#thanx 4 the manuals
25 messages in this thread
I know this is probably going to sound strange and out of the blue, but I must
praise you again for the fine set of manuals you wrote for 3dsr2.
I have been learning an image processing program at work and the manual, what
there is of it, is real big on theory, short on how to do things, and a real
mess all around. Mucking through that thing, then coming home and using 3ds and
finding exactly what I need in the manuals is a very plesant change and I just
wanted to show my appreciation once again for them. I wish everybody had your
standards.
And on a matter completely different, do you guys have a prepared bio or
something? I am curious about the Genesis of the Yost Group and 3ds. If you
have anything you can just upload to satisfy my curiosity, please do, but I
know your all busy, so no need to go out of your way or anything. I had planned
on wandering through Siggraph for a day, so if you have a booth I could ask you
there.
Thanks for the praise on the manuals, Tim. After that, I wish I had some real
bio info to send you, but we've never been much interested in that kind of
thing. "We began in a small buggy whip factory in Istanbul, of poor but humble
parents…" <g> I can, however, tell you that the true origin of 3D Studio was
at a Comdex, where Tom Hudson approached Gary and me with a program he'd
written that rotated a 3D wireframe cube. He said he wanted to write a 3D
animation program. I think Gary's still got that program somewhere.
Anyway, we will definitely be at Siggraph at the Autodesk booth, so stop by and
say hi when you're in town.
– Jack
Jack, that was fall Comdex, 1984!
– G
PS: Tom's got that code in a vault somewhere.
Gary:
I _dare_ you to put the cube program up on a machine at siggraph and either
label it 3DS r3.0beta -or- 3DS r0.1!
~~~~ Dave
hehe… I don't even have a computer that'll RUN it anymore. It was written in
1984 for the Atari ST.
– G
So Tom Hudson is the same guy who used to write the columns in the Atari
magazines…. he was like a god to me then – 10 years old, Atari 800, learning
assembly language on 6502. Those were the days.
dan
10 years old and learning 6502 assembler, eh? THAT'S a hoot. I'll have to
tell Tom.
– G
Well, more like 10 years old and STRUGGLING to TRY to learn assembler. Never
really got it down, but I did write a few cool display list interrupts. Color
cycling was all the rage then.
Dan
ps – ask him if he remembers the 'Boot Camp' series of articles on learning
assembly.
I'm sure he remembers the Boot Camp stuff… That was an incredibly useful set
of tutorials that he wrote.
– G
> I'm sure he remembers the Boot Camp stuff… That was an incredibly > useful
set of tutorials that he wrote.
HE DID WRITE THOSE!!?? GAWD. He really _IS_ my hero. <SIGH> I need to get him
to sign my 3ds manual!
Dan
that beats me, I was piddling around with basic on an apple IIe at twelve. Took
a course on it in junior high and failed it. I realized real quick that
programming wasn't the thing for me so I had to pass the time annoying the
teacher as much as possible. He didn't appreciate that too much.
What year were you ten?
I was 10 in … (hear the calculator working?) … 1979. That is an approximate
guess of when I had my Atari… 10-12 anyway. Don't worry, I never program.
DannO
Sounds like we are almost exactly the same age. I was ten in '78. I find myself
having to pick up books on beginners c these days to keep up with my job, not
something I am real keen on. then of course I also told my math teacher in high
school I would never need to know algebra or anything beyond it in my life.
Little did I know… Now I find myself wading through a book on image
processing filled with calculus problems I have no hope of understanding. Guess
I'll have to look at the pictures.
Tim:
>> Sounds like we are almost exactly the same age. I was ten in '78.
What are you guys trying to do, make Doug Wolfgram and I feel old? <bg>
Greg Pyros
You Betcha! (g) Then, we wait, and when you least expect it, we take your job.
(bg)
Actually, I generally sort of subconciously assume that most of the people on
this forum are older than my measly 24 years of age, so it kind of suprises me
when I find someone my age who isn't obviously a student. Don't worry, though,
we hold you in awe, and take what ever scraps of wisdom you care to rain down
on us 🙂
YOU feel old!?!
Sh*t, I was 18 in '78…
DT
Greg:
You *are* old.
Evan
I thought it was pretty surprising that I remembered the show, much less the
year!
– J
Jack wrote the 3DS manuals (with my kibbitzing, of course). Re the genesis of
YG and 3DS… we're just a small group of mutant nerds who have nothing better
to do, basically.
But sometimes I think that if I _had_ taken that job with the Post Office, I'd
be a little more relaxed and my hair wouldn't be so grey. (nawwww….)
– G
>> But sometimes I think that if I _had_ taken that job with the Post Office,
>> I'd be a little more relaxed and my hair wouldn't be so grey. (nawwww….)
Yeah, right… How about those weird post office workers who like going into a
shooting spree for relaxation? Or maybe, you would have invented a Virtual
Postal Delivery System that would actualy work! VPDS, hmmmm, sounds like a
product to me, or at least to some acronym lover up in DC…
Sorry but couldn't let that go alone…
OK OK… the 7-11, then.
– G
VJDS (Virtual Junkfood Delivery System?)
Nah, not the post office! Then you have to worry about homocidal mail carriers.
Homicidal mail carriers are nothing compared to rabid product managers. <g>
– G
And people like Cliff Claven, Mr Know it all. <g>
Yann
Haha. It seems the less support there is for a product, namely 3DS, there must
be a super intellect technical writer. I must agree that the tutorial is one of
the most well thoughtout, concise, and definitive manuals I had ever used.
But, of course without it, most beginners would be dead in the water!!!