Subject: Re: Imagine and freelancing
Date: Wed, 18 May 94 19:57:39 
From: djm2@isis.msstate.edu@ra.msstate.edu (Dan Murrell Jr.)

Ok, I'll bite..

Michael Halleen said on May 18 :

> If you hang out for a while on comp.graphics.animation you'll see that the
> people who work for the major studios in Hollywood have respect for Real
> and LW.  They've either never heard of Imagine, or they scoff at it.
>
> "Needs serious work in the renderer"  "The most hostile interface"
> "A lost cause"

I can understand respect for LW, but not for Real v2+.	I almost bought it
used and got to play with it for a while.  IMO, it had the horrible interface
you speak of.

> Are any major network or syndicated shows being produced using Imagine?

None that I know of, however, I think the Toaster had more to do with their
choice of 3D program than you believe.	Imagine is certainly as powerful as
Lightwave.  Less on some features, much more powerful on others.

>
> Here are some examples of Imagine amateurism.
>
> No version numbers?
Ok, lame.  However, it's not like there have been a ton of tiny updates to
Imagine either.  1.0->1.1->2.0->2.9->3.0.  Not much different than LW, actually,

1.0->2.0->3.0->3.1.

>
> No Arexx?
Ok, lame again, but what do you propose doing using AREXX inside of Imagine?
As it is, a lot of AREXX-y things can be accomplished in Imagine due to it's
very by-the-numbers interface.

>
> How about something simple, like getting 30fps playback.  I need to
>
> In the stage editor, when you play a test animation, your choice of speeds
> ranges from 'slow' to 'fast', and most of the slow speeds are totally
> useless, as is the default speed, which is way to fast.  The useful range

I've always thought that one click to the left was 30 fps, but if you timed
it out, I may be wrong.  One thing that can easily be done, is render the
frames as a pencil test or whatever, and play using something like ViewTek,
where you can give it a parameter like fps=30.	Videotape that, and show it
to your clients.

> This is a hassel.  THIRTY FRAMES PER SECOND should be default in all
> situations.  The fact that it's not shows me you don't consider Imagine a
> tool for producing professional video work.

Yes, definitely, but perhaps it's an oversight, not Impulse showing that they
don't consider it for professional work.  Regardless, it's easily changed,
isn't it?

>
> My appeals to this group is my last ditch effort to see if there's
> something I'm missing.  I've asked, and no one answered, what are Forge
> and Essence?	These seem popular, but I've never heard of them.  I just

Where have you been?  Just a couple of weeks ago, Steve Worley, author of both
products posted a big description and features list.  This is perhaps the most
important advantage Imagine has over it's Amiga and higher end competitors--
it's incredible algorithmic texture support.  BTW, in case you haven't figured
it out yet, Essence volumes I & II are the textures, and Forge is the texture
previewer.

> Do Babylon 5.  Do SeaQuest.  Do something for someone who wants two test
> anims a week and will constantly ask for changes.  Come up with a
> perfectly timed test anim that you are confident can be cut into an
> offline and used as a basis for music, voice over, and editing.  Try to pick
> the right texture without spending all day, or waiting weeks
> for someone to upload a sampler.

I think you're mistaken.  With Forge, you can get your texture right in a
couple minutes, and be done with it.  Get your perfectly timed animation by
simple math and showing that you understand 30 frames == 1 second.  As far as
doing a big job, I believe one of our peers just recently had a big animation
shown on the nightly news, as in big time networks.

>
> I think the mistake here was mine.  I'll give Imagine one more chance,
> then I'll leave you all alone and go where I belong.
>
Quit your bitching about a program that is 3 years old or so (v 2.0).  Get the 3
.0
upgrade, and take a look at what all Imagine offers currently.	You'll surely
be surprised.

Dan

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   http://www.msstate.edu/~djm2    XX/ ImageMasterRT/Wavefront under-achiever



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