for professional desktop 3D animation
as 3DS. Some have features that I wish 3D Studio had, but they just don't add
up to beat 3DS. If you are a serious animator in need of a super stable,
productive, and powerful program, then 3DS is, IMHO, your best choice on the
PC.
If you are looking for a well priced package to explore 3D and learn modeling,
animation, and rendering techniques, then I think trueSpace would be a good
package. But you will outgrow it, eventually, unless Caligari does some
serious upgrading to their product.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
John,
Thanks a lot for your advise. I just ran into a GPF in trueSpace before I read
your mail. Does 3DS have a bigger learning curve?
Mei-Tien
Yes, 3DS' learning curve is a bit steeper, but the documentation is the best of
any PC package I have ever seen. It took me 1 month to get familiar with most
of the features, and I had created my first professional, broadcast animation
(with the help of this forum and another animator) a month later.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
John,
Thanks for your inputs! One month is not so bad, sounds like you did not take
any courses.
Mei-Tien
No, I didn't take any courses, but I had the tutorials, and a friend who had
been using 3D Studio for almost a year was usually there when I was working (it
was his software, but he didn't have a computer, so we used mine).
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
John,
Thanks again for your reply.
Two questions still: how does people add interactions to 3ds output ( flc?),
via aaplay MCI interface? Say, if an 3D object being clicked, and then some
actions will be triggered. Another question, add sound via Adobe Premier or
someting else?
Will 3DS flc run fast enough from a CDROM? What are the considerations? I
started to look at Inside 3D studio, but not yet finished.
Mei-Tien
Both of your questions are probably better answered by others, I do mostly
television broadcast animation, so I don't do much multimedia output. That
said, there are many off the shelf multimedia authoring packages that allow you
to do some forms of interactivity, and games developers are constantly writing
their own games engines for driving graphics and user input. I think these are
almost always proprietary. As far a CD-ROM playback is concerned, there are
several flic compression schemes that will de-compress on the fly, like SMACKER
and NEWAGE (which can be found on this forum, though I'm not sure if they're
demos or shareware or what). These allow you to play back bigger flics faster,
making CD ROM playback smoother and better.
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
Mei:
The cheapest way to get interaction, albeit keyboard interaction, that I can
think of is not via aaplay but its bigger brother aaplayhi. The program is
freeware and is downloadable from the libraries here. The scripting language
is well documented and easy to use. Adding sound will be a problem with this
approach, however.
Bob
Authorware is the program of choice for interactive programming w/ sound,
especially if you don't want to deal with code, as it's icon driven. The only
drawback is the price.
hey dude!
>> and a friend who had been using 3D Studio for almost a year was usually
there when I was working (it was his software, but he didn't have a computer,
so we used mine).<<
thanks for the kind words, remember that I hear everything<g> BTW sorry I'v
been so bad re: e-mail, but right now things are heating up here. At least I
got the p5 finally, now I inherited a zoo (staff) and am trying to network them
w/ WFWG311. I be busy, bro!
WFW?! Urgghhh… I don't envy you. Heating up, you mean past the usual 98
degrees?
John Tissavary (LUNA cie)
What Time-bomb??? 3DS is the only really professional 3D production package in
its price category. Others allow nice 3D modelling and some nice image
generation, but for real professional production work, 3DS is the only one for
me. Topas has come down in proce, but is still considerably more than 3DS from
what I understand.
Doug,
Thanks! Time bomb is what I saw in another message in this forum.
Mei-Tien
I've actually used Animation:Master, and it is very different from 3DS, and
infinitely more frustrating. Great ideas, mediocre implementation. 3DS is a
better overall package than anything else on the PC. I prefer the spline
modeller in A:M, however, and use the DXF export from that program to 3DS for
certain things. I haven't been able to get used to the contortions necessary to
map images to objects in 3DS. It works very well, but seems unneccesarily
complex.
Andrew.
Andrew,
It seems that everyone is saying 3DS is the Best!
I just wonder how difficult it is to learn 3DS?
How people add interactions into their animations made with 3DS?
Mei-Tien