CompuServe Thread

The following is an article published in the latest Artifact, newsletter of 3D Artists and Animators users groups. Thought everyone might enjoy this one. Video Intl. & Details Video International, known for their very interesting TV commercial clips on the Autodesk Siggraph 94 reel, their Camera Mapping Ipas and now their Refraction Mapping Ipas have joined forces with Details Inc. Details (owned by Danny Mercurio) is the company responsible for the ill-fated Bezier Patch Modeler which didnt quite make the shipping date for 3Dsr4 and is now available through Digimation. Now Details has released a new Metaballs package called OrganiX. Through the partnership formed between these two companies, Video International has developed a new type of metaball mapping which is will be refered to as STICKY MAPPING. Sticky mapping will allow you to apply texture maps to metaball objects and then allow the balls to change position (keyframmer) without the map being stretched or deformed. This is a first in the industry. No other product currently being shipped has this capability. Aleksey will give a demonstration of stickies at the next meeting. Here is the chain of events leading up to the development of this new partnership: Weeks before Siggraph: While working with the OrganiX code to make it compatible with Refraction Mapping, Oleg Buyborodin (Video Intl.) solves some very complex mathmatics problems which relate to holding mapping coords in place on AXP generated surfaces. Sunday Aug 5, 10pm ASOFT party: Location: LA Biltmore Sports Bar. In a dimmly lit corner of the bar, Aleksey, Oleg, John, and Pavel (Video Intl.) meet with Danny for the first time to discuss the new compatibility between Refraction Mapping and Organix. A wide-eyed Danny Mercurio is given the news that Oleg has solved the very complex math required to generate sticky mapping on metaball objects. A deal is struck and history is made. After a meeting with Dave Avgikos (Digimation) to work out partnership and marketing details, Oleg returns to his hotel room at the Hollywood Holiday Inn and spends the night writing code and integrating sticky mapping into OrganiX. Monday Aug 6, 2pm Pyros Pictures: Location: Newport Beach, CA At the open house party and tour at Pyros Pictures (owned by none other than Greg Pyros), Oleg shows up armed with working code and several example project files. Greg gives Aleksey and Oleg access to his render farm to generate flic files to use as examples at the Digimation booth. Tuesday Aug 7, 3pm LA Convention Ctr. Location: Siggraph 95, Digimation booth Through a very poor p.a. system, armed with only his sharp wit and a 15 monitor, Aleksey announces to the world that Video Intl., Details, Digimation and 3D Studio will be the first ever to have STICKY MAPPING coords on metaballs. The rest IS history. CONGRATULATIONS to Aleksey, Oleg and Danny for making such powerful tools available to 3D Studio users everywhere.