#New CBM Authoring?
21 messages in this thread
Ethan,
I'd be interested in hearing any more you'd care to say about CBM's new
authoring system. I've been wondering for some time with that, CanDo, and
UltraCard, just what the differences are and what the different products
are aimed at.
*** John
John – if you happen to catch Computer Chronicles (TV show on PBS), this
week's included a demo of Amiga Vision (the authoring system). I taped it
so I could go back and study the various machines and programs shown.
Wish I had a digitizer so I could… hmmm… got a friend with one. Maybe I
can convince him to make a GIF picture file to post?
I missed Computer Chornicles, but, a friend watched it and told me about
it. He was of the opinion that Macrmind Director 'blew away' the Amiga
Vision demo. Do you think so too? –Eet–
Did you read my thread called "Byte desktop video show" starting at 95191?
Yeah, I thought ALL the other demos blew away the Amiga one. AV did come
across as a simple-to-use authoring system, but the demo lacked the ooomph
and Wow factors of the Mac/PC demos.
Of course, the Mac stuff came across as really professional, hi-quality…
and I've seen people using similar programs to generate cartoons for TV
shows… very impressive on a large Mac-ii monitor, and a lot of it is very
powerful. Even when the sound playback can't keep up with the full-motion
color animation, the authors I saw working didn't seem to mind. Strange,
but true.
Again, AV seemed simple in comparison, which however should be of great
appeal to most people… and making something seem simple is hard to do, as
we all know. In any case, it's gotten so I have to be sure to tape the
Chronicles each week, as they cover the Amiga fairly often. PBS also had a
show on animation, in which the Amiga was shown a lot (altho no brand names
were mentioned) a few months back. Hafta dig that tape up again.
But yes, C= could've/should've come up with some really *sharp* demo to
match the others. – kev
Hmmmm….
I've been using the CBM Authoring System for a few months now, and can't
say anything too specific about it just yet. And I didn't see the Chronicle
show, wish I had.
BUT..
Given that, if the demos CBM showed weren't outstanding
IT'S A CRYING SHAME 'CAUSE THE SOFTWARE IS EXCELLENT!
To go on a show like the Computer Chronicles without having absolutely
outstanding demos makes no sense at all.
Damn. Perhaps CBM didn't get much advance warning…
BTW, this is Lou Wallace, not Doug Barney. I'm online with the official AW
account and posted the previous msg about the authoring system…
Hey, Lou? Does you guys get the Impulse newsletter? They had a little-tiny
slammy at you guys in it. Something about Louie Markoya's TSilver article.
I'm going to my back issues of AmigaWeird now to see if I can find the
article in question <grin> –Eet–
Lou/Doug – you should probably change the name to AmigaWorld, then.
Ben
Amateur Radio Callsign is A A 7 A S
Lou,
Tell Doug that I think he is mostly 'wet' in his editorial re: viruses
in ComputerWorld. It's distressing to me that someone with that much
authority over what I read can be so far of base.
Victor A. Wagner, Jr.
Your comments would be more effective if you delivered them. Write to
Doug via AmigaWorld. He likes to hear from readers, regardless of what they
have to say.
Even without much advance warning, they should've been prepared better, I
think. The Macromind videotape shown from the Mac guys was obviously
prepared well in advance and took a looooong time to create. But the viewer
comes away with the impression that it was realtime super gfx, etc. And
that of course is what you want to happen to viewers.
Methinks offhand that C= falls into the same trap a lot of us do: that is,
you think that just telling specs to someone should make them fall over and
beg for the machine. Hardly. Someone else pops up with a really cool demo
on another computer, and you're history, pal <grin>.
Shoot, I could've done the same demo as the C= one with a tape deck, and
some crayons, almost. Pretty weak compared to what has even been shown
previously by Amiga 3td parties on the Chronicles.
The Authoring System has been shown publically, now twice, once at
AmiExpo and again on national TV, so I would imagine that non-disclosure is
over.
— Ethan
You know, I saw it on Computer Chronicals too. It looked as if it were
running under version 2.0 of the o/s. I mean the way some of the gadgets,
etc. looked. Can anyone comfirm this? -Scot
I didn't see it on Computer Chronicles, but at the show it was
running under 1.3 and things were still different, such as the
scroll-arrows being next to each other in the corner. I thought that the
system created those gadgets automatically, but I guess not.
— Ethan
Doug–
Yes. Sometimes "technical" departments forget to hire the "creative
talents."
BTW–if you are DB of Amiga Times, when can we expect a comparative review
of All these programs, including Very Vivid's?
Ooooopss–a million apologies. I meant _Amiga World_, of course. Very
tired, tonight.
A comparison of three multimedia packages DVideo3, Interactor and CanDo.
will be in the May issue.
Lou
I'm confused: Is the MAC authoring software better or just the demo they
made with it. One thing about Apple: they are not afraid to hire real
artists. It pays off, I guess.
Jim – the Mac demos were better… more colors, action, and so on. Dunno if
the authoring software is better or not, altho I've seen some nice Mac
systems in action and haven't seen AmigaVision except on TV. They're two
different markets, really, I think. Pricewise, equipment-wise, possibly
serious-wise (by that I meant AV is meant for the masses).
Yesterdays' Chronicles was about Flight Sims on the PC. There were some
nice demos, but they all got blown away by the company that sent a real
fighter pilot/teacher to show theirs <grin>. So yes, a lot of it is in
how/who/what you show your demos… as you said.
OK. Let's see how much more detail I can go into.
The interface was very nice and clean. The main "window" contained a
grid which represented the path your routines follow. Your program starts
with the icon in the upper-left which is default set to a "routine-start"
icon (a duodecahedron? 20-sided dice). The first command in the routine
goes one down and to the right from it along the grid.
Along the bottom are a series of categories, such as A/V and Flow.
When you click on one (they are icons), you get another series of icons
listing all the related icons which can be put in your routine.
When you put them in you can edit them, to define specifically what
they can do. It pops up a large requestor for each. You can put comments in
anywhere. Also, if you have a routine that gets so large it gets in your
way you can "telescope" it and it simply gets a place holder. It looks very
well thought-out.
— Ethan
Ethan
A 20-sided die is called an icosahedron.
Victor A. Wagner, Jr.