#LW PC (Intel) slow
5 messages in this thread
>My Matrox actually seems to display 24bit faster than 16 bit.<
Probably because 16bit mode requires calculating a pallette where 24bit is the
full pallette.
>So I am wondering abou 3ds, lightwave, or wait and see what happens with
Softimage wich is supposed to have an NT version in the works. How are you
finding lightwave?<
Softimage for NT will be the same price as the SGI versions, $8K for base/$25K
full package. I don't think many people can justify that. I have used LW since
0.9 and switched to 3DSR4 about a year ago. Both LW and 3DS are great packages,
and can be used in production environments where speed it essential. I prefer
3DS because of all the IPAS plugins, Materials Editor, Video Post, etc. Having
the plugin IPAS means you can add about any function without waiting for a new
release of the program. Why do you think LW 4.0 has plugins? Allen and Stuart
can't do everything. 3DS may cost more than LW, and the Bones and Lens Flare
features are 3rd party, but Bones Pro and LenZFX blow away their LW
counterparts. Bones Pro 2.0 is coming and LenZFX2 has Inferno which does
explosions, glows, lightning and many other effects.
LW seems to be having problems running under Windows that I don't think I you
could put up with at this point. 3DS is the most bug free program I have ever
used. NewTek isn't to healthy at this point, though if anything survives it
will be LW. LW is cheaper, but I think the $1000 price hurts them more than it
helps. Plugin developers won't make enough money unless they sell their plugins
for $300+ and people will complain that a plugin costs half as much as the
program. 3DS has more market share than LW and their IPAS developers have to
run lean ships to stay afloat. At $1K NewTek is giving away LW, they can't
afford to do that for long and keep the company healthy.
3DS MAX is coming and is a next generation 3D program that has so many neat,
useful features that will bring more Alias/Wavefront/Softimage to check it out
than did LW when they announced the SGI version. Those guys look at LW as a toy
compared to what they have.
Thanks Tim, I really appreciate your advice.
I had been wondering about LW bugs, but there did not seem to be too many
complaints on this forum, unlike the Flyer!
I thought that LW had had plugins for a while and I thought that they were
being ported to the PC.
I think that I will give LW a whirl, and probally go for max when it is ready,
I don't think I could easily go back to a dos program, I am to used to the
conveniance of swapping between programs in order to get a job out. The thought
of having to exit 3ds and start windows, in order to make changes to a bit map,
just turns me off. Although I have to admit that I am very tempted by the
features it offers.
Ah decisions decisions, I am also wondering whether to go for a DPS Perception
or a Fast system to get to tape, both seem to have very satisfied customers.
Must be blind-fold, paper and pin time, so much more scientfic than tossing a
coin…….
Ken
Tim, I'm not familiar with you, so I don't know what your claims to expertise
may be in this industry, but I certainly know your comments about health or
lack thereof for this company are pure baseless speculation. We are doing well
enough that we've added 19 staff recently, most of them in development, as pure
growth since we never made cuts and always replaced departures in that
department.
Your general claim that users of a number of high-end 3D programs regard LW as
a toy doesn't hold a lot of water considering the increasing presence of
Lightwave in video and motion picture production and in game and multimedia
development.
Chuck.
>Tim, I'm not familiar with you, so I don't know what your claims to expertise
may be in this industry, but I certainly know your comments about health or
lack thereof for this company are pure baseless speculation. We are doing well
enough that we've added 19 staff recently, most of them in development, as pure
growth since we never made cuts and always replaced departures in that
department.<
Yes it is just speculation, but with the no new Amiga sales and no other
hardware products, things probably are not as good as they were 2 years ago. I
hope things continue to improve as NewTek is one of the most innovative
companies out there.
Certainly, given the circumstances, things are lean, but certainly not
unhealthy, and we've had leeway for the growth needed to press our PC products
forward in development.
We are certainly looking forward to the completion of the Flyer and the release
of our new products for PC and other platforms, to make things a bit less lean
for the future.
Chuck.