#Just saying HI!
8 messages in this thread
Greetings all!
-mark=
Scala Inc. "Why make it harder?"
Hi Mark!
Speaking of "Why make it harder?"… I was down at the local NBC (gonna be
CBS in a year or so) affiliate, installing a 3D animation system, and they
are using some "HAL" and "Quantel" Paint Boxes in their graphics
department. I watched them put together some graphics that they needed to
air about a high-speed car chase that was going on at that time.
What struck me is how "object-orientated" their paint program was, very
much like a Scala. They loaded a "background" and some "brushes" and
basically composed the graphic from pre-existing, templatish, graphics;
Very similar to the type of work you can do in Scala.
One difference is that while "composing" the graphic, they had access to a
full featured paint system, where they could cut out portions of the image
(the cut-outs would then become yet one more object) enlarge them, use
functions like blur, or smear and then place them back down onto the
image.
I wonder is Scala working towards this sort of integration of a paint
program along with the object orientated capabilites of Scala itself?
-John
John,
You'd be surprised how close MM300 comes to being a paint program with the
current feature set! (grin). I often times touch up IFF pictures by
loading them into the Scala editor and draw blocks, lines, etc. over
unwanted text in the background. Remember you can also load other IFF
pictures/brushes and rescale them and create very impressive pictures.
I grant a paint program it is not–but with Deluxe Paint or some of the
other stuff that is now showing up on the PC you can put together an
impressive presentation.
More painting tools in the future? I wouldn't be surprised! 🙂
-mark=
Scala Inc. "Why make it harder?"
Mark,
I was thinking over the weekend and another thing that I saw at the
station was a "shuffler" like interface for the graphic clips that they
would use in composing the drawings. Right now you all have the shuffler
for the acutal pages, but I do not remember a shuffler interface for
things like the actual clips themselves. I take it that is coming RSN,
too. 🙂
-John
In InfoChannel 500 there is a file-based file requestor shuffler! 🙂
You can view any IFF, GIF, etc from the file requestor.
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Scala Inc. "Why make it harder?"
Mark,
Cool. Is IC500 shipping now? I have been thinking seriously about trying
to make a "Chess Channel" (among other interactive offerings to fill the
burgeoning TV bandwidth) using Scala InfoChannel linked to a Chess program
that will take externally issued commands and a phone-link system for
interactivity.
Do you all make an EX for some of the smarter modems out their or just
things like the GVP PhonePak? Or can you tell me what the best way is to
take input from potentially thousands of consumers (don't you all have a
deal with one of the large information service providers to provide the
interface to their systems, how is this progressing?) into InfoChannel?
-John
Greetings John,
IC500 will ship very soon for the Amiga. It has been released in Europe
already–we always run the NTSC version few a couple of test runs before a
US release–but it is close.
Do you know who Chris Darsch is? You should–he owned the company
Atlantic Designs (I hope I got that right) that made the PhonePak for GVP.
Guess who now works for Scala? (grin)
Look for some interesting phone stuff soon.
-mark=
Scala Inc. "Why make it harder?"
<boing!>
-John