#UNDO!
37 messages in this thread
Hi Gary,
I wanted to ask you a rather obvious question. Why doesn't 3D Studio have an
UNDO function? I know that it does in the 2D shaper, but the re is no
"regular" UNDO feature in the 3D Editor. You have to first "save" and then
fetch it.
God knows that no one remembers to "save" it before fetching. So what you fetch
ends up being nothing. Is it possible to have such a thing? Every decision
in 3DS tends to be a hard one with no looking back, if one doesn't think first
before selecting any function.
Please let me know if you can or cannot do this.
Thanks in advance.
Alex Karamanoglou
It's certainly something that's high on everyone's wish list. The reason why
it's not there now is the same reason why it's not in Topas (or Wavefront, for
that matter). When you do a non-affine transformation of geometry (anything
but a move/rotate/scale), ther's no simple way to invert the transform for the
undo.
– G
Uh, Gary,
Does that mean that an UNDO *IS* possible for move, rotate & scale?
I'd go for that at least….<Gd&r>
Later,
-Jeff
Your wishlist desire has been noted.
– G
Hi Gary,
Hmmm, yeah! I knew that (g) I assumed that it was something like that. I
simply thought, "Microsoft word can undo all the way to the firat step, and
Corel Draw can undo several steps back, so why can't 3DS?" But I realize that
it's a different animal al ltoghether, otherwise, it would have been there
already.
Again, thanks for responding so promptly.
Take care,
Alex Karamanoglou
So, how does Softimage do it. You can undo anything as many levels
as you want if you set it … Usually five levels is more than
enough. Check it out… l8r, Fred Nilsson
Softimage just undoes affine transforms and a subclass of simple
geometry modifications, and it's not available in their Motion
(animation) module at all.
Sure it is , I undo animation moves all the time..
Fred Nilsson
I just called a buddy of mine who as SI up, and he quoted a page number from
their docs to me.. pg 1-142: "The History menu cell options (including Undo,
Redo, etc.) are only available in the Model, Actor and Matter modules.
– G
PS: I'm not going to belabor the point. I know that everyone wants an undo
function. It was on virtually everyone's wishlist.
Ok that is true , it is not in the menu cells , however you can still undo,
with the quick key— U— up to five times. Usually it works, but with
certain deformations with IK skeletons, that's where we run into trouble
undoing things..
thanx,
Fred Nilsson
Hi Alex,
It was nice meeting you at Siggraph this year. How've you been?
The reason I am jumping in here, is because you make a good point: Does anyone
*really* save before fetching?
Well, the answer (from here, anyway) is YES!
While (I guess) it's possible that we may see Undo operations in future
versions of 3DS, when you consider the scope of what a 3D Editor Undo function
has to accomplish (see Gary's note) it just doesn't seem possible right now.
So, I have developed what I call the "Urge To Hold" feeling.<g> (please don't
try to read anything into that!<g>)
After using 3DS for some time, and getting a feel for those times when an Undo
function would _really_ be useful (say, after Skew, Bend, Array and *many*
other functions), I now get a little "urge" to hold the file. In fact, I now
Hold the file after almost _every time_ I accomplish something substantial
(this is when I would actually _save_ the file in the old days using DTP
software) and save the file itself (perhaps using the +1 method that GregP
recently mentioned) as often as seems neccesary. This has saved me *untold*
amounts of time and stress, and is a small inconvenience when you consider what
can happen when you loose a considerable amount of hard-won progress on an
important project!
Just wanted to air this out, and if it helps anyone, I'd be glad.
-Alan
I have to agree here 100%. I burned myself a couple of times early on, and my
mentor at the time kept whispering in my ear: "save early and often". Now I
regularly save and hold files – after any substantial operation, or whenever I
start some heavy "tinkering". The + button is my friend <g>
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Hi Alan,
>>It was nice meeting you at Siggraph this year. How've you been?
Same here, I've been great, trying to get more work and trying to become 100
independent and leave my 9-5 job so that I can really concentrate in what I
love. Isn't that what life is about?
Anyway, about the "Urge to Hold," I agree with you and John T. however, when
you have a 486 (like the one I had) and have a big file, it was a pain in the
ass to have to wait for it to save and then make your change. I just got a
Pentium/90, I'm incredibly happy now, but nonetheless, an Undo function would
make life so much easier.
Having said this, I'll just adopt the "Urge to Hold" philosophy and wait till
the Undo function comes out with the windows version. ( <—-Wearing flame
proof outfit for this one)
Talk to you later.
Alex K.
I'm glad your new P90 will help you to save more regularly and with less
inconvenience, Alex. Keeping your hard disk clean and de-fragmented is another
way to help stay efficient during all these saves.
-Alan
>> So, I have developed what I call the "Urge To Hold" feeling.<g> (please
>> don't try to read anything into that!<g>)
I've gotten so used to hitting "hold", that last week after a screw up, I hit
"hold" again instead of "fetch" (old habits die hard). Now that really s@cks!!!
(that's why incremental saves are so important, too!)
– Dave
>>hit "hold" again instead of "fetch"<<
Yeah, I've done that one too. ARGH!
-Alan
I can relate 100%! the dangers of 3DS…
John Tissavary (LUNA cie, inc)
Hi Alan:
Here's an idea that could be a compromise solution. It is being used in the
FAST Video Machine software.
The hold button should be configured to do a hold automatically every x key
strokes or every so many minutes This could be configured in the 3DS.set file.
A buffer is selected to store the last x number of mods. Then if you wanted to
recover from a series of wrong moves you could go back to 10 moves ago. You
could also have the option of quick keying a forced hold at any time.
What do you think, Alan?
This sounds like a great option. But I've gotta say that I would never
use it. Using "automatic saving" functions in the past would blow my
mind when I'd go to do an operation and be forced to wait while the
file was saved to the hard disk (I'm _so_ impatient sometimes!<g>).
It's just personal taste, really. I guess I just like to control
(exactly) what and when I save. On the other hand, I know of many who
were saved by this very feature and they swear by it. So like I say,
it would be a great option, especially if you can somewhat control
how and when the saving is going on.
The one in the VM seems to work in the background and I never know
it's doing it's thing, unlike the old autosave features in some word
processors that caused you to take a break from typing every so
often.
>> be forced to wait while the file was saved to the hard disk
Perhaps what we need is a "HOLD +1" button that saves sequential files. When
we "FETCH", we can go back as far as we need. When exiting 3DS, they could all
be deleted automatically.
>>Hold+1 button<<
Very interesting concept, David.
-Alan
>>Hold+1<<
Of course, the "Save" command works in that case. It's just not a simple
button click.
>>Hold+1<<
Jeez, my mailer must have hung onto that one for a while. That discussion died
down last week…
Alex,
>> Every decision ….. tends to be a hard one with no looking back <<
PMJI Alex I couldn't resist this but isn't it time for me to ask if you've made
a decision again? <rof,l> 🙂
Murph'
Hi James,
You're going to kill me with this (g). I'm going to have to buy it just to
keep you off my back! (just kidding)
Anyway, how are you, I haven't heard from you in a while. How are things going
with the business?
I just got m a Pentium 90. I'm very happy with it, and am zooming by
applications. It's weird, how you can see what a big difference it makes to
have that kind of power. Compared to a 486, this thing just bolts through
everything.
Enough for me…talk to you later…
Alex K.
Alex,
>>>I'm going to have to buy it just to keep you off my back! (just kidding) <<<
Actually if you wait a couple more months we'll have our RenderGarden /
RenderFarm / RenderJungle integrated with enough options for you to really have
something to consider. <g>
As much as you like that 90 consider having five of them setup in one box with
one keyboard and one monitor running in parallel with the ability to access
your workstation and call up instances of 3D Studio or AutoCAD or even Windows
Apps While at the same time your little icons in the corner of the screen tell
you…..Animation xxxx is 15% Done, Animation YYYY is 75% Done, Animation ZZZZ
is 35% Done, Your have E-Mail, Etc. Etc. all while your working in 32bit Phar
Lapp DOS Extended App's. Now Consider that there are no networking problems or
conflicts, that it is plug and Play and that due to propriatory Hardware and
Software Tweeking each one of those Pentium 90's are running 30 Per Cent
Faster….
Think about the ability to add additional MotherBoards up to 999 and that if
any component fails you get a replacement next day Air and that among the
options you may choose a RAID Hard Drive setup with numerous Built in
Reduntantcies. I could Go On and On but I think your getting the idea. <g>
So Far Business has been picking up, I did however learn…..or maybe I should
say RE-learn since I used to do this before….a lot about how to put on a
proper Seminar and Conference.
BTW in less than a week I'll have in-house copies of 3D Studio Release 4 for
imeadiate upgrade from Release 3. (Absolutly No Student Copies…Please!!) If
you haven't sent in your #2 Disk with the Serial Number Plus $295 & Shipping
I'd Advise doing so Real Soon! Upgrades from versions previous to Release 3
will have to go directly through the regular process at Autodesk which will
take longer and not be so imeadate.
If your looking for the FARGO 600 DPI unit I can Ship NOW.
Also let me know if there's anything else you might be considering because I've
got the inside track on a couple of…..let us say..Extreemly interisting
Developments. <BG>
Murph'
Hmmmmm… Are by chance building a rack full of Pent. 90 motherboards? Sounds
interesting. I considered 486's but they're too slow. If you can cook up a nice
integrated that is less $$$$ than 5 individual Pentiums, I would appreciate it
if you drop me some info by E-mail.
Thanks, 73201,1374 Sanford
Sanford Kennedy Design
Hi Sanford!
>>>If you can cook up a nice integrated that is less $$$$ than 5 individual
Pentiums, I would appreciate it if you drop me some info by E-mail. <<<
Yes I can, In fact we are just now ramping up to go in to production
so that the Models we show at Seminars and Shows such as NAB etc.
will be the exact same models that our clients may obtain. The First
Prototype was shown at my 3 day Seminar & 3D Artists Conference the
last 3 days of August and after that there was so much excitement that
we knew we had a winner…. There was an other oppurtunity to show
at Chicago but we declined because we wanted to show production
models rather than Prototypes. If you can E-Mail me your Snail Mail
Address and or Phone/Fax Numbers I will be sure you are fully
informed regarding this product. James M. Murphy
James,
I'm interested. See my Email message.
Thanks, Sanford
James
'cuse me for butting in… but
I think I may be interested.
snail mail address
Wyeknot inc
560 McMunn
South Lyon, Mi 48178
phone
810 437 9445
I am looking to up grade
thanks
dave
Hi Dave,
>>> I am looking to up grade <<<
Be Glad to help you David….I lost the original thread, so are we talking
about the Rel.3 to Rel.4 Upgrade??
Murph'
>>(Absolutly No Student Copies…Please!!)
Does this mean that all those people that bought student copies can't
upgrade to R4? One guy that has a student copy was in here the other
day and told me otherwise. He claimed he called ADESK and they told
him student versions were upgradable to R4 direct from Adesk. Was he
lying? What is the official policy from ADESK regarding student
upgrades? I thought student copies were non upgradable.
<< What is the official policy from ADESK regarding student upgrades? >>
Call 1-800-964-6432 for AutoDesk's Information Referral Center.
jonas[adesk]
Excuse me Jonas, I don't mean to seem too pushy about this subject
but…..is there any reason why you can't get "educational" to reply
directly on the open forum regarding upgradability of "Student Copies
of 3D Studio"????
It would seem to me that if Student copies _where_ upgradable directly
through Autodesk then that leaves another Massive Conflict of
Interest between the "educational" resellers and the Legitimate
Resellers. If One is allowed to lie to an educational reseller to
obtain a "student copy" of 3D Studio and then continue to get
upgrades directly from Autodesk with no futher checking regarding
that persons "legal" "Student" Status….Doesn't that strike you as a
Problem???
That also let's the "education dealers" off the Hook regarding their
responsibility to make sure that their student copies are in fact
going to "Students".
This Strikes me as nothing more than "Mail-Order".
Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Autodesk Just Make all the Dealers
Sign an update to their Dealer Contract that they would do
no-mail-order Sales…??? Doesn't this include "educational
Sales!!!!"
I'm sure my contract reads the same as all the other Dealers??? What
about this Jonas??? Let's clear the Air and Get this out on the open
Forum. James M. Murphy
James,
<< What about this Jonas??? >>
Well… I'm going to forward this thread to Educational…
jonas[adesk]
Hi Don!
Good to hear from you!
>>> I thought student copies were non upgradable. <<<
So did I!! Perhaps we should get an "official" Answer from AutoDesk…Ohhhhh
Briannnnnn! 🙂
Murph'