Amiga Tools 3/Amiga Tools 3.iso/grafik/raytracing/imagine/tips/arc32.txt

Text File | 1993-03-12 | 154KB | 3,965 lines

IMAGINE archive: collected off of [e-mail]

ARCHIVE XXXII
Feb. 9 '93 - Feb. 27 '93

If you have questions or problems with this file, email Marvin Landis
at [e-mail]

note: each message seperated by a '##'

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Subject: pleh
Date: Tue, 9 Feb 93 22:24:22 -0800
From: Always a rainbow <[e-mail]>

>
> HI all..
>
> I was having ome problems while rendering my scenes in Imagine. I left my
> computer for rendering, and when I got back, the system had crashed. I tried
> rebooting, but it would not come on. So I left it off over night, and tried
> again the next morning, and it worked.. for 10 mins, and thenm it crashed
> again.. Its still not rebboting.. Anyone know what the problem may be? Or
> do I have to take it in to my dealer?
> Thanks a lot
> Shalini
>
>
Over-heated imagination maybe? :)
A better place to ask for help would be usenet newsgroup
comp.sys.amiga.hardware.


##

Subject: Corrupted Object Points...
Date: 9 Feb 93 20:14:31 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio) (David Tiberio)

In an article, Alex <src4src!mcdhup!rutgers!csv.warwick.ac.uk!esuoj> writes:

>Hi all you Imaginers out there,
>

>I've been having a spot of bother with some of my objects lately... Every
>so often 1 or 2 points will suddenly become corrupt. It just seems to shoot
>of into nowhere, miles away from its orignal postion. If I then go into
>point
>edit mode and move it back again it either becomes corrupted again, or
>another
>point goes walkabouts. This is relly beginning to get to me as it only seems
>to happen on my best objects =:o(
>


        I have the same problem when using paths over a few hundred or
thousand segments. Points vanish and the path leads to nowhere, plus I get
huge loops that are not visible unless I zoom out a lot. I could fit 20
objects inside one loop, and I get hundreds of loops. And it reports the size
of my axis as being 31.x, NA, 31.x.

.s


-------------------- Via Amiga Graphics BBS [phone] --------------------
 David Tiberio                //       Amiga Graphics BBS  [phone]
 [e-mail]   //      NO SUPRA MODEMS --- BY POPULAR REQUEST
 Long Island, New York     \X/     USENET - 3D - Music - Fonts - Pics - Utils
--


##

Date: 9 Feb 93 20:01:27 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio)

>From src4src!mcdhup!rutgers!csv.warwick.ac.uk!esuoj Tue, 9 Feb 93 20:01:25 EST (David Tiberio)
From: Alex <src4src!mcdhup!rutgers!csv.warwick.ac.uk!esuoj> (David Tiberio)
To: [e-mail], shell.portal.com!imagine,
    [e-mail]
Subject: Corrupted Object Points...

Hi all you Imaginers out there,

I've been having a spot of bother with some of my objects lately... Every
so often 1 or 2 points will suddenly become corrupt. It just seems to shoot
of into nowhere, miles away from its orignal postion. If I then go into point
edit mode and move it back again it either becomes corrupted again, or another
point goes walkabouts. This is relly beginning to get to me as it only seems
to happen on my best objects =:o(

I'm using Imagine 2.0 on an A2000, with a GVP 22MHz combo card, 9Megs of 32-
bit fast ram (on the combo), and 1meg of Chip. Two Quntum SCSI HD's, an A2286
Bridge-Board and a SVGA card for the Bridge-Board.

This problem only seems to occur randomly and on faily large, grouped objects.

Cheers in advance for any help,
                Alex...

------------------------- #include <.signiture.h> --------------------------
****************************************************************************
Alex Craig.                             ///     CSE Student, Warwick Uni. GB
"MayTheSkyNeverFallOnYourHead!"     \\\///         [e-mail]
             -Cheif Vitelsatistix    \XX/ AMIGA    [e-mail]
****************************************************************************


##

Subject: cycle editor
Date:    Thu, 11 Feb 93 11:11 EST
From: "Robert A. Gougher" <[e-mail]>

Does any one know of a way to modify the size of a cycle object so that the
cycle editor will still recognize it? I have a complex spaceship with
retracting gear that, when I transform its size from 640 to 256, will not load
into cycle at all. The error message is that the object is not of the correct
animated type.

                                                        RG


##

Subject: Vanishing points
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 1993 08:48:43 +0100 (MET)
From: [e-mail] (Leon Woestenberg)

D. Tiberio writes he has problems with Imagine: points vanishing into the
5th dimension :)

Well, the same for me. It occurs that it only goes wrong when I import an
object from another Imagine fan, or from editing packages as Vertex.
The edges describing a face dissappear far of screen. Zooming, panning
etcetera doesn't have any effect, as the points have unlimited positions.
BTW, I haven't checked this with the transform requester yet, I'll do so
when I get this problem again.

I think there's a point problem with the latest Imagine 2.0x version that
doesn't correctly load old object formats. Off course this is just a
experience of mine.

If someone does have the same problem, please let me (us?) know. Maybe we
can trace the problem...before Impulse does...:)

Leon Woestenberg ([e-mail])


##

Subject: Alex's corrupted files
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 93 10:57:26 EST
From: Peter Mancini <[e-mail]>

    I had the same problem.  I would render and the machine would
crash.  Sometimes it would crash in Initialization, sometimes during the
render.  I tried a lot of things, very simple set ups, using only the
objects given on my original disks, etc.  The only time it didn't crash
was with very small objects.
    It turned out that the problem was bad ram chips.  5 out of 40
chips were bad.  I have a Ramworks 2000 and it has software to pinpoint
bad chips.  Also, this software I ran overnight.  the first 50 passes
only found one bad chip.  8 hours of use revealed the 5.  I had the
chips replaced and I haven't had a problem since.

--Pete


##

Subject:      Doing "Real" work with Imagine
Date:         11 Feb 93 18:02:08 CST6CDT
From: "Mike Jiang"  <[e-mail]>

Hi everyone,
    I was wondering, does anyone out there use imagine to do work for
money???  If you do, what kind of work to you do?(logos, local cable
stuff, etc...)  What do you charge for the different kinds of work?
What type of setup do you have?  What size city do you live in?  And
most importently, how do you go about getting your clients???

    I know that's a lot of questions, but I would really appriciated
if you would answer.  Please email me or post to the list.

Thanks


Mike Jiang

----------------------------------------------------------------------
| "Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum."    | email==> [e-mail]  |
| "I think that I think,              | or    [e-mail]  |
|  therefore I think that I am."      |                              |
----------------------------------------------------------------------


##

Subject: Vivid 24 and R3D2
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 93 07:22:43 MST
From: [e-mail] (Jeff Neugebauer)

imagine dudes,

I called Digital Micronics yesterday for some questions I had concerning
the Digital Editmaster and while I was on the phone with the guy I asked
him what developers had committed to writing software that would utilize
the Vivid 24. He said there is a company called Canadian Software Developers
located in Ontario, Canada. They are currently creating a program that would
allow Imagine users to move their staging file into the Vivid 24 for rendering.
I asked if he had their address or phone number and he DIDN'T!!(you think
these companies would be concerned about support for their products).

SO.... if there are any Canadian users out there or someone that is familiar
with Canadian Software Developers could you please reply? I would really like
to contact this company and see if they have a useable product yet or when
they will have something that will enable Imagine to use the power of Vivid 24.

The other thing I asked the guy from DMI was what he had heard about Real3D 2.0
and he said, "Oh, I just shipped a board to them two days ago". He continued
to say that they are the first software developers that he has shipped a
FULLY POPULATED!!!!! board to. No shit!! This could REALLY set R3D apart from
the rest. I get the impression that Activa has their "Act "together in a big
way and that they are serious about creating a a product like no other.

Well I thought I would just pass along this news to you all. I hope to hear
from someone about Canadian Software Developers. Please email me or post.


chow...

Jeff Neugebauer


"......the sex pit?? Two doors down on the left between the opium den and the
talking iguanas".


##

Subject: Re: Vanishing points
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 93 00:54:54 CST
From: [e-mail] (Michael Linton)

It's interesting...I keep hearing about all these people who get these
objects with points that dissapear, but I've been using Imagine 2.0 since
it was first released (and 1.1 before that), and have NEVER encountered
this problem before.  I use Imagine almost everyday of my life, and have
been for the past 2 years or so.  Perhaps it's because I keep cycling
through the same 45 projects I have on the go right now. :)  I know there
was a problem importing Forms objects from 1.1 to 2.0, but other than
that I haven't had any problems like people have been describing.
<he says as he goes to load his most prized object, and all these points
will be scrambled all over the place :) >


------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "...even the stuff you taught me, has been pushed back into the dark
recesses of my mind...  Need a candle or two (rendered of course, as
my light source) to find all that buried info again..."

                      -- Barb Hall on learning Imagine


##

Subject: Re: Corrupted Object Points...
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 93 16:32:43 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Glenn M. Lewis - ICD ~)

>>>>> On 9 Feb 93 20:14:31 EST, [e-mail] (David Tiberio) said:

David>         I have the same problem when using paths over a few
David> hundred or thousand segments. Points vanish and the path leads to
David> nowhere, plus I get huge loops that are not visible unless I zoom
David> out a lot. I could fit 20 objects inside one loop, and I get
David> hundreds of loops. And it reports the size of my axis as being
David> 31.x, NA, 31.x.

    If I'm not mistaken, Imagine 2.0 (and Imagine 1.1 and Turbo
Silver SV & 3.0) all have a limitation of 65536 (64K, or a 16-bit
unsigned integer) points and edges.  I conclude this from the format of
the TDDD file, which uses 16-bit ints to index points and edges.  Since
there is no structure that indexes faces, I am not sure as to the limit
on these.

                            -- Glenn

Glenn Lewis | [e-mail] | These are my opinions...not Intel's


##

Subject: Vivid 24 support Imagine?
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 93 07:31:55 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio)

>imagine dudes,

>I called Digital Micronics yesterday for some questions I had concerning
>the Digital Editmaster and while I was on the phone with the guy I asked
>him what developers had committed to writing software that would utilize
>the Vivid 24. He said there is a company called Canadian Software Developers
>located in Ontario, Canada. They are currently creating a program that would
>allow Imagine users to move their staging file into the Vivid 24 for rendering.
>I asked if he had their address or phone number and he DIDN'T!!(you think
>these companies would be concerned about support for their products).

    Same here. We ordered a DMI Vivid 24 with everything on it...back in
October or so. We were told that it would be able to read Imagine staging files.
Well, that isn't true. I spoke to someone on IRC who said he knows someone
who works for DMI who is writing similar software, and who just started it
last week. The DMI would not give me the number for this Canadian group. We
are having second thoughts about the DMI board.

>The other thing I asked the guy from DMI was what he had heard about Real3D 2.0
>and he said, "Oh, I just shipped a board to them two days ago". He continued
>to say that they are the first software developers that he has shipped a
>FULLY POPULATED!!!!! board to. No shit!! This could REALLY set R3D apart from
>the rest. I get the impression that Activa has their "Act "together in a big
>way and that they are serious about creating a a product like no other.

    Definitely. Real 3D seems to be marketed rather well, with lots of support.

>Well I thought I would just pass along this news to you all. I hope to hear
>from someone about Canadian Software Developers. Please email me or post.

>chow...

>Jeff Neugebauer

    So, I hear Imagine is shipping now for the PC...


-------------------- Via Amiga Graphics BBS [phone] --------------------

 David Tiberio                //       Amiga Graphics BBS  [phone]
 [e-mail]   //     Sponsored by Total Productions & DDD MEN
 Long Island, New York     \X/     USENET - 3D - Music - Fonts - Pics - Utils

--


##

Subject: Director Mailing List
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 9:21:43 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dale R. Rogers)

                          ANNOUNCING THE
                     DIRECTOR 2.0 MAILING LIST


    Imagineers,

    A while back I mentioned something about a Director 2.0 mailing
    list being in the works.  Well... it's finally here.  Yury German,
    black-knight, has set up the mailing list through his sight.  (He
    seems to be a busy guy lately).

    The Director 2.0 is a script based mulitmedia authoring
    program written by the Right Answers Group.  It can be used
    to control every aspect of your animations.  With it you
    can control the rate (speed) of playback.  You can load your
    anims, independently, to their own specific memory buffers,
    and then chain them together for playback.  You can load
    an animation into memory while another one is playing.  You
    can link sound files to your animations.  You can pause
    your animations on specific frames for a defined amount of
    time.  You can create custom transitions between
    your animations.


    Subscribing to the List
    ------------------------------------------------------
    To receive the Director 2.0 Mailing List, simply send your
    request to Yury at

    [e-mail]

    In your subject line...please have the word "subscribe" or
    "unsubscribe"

    In addition to having SUBSCRIBE or UNSUBSCRIBE in
    the subject line, put it in the letter.

    SUBSCRIBE [e-mail]
                   or
    UNSUBSCRIBE [e-mail] (where [e-mail]
    is replaced with your address)


       _____________________________^_____________________________
                                  __ __
                                ____ ____
       _____________________________ _____________________________
       dale r. rogers
       [e-mail]


##

Subject: Capturing Anims on Video
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 13:18:53 EST
From: [e-mail]

Hi all..
Recently I made an animation of around 800 frames using imagine .. ( as u may
recall, I had probems with my disk then, which is now fixed)..
I was wondering, how does one put the animation onto video and dub audio on it?
The servie bureau told me that it would cost me approx $1800 to get it done
fram by frame. Is there a cheaper way to do this? I have an IV24 board which
comes with the G-Lock, so is tehre any way of using that?
Thanks a lot for the help
Shalini


##

Subject: Capturing Anims on Video (fwd)
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 15:04:38 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dale R. Rogers)

Forwarded message:
|From daemon Mon Feb 15 14:34 CST 1993
|Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 13:18:53 EST
|From: [e-mail]
|Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
|To: [e-mail]
|Subject: Capturing Anims on Video
|
|Hi all..
|Recently I made an animation of around 800 frames using imagine .. ( as u may
|recall, I had probems with my disk then, which is now fixed)..
|I was wondering, how does one put the animation onto video and dub audio on it?
|The servie bureau told me that it would cost me approx $1800 to get it done
|fram by frame. Is there a cheaper way to do this? I have an IV24 board which
|comes with the G-Lock, so is tehre any way of using that?
|Thanks a lot for the help
|Shalini
|

    Gosh... I'm not sure.  But I thought I would let you know of an
    opportunity that may be coming my way soon.  I have a friend who
    is a graphics artist and teaches art at a local community college.
    I have worked out a deal with her that I will swap her my services
    for time in their video studio.  (I teach Microstation CAD for
    the Intergraph Corporation and she wants me to do a lecture
    on Microstation for her technical illustration class).

    Basically, she told me that they are getting all this really
    neat equipment to start a fully operation BetaSP video
    editing suite.  It will be brand new and noone will know how
    to work anything.  She said I am more than welcome to come and
    put my amiga animations down to video.  It will help her learn
    the system.  It should happen sometime this spring and I'm
    really excited.  The college has Amiga equipment but not many
    people are using any of it.

    You may have your own opportunities laying dormant all around
    you.  Keep your eyes and hears open for them.  I happen to live in
    Huntsville Alabama and the college is in a nearby town.  Because
    the population is so small there isn't a big computer animation
    program.  Therefore, my coming in to work with the equipment helps
    her out as much as it helps me.  They have a strict budget and my
    coming to lecture saves them some bucks.  The studio isn't being
    used, so I'm helping them to get the bugs out.

    By the way... if you don't have to have 24bit output (single
    frame), you might be able to dump the images "realtime" to
    video for much cheaper.

    As far as dubbing audio... all I know is what I have read.  I
    have not accomplished it yet.  I have read that you can link
    sound files to your animations using various programs; eg.
    Director 2.0, Amiga Vision, etc.)  the sound can be played from
    the Amiga or triggered via MIDI from other equipment.  Of
    course there is the Sunrise 16bit board for CD quality sound.
    Or you could have the post production studio do it at the
    video tape level using other equipment.  It depends on the
    quality of the audio you need.  Again... I have not done it so I
    can't give you details.

    Good luck.


       _____________________________^_____________________________
                                  __ __
                                ____ ____
       _____________________________ _____________________________
       dale r. rogers
       [e-mail]


##

Subject: ISL 1.2
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 23:39:14 PDT
From: [e-mail] (John T. Grieggs)

ISL fans and other Imagine users,

Imagine Staging Language, version 1.2 is now ready.

My original distribution method was to upload it to hubcap and portal,
and let it spread from there.  Well, I uploaded it to portal, but hubcap
is gone, and I'm not sure where else to put it.  Hmmm.

Anyway, below is the readme file, followed by the history file.

Enjoy.

_john

--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--

Hi, and welcome to ISL!

What is is?  ISL is the Imagine Staging Language, a language create to
make the creation and manipulation of Imagine 2.0 staging files a whole
lot easier.

Who needs it?  You do, if you are an Imagine user who is not satisfied
with the Action editor, and aren't afraid to try something new!

How much does it cost?  Nothing.  Nada.  Not one red cent.  This is my
little contribution to the Imagine user community.  What's a few thousand
lines of code between friends?  :-)  It may be freely distributed, as long
as it is not sold for more than media cost.  I require that you not charge
for it's use or sale and that you keep all the pieces together.  I also ask
that you give me a little credit if you use it for anything neat.  I'd like
to hear from you at one of the addresses below if you use it - it's always
nice to hear!  Bug reports should go there, too.

Keep what pieces together?  Well, this file, for one thing.  Also:

    name        size

    destage        23036        the de-compiler
    restage        44888        the re-compiler
    ISL.doc        5946        the docs
    ISL.BNF        5839        the grammar
    frames.c    2392        a sample c stage producer
    history.ISL    1007        version history

Now what?  Get it, enjoy it, and have a great day!


Electronic addresses:

[e-mail]
[e-mail]

Snail-mail address:

John T. Grieggs
1045 E. Locust St.
Pasadena, Ca.
91106

--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--readme--

--history--history--history--history--history--history--history--history--

2-10-93 - ISL 1.2

    Compiled with -O.

    Decided it was less confusing to give the entire package a version
    number, rather than each piece.  Thus, destage 1.2 and restage 1.2
    are here even though destage did not change.  At least, the source
    did not change - the size did due to the new compile option above.

    Fixed an oversight (bug) which limited the size of a binary stage
    which could be generated by restage to 100000 bytes.  Stages are
    now written directly to disk, and the sizes updated using fseek.

    Arbitrarily decided to remove the sample ARexx scripts.  While I
    appreciated the effort which went into writing them, they didn't
    handle the complete ISL syntax and I didn't want to put the effort
    into learning ARexx well enough to fix them.  Perhaps I'll bring
    them back in an enhanced form someday.

12-3-92  - destage 1.0, restage 1.1

    Added '-' to the filename characters recognized by restage, fixing
    a spurious parsing error.

11-22-92 - destage 1.0, restage 1.0

    Initial release

--history--history--history--history--history--history--history--history--


##

Subject: NC1701-d object
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 11:14:36 MST
From: [e-mail] (David Ingebretsen)

Carmen Rizzolo has graciously uploaded an Enterprise object (USS Enterprise
1701 D A). The one at amiga.physik is unfortunately corrupted. I have
already called and told him.

He also uploaded it to wuarchive and this archive is not corrupt.

THANKS CARMEN!

David

David M. Ingebretsen
Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp.

[e-mail]


##

Subject: Capturing Anims on Video
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 14:17:01 MST
From: [e-mail] (David Ingebretsen)

Unfortunately, unless your IV24 board will play back in real time, you
will have to single frame record.

If you can use a resolution that will play back in real-time on the
IV24, all you will need is a genlock and a VCR. To dub the audio, you
will need a vcr that allows audio dubbing. Many high end consumer
vcr's will do this.

An entry single frame recording system will run about $6000 to $8000
street price and would include something like:

Panasonic AG7750 w/time code ($5500 or more)
Personal SFC                 ($400)
Frame Buffer (you already have the IV24)

The Panasonic deck is an S-VHS deck that has built in TBC and an
optional SMPTE time code generator/reader (the TBC only helps on
playback).


##

Subject: Re: Capturing Anims on Video (fwd)
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 18:23:47 CST
From: Wayne Haufler 283-4160 <[e-mail]>

dale rogers wrote <[e-mail]>:

>    As far as dubbing audio... all I know is what I have read.  I
>    have not accomplished it yet.  I have read that you can link
>    sound files to your animations using various programs; eg.
>    Director 2.0, Amiga Vision, etc.)  the sound can be played from
>    the Amiga or triggered via MIDI from other equipment.  Of
>    course there is the Sunrise 16bit board for CD quality sound.
>    Or you could have the post production studio do it at the
>    video tape level using other equipment.  It depends on the
>    quality of the audio you need.  Again... I have not done it so I
>    can't give you details.

I have had some experience doing this with Amiga Vision; preloading all
needed sound and anim files, and then triggering them at the proper times.
But they can easily be too big to all fit in memory at the same time.
You can try with unloading and loading files during lulls in the flow.

The sound files included some digitized narration, broken into one long
phrase or short sentence per file, so as to have some post-production
control over the timing.  Unfortunately, the audio quality was not very good,
but it did the trick.

I then tried using Broadcast Titler 2 to make the graphics, and recorded
that several times on a scratch video tape (via genlock).  I then made an
Amiga Vision flow to load and play just the sounds, each triggered by a
time wait icon, in the proper sequence, some sounds overlapping.  After
loading the sounds, the flow would wait for a keystroke, play them and
loop.  Then it was just a matter of viewing the repeated video while
triggering the sounds to start at the proper time (it helps to have a
very definitive visual start cue) and tweaking the time wait icon
values in AmigaVision until the graphics and sound were in sync.  It
can be tedious, but in my case, it worked well.

I also tried playing the video (e.g. Broadcast Titler 2 project) on one
Amiga and the audio on a second Amiga.  Then tweaking was easier since
I had rough control over when the graphics started.  Then I fed the VCR
with video from one and audio from the other, then tried triggered them
both appropriately (manually with a keystroke), and wa-la.

This is how I produced the rough cut of the first of three political
ads that 'aired' (cabled? :-) on local cable TV last year.

I hope the above made sense, and it is of some help.

         __
\\ /\\ /\\ //_    Wayne A. Haufler   [Christian/SW Engineer/XWindows/Amigan]
 \/--\// \//__    [e-mail]    McDonnell Douglas-Houston
     //           Hobby:  "Computer Animations For Christian Endeavors"


##

Subject: Re: Capturing Anims on Video
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 19:54:51 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

>
>Hi all..
>Recently I made an animation of around 800 frames using imagine .. ( as u may
>recall, I had probems with my disk then, which is now fixed)..
>I was wondering, how does one put the animation onto video and dub audio on it?
>The servie bureau told me that it would cost me approx $1800 to get it done
>fram by frame. Is there a cheaper way to do this? I have an IV24 board which
>comes with the G-Lock, so is tehre any way of using that?
>Thanks a lot for the help
>Shalini
>
>

    Well as far as putting on the video ( I assume it is 24 bit
since you are using an IV24 board), you need a tape recorder or laser
disk recorder with time code and capable of laying 1 frame down at a
time.

    The starting price for the low end panasonic i am not sure of
but the model would be a panasonic AG-7750.  Don't forget to add a grand
or so for the time code unit.

    Anyhow, if you have the equipment, laying it down isn't the
problem. (except for time and tape wear)

    As far as audio dubbing, it depends on the deck and tape format.
For example take SVHS.  SVHS (or VHS) has basically 5 tracks to think of
on tape.  1 video, and 2 hi-fi stereo audio and 2 plain stereo audio
tracks.

    Due to the way the track are on the tape, you can only record
(on most machines) on the Hi-fi tracks when you are doing video.  Thus,
if you single frame your video, you cannot use the hi-fi tracks.

    However, most units also come with a way to lay down any of
these 3 tracks (video and hi-fi) or 2 tracks (standard audio) together
or separately.  This means you can lay your video, and then go back,
push in the "audio" button and press record, and ONLY the audio will get
re-recorded.

    Note: this is only for VHS/SVHS.  M2, D2 etc... may have a way
of recording a hi-fi track if they even have "hi-fi" tracks or whatever.


--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  -   This Sig file is temporarily Out Of Order      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Re: Vivid 24 support Imagine?
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 93 14:10:05 PDT
From: [e-mail] (John T. Grieggs)

> >I called Digital Micronics yesterday for some questions I had concerning
> >the Digital Editmaster and while I was on the phone with the guy I asked
> >him what developers had committed to writing software that would utilize
> >the Vivid 24. He said there is a company called Canadian Software Developers
> >located in Ontario, Canada. They are currently creating a program that would
> >allow Imagine users to move their staging file into the Vivid 24 for rendering.
> >I asked if he had their address or phone number and he DIDN'T!!(you think
> >these companies would be concerned about support for their products).
>
>     Same here. We ordered a DMI Vivid 24 with everything on it...back in
> October or so. We were told that it would be able to read Imagine staging files.
> Well, that isn't true. I spoke to someone on IRC who said he knows someone
> who works for DMI who is writing similar software, and who just started it
> last week. The DMI would not give me the number for this Canadian group. We
> are having second thoughts about the DMI board.
>
Gee, it's too bad they don't just read ISL format - it contains everything
that an Imagine stage contains, and more importantly, it's _documented_.

Not to mention free.  :-)

_john


##

Subject: New release of T3DLIB (R39) available
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 93 02:07:06 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Glenn M. Lewis - ICD ~)

Hi all!

    Just a quick note to let you know that the latest release (R39)
of T3DLIB is available on wuarchive.wustl.edu in the directory:
/systems/amiga/incoming/gfx, and should be available soon on Bob's
Graphics File Server ([e-mail]).

    This contains mostly bug fixes, but registered users get a neat
new utility: "TexIt", which applies a given Imagine 2.0 texture to all
parts of an object, with the parameters that are listed on the command
line.  The nice thing about it is that TexIt first loads the texture to
find out its default parameters, and will supply those for all
parameters not listed on the command line.  It acts as a filter, so you
can run it as follows:
    texit Essence:Swirls/Swirl 20.0 [...] < obj.iob > obj2.iob
Or for those without intelligent shells,
    texit < obj.iob > obj2.iob Essence:Swirls/Swirl 20.0 [...]
And texit comes with a manual page.

    Enjoy.  Again, registered users must send me e-mail to receive
the update.  Thanks.

                            -- Glenn


##

Subject: Re: Capturing Anims on Video
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1993 23:06:26 -0500 (EST)
From: Wes Parham <[e-mail]>

> Recently I made an animation of around 800 frames using imagine .. ( as u may
> recall, I had probems with my disk then, which is now fixed)..
> I was wondering, how does one put the animation onto video and dub audio on it?
> The servie bureau told me that it would cost me approx $1800 to get it done

     If it is indeed single framing that you ned to do (for 24 but files or
  if you just want to dump standard IFF's to tape), then a pretty high cost
  will indeed be your fate. The advice about keeping your ears peeled could
  turn out an unexpected opportunity to use equipment that you dared not
  dream of owning, though.  MAke sure to reach out and make friends in the
  business who use the media, for sure.  Immediately, though, I have a
  shareware program to recommend:  It would require you to render all of
  your frames in 24Bit IFF's (ILBM-24bit) and store them somewhere.  The
  program is called Rend-24 by Thomas Kreihbel (sp?)  and it is a wonder.
  It will convert a list fo IFF24 files into a single OPcode-5 anim
  (viewable in Dpaint even). It will do F/S dithering, PalletteLock
  (important), and a host of other things.  it will even wait in the
  background for each frame to render.  A single anim could be played back
  i nreal time and G-locked to even a home VCR.  Again, though, the quality
  would not be too good.  Depends on what you are looking for.  At any rst,
  rate, good luck, and let me know how it turns out. (and even what it is
  that you're animating!)       wes~



##

Subject: Imagine Stage Format Support
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 93 19:30:18 PST
From: "Charles Congdon" <[e-mail]>

John Grieggs writes:
:
:
>>     Same here. We ordered a DMI Vivid 24 with everything on it...back in
>> October or so. We were told that it would be able to read Imagine staging
>> files.
>> Well, that isn't true. I spoke to someone on IRC who said he knows someone
>> who works for DMI who is writing similar software, and who just started it
>> last week. The DMI would not give me the number for this Canadian group. We
>> are having second thoughts about the DMI board.
>>
>Gee, it's too bad they don't just read ISL format - it contains everything
>that an Imagine stage contains, and more importantly, it's _documented_.
>
>Not to mention free.  :-)

I just wanted to mention that Glenn Lewis' T3DLIB can also read and write
Imagine staging files.  It was a great help when creating a complex multi-frame
animation sequence for a recent contest.  This functionality is not restricted
to the registered user's version (but please register anyway - it is very
much worth it!!!)

    Charles

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charles Congdon                                             Oracle Corporation
Internet:  [e-mail]               Usenet:  uunet!oracle!ccongdon
------------------------------------------------------------------------------


##

Subject: ISL on FTP site
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 93 13:00:06 PDT
From: [e-mail] (John T. Grieggs)

Hi.

ISL 1.2 has been uploaded to amiga.physik.unizh.ch, and placed in the
incoming/amiga directory.  I don't know where it will end up, but that's
where _I_ put it.

I believe it will migrate from there to the mirror on wuarchive.

_john


##

Subject: Stage/Action Enhancements?
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 93 12:56:20 PDT
From: [e-mail] (John T. Grieggs)

Hi.

I'm the author of ISL, the Imagine Staging Language, and I have a few
questions for you.  Assuming you are an Imagine user, that is.  If you
aren't, why are you on this list, anyway?  :-)

Are you totally content with the Stage Editor?

Are you totally content with the Action Editor?

What features would you like to see added to the Stage Editor?

What features would you like to see added to the Action Editor?

What features would you like to see added to Imagine in the area of object
placement and movement over time?  This question is intended to catch any
possible neat stuff which does not have a parallel in the current editors.

Would you be interested in an add-on to Imagine which provided a much more
powerful graphical stage and action editor, if such a thing were to come
into existence?  It would be commercial, but reasonable.  Whatever that
means - figure some fraction of the cost of Imagine.

I appreciate your answers.  They will help me to decide if I am on the
right track here.  Some of the things I have come up with on my own or
in private conversations:

    Spline control over positions, alignments, and the like
    Graphical editing (grab and drag timelines, for one thing)
    More display options for Actions - selectivity, compression
    Higher screen resolution support

Feel free to reply either to myself or to the list.

_john


##

Subject: cycle editor
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 93 04:25:11 PST
From: [e-mail]

>Does any one know of a way to modify the size of a cycle object so that the
>cycle editor will still recognize it? I have a complex spaceship with
>retracting gear that, when I transform its size from 640 to 256, will not
>load into cycle at all. The error message is that the object is not of the
>correct animated type

    Well I ran into this just this weekend. I was playing around with the
 Micro-Bot design disk that Antic distributed at one time. I used InterChange
 Plus to convert the object to Imagine format, and then proceeded to modify
 the object. I found that if I changed textures, Modified the size or added
 parts after it had been loaded into the cycle editor I would get the same
 error report. If I changed size before loading it into the cycle editor and
 then loaded it I would see the onionskin of the larger size, but the object
 would come in at the original size. Bummer! Well not one to give up easy I
 found a fix. This worked for me on this object but your mileage may vary.
     All I did was load the object into the detail editor. Then I added a
 axis and picked the axis(in pick group mode) Then I selected, and picked the
 Robot and grouped the Axis, and bot (axis is parent) and saved the new group.
 I went to the cycle editor selected load and WALA I was asked if I wanted to
 transform the object to a cycle object. selected yes and there it was. Now
 If I resized this new cycle object in the detail editor It would reload
 Funcky into the cycle editor. I simply took it into detail pick object
 deleted the parent axis, and added a new one regrouped and boom, it
 loaded into the cycle editor at the correct size . If I add stuff(in
 this case hip sockets) etc I need to go through this routine again. I
 left the new axis at 0,0,0 because it was easy to pick( I don't know
 if this is required) so it is not to hard to live with. I don't know why
 it works because I did not bother to look into the problem . I just know it
 works. Anybody else that has success drop a note here.
    BTW Anybody have any info on ANTIC ! I sent in a card long before they
 dropped off the face of the earth but would like to contact someone. I have
 the Arthro Bot with newly designed hip, knee, shoulder joints working in the
 cycle editor(took all weekend +). I have a few other diska but missed some
 before they dissappeared.
/* all ramblings are mine and have nothing to do with my employer or anybody
   else */


##

Subject: Re: Imagine Stage Format Support
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 93 11:02:17 PDT
From: [e-mail] (John T. Grieggs)

>
>
> John Grieggs writes:
> :
> :
> >>     Same here. We ordered a DMI Vivid 24 with everything on it...back in
> >> October or so. We were told that it would be able to read Imagine staging
> >> files.
> >> Well, that isn't true. I spoke to someone on IRC who said he knows someone
> >> who works for DMI who is writing similar software, and who just started it
> >> last week. The DMI would not give me the number for this Canadian group. We
> >> are having second thoughts about the DMI board.
> >>
> >Gee, it's too bad they don't just read ISL format - it contains everything
> >that an Imagine stage contains, and more importantly, it's _documented_.
> >
> >Not to mention free.  :-)
>
> I just wanted to mention that Glenn Lewis' T3DLIB can also read and write
> Imagine staging files.  It was a great help when creating a complex multi-frame
> animation sequence for a recent contest.  This functionality is not restricted
> to the registered user's version (but please register anyway - it is very
> much worth it!!!)
>
I agree - it's way cool, and well worth registering.  But, his stage file
support is not quite as complete as ISL (I just got done looking at his
source).  No FX chunk support, for one thing!  And not free, quite.  :-)

>     Charles
>
_john

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Charles Congdon                                             Oracle Corporation
> Internet:  [e-mail]               Usenet:  uunet!oracle!ccongdon
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


##

Subject: cycle part II
Date:    Tue, 16 Feb 93 22:29 EST
From: "Robert A. Gougher" <[e-mail]>

I found out what the scaling problem was. If I scale or re-size a group in the
detail editor, only the objects are scaled or resized - the axes stay the same
size. Perhaps I am, out of ignorance, condeming this unjustly, but it seems to
me that this represents a serious design flaw (or yet another serious design fl
aw) with imagine. Especially when the cycle editor is part of the program. It i
s unfortunate that one does not even have the option of modifying axes size on
a group level. I don't see why this is impossible, as the objects
scale nicely.
ANyway, the result of this bug is that a properly grouped cycle object, once sc
aled, becomes improperly grouped because the z axes are not the right size and
thus are not in the correct alignment. The only solution seems to be picking ea
ch individual object, after the group has been scaled, and then scale the axes
one by one. This is unfortunate as the purpose of a group command is to elimina
te the tediousness of doing the same thing to a group of objects. Perhpas someo
ne can pass this on to impulse.


                                                       RG


##

Subject: Re: cycle part II
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1993 00:35:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Wes Parham <[e-mail]>

>
    Actually, Roger, the menu command [cycle setup] and/or [cycle shuffle]
    will facilitate you nicely.  I've had most success blocking out my walk
    cycles and other human actions in detail first, then tweaking them in
    cycle later.  [cycle setup], when chosen in pick groups mode and all
    groups picked, leaves your objects precisely where they sit, points the z
    axes at their parents AND scales them to the proper size.  Using [cycle
    shuffle] will move the objects only, using their current axis sizes and
    alignments, showing you ahead of time what your grouped object will
    look like in cycle mode. (I've never had any real use for cycle
    shuffle, to be honest, but cycle setup is a great boon).  Let me know
    how things turn out  .
      wes~
      )


##

Subject: Re: Stage/Action Enhancements?
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 93 07:26:08 MST
From: [e-mail] (Jeff Neugebauer)

> Are you totally content with the Stage Editor?
>
> Are you totally content with the Action Editor?
>
> What features would you like to see added to the Stage Editor?
>
> What features would you like to see added to the Action Editor?
>
> What features would you like to see added to Imagine in the area of object
> placement and movement over time?  This question is intended to catch any
> possible neat stuff which does not have a parallel in the current editors.
>
> Would you be interested in an add-on to Imagine which provided a much more
> powerful graphical stage and action editor, if such a thing were to come

John,

No doubt the stage and action editors of Imagine could be improved. There are
MANY times I have wished for grab and drag time lines, for sure. To answer
your questions...  I think ALL the editors could be improved. But, isn't
that always true? Further, Yes, I would be intrested in an add on. I.S.L. alone
has been very helpful to me.

My wish list would include the following:

1. Grab and Drag, cut, copy and paste timelines, and to Grab, Drag, cut, copy
   and paste from another action editor (either on screen or via the clipboard)
2. The ability to scale an ENTIRE animation. i.e. you create an animation to run
   at 20 fps then decide to go to tape at 30 fps. Now what do you do? Go to each
   and every object and adjust the numbers. yuk! Why can't we just have a some
   kind of overall scale factor and or timeline scale factor?
3. The ability to access an object's timeline from the stage editor, rather than   having to toggle between the stage and action editor. (May be in 3.0)
4. The ability to "Turn Off" objects in the stage when I don't need to see them.
   This would be used to speed up the redraws, 'make' command and quickrenders.
5. The ability to put a MORPHUS PROJECT FILE on the timeline instead of creating
   20 megabytes of one Morphing object. The objects would thus come from the
   parent objects, be created on the fly and then deleted after the frame was
   rendered. This would enable many users with limited disk space to have MANY
   Morphus objects without the high overhead of huge object files and also would
   leave some room to render files to.
6. The ability to utilize boards such as the Rambrandt or Vivid24.
7. The ability to save the little wireframe anims from the stage.
8. The ability to manipulate all the objects, get them set just where you want
   and then hit "record" (kind of like Real3d) so all the objects are updated at   once.
9. I probably have more.


Jeff.


##

Subject: Capturing Anims on Video
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 93 15:52:03 EST
From: [e-mail] (Bob Lindabury - SysAdm)

rutgers!warren.mentorg.com!Shalini_Govil writes:

> Hi all..
> Recently I made an animation of around 800 frames using imagine .. ( as u may
> recall, I had probems with my disk then, which is now fixed)..
> I was wondering, how does one put the animation onto video and dub audio on i
> The servie bureau told me that it would cost me approx $1800 to get it done
> fram by frame. Is there a cheaper way to do this? I have an IV24 board which
> comes with the G-Lock, so is tehre any way of using that?
> Thanks a lot for the help
> Shalini

You can either make it a normal Amiga resolution Anim file and dump
it in (almost) real time to video tape or you will need to do the
single framing described above which *will* cost you some money if
you go to a good 3/4" or beta house.

Your other alternative is to purchase a good VTR or VCR and a
Personal Single Frame recorder and dump the frames to tape yourself.

Any way you cut it, dumping full resolution 24-bit images is going to
cost you some money.

-- Bob

 The Graphics BBS  908/469-0049  "It's better than a sharp stick in the eye!"
 ============================================================================
  InterNet: [e-mail]                | Raven Enterprises
      UUCP: ...rutgers!bobsbox!graphics!bobl      | 25 Raven Avenue
    BitNet: bobl%graphics.rent.com@pucc           | Piscataway, NJ 08854
    Home #: 908/560-7353                          | 908/271-8878


##

Subject: cycle part III
Date:    Wed, 17 Feb 93 17:09 EST
From: "Robert A. Gougher" <[e-mail]>

Thanks to wes for you advice on setup, but this isn't helpful since my Z axes s
cale with each key. Perhaps the problem is my fault, because I'm not using the
cycle editor as it was intended to be used, but my object it a spacship with re
tracting gear and closing doors. So, i have a main object, the axis of which ha
s connected to it other axes, to which are connected the gear and doors:

                                    1   2
                                  *---*---*
                                  I   I   I
                                 3I  4I  5I
                                  I   I   I
As the gear comes up, z axis 3 becomes shorter, but the other two stay constant
 because the object must remain the same size. as the doors close, axis 1 gets
shorter, but axis 2 gets longer (the front door is on the end of 4 and the back
 the end of 5) Hence, the forward door moves forward and the back doors move ba
ckward. Then, when the doors vertical position is correct, axes 4 & 5 lengthen
slightly to push the doors into their squares. The problem with cycle setup is
that in sizing the Z axis, it would also alter the size of my objects, which I
don't want. Although, perhaps if I grouped each z axis to its immediate parent
(like I'm probably supposed to do), this wouldn't be a problem, but then the ax
es are already connected and sized correctly, so setup is redundant.
(My problem is not with building the object, it is with scaling it. Anyway, sca
ling the individual pieces, although tedious, turned out to be effective)
Thanx just the same for the response.


                                            ROB Gougher


##

Subject: OLD animations, scenes, and objects for anonymous ftp
Date: 17 Feb 1993 15:19:59 -0700 (MST)
From: [e-mail] (Marvin Landis)

I don't think I am getting through to the [e-mail] address,
but if you see this twice I am truly sorry.

Most of this stuff isn't Imagine related, but I figured maybe someone
would find something interesting here.  Most of the Imagine objects were
already available on hubcap, but there are a couple of objects (A10 and SR71)
I never finished assigning attributes to, so I never released them before now.
This is a message I posted to comp.sys.amiga.graphics yesterday, and just
thought I would post it here, too.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several weeks ago I decided to gather up most of my old work (play?) on the
Amiga, transfer them to my Sun workstation at work, and back them up on 1/4"
tape.  Now that all the dreary backup work has been done, I thought I would
make all my animations, scenes, and objects available for anonymous ftp for
a short time from my machine (amber.rc.arizona.edu - 128.196.76.26).  Please
try and restrict your transfers to non-work hours (6pm - 8am Mountain
Standard Time), as this is the machine I work on during the day.

Realize that I have not seriously worked on my Amiga in almost 3 years and
these are pretty old animations.  The animations were all done between
1987 - 1989, but there are some objects that I did create recently.
These HAM animations just don't stack up to the DCTV animations I have seen,
but they were pretty popular in their time.  But I never worried about all
the glitter, gloss, and reflections prevalent in most ray traced animations,
I was mostly concerned with the movements and animation of the characters.
Also realize that many of these animations run under Eric Graham's movie
player, and I remember it never liked running under anything but a standard
Workbench screen (no overscan, etc), so my guess is, some of these animations
may not run under AmigaDOS 2.xx.

So, if you would like a dose of the past and would like to see Amiguy practicing
some basketball, doing his high bar routine, or windsurfing on some ocean waves,
check out the animations (you might even find a couple animations that were
never officially released).  Or if you have always wanted to make Amiguy crash
and burn during his gymnast dismount, or have the boing ball throw Amiguy
through the basketball goal, grab the scene files for any of my animations
and modify them to your hearts desire.  All of the 3D scenes needed to
recreate the Amiguy animations are available (if anyone still owns a Sculpt
program).

I don't care what you want to do with any of the things you find here.  They
are truly public domain animations, scenes, and objects.  So help yourself to
anything that looks interesting, but please try to restrict downloads to
non-peak times.  Below my signature is a list of all the things you will find.

-----------------------------
Marvin Landis
[e-mail]
-----------------------------


pub/amiga/anim_scenes:

BThrow.lzh      2081241  Sculpt scene files for BoingThrows animation
Bowl.lzh          52140  Turbo Silver cells for Bowling animation
Circle.lzh       200801  Sculpt scenes and scripts for GoingInCircles
Dunk.lzh         809396  Sculpt scenes and take for Doctor_A animation
Gymnastics.lzh  3737908  Sculpt scenes and take for Gymnast animation
WaveSail.lzh    1782904  Sculpt scenes and takes for WaveSailing animation


pub/amiga/animations:

BThrowsIII.lzh   378324  Random Boing Throws  (Sculpt and Director)
BoingThrows.lzh  190713  Late Night Boing Throws  (Sculpt-3D)
Bowling.lzh     1084758  X-Specs 3D Strike  (Turbo Silver SV)
Circles.lzh      343973  Going In Circles  (Sculpt-3D)
Doctor_A.lzh     302075  Doctor A  (Sculpt-Animate 4D)
Gymnast.lzh      419027  Gymnast  (Sculpt-Animate 3D)
HotAir.lzh        57908  Hot Air Balloons and Friend  (Aegis Animator)
Tutorial.lzh      87471  Trad. Animation Techniques in Amiga Anims  (Director)
WaveSailing.lzh  916030  Wave Sailing with AmiVision  (Sculpt and Director)
WireGymnast.lzh  196065  Wireframe Gymnast 500 frame (Sculpt-Animate 3D)


pub/amiga/objects/Imagine:

A10.lzh           41502  A-10 attack plane
AcesHigh.lzh      59581  20 panel hot air balloon with 4 brushmaps
Balloonacy.lzh    16557  8 panel hot air balloon
Dulcimer.lzh      92782  Appalachian mountain dulcimer (3-string)
GentleGiant.lzh   15309  8 panel hot air balloon
Gondola.lzh       72250  Detailed hot air balloon gondola with 1 brushmap
JollyRoger.lzh    61427  20 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
RGB.lzh           28060  16 panel hot air balloon
RainbowRyder.lzh  26294  16 panel hot air balloon
SR71.lzh          28003  SR-71 spy plane
SmallWorld.lzh    41571  12 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
Twister.lzh       29101  20 panel hot air balloon


pub/amiga/objects/Sculpt:

Amiga2000.lzh     36183  Amiga 2000 case w/2 floppies, hard disk, and keyboard
Amiguy.lzh        28054  Humanoid object with baseball cap
Basket.lzh        25500  Basketball rim and net
BatGuy.lzh        39252  Amiguy's secret crime fighting identity
BowlingPin.lzh     2710  Bowling pin
HangGlider.lzh     2083  Hang glider
HotAir.lzh        32347  Two hot air balloons
Reflector.lzh     39502  Amiguy in a very thoughtful pose
Saguaro.lzh       50212  Giant saguaro cactus
Sailboards.lzh    15905  Two sailboards


pub/amiga/objects/Silver:

AcesHigh.lzh      22996  20 panel hot air balloon with 4 brushmaps
Aurora.lzh        19246  20 panel hot air balloon
Balloonacy.lzh    19569  8 panel hot air balloon
Balloonist.lzh    16281  Amiguy posing as a hot air balloonist
Cheers.lzh        14299  12 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
GentleGiant.lzh   18516  8 panel hot air balloon
HeartsAfloat.lzh  17974  12 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
JollyRoger.lzh    21166  20 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
Nizhoni.lzh       21557  20 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
RGB.lzh           30591  16 panel hot air balloon
RainbowRyder.lzh  28746  16 panel hot air balloon
RisingStar.lzh    22421  20 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
Roadrunner.lzh    15545  12 panel hot air balloon
StarsStripes.lzh  24567  20 panel hot air balloon with 2 brushmaps
Timberline.lzh    23656  20 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap
Twister.lzh       31652  20 panel hot air balloon
WorldBalloon.lzh  24729  12 panel hot air balloon with 4 brushmaps
Zia.lzh           15442  12 panel hot air balloon with 1 brushmap

----------------------------
Marvin Landis
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Computer Graphics World
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 93 10:36:28 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

>     I can't seem to find any store around where I live that sells
> Computer Graphics World, can someone please send me some info so I
> can get a subscribtion or something?

For subscription enquiries:
[phone] ext. 400   or
[phone]
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: Re: OLD animations, scenes, and objects for anonymous ftp
Date: 18 Feb 1993 13:49:56 -0700 (MST)
From: [e-mail] (Marvin Landis)

Yesterday I announced the site where I was putting all my old
animations and objects for anonymous ftp.  Well, someone pointed out to
me (thanks "Bugs" :-) that using mget to get multiple files was not
working correctly.  I was using an ls replacement that listed file
descriptions along with the file names, and this is what was messing up
mget.  So, if you tried to ftp the files with mget and had problems,
try again as I have put the standard ls back in the ftp account.  Sorry
for the problem.

In case you missed the first announcement, and you want to look around, the
machine name is amber.rc.arizona.edu (128.196.76.26) and all the files can
be found in the appropriate directories in pub/amiga.  A short description
of all the files can be found in pub/amiga/INDEX.

----------------------------
Marvin Landis
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Questions about Logos
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 93 15:38:23 CST
From: [e-mail] (ViSioNary Gfx)

Im starting a small graphics business here in my local town.


I have a few questions about making logos,chargin etc.

Here is the way I see that logos can be made.

first of all your client has a picture of the logo he wants and you can
basically scan his logo in and use pixel 3d to convert it to a 3d obj.
Then do a bit of touching up on the logo points etc.

or you can start from scratch and make a logo in a paint program and
then do the same as above.

when a logo is traced do u make the background color black?  so that it
can be genlocked over video?

any other hints or tips on logo creations would be apperciated.


now my first client is at my local university.

I need to know prices ranges to charge them for my work.

Any info on this would help

Steve
ViSioNary Graphics.


##

Subject: Vanishing points
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 93 13:50:20 MET
From: [e-mail] (Tomasz Plonka V rok)

D. Tiberio wrote he had had problems with vanishing points of big objects.

I had the same problem recently. An object created with a program
was of no use when loaded into Imagine. The transformation requester showed its
size x=2360, y=0, z=1. But the object was not visible until I zoomed
in maximally. But resizing the objects maked no effect - no matter
if I did it manually or by the transformation requester.

Tomasz Plonka

##

Subject: Re: Doing 'Real' work with Imagine
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 93 15:58:16 PST
From: [e-mail] (**)

In <[e-mail]>, "Mike Jiang"  <[e-mail]> writes:
> Hi everyone,
>     I was wondering, does anyone out there use imagine to do work for
> money???  If you do, what kind of work to you do?(logos, local cable
> stuff, etc...)  What do you charge for the different kinds of work?
> What type of setup do you have?  What size city do you live in?  And
> most importently, how do you go about getting your clients???
>
>     I know that's a lot of questions, but I would really appriciated
> if you would answer.  Please email me or post to the list.
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Mike Jiang
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> | "Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum."    | email==> [e-mail]  |
> | "I think that I think,              | or    [e-mail]  |
> |  therefore I think that I am."      |                              |
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>


I am very intrested in the answers to these questions myself.  I'm
starting a business in Portland, Oregon, and I'm finding It hard to come
up with prices that I can quote.  What kind of pricing schemes are used?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[e-mail]        Amiga Animator, President of PSI Animations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


##

Subject: Impulse Gazette
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 93 19:43 GMT
From: Jacek Artymiak <[e-mail]>

Hello,

I sent my registration card to Impulse in December and
I haven't heard anything from them since. I thought that
I would receive Impulse Gazette but it seems that something's
gone wrong.

Is it normal?


Jacek


##

Subject: Re: Questions about Logos
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1993 23:13:25 -0500 (EST)
From: Wes Parham <[e-mail]>

>
> first of all your client has a picture of the logo he wants and you can
> basically scan his logo in and use pixel 3d to convert it to a 3d obj.
> Then do a bit of touching up on the logo points etc.
>
   I always found Pixel-Bitmap-Extrusions to be agonizingly rough despite
   constant tweaking of the settings.  Perhaps I have been too impatient,
   but I prefer to build many logos by hand to utilise the geometric
   perfection of built in primitives: disks,tubes, regular and efficient
   rectangular prisms with a rational nuber of faces.  besides, the sane
   type faces are basically based on one to three primitive 'shapes' that
   need only be built once... For example, a rectangular box can be
   modified from a lower case 'l' to become the upright portion of a 'b', a
   'd', a capital 'P','B','L', the uprights of a capital 'H', and so on...
       the payoff in time, for me, is the sheer smoothness around round
       letters based on primitives!
>
> when a logo is traced do u make the background color black?  so that it
> can be genlocked over video?
   In a word, yes: more specifically, you'll want it to be 'color zero'. In
    the DPAINT pallete, for example, colour zero is the first colour in the
    top of the leftmost column.  Typically black (0,0,0 in all guns) but it
    could just as readily be chartreuse.  If it is being taped and THEN
    keyed over something, you'd have to find out precisely what colour to
>
> I need to know prices ranges to charge them for my work.
>
    A university?  and they're going to pay you?   :-)
    take care, steve, and let me know how it goes!  wes~


##

Subject: Questions about Logos
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 07:52:33 EST
From: Adam Benjamin <[e-mail]>

I would be interested to hear what/how others are charging for this
type of service as well.  Please post replys to the list or send
them to me too.

************************************************************
* Adam Benjamin                    [e-mail] *
* Christian Animator                   [e-mail]   *
* Disclaimer:  Nothing I say means anything to anyone that *
*               might take it to mean something I didn't!  *


##

Subject: Re: Doing 'Real' work with Imagine
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 9:41:00 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dale R. Rogers)

|>     I was wondering, does anyone out there use imagine to do work for
|> money???  If you do, what kind of work to you do?(logos, local cable
|> stuff, etc...)  What do you charge for the different kinds of work?
|> What type of setup do you have?  What size city do you live in?  And
|> most importently, how do you go about getting your clients???
|>
|>
|>
|>
|
|
|I am very intrested in the answers to these questions myself.  I'm
|starting a business in Portland, Oregon, and I'm finding It hard to come
|up with prices that I can quote.  What kind of pricing schemes are used?
|
|

    I am interested as well.  If someone out there has learned the
    hard way how to price themselves, and would be willing to share
    that will the IML, that would be great.

|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|[e-mail]        Amiga Animator, President of PSI Animations
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|


       _____________________________^_____________________________
                                  __ __
                                ____ ____
       _____________________________ _____________________________
       dale r. rogers
       [e-mail]


##

Subject: Corrupted Object Points...
Date: 9 Feb 93 20:14:31 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio) (David Tiberio)

In an article, Alex <src4src!mcdhup!rutgers!csv.warwick.ac.uk!esuoj> writes:

>Hi all you Imaginers out there,
>

>I've been having a spot of bother with some of my objects lately... Every
>so often 1 or 2 points will suddenly become corrupt. It just seems to shoot
>of into nowhere, miles away from its orignal postion. If I then go into
>point
>edit mode and move it back again it either becomes corrupted again, or
>another
>point goes walkabouts. This is relly beginning to get to me as it only seems
>to happen on my best objects =:o(
>


        I have the same problem when using paths over a few hundred or
thousand segments. Points vanish and the path leads to nowhere, plus I get
huge loops that are not visible unless I zoom out a lot. I could fit 20
objects inside one loop, and I get hundreds of loops. And it reports the size
of my axis as being 31.x, NA, 31.x.

.s


-------------------- Via Amiga Graphics BBS [phone] --------------------
 David Tiberio                //       Amiga Graphics BBS  [phone]
 [e-mail]   //      NO SUPRA MODEMS --- BY POPULAR REQUEST
 Long Island, New York     \X/     USENET - 3D - Music - Fonts - Pics - Utils
--


##

Subject: Re: Computer Graphics World
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 10:42:22 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

This was sent as a personal enquiry to me but I thought others on the list
who aren't familiar with CGW might want to know....

"G.Coulter" <[e-mail]> writes:
> Hi Sorry to bother you ... But could you tell me beifly
> what this magazine covers, is it advanced graphics ie
> maths based, animation based, or just general articals
> from the world of Digital Graphics & Animation.

The magazine is more geared toward CG fans, users, managers, purchasers,
etc rather than programmers, implementors, and designers. You won't find
any equations, algorithms, or techniques in CGW. What you will find is
articles on the latest equipment, projects, software, research (without
getting to technical), films, and applications. Topics include virtual
reality, CAD, architectural modelling, simulation, broadcast animation, etc.
All computer platforms are pretty much represented, but since the magazine
tends to gravitate to the most glitzy stuff, that means workstation graphics
get more attention. However, PCs are definitely covered as was thoroughly
evidenced by last months issue with all the Babylon 5 and Amiga/LightWave
coverage. There is also a gallery to show off CG work from various artists.
Its also a great resouce for ads of CG products. Going rate is $36 a year,
but it is free to a select few in the CG profession.
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: Re: Questions about Logos
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 10:01:16 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

>    I always found Pixel-Bitmap-Extrusions to be agonizingly rough despite
>    constant tweaking of the settings.

The new Pixel Pro, while somewhat buggy, has really improved the quality
of bitmap autotracing. For logo creation from scanned imagery, I couldn't
more highly reccommend it. Many people also get it for object conversion
which it also does, but InterChange Plus is far better for that.
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Date: 9 Feb 93 20:01:27 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio)

>From src4src!mcdhup!rutgers!csv.warwick.ac.uk!esuoj Tue, 9 Feb 93 20:01:25 EST (David Tiberio)
From: Alex <src4src!mcdhup!rutgers!csv.warwick.ac.uk!esuoj> (David Tiberio)
To: [e-mail], shell.portal.com!imagine,
    [e-mail]
Subject: Corrupted Object Points...

Hi all you Imaginers out there,

I've been having a spot of bother with some of my objects lately... Every
so often 1 or 2 points will suddenly become corrupt. It just seems to shoot
of into nowhere, miles away from its orignal postion. If I then go into point
edit mode and move it back again it either becomes corrupted again, or another
point goes walkabouts. This is relly beginning to get to me as it only seems
to happen on my best objects =:o(

I'm using Imagine 2.0 on an A2000, with a GVP 22MHz combo card, 9Megs of 32-
bit fast ram (on the combo), and 1meg of Chip. Two Quntum SCSI HD's, an A2286
Bridge-Board and a SVGA card for the Bridge-Board.

This problem only seems to occur randomly and on faily large, grouped objects.

Cheers in advance for any help,
                Alex...

------------------------- #include <.signiture.h> --------------------------
****************************************************************************
Alex Craig.                             ///     CSE Student, Warwick Uni. GB
"MayTheSkyNeverFallOnYourHead!"     \\\///         [e-mail]
             -Cheif Vitelsatistix    \XX/ AMIGA    [e-mail]
****************************************************************************


##

Subject: Re: Vanishing Points
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 93 14:53:10 EST
From: [e-mail] (Alex Deburie)

Quoting [e-mail] (Leon Woestenberg), on Thu, 11 Feb 1993:
> Well, the same for me. It occurs that it only goes wrong when I import an
> object from another Imagine fan, or from editing packages as Vertex.
> The edges describing a face dissappear far of screen. Zooming, panning
> etcetera doesn't have any effect, as the points have unlimited positions.
> BTW, I haven't checked this with the transform requester yet, I'll do so
> when I get this problem again.

There are a couple of things that could possibly cause this problem.
The first would be an object with an edge defined between two
vertices, one of which doesn't exist. For example, suppose you had
1233 vertices in an object and an edge was defined as being between
point numbers 833 and 1234. Since the point # 1234 does not exist,
Imagine has no coordinates for it and can come up with some random,
or very wierd results.

The second could have to do with the fact that Imagine stores points
in files as scaled integers. This limits the max and min allowable
values for coordinates (ie. you can't have a vertex defined with
coordinates beyond +-2^31). If vertices are defined with coordinates
this large they will "overflow", which could cause some nasty
problems.

Depending on what version of Vertex your friendly Imagine fan is
using, there could be some problems there - namely with loading and
saving Imagine objects with different scales. The latest version,
1.73.1, has no such problem that I'm aware of.

If you could uuencode one of these problem objects I'd be more than
happy to take a look at one. I would like to help.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Right then. Aside from multitasking, animation, multiple screens,
 optional icon and/or command line modes, a blitter, emulators for
 most other computers, 4096 colors, and affordable graphics software,
 what has the Amiga ever done for us?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Alex Deburie ________________________________________ The Art Machine
[e-mail] ___________________ These ARE my personal views


##

Subject: *ntelOutside
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1993 17:47:18 +0100 (MET)
From: [e-mail] (Leon Woestenberg)

Hi Imagineers!

I've got some nice stuff for you all, but it has little to do with Imagine.
It are drawings of the Intel logo, in which the 'Inside' has changed to
'Outside'...:)

The archive contains a ProDraw vector clip, two WB backdrops and a large
bitmap: great for converting into Imagine!

Let me know if you're interested, I'll UUencode this if you want it )of
course you do!). BTW, the time before I'll be able to send it, is about one
week (exams, carnaval etc...:)

Leon ([e-mail])


##

Subject: Re: Vanishing points
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 93 00:54:54 CST
From: [e-mail] (Michael Linton)

It's interesting...I keep hearing about all these people who get these
objects with points that dissapear, but I've been using Imagine 2.0 since
it was first released (and 1.1 before that), and have NEVER encountered
this problem before.  I use Imagine almost everyday of my life, and have
been for the past 2 years or so.  Perhaps it's because I keep cycling
through the same 45 projects I have on the go right now. :)  I know there
was a problem importing Forms objects from 1.1 to 2.0, but other than
that I haven't had any problems like people have been describing.
<he says as he goes to load his most prized object, and all these points
will be scrambled all over the place :) >


------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "...even the stuff you taught me, has been pushed back into the dark
recesses of my mind...  Need a candle or two (rendered of course, as
my light source) to find all that buried info again..."

                      -- Barb Hall on learning Imagine


##

Subject: Capturing Anims on Video
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 93 15:55:11 EST
From: [e-mail] (Bob Lindabury - SysAdm)

rutgers!thunder.sim.es.com!dingebre (David Ingebretsen) writes:

>
> Unfortunately, unless your IV24 board will play back in real time, you
> will have to single frame record.
>
> If you can use a resolution that will play back in real-time on the
> IV24, all you will need is a genlock and a VCR. To dub the audio, you
> will need a vcr that allows audio dubbing. Many high end consumer
> vcr's will do this.
>
> An entry single frame recording system will run about $6000 to $8000
> street price and would include something like:
>
> Panasonic AG7750 w/time code ($5500 or more)
> Personal SFC                 ($400)
> Frame Buffer (you already have the IV24)
>
> The Panasonic deck is an S-VHS deck that has built in TBC and an
> optional SMPTE time code generator/reader (the TBC only helps on
> playback).

I forgot to mention that you can purchase OpalVision and convert your
24bit files to Opal Anim format and then play them back in real time.

This would *probably* be your most cost effective solution.

-- Bob

 The Graphics BBS  908/469-0049  "It's better than a sharp stick in the eye!"
 ============================================================================
  InterNet: [e-mail]                | Raven Enterprises
      UUCP: ...rutgers!bobsbox!graphics!bobl      | 25 Raven Avenue
    BitNet: bobl%graphics.rent.com@pucc           | Piscataway, NJ 08854
    Home #: 908/560-7353                          | 908/271-8878


##

Subject: Re: Capturing Anims on Video
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 17:03:40 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

> rutgers!thunder.sim.es.com!dingebre (David Ingebretsen) writes:
> > An entry single frame recording system will run about $6000 to $8000
> > street price and would include something like:
> > Panasonic AG7750 w/time code ($5500 or more)
> > Personal SFC                 ($400)
> > Frame Buffer (you already have the IV24)

Another possibility is the Sony EVO-9650, a single frame capable Hi-8 deck
that is in the $4-5K range.

Bob Lindabury write:
> I forgot to mention that you can purchase OpalVision and convert your
> 24bit files to Opal Anim format and then play them back in real time.
> This would *probably* be your most cost effective solution.

Provided ofcourse you have the RAM needed for all that 24bit imagery. Does
the OpalVision require 24bit anims to run out of board memory. It occurs to
me that the bandwidth requirements for 24bit animation would FAR exceed
any data rates from chip/fast RAM to the OpalVision board without a Zorro
bus interface.
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: Re: Questions about Logos
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 12:21:19 PST
From: [e-mail] (Rev Lebaredian)

>
> >    I always found Pixel-Bitmap-Extrusions to be agonizingly rough despite
> >    constant tweaking of the settings.
>
> The new Pixel Pro, while somewhat buggy, has really improved the quality
> of bitmap autotracing. For logo creation from scanned imagery, I couldn't
> more highly reccommend it. Many people also get it for object conversion
> which it also does, but InterChange Plus is far better for that.

  It also helps if you are using a high-res bitmap.  I found I get the best
results when I use pagestream and print to an IFF file at 300DPI.  From
there I grab the file and convert it in PixelPro...  The program can more
easily recognize curves when you have a higher resolution image.

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                    "My moral standing is lying down."
                                                    [e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Imagine Newsletter
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 01:06:42 CST
From: [e-mail] (Owen Mckeith)

In a message dated Sat 20 Feb 93  0:46, Jacek Artymiak <access.usask.ca!jar
wrote:

 JA> Hello,

 JA> I sent my registration card to Impulse in December and
 JA> I haven't heard anything from them since. I thought that
 JA> I would receive Impulse Gazette but it seems that something's
 JA> gone wrong.

 JA> Is it normal?

I sent my registration card away a year ago, and got my first Gazette
today!

 JA> Jacek

 ....Owen

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995


##

Subject: Re: Questions about Logos
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 11:30:20 MET
From: [e-mail] (Philippe Berard)

Hello ViSioNary (ViSioNary Gfx). On Feb 18, you have written :

> I have a few questions about making logos,chargin etc.
>
> first of all your client has a picture of the logo he wants and you can
> basically scan his logo in and use pixel 3d to convert it to a 3d obj.
> Then do a bit of touching up on the logo points etc.
>
> or you can start from scratch and make a logo in a paint program and
> then do the same as above.
>
> when a logo is traced do u make the background color black?  so that it
> can be genlocked over video?

    At least over a color-0 background, no matter it's color. Color, though
    is important if you have a reflective logo. In this case, the best
    and more impressive thing you can do is an environment maping.

> I need to know prices ranges to charge them for my work.

    This depends on your graphic skills, and I don't know how much
    american people pay for this kind of stuff.

    Sincerely,
                                   -- Philippe

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Philippe Berard  (French Amiga User)       | UseNet : [e-mail] |
|  "They hold a cup of wisdom,                | -> Please don't send mails   |
|   But there is nothing within" (Kate Bush). |           >50 Ko !           |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


##

Subject: Re:  *ntelOutside
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 15:11:41 -0500
From: [e-mail]

    It are drawings of the Intel logo, in which the 'Inside' has changed to
    'Outside'...:)

Or, how about: Surgeon General's Warning: Intel Inside!

Dan Griffin            "If you insist on fairness before you do anything,
[e-mail]     you're never going to get anything done" - rlimbaugh


##

Subject: Re: Computer Graphics World
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 14:31:35 CST
From: [e-mail] (Steve Mund)

Mark says:
>but it is free to a select few in the CG profession.

                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Does anyone know what the criteria is for this?

>From what I have seen, it's a nice mag...and one worth
the subscription price... but for FREE....it would be even
nicer.   :-D


Steve


##

Subject: Re: Corrupted Object Points...
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 15:46:08 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas E. Smith)

I may have had a similar problem once. I had an object where some points
would be miles away. And when I tried to move, or rotate the object, my
computer would reboot! I fixed it though by running merge on the object.

                                                    Tom Smith


##

Subject: Vivid, Editmaster, A4000
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1993 13:13:18 -0500
From: "Mr. Scott Krehbiel" <[e-mail]>

Howdy folks,
I'm wondering about the neato cards that claim to make a super workstation
out of an Amiga (like Digital Editmaster, Vivid 24, and Opalvision)

Does anyone know if these puppies will work in an A4000?  Or should I
quickly buy an A2000 while they're going for around $600??

I do plan on one day building a pretty awesome rendering workstation,
and probably spending near 10,000 to do it.  What do you think??  Is
the A4000 being incorporated into the plans of said hardware developers,
or do you think the industry will somewhat hold out for the mythical
High End Amigas (5 megs chip, 24-bit color standard, 16-bit audio, etc.)

I'm currently using an A500 (It's not my fault - I'm a student) and
considering whether to buy an A2000, A1200, PP&S '040 for my 500, or
REALLY save up for an A4000.

( I figure this is Imagine-related, since it deals with rendering machines )

Thanks in advance for any info
Scott Krehbiel  (my other computer is an Iris)
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Flickering Objects
Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 09:42:40 EST
From: [e-mail]

Hi..
While animating frames, I noticed that some objects seem to flicker..
On closer inspection of each frame, I found that in the rendered objects, the
pixels are moving around, leading to a flickering effect..
It looks horrible, is there any way to prevent this from happening?
It usually happens more to objects I have created, and when the object
is moving..
Thanks in advance
Shalini


##

Subject: Re:  Flickering Objects
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 11:20:47 -0500
From: [e-mail] (PJ Foley)

in>    From: [e-mail]
>    Message-Id: <[e-mail]>
Says:

>Hi..
>While animating frames, I noticed that some objects seem to flicker..
>On closer inspection of each frame, I found that in the rendered objects, the
>pixels are moving around, leading to a flickering effect..
>It looks horrible, is there any way to prevent this from happening?
>It usually happens more to objects I have created, and when the object
>is moving..
>Thanks in advance
>Shalini

    Sometimes, if using HAM mode to animate, you will get fringing,
bad antialiasing, and by using the DITHER parameter in object attributes
may contribute to an inconsistant look from one frame to another.
But most importantly, do not use the ROUGHNESS parameter.  From what I've
been told, the algorythm that Impulse used to do this is "quick and dirty,"
and leads to "ant crawl" on objects.  To me, it looks like the objects
are moving, while the roughness pattern stays still so the objects
seem to swim under murky Jello(tm)!


1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS1001001SOS
 "pigs we get what pigs deserve"- NIN | [e-mail]| This message
 "Are you talkin' to me?              | New year's resolution:    | inspected by
  Did you rub my lamp?" - Genie       | Same as last year's.      | No. 38


##

Subject: Re: Impulse Gazette
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 17:24:23 MET
From: [e-mail] (Paul Kolenbrander)

On 11 FEB 1993 19:43:00 Jacek Artymiak said regarding Impulse Gazette:

> I sent my registration card to Impulse in December and
> I haven't heard anything from them since. I thought that
> I would receive Impulse Gazette but it seems that something's
> gone wrong.
>
> Is it normal?

It shouldn't be. I just got the Winter 92/93 issue in. It seems
Imagine PC is shipping and 3.0 is targeted for next month. :-)

BTW, don't throw away the envelope it comes in. Your usernumber
is on the label and you need that for upgrading. [All envelopes
get thrown away in the paper-recycle bin when mail comes in, so
I had to do a Search And Rescue mission for it. :-)]

CYa, Paul
--
-Only those who attempt the absurd can acheive the impossible.
--
Paul Kolenbrander  \ InterNet: [e-mail]
Turfveldenstraat 37 \ Fido: 2:284/114.3 Paul Kolenbrander
NL-5632 XH EINDHOVEN | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Voice: [phone] | Timezone:GMT+1 | Fax: [phone]


##

Subject: Demos of Morphous ????
Date:     Mon, 22 Feb 1993 15:01:27 +0100
From: Hannes Heckner <[e-mail]>

Recently I heard something about a new software package from
Impulse you can do morphing sequences with 3d objects. Is this
thing availible (price etc.) and are there any demo anims
on any ftp site ?


Thanks a lot
Hannes


##

Subject: Re: Any news about PC Imagine and Imagine 3.0 ?
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1993 16:34:23 GMT
From: David Oxley <[e-mail]>

I recently received my Impulse newsletter, and I'm in England. They seem to have
written it in December. You should be getting yours RSN (real soon now :)

It says Imagine for the PC is out and with what sounds like a few bug fixes,
it's supposed to be the same as 2.0 for the Amiga - they're only shipping a
little manual that gives you the differences between the two versions (price
$100 upgrade).

Regarding Amiga Imagine3.0, they say March 93 is what they're aiming for.

Cheers,
David Oxley.


##

Subject: Re: Demos of Morphous ????
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1993 18:04:47 +0100 (MET)
From: Markus Stipp <[e-mail]>

> Recently I heard something about a new software package from
> Impulse you can do morphing sequences with 3d objects. Is this
> thing availible (price etc.) and are there any demo anims
> on any ftp site ?

On fish 789 is a Demo-program called PongoDemo. This IS Morphus. The Demo
runs only in PAL-resolution and has the Imagine-object-save function
disabled. The Morphus program should run well on NTSC machines.

--

   ...Markus Stipp !!   ([e-mail])


##

Subject: Morphus
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 12:25:53 CST
From: [e-mail] (Daniel Jr Murrell)

Hi,
   Ok, I'm dl-ing PongoDemo now.  Exactly what does Morphus do?  I was under
the impression that it'd take two dissimilar objects and make them "morphable."
Meaning, make them have the same # of points and faces, without actually
changing their overall geometry.  Am I wrong?  If so, IS there such a program?
Isn't Glenn and Steve working on such a thing?  Thanks!

Dan


##

Subject: Imagine Gazette (HA HA HA)
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 20:39 GMT
From: Gary Whiteley - Amiga Shopper <[e-mail]>

Well, was I a lucky boy this morning! Thanks to the wonderful
postal services of the USA and UK I was privileged to be able
to rip open a nice envelope from Minnesota and once more hold a
copy of the Imagine Gaz .... Nope, must be the wrong thing -
it says Impulse Graphics World here. Maybe it's for PC Imagine
owners. Still, let's have a look anyway....

Christmas. Credit Cards. Santa Claus. Politics. ????

Ah - maybe this IS the right thing after all - a mention of
Imagine 3.0....

But I digress. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP! I *know* that Impulse
aren't the most businesslike people around but this thing is
real garbage. Spelling checkers? Pah! Grammar checkers? Pah!
(Or are the rules of American grammar now made by random number generators?)

What Impulse seem to need is a REALITY CHECKER. I mean, get real
guys. Do you *REALLY* expect to make serious inroads into the
(already) crowded PC market place with stuff like this? PC (and
Mac users too) will treat it with contempt.

Take a leaf out of Centaur's book. Start a BBS, listen to your
customers. Treat them like living, breathing, THINKING, people.

Look - I've got a spelling checker here if you really don't
have one at Impulse. E-mail me the text and I'll run it through.
But PLEASE - don't waste trees with stuff like this again.

Sad to say, but without folks like Steve Worley propping it up,
Imagine (great program though it is - I use it almost every day)
would probably be down the tubes. Poor manuals, indifferent
Tech support (at least in my limited experience) and now this.

I hate to be negative about stuff like this - after all it affects
MY livelihood too - but I really just couldn't let this one pass.

Gary

PS - To be completely fair I've posted a copy of this directly
to Impulse because it annoys me so much.

Flame mode off.

(NB I tried posting this last week on
[e-mail] but it never made it....)


##

Subject: 68060s
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 14:17:05 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas E. Smith)

I've been hearing roumors of a 68060 comming out. It was supposedly far enough
along that they decided to skip the 68050. Can anyone confirm these roumors?
If so is there a date set for release?

                                                Tom

____________________________________________________________________________
| It's not my damn planet, understand  | Tom E. Smith                      |
| Monkey Boy?!!       John Bigbootey   | [e-mail]       |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


##

Subject: Impulse, please take note.
Date:     Mon, 22 Feb 1993 17:36:40 -0500
From: "Christopher Stevenson" <[e-mail]>

Greetings, people.

I, too, received the latest installment of what used to be
called The Gazette.  My comments will be few; I am ashamed.
This piece of literary trash would never have made it past
an initial proof-reading, had anyone ever bothered trying.

Especially to those on computer networks, the (English)
language is all one has to convey ideas and information.
This is all you can use in newsletters, until they become
CD-ROM "speakies" - the cute clip art does little.

Please get your act together, Impulse, and treat your
customers like intelligent people. You make reading information
about your product - when you decide to let your customers
know anything at all - a painful process.

-The Electric Monk


##

Subject: Newsletter.
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 17:57:30 EST
From: scott a king <[e-mail]>

I wish that I got a copy of the newsletter to complain about.  I bought
Imagine sometime last summer and didn't get a registration card
with it.  I told the dealer and he said to send Impulse a copy of the
receipt and viola I'm registered.  It got sent in the beginning of
September I believe and I have heard nothing from Impulse.  Judging from
the previous posts I expect to hear something from Impulse sometime this
summer.  sigh.  I wonder if maybe they have the programmers go through the
mail in their spare time?
I for one hope that they spend some time in the 3.0 manual.  If I get
a great manual I don't mind not getting a newsletter.

Just my rattling on since this ml has been guiet lately ;-)

Scott King
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Imagine Gazette (HA HA HA)
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 17:19:51 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

[e-mail] said:
> Christmas. Credit Cards. Santa Claus. Politics. ????
>
> Ah - maybe this IS the right thing after all - a mention of
> Imagine 3.0....
>
> But I digress. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP! I *know* that Impulse
> aren't the most businesslike people around but this thing is
> real garbage. Spelling checkers? Pah! Grammar checkers? Pah!
> (Or are the rules of American grammar now made by random number generators?)

Yup, only thing I can figure is, they hacked into their university computer
while they were still in school and managed to get out of taking English 101
and 102.  Its amazing how bad that stuff is.

> Sad to say, but without folks like Steve Worley propping it up,
> Imagine (great program though it is - I use it almost every day)

Yeah, and from the conversation I had with the owner some time ago, they don't
even appriciate Essence!!!  He said something like "yeah, we looked at his code.
It was very inefficient."  or something like that.  I was amazed at his
unprofessional attitude and the lack of appriciation for what Steve and Co.
have done for Imagine users and Imagine in general.

> would probably be down the tubes. Poor manuals, indifferent
                                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hmmm, kinda reminds you of their "gazette", doesn't it?


> Tech support (at least in my limited experience) and now this.
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Is that what they call it?

>
> I hate to be negative about stuff like this - after all it affects
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Somebodys gotta do it...

> Gary

Tom Setzer
[e-mail]

"And of course, I'm a genius, so people are naturally drawn to my fiery
intellect.  Their admiration overwhelms their envy!" - Calvin

"You polymorph into a tripe ration.  Your dog eats you.  You die."  -tvs


##

Subject: Re: 68060s
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 13:00:15 -0800
From: Always a rainbow <[e-mail]>

the naming/number of teh chip has more to do with marketting than anything else.
I see it all too often that folks think 80486 and 68040 are in the same class
and 68030 is only comparable to 80386.
For teh same reason, I think Commodore should call teh next release of the OS
 AmigaOS version 18.67 or sumthing.
oops. teh=the. (right hand slower than left hand error)


##

Subject: Re: Demos of Morphous ????
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 15:39:21 MST
From: [e-mail] (Jeff Neugebauer)

> Recently I heard something about a new software package from
> Impulse you can do morphing sequences with 3d objects. Is this
> thing availible (price etc.) and are there any demo anims
> on any ftp site ?
>
>
> Thanks a lot
> Hannes



Hannes,

Morphus has been available for a few months now. It is VERY powerful for
object manipulation. Morphus allows you to apply a series of events to an
object (up to 99 events such as twist, shear, bend, rotate, morph) over any
number of frames. When you are satisfied with the transformation(s), you save
the series of objects to disk. This is the only part I don't like about Morphus.
If the transfomation is for a duration of 30 frames then you must save 30
objects, one for each frame. Then the objects are "Loaded" into the stage editor
using a supplied utility. Standard stage editor control can be maintained on
the Morphus object(s).

The tutorial gives a good example of Morphus. You start with a plane, bend it to
create a cylinder, then bend it again to form a torroid (over 30 frames I think)
An image can be mapped to the plane to begin with and it will stay properly
alligned on the object through the transformations. I was able to use this
for a C.D. ROM company that I did some work for last month. The project was a
Virtual Art Gallery. I had an image of a painting of a flag "hanging" on a wall.
The painting moves towards the viewer as the wall flys out of the scene. Then
the painting of the flag comes to life and starts waving like a real flag. After
flapping for a few seconds I made it morph into a tube of paint. The tube of
paint magically crushes and as it does spheres are expelled from the open end.
The spheres opened up to reveal more paintings. This animation was done entirely
in 3d and would have been nearly impossible without morphus. The morph from the
flag to the tube however, required objects with an equal number of points.
Controlling it was pretty easy though.

Anyway, I think I paid about $60.00 U.S. for it in January. I bought it
from Safe Harbor. Most of the mail order houses carry it but most were "out of
stock" when I bought mine. I hope this helps all intrested. If you have any
other ????'s feel free to email.


Jeff

[e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Morphus
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 18:49:40 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Glenn M. Lewis - ICD ~)

>>>>> On Mon, 22 Feb 93 12:25:53 CST, [e-mail] (Daniel Jr Murrell) said:

Daniel>    Ok, I'm dl-ing PongoDemo now.  Exactly what does Morphus do?
Daniel> I was under the impression that it'd take two dissimilar objects
Daniel> and make them "morphable."  Meaning, make them have the same #
Daniel> of points and faces, without actually changing their overall
Daniel> geometry.  Am I wrong?

    I'm afraid I can't answer that, as all I have is rumors as to
how Morphus works.  However...

Daniel> If so, IS there such a program?  Isn't Glenn and Steve working
Daniel> on such a thing?  Thanks!

    Yes, Steve and I have been working on a general-purpose morph
algorithm...  I have not released it yet, as it is not ready.  It has
been a fair amount of time since we have worked on it, because of other
hotter projects like Essence and (ooops, can't say yet).  :-)

                            -- Glenn


##

Subject: Re: 68060s
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 17:13:55 PST
From: [e-mail] (Rev Lebaredian)

>
>
> I've been hearing roumors of a 68060 comming out. It was supposedly far enough
> along that they decided to skip the 68050. Can anyone confirm these roumors?
> If so is there a date set for release?
>
>                                                 Tom
>

  Yeah, it is going to have two 64-bit channels, meaning it can execute
two operations in one cycle!  Let's see intel match this...  I'm going
to try to find out some more on it.  See what I can dig up.


--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                    "My moral standing is lying down."
                                                    [e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Flickering Objects
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 10:35:34 EST
From: [e-mail]

Hi all..
Thanks a lot for all your responses. Basically everybody suggested that I turn
the roughness attribute off, but I dont have it on! All my objects do not have
a roughness attr. Could there be any other reason for the flicker? As I mentioned
before, it only happens when my camera (or the object) moves...
Thanks again
shalini


##

Subject: brushmaps
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 93 17:58:35 PST
From: [e-mail]

[e-mail] (Mark - Decker)

"Short of that there are a couple of good mercator projection IFF images
of the earth floating around on one of hubcaps mirrors which are ideal
for wrapping around a sphere to make the planet earth...."

Can anyone point me to these, I could use them too.  What sites mirror
Hubcap?

Thanks,
Randy Carris


##

Subject: Where is Imagine FAQ/archive site?
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 93 20:43:40 -0800
From: [e-mail]

Can someone please tell me where to find the Imagine FAQ that was
posted here some time ago? Is there a site that stores the imagine
archives?
I'm trying to put a damn repeating texture on the ground and it won't
work, but I remember a hint that was in that FAQ (actually it was a
tutorial-kind of answer) that could help me.
Thank you in advance,
    Petros Michalis

Academic Computer Center, Queens College of CUNY

P.S. To the list-administrator. The mailing-list address has serious
bouncing problems from many sites...


##

Subject: Winners Have All Been Contacted
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 15:22:13 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

Just a quick note to let you know that all winners in the
IML Contest have been notified.

I will post the full list of winners to the IML
shortly. There appears to be some trouble with
our interface to Portal users, and since there are a fairly
sizeable number of them, I will wait until that route is
clear (later today I assume) before posting the results.

Thanks for your patience.

Dave Wickard  [phone]      "Patience is a virtue;
[e-mail]           Virtue builds character;
[e-mail]          Characters have no patience."


##

Subject: Re: Imagine Gazette (HA HA HA)
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 19:38:15 PST
From: [e-mail]

>But I digress. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS CRAP! I *know* that Impulse
>aren't the most businesslike people around but this thing is
>real garbage. Spelling checkers? Pah! Grammar checkers? Pah!
>(Or are the rules of American grammar now made by random number generators?)
>
>What Impulse seem to need is a REALITY CHECKER. I mean, get real
>guys. Do you *REALLY* expect to make serious inroads into the
>(already) crowded PC market place with stuff like this? PC (and
>Mac users too) will treat it with contempt.
>

Not in too much contempt, I recently received a newsletter from Novell,
the masthead read:

A Montly Puiblication of Novell...
      ^    ^

Don DeCosta
[e-mail]


##

Subject: X-Rays
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 1993 02:17:43 EST
From: Paul Joseph Furio <[e-mail]>

Just an idea:
    I'm in the middle of an under sea animation now (global fog works
wonders) and cannot text this, but perhaps you can.
    If you take a skeleton object, or say a skull, make it white (or grey)
with a short fog length, and rendered it against a black background, would it
be a fail simulation of the output of an X-ray photograph?  I am assuming the
model of the skull was "correct" in that it was not a solid ball, but hollow
with cranium walls with a certain "thickness".  Someone should try this...
-Paul J. Furio


##

Subject: 68060
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 00:16:02 -0800
From: Joe C Solinsky <[e-mail]>

Uh, I have seen the chip, and I have a flyer on it somewhere in my bag 'o
crud from the Comdex last fall.  It exists.  I would say more, but I think that
my bag 'o stuff is reaching critical mass, and I don't want to get too close--
you never know what could happen.  You wouldn't willingly wish me to contribute
to a super-nova, would you?
-Joe Solinsky


##

Subject: Re: brushmaps
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 2:36:36 PDT
From: [e-mail] (Aaron Tucker)

>
> [e-mail] (Mark - Decker)
>
> "Short of that there are a couple of good mercator projection IFF images
> of the earth floating around on one of hubcaps mirrors which are ideal
> for wrapping around a sphere to make the planet earth...."

You can also get the PD/Shareware? program called DrawMap. It is on Fred Fish
Disks and is excellent for drawing different representations of the world
that you can save as IFF files.
Mercator maps are just one of it's features.
Fairly quick too.

> Thanks,
> Randy Carris
>
Juan Trevino
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Flickering Objects
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 08:36:15 EST
From: Adam Benjamin <[e-mail]>

In a previous post Shalini wrote:
>Thanks a lot for all your responses. Basically everybody suggested that I
>turn the roughness attribute off, but I dont have it on! All my
>objects do not have a roughness attr. Could there be any other reason
>for the flicker? As I mentioned before, it only happens when my
>camera (or the object) moves...
> Thanks again shalini

I think I missed part of this thread, but it sounds like your trouble
is in the way you are building the animation.
Are you making a standard AMIGA video mode anim?
Anyway here are some things I have discovered that cause flickering:

The dithering of the colors of the objects can make this "flickering"
when the camera moves because of the limited number of colors in the
palette.  Try turning dithering off, and unlock or lock the palette
(depending on what type of animation you are making and how you are
making it)  I kinda forgot about this because I have a 4000 and most
of my anims are built 256 color mode now.
I know for HAM-8 anims the palette MUST be locked, maybe the same is
true for standard HAM anims?
I have found that PPshow (the anim viewer) flickers some anims (some
of my DCTV anims and a few of my AGA mode anims)  Maybe try a
different viewer program?

Hope this helps
************************************************************
* Adam Benjamin                    [e-mail] *
* Christian Animator                   [e-mail]   *
* Disclaimer:  Nothing I say means anything to anyone that *
*               might take it to mean something I didn't!  *


##

Subject: Re: 68060s
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 09:49:34 EST
From: David Watters <[e-mail]>

>the naming/number of teh chip has more to do with marketting than anything else
> I see it all too often that folks think 80486 and 68040 are in the same class
> and 68030 is only comparable to 80386.

The naming has more to do with convention than anything else.
All the Mot chips that are revolutionary recieve an even number (68000,68020,
68040,68060) and all the chips that are evolutionary recieve an odd
number (68010, 68030, 68050)

> For teh same reason, I think Commodore should call teh next release of the OS
>  AmigaOS version 18.67 or sumthing.

No kidding.  They should also follow apple's suite (no pun intended) and come
out with a new OS release with a significant change in number every time they
modify "ed" or something as meaningless as that.

David
Watters

--
David R. Watters ([e-mail])    Cranel Inc. Development & Engineering
"Porsche.  The very name is, to many, the last word in sports cars. Any car
 blessed with these magic seven letters is sure to be the very best. Period!"
                        - Car and Driver, January 1993


##

Subject: Rendering on Unix
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1993 11:27:00 +0000
From: "Christopher (C.) Arthur" <[e-mail]>

Hello,  I'm a member of the list as of today.  This is my first
question: I've got an Amiga500 with 3 megs of ram and the stock
processor.  It's ok for viewing animations, I guess, but rendering just
takes way too long.  I have access to a large LAN of HP9000/700
workstations.  I bet if there was some way to take the rendering engine
from Imagine and stick it on the HP, I would save an enormous amount of
time.   Is this possible?

Christoher Arthur
[e-mail]
[e-mail]


##

Subject: THE ENVELOPES PLEASE...
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 11:27:06 CST
From: [e-mail] (Dave Wickard)

Howdy Imagineers!  :-)


Finally, at long last...I have the winners in the IML Contest!


Sadly...there weren't nearly enough entries.

If we run the Contest again in 93, I hope each and every one
of you will take the time to send in an entry.


Thank you to every sponsor who was kind and generous enough to
offer a prize or prizes to the Contest. Hopefully, the winners will
thank the vendors on their registration cards and let them know
that their support of the IML is appreciated.


In that there were extra prizes in some categories (i.e. you would
have won with ANY entry  :-O )  I took it upon myself to make a
slight adjustment in the prize selection.


Each winner had a choice of either:
1. The prize as listed in the initial Contest document OR...
2. Any prize that was unclaimed or was deserted for a different prize.


(Let's say Joe Shmoe won a prize he already had purchased. He could
 desert it, and choose an unclaimed prize. Then his original winning
 was up for grabs to the next highest winner.)


Still confused? Well, you must not have entered then...cause all the
winners did when I phoned them to explain.  :-)

I spoke to every single winner in person... and in my opinion,
there couldn't be a nicer group of people.


Here are the folks who DID enter...and win... and their prizes.


OBJECT CATEGORY:

1st Prize- "Shoes" by Guido Rechsteiner of Bassersdorf Switzerland.
                   Done with Imagine 1.1. Guido can be reached via
                   email address  [e-mail]
                   (It's his friend Thomas Voirol's address).
                   Guido chose THE IMAGINE BUDDY SYSTEM from HELP DISK INC.
                   as his prize.

2nd Prize- "Apartment" by Thomas Voirol of Zurich Switzerland. This
                   object was done using Imagine 2.0. Thomas reads
                   the IML via his Compuserve account [e-mail]
                   Thomas chose INTERCHANGE PLUS from SYNDESIS CORP.
                   for his prize.

ANIMATION CATEGORY:

1st Prize- "BulbBash" by Stephen Mund of Cottage Grove, Minnesota.
                   Steve was the lone entry in the Animation Category.
                   Steve says this is only his second animation ever.
                   It was done in scanline mode. Steve can be reached
                   at [e-mail]. Steve chose the
                   IMAGINE 2.0 UPGRADE from IMPULSE INC. as his prize.


HAM CATEGORY:

1st Prize- "Forest" by Michael Comet of Beachwood, Ohio. Michael's
                   image was created using Imagine 2.0, Light24, and
                   AdPro 1.0. Michael is a regular participant on
                   the IML and is in charge of the IML-FAQ.
                   Michael can be reached via email at this
                   address: [e-mail]. For his
                   HAM ENTRY grand prize, Michael chose the
                   ESSENCE from APEX package.

2nd Prize- "Ice Cream" by Chris Hurtt of Boulder, Colorado. Chris is also
                   a regular contributor to the IML. He created this
                   image using AdPro 2.0, DPaint IV, and Essence.
                   Chris is reachable at [e-mail]
                   For his prize as second place in the HAM CATEGORY, Chris
                   chose the IMAGINE 2.0 UPGRADE from IMPULSE INC.


24 BIT CATEGORY:


1st Prize- "3D STUDIO" by Chris Hurtt. For this piece of computer
                   imagery, Chris utilized AdPro 2.0, DPaint IV, and a
                   brushmap from "Understanding Imagine 2.0". For his
                   24 BIT ENTRY Grand Prize, Chris selected
                   IMAGEMASTER from BLACKBELT SYSTEMS.

2nd Prize- "EYES"  by Guido Rechsteiner. This image was created entirely
(Tie)              using Imagine 1.1. As his 2nd place entry prize, Guido
                   chose PIXEL 3D PROFESSIONAL from AXIOM INC.

2nd Prize- "Alien Vacation" by Michael Comet. This whimsical image was
(Tie)              created by Michael using DPaint IV, Light24, AdPro 1.0.
                   As his 2nd place entry prize, Michael chose
                   MORPHUS from IMPULSE INC.

3rd Prize- "Science Station" by Steve Langguth of Springfield, Missouri.
                   Steve is a Imagine user who heard about the Contest
                   via his account on GEnie. He also used Essence to
                   create his image. As his 3rd place prize, Steve chose
                   MORPHUS from IMPULSE INC.

4th Prize- "EndGame" by John Humpal of Baltimore, Maryland. John is a
(tie)              regular reader of the IML and contributes knowledge
                   often. He can be reached at [e-mail]
                   John used Essence, AdPro, and Light24 to create EndGame.
                   For his 4th place prize, John selected
                   PIXEL 3D PROFESSIONAL from AXIOM INC.

4th Prize- "Full Moon" by William Franks of Flint, Michigan.
(tie)              Bill created this image using Imagine 2.0 and
                   Essence. Bill heard about the contest via his
                   account on GEnie. [e-mail] for you network
                   players. For his 4th place prize, Bill selected
                   MORPHUS from IMPULSE INC.

5th Prize- "Witches Brew" by Randy Auschrat of Edmonton, Alberta Canada.
                   Randy heard about the IML Contest via his account on
                   Compuserve. ([e-mail]). Randy used
                   Imagine 2.0, Essence, and DCTV Paint to create his
                   entry. For his 5th place entry, Randy happily chose
                   ADPRO 2.0 from ASDG as his prize.

6th Prize- "Forum" by Don Hirschfeld of Mountain View, California. Don
                   is a regular reader of the list at his account
                   on the Portal system. ([e-mail])
                   He used Essence to assist in his image creation.
                   As the 6th place prize, Don has selected an
                   IMAGINE 2.0 UPGRADE from IMPULSE INC.

7th Prize- "Fishin" by Orin Palmer of Chula Vista, California. Orin
                   heard of the contest via his FidoNet connection.
                   Orin used Imagine 2.0 and OpalPaint to create Fishin.
                   He is reachable via FidoNet address 1:202/739.10
                   For his 7th place entry, Orin chose the
                   VERTEX package from THE ART MACHINE.



HONORABLE MENTIONS-


            "Vase H20" by Peter Mancini of Arlington Mass. Peter used
                   DPaint IV along with Imagine 2.0 to create this image.
                   As a regular reader of the IML, Peter can be reached
                   at [e-mail]. With this Honorable
                   Mention, Peter chose STILL-STORE from GRAPHIC IMAGINATION
                   as his prize.


            "Rainy Day" by Thomas Voirol of Switzerland again. This image
                   has a rather unusual "European" feel to it. Thomas said
                   he created it solely using Imagine 2.0. For his efforts,
                   Thomas is awarded a rare and out-of-print volume
                   UNDERSTANDING IMAGINE 2.0 from APEX.  :-)


            "Imagine Puts You In The Driver's Seat" by Jon-Paul Estes of
                   Decatur Georgia. Jon used Imagine and AdPro to create
                   this image. Jon is also a regular contributor to the
                   discussions on the IML and can be reaced at:
                   [e-mail]. For his Honorable Mention, Jon-Paul
                   chose a one year extension to his subscription to the
                   Video Toaster Users Magazine.




CONGRATS to all the winners in the Contest, and thank you very much
to everyone who entered for your efforts and creativity. Hopefully, we
can run the contest again next year and generate some more participation.
I will be mailing the WINNING entries only (non-winners and Honorable Mentions
not included) to several computer and Amiga oriented magazines this week.
They will be posted for FTP access this week as well. More info on
that later in the week.


Until then, keep working on that "perfect" render.  :-)



Dave Wickard  [phone]          Art Contests aren't REALLY contests.
[e-mail]              It's just you against yourself.
[e-mail]             Kick some butt.


##

Subject: Re: Computer Graphics World
Date: Mon, 22 Feb 93 15:17:15 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

> >but it is free to a select few in the CG profession.
>                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> Does anyone know what the criteria is for this?

I can't say what the actual criteria is, but in my experience, those who
get it for free usually hold a position of some nominal importance in a
reasonable sized company that has some association with CG. This is pretty
vague but it means but it equates to....  Bob Smith, owner of his own video
production company of which Bob is the only employee will have to buy his
subscription. However, Bob Smith, product marketing manager for Polhemus,
Inc. will likely have no problem getting a free subscription. Many of the
people I know that have free subcriptions applied for the free trial
subcription offered at one of the Siggraph shows and have been receiving it
ever since. I will add that the selection process does not always reflect the
above mentioned criteria. I received CGW for free many years up until about
last year when out of the blue they started sending me subscription renewal
forms with a price listed. This came as a surprise to me since I am the
principal 3D graphics resource at Concurrent and yet others here who have
little to do with graphics, marketing, or management continue to get it (one
of my collegues is actually receiving two copies a month). As they say.....
go figure!
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: Giving up...
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 14:25:28 +0100
From: [e-mail] (Tomasz Plonka V rok)

Hi everyone,

Scott Krehbiel says:

>I am wondering about the neato cards that claim to make a super workstation
> out of an Amiga (like Digital Editmaster, Vivid24, and OpalVision)

I have been trying to do such a thing for quite a long time and I'm fed
up with it. I work for the video company equipped with Betacam SP machines
( Betacam SP 2000 to be precise ) and we use an Amiga 500+ for the titling
and simple animation.

It's obvious I tried to power up my computer. We cannot afford Silicon
Graphics Iris computer, so we try to develop the Amiga.

In october A4000 was born. How nice! I thought:
"This is the machine for me. Fast, colorful and reasonably priced. With a
good card and a component genlock I can do everything!"

So at the beginning of the year we tried to buy an A4000. And we have not
got it till now. Why ? It's simple - nobody in Poland ( I live in Poland )
can buy an A4000 in Germany ( it's our Polish computer source ), and
the Commodore Poland will not help. When I wrote "nobody can" I meant
it is very hard to buy an A4000. Well, we have to do it ourselves.

But what about the graphics card ? We planned a GVP IV24, but in the
February issue of the AmigaWorld I read the IV24 does not work with
the A4000. Wow! I thought IV24's component inputs and outputs will suit
me perfectly, and what's happened?

I must add last year I bought DCTV unit (PAL version, and that's why I can't
use the Video Toaster ), but I am not very pleased with it. The picture
quality is poor - resolution is not its strong point.

Last year I considered PP&S Rambrandt video board, but they seem not to sell
it any longer. And it would be the ultimate solution - a framegrabber and
a genlock built-in, component in and out, and digital video effects in
real time - sounds great ! But there is no Rambrandt.

I mentioned the digital video effects. You may say OpalVision's Roaster Chip
announced last summer was intended to have the same abilities, but there
is no Roaster Chip - just like the Rambrandt board.

Any other suggestions ?

I cannot wait any longer. There is no graphics card with component in
and out, a framegrabber and a genlock, not to mention real time DVE.

I started to consider Macintosh - NuVista+ video board for the Mac is
probably a solution for me. I know, Mac is not cheap, but...

And two weeks ago I saw an incredibly cheap Iris 4D offer, so I will
try to find out more and maybe then...

Tom Plonka


##

Subject: Babylon 5
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 22:22:07 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

    It's here!!!!!!!!!! :)

    According to my local TV guide, Babylon 5 will be airing
__THIS__ Saturday at 8:00pm here in cleveland on channel 43.

    (note: i posted this to lightwave and imagine mailing list as i
assumed people in both would be interested.   Sorry for the inconvience
for those who (like me) are on both.)

PS:  For those who don't know, Babylon 5 is a sci-fi tv show whose
computer graphics are Toaster Rendered!

--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  -   This Sig file is temporarily Out Of Order      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Re:  Babylon 5
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 23:48:04 -0500
From: [e-mail]

And Babylon 5 is airing nowhere near Lansing, Michigan!  Aargh.

Dan


##

Subject: Re: Babylon 5
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1993 00:33:32 -0800 (PST)
From: "T. Lee" <[e-mail]>

On Tue, 23 Feb 1993 [e-mail] wrote:

> And Babylon 5 is airing nowhere near Lansing, Michigan!  Aargh.
>
> Dan

So any one know when Babylon 5 is airing in the Seattle, Washington area?

                Tim


##

Subject: Aired last night
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 01:43:51 PST
From: [e-mail]

>>And Babylon 5 is airing nowhere near Lansing, Michigan!  Aargh.
  As I was trying to say in the useless message I sent by mistake
  Babylon 5 aired in Nashus N.H. last night. I enjoyed it and the
  lightwave stuff came across pretty well(very good actually). The
  storyline was a little slow in the beginning but thankfully it picked
  up later
                        bill


##

Subject: Re: 68060s
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 09:57:41 MET
From: [e-mail] (Philippe Berard)

Hello Thomas (Thomas E. Smith). On Feb 22, you have written :

> I've been hearing roumors of a 68060 comming out. It was supposedly far enough
> along that they decided to skip the 68050. Can anyone confirm these roumors?
> If so is there a date set for release?

    We have been hearing rumours for six months, but it seems that the
    68060 will be RISC-based, and should run upto 100MIPS at 25Mhz (be
    careful, though, as RISC MIPS are far different than CISC MIPS).
    Another rumour says it will be closer to the 88000 family.

    Sincerely,
                                   -- Philippe

.----------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Philippe Berard  (French Amiga User)       | UseNet : [e-mail] |
|  "They hold a cup of wisdom,                | -> Please don't send mails   |
|   But there is nothing within" (Kate Bush). |           >50 Ko !           |
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------'


##

Subject: Re: Imagine Gazette (HA HA HA)
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 93 11:32:03 CST
From: [e-mail] (Michael Linton)

Well, I'd have to agree with you there 100%.  The newsletter,is crap. I
think whoever wrote it, should go back to High School, and take a little
English class.  :)  I don't mind jokes, I don't mind a little sillyness,
but lets face it, they've got a bit overboard.  If you were to cut out
all the crap, the newsletter would be a page and a half.  I too, don't
want to sound negitive, but it is one of the most unprofessional things
I've seen in a long time (since I got my last newsletter from them
actually :-)  As I've told people before, Impulse  isn't known for their
outstanding customer support... But, if they expect to get into the PC
Market at all, they're going to have to change their attitude, and quick.

Perhaps we should all pitch in and buy Proper Grammer for them. :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
  "...even the stuff you taught me, has been pushed back into the dark
recesses of my mind...  Need a candle or two (rendered of course, as
my light source) to find all that buried info again..."

                      -- Barb Hall on learning Imagine

##

Subject: Re: Giving up...
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 11:32:53 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas Setzer)

Tom Plonka said(paraphrase):

"It's obvious I tried to power up my computer. We cannot afford Silicon
Graphics Iris computer, so we try to develop the Amiga."

"I'm fed up with it."

So I say(direct quote):)

How much research did you do before you jumped in and spent money?  It doesn't
sound like you did much.

Before you go off and make your next purchasing mistake in a hurry, take a
little time to investigate.

I mean, if your are just using you computer for "titling and simple animation"
then why buy an A4000?  An A3000 or A2000 would do nicly, giving you plenety
of room to expand, and as you found out, for the moment, a lot more options.

If you wanted IV24 or Opalvision or one of those other nice boards, then there
is little need for all the colors provided by the A4000.

As far as DCTV, what did you expect for $380(US $, mail order).  It never
claimed broadcast quality, and IMHO, its GREAT for the price!  You would pay
$400+ for the software alone on a MAC.

So if you are mad, you should be mad at yourself for not doing a little up
front work.  You could have saved yourself some $, time and trouble.  But,
now you know ;^)

Tom Setzer
[e-mail]

"And of course, I'm a genius, so people are naturally drawn to my fiery
intellect.  Their admiration overwhelms their envy!" - Calvin

"You polymorph into a tripe ration.  The little dog eats you.  You die."  -tvs


##

Subject: 68060
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1993 08:51:30 -0500
From: [e-mail] (ESTES,JON-PAUL)

This is the story that I heard.  Could be a rumor, but sounds plausible.
The name 68050 was used on one of Motorola's celular telephone parts, so
they had to skip to the 68060 for the next CPU.  This may sound stupid, but
it actually makes sense.  Someone earlier mentioned how people compare
the 030 with the 386 and the 040 with the 486.  Well, to many people,
Motorola will appear to have an advantage now, because they have a 6 in
their name, while Intel is still at the 5 stage.  Good marketing?  Who knows.
But this does sound like a reasonable explanation.

-- Jon-Paul Estes


##

Subject: Re: Babylon 5
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 10:20:42 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

>     It's here!!!!!!!!!! :)

It aired in the Boston/southern New Hampshire area last night. For those
of you who haven't seen it (or did and have a good memory), Ron Thorton
makes a cameo appearance in the film. He is a scruffy looking character
with a pee cap seated at a table with a few others in a longe. He is on
screen for 1-2 seconds. He later appears on a computer screen that is
showing a shape shifter "morphing" from one face to another. Ron is the
first face in the sequence. For those who don't know, Ron Thorton heads up
Foundation Imaging, the group that did all the CG effects for the show.
All the 3D stuff was done with LightWave.
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: Re: Vivid, Editmaster, A4000
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 00:26:59 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Yury German)

Hi Mr. (Mr. Scott Krehbiel), in <[e-mail]> on Feb 20 you wrote:

:
: Does anyone know if these puppies will work in an A4000?

Well I can tell you that with the 4000's color it is hard to match with
the cheap 24 bit cards like Opalvision. The quality of the 4000 color is
just as good. I think Vivid and Editmaster work in the 4000 but Do not
have either to test it out.

: I'm currently using an A500 (It's not my fault - I'm a student) and
: considering whether to buy an A2000, A1200, PP&S '040 for my 500, or
: REALLY save up for an A4000.

    Go for the 4000 I have a monster 2000 here with plenty of
acceleration power and the 4000 blows that away easy because of the 32 bit
structure it is definately worth the $2700 that you can buy it for.


##

Subject: Re: Babylon 5
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 14:35:47 EST
From: [e-mail] (William V. Swartz)

>
>    It's here!!!!!!!!!! :)
>
>    According to my local TV guide, Babylon 5 will be airing
> __THIS__ Saturday at 8:00pm here in cleveland on channel 43.
>
>    (note: i posted this to lightwave and imagine mailing list as i
> assumed people in both would be interested.   Sorry for the inconvience
> for those who (like me) are on both.)
>
> PS:  For those who don't know, Babylon 5 is a sci-fi tv show whose
> computer graphics are Toaster Rendered!
>
> --
> +======================================================================+
> |  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
> |  [e-mail]  -   This Sig file is temporarily Out Of Order      |
> +======================================================================+
>

Don't get too excited folks.  I was flipping channels here in Columbus last
Sunday night and happened to run accross Babylon 5 about 12:30 am.  It wasn't
good enough to keep me up after 30 minutes of watching!  Granted I was very
tired so I will give it another chance Saturday but...

My main grips were that the actors were cold, and recited thier lines as if
reading cue cards.  The aliens were pretty good, nice makeup...etc. but way
and I mean way too many of them.  Kind of like Star Wars Cantina scene...aliens
just for aliens sake.  The CGI was ok but I am looking thru different eyes than
Joe Schmoe who is just a tv watcher.  They looked too clean, too crisp, and a
little flat...no depth.  They need to dirty it up to get rid of the obvious CG
factor.  That would make things look a little more real.

I await everyone else's opinion after they see it (if they havn't).  The CGI
in the show is a great testament to what can be done on a low cost desktop pc
but they shoulda hired some good actors to fill it out!

(off my soapbox)
  //
\X/ -BiL-
    [e-mail]             (See my 'Imagine'-ary signature below)


##

Subject: Re: THE ENVELOPES PLEASE...
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 14:55:53 EST
From: Mark Thompson <[e-mail]>

> Finally, at long last...I have the winners in the IML Contest!

Congradulations to all the winners. I'm looking forward to seeing the
quintessential works of the Imagine masses. How many entries were there?
%~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~%
%      `       '        Mark Thompson                 CONCURRENT COMPUTER  %
% --==* RADIANT *==--   [e-mail]        Principal Graphics   %
%      ' Image `        ...!uunet!masscomp!mark       Hardware Architect   %
%     Productions       [phone] [phone]   & General Nuisance   %
%                                                                          %
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


##

Subject: Mail Archives
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1993 11:18 MET
From: Adri Mathlener <[e-mail]>

I hope this question reaches the list.

Now that Hubcap is gone forever I am wondering where will the
collected mail arhives be put.

Maybe it's possible to get a subdirdctory at wuarchive.wustl.edu, or
is it possible at the mailserver that holds this list.

- adri

[e-mail]


##

Subject: IVS to release new animation software
Date: 24 Feb 93 18:29:35 EST
From: [e-mail] (David Tiberio) (David Tiberio)

     Okay, I heard that IVS is releasing some new animation software that
works with their SCSI II controller that will do 30 fps of the hard disk,
full screen video. The poster says it took 3 years of development (they sure
were planning ahead)!


-------------------- Via Amiga Graphics BBS [phone] --------------------
 David Tiberio                //       Amiga Graphics BBS  [phone]
 [e-mail]   //      NO SUPRA MODEMS --- BY POPULAR REQUEST
 Long Island, New York     \X/     USENET - 3D - Music - Fonts - Pics - Utils
--


##

Subject: Re: Babylon 5
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 93 9:08:45 EST
From: [e-mail] (Stephen Pietrowicz)

> Ron Thorton makes a cameo appearance in the film....

[ stuff deleted ]

So does Kiki Stockhammer.  She's sitting a bar about 25 or 26 minutes into
the show.  She's wearing a cloak and it looks like she's typing on something.
She's on the screen for less than two seconds, so watch for her!

I'm told that Allen Hastings and Stuart Ferguson also make cameos, but I didn't
catch where.

srp


##

Subject: Vivid24, Editmaster, anyone owns this stuff already ???
Date:     Fri, 26 Feb 1993 08:16:27 +0100
From: Hannes Heckner <[e-mail]>

To: imagine2email.sp.paramax.com
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 08:11:40 +0100 (MEZ)
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL6]
Content-Type: text
the Editmaster. But does anyone out there already own any of this
nice boards. Are there any beta testers out there who could
provide some info about the forthcoming of the boards ???

Thanks for your info
Thanks
Are there any reliable dates of shipment ?

Last question:
true color video. In fact, does the Editmaster also display anything
or does this board only compression stuff ?


##

Subject: Please help me, I need the newsletter
Date:     Fri, 26 Feb 1993 10:23:34 +0100
From: Hannes Heckner <[e-mail]>

Hi,

obviously I cannot send any email to steve worley. I am a registered
Essence user and am waiting for the newsletter he published
for a long time now. Once he promised to sent it via email, but
then I heard nothing from him till then.

So now I am hoping that anyone of the maillist can inform Steve
that I am not dead or gone but still waiting for this newsletter
(especially the description for making fire ... )

You are my very last hope ....

Thanks

Hannes


##

Subject: dark "shadow like bar"
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 93 17:15:47 CST
From: [e-mail] (Owen Mckeith)

I recently made a simple object of a round table using spin with imagine2.0

When I render it in scanline mode, I noticed that a shadow curved like the
edge of the table appears near the middle of the top of the table.  To
investigate it a bit further, I did a bit of an animation, moving the
camera around a bit.  I noticed that the "shadow" moved with the camera and
stayed in the same relative position relative to the camera.

Anybody else ever notice something like this?

thanks,
 ...Owen

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995


##

Subject: Re: Vivid24, Editmaster, anyone owns this stuff already ???
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 08:36:16 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Michael B. Comet)

>
>the Editmaster. But does anyone out there already own any of this
>nice boards. Are there any beta testers out there who could
>provide some info about the forthcoming of the boards ???
>
>Thanks for your info
>Thanks
>Are there any reliable dates of shipment ?
>
>Last question:
>true color video. In fact, does the Editmaster also display anything
>or does this board only compression stuff ?
>
>
>
>
    Digital Micronics, Inc.
    2075 Corte del Nogal, Suite 'N'
    Carlsbad, CA 92009
    [phone]  FAX: [phone]

    The editmaster will both compress to JPEG and decompress JPEG
to:
    RGB, S-Video and NTSC

    Note:  After reading teh Impulse newsletter I am very interested
in their product too...especially since they claim it to be computer
independant.  Of course it looks like it will cost alot more.



--
+======================================================================+
|  Michael B. Comet - Computer Programmer / Graphics Artist  - CWRU    |
|  [e-mail]  -   This Sig file is temporarily Out Of Order      |
+======================================================================+


##

Subject: Re: Vivid24, Editmaster, anyone owns this stuff already ???
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 13:31:33 CST
From: [e-mail] (Thomas E. Smith)

How does complexity of the image affect the 30 frames per sec frame rate?
In other words, will it always show 30 frames per second?

                                                   Tom Smith


##

Subject: Planetary Clouds
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 11:56:14 PST
From: [e-mail]

Well I finally went out and blew my next three years' annual bonuses and
bought myself an A4000 so I could actually run Essence with Imagine,
which I had purchased in great haste last fall before reading that it
would not run on unaccellerated machines.

So I have begun experimenting with the settings on blobs and turbscolor,
looking for a good global cloud effect I can apply to my earth object to
add a little more realism.  Thus far my attempts seem to form serpentine
bands of clouds, like some great meandering river, rather than the collection
of scattered clouds I am looking for.

If any of you have some good settings for clouds on a globe, I'd appreciate
if you could mail them to me.  More general suggestions and pointers are
also always welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Mark Decker
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Babylon 5
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 93 22:33:31 PST
From: [e-mail] (Rev Lebaredian)

> My main grips were that the actors were cold, and recited thier lines as if
> reading cue cards.  The aliens were pretty good, nice makeup...etc. but way
> and I mean way too many of them.  Kind of like Star Wars Cantina scene...aliens
> just for aliens sake.  The CGI was ok but I am looking thru different eyes than

  Well, don't you think it would be a bit unrealistic if they had mosly
humans in a station designed to be a middly point for five(I think that's
correct) major alien races?


--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                    "My moral standing is lying down."
                                                    [e-mail]


##

Subject: Amiga 1200
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 09:09:00 +0000
From: "Christopher (C.) Arthur" <[e-mail]>

  Question:  I currently have an Amiga 500 w/3 megs, a hard drive, and the
stock 68000.  I was considering an upgrade to an Amiga 1200.  The power-up
deal makes the price pretty good; that is, if the machine does what I want it
to do.  What I want it to do is render my Imagine scenes faster, for starters.
I asked a sales person if the 1200 was significantly faster than the 500, and
he said, "uh, yeah.  It's twice as fast because the clock speed is 14 mhz,
twice that of a 500."  After that brilliant deduction, the conversation was
finished, as far as I was concerned.  So has anyone done any speed comparisons?

Christopher Arthur
[e-mail]


##

Subject: Re: Babylon 5
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 93 09:20:00 PST
From: [e-mail]

>> My main grips were that the actors were cold, and recited thier lines as if
>> reading cue cards.  The aliens were pretty good, nice makeup...etc. but way
>> and I mean way too many of them.  Kind of like Star Wars Cantina scene...ali
e
>ns
>> just for aliens sake.  The CGI was ok but I am looking thru different eyes t
h
>an
>
>  Well, don't you think it would be a bit unrealistic if they had mosly
>humans in a station designed to be a middly point for five(I think that's
>correct) major alien races?
>
>
I think it's a bit unrealistic to stage a show set in the mid 23rd
Century and have human beings portrayed as 1993 Melrose Ave.
actors who've jumped into slightly futuristic costumes. Sure you can
(one can) jokingly say there's a "retro" fad going on on the space
station, but when I see actors with Beverly Hills 90210 haircuts, makeup
and jewelry wearing regimental pseudo-Star-Trek costumes, my willing
suspension of disbelief is hard to uh.. suspend.

Also I realize that the main part of B5's budget is probably going into
f/x and not into the cast, but this show could use some star power.
The lead actors came across as a homogeneous mush of folks who just
graduated from acting class and are trying too hard to look serious.

But this has absolutely nothing to do with Imagine :)

Harv


##

Subject: Babylon 5 Praise and Critisizms
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 12:24:20 EST
From: Peter Mancini <[e-mail]>

    Well, after viewing the Amiga's entry into the 'Big Time' with
the premier of B5 several times I find I have several comments that I'd
like to share.  First, let me preface you with some of the feelings I
had before I tuned in.
    A) I work on Vax, Ultrix, and SGI boxes.  One of the SGIs has a
reality engine in it.  I've seen and helped create some really
impressive images and animations.  The reality engine blows away
anything you can ever hope to put in the current Amiga line in terms of
raw speed.  An Amiga can produce as good results, but at a much greater
cost in time.
    B) I was prepared to love DS9.  This show is absolute crud.
I've had it with soft-science fiction.  The acting is wooden.  The
characters are forgettable, and it already has degenerated into "well,
even though we are at the edge of known space, every week we are visited
by something nasty which we fight/cleverly decieve in an hour."  <yawn>
BFD
    Ok, so even though you can see in A that I am not an Amiga bigot
so I won't like the show just because it has elements created by Amiga's
in it, and that in B I am perfectly willing to allow myself to enjoy
other shows that compete, I must admit to having owened and fully
enjoyed my Amiga since 1989.

    Babylon 5 Critisizims:  Though the plot line was well paced and
directed, it had way too many old sub-plots running through it.  I don't
expect totally new stories (the old chestnut that all the stories have
already been written already is generally true).  However, the writers
could have thrown in a few more plot twists or variations on themes.
This is a hard critisizm to make because what do you expect when you
have several players you have to intoduce and develop along with a
complex plot.  The "Pilot" form of movie is always stilted because you
have to give support to events that won't even happen in this episode.
    The CG went from really really cool, to "What did you think of
that Mr. Horse?" "No, sir, I didn't like it." (Ren and Stimpy fans will
explain that one to you if you don't get it ;-)  Examples of bad CG were
when the crab like lander attaches itself to the hull of B5.  It just
didn't look realistic enough.  Space long shots were another set of
loser graphics.  Lens flare is cool, but most lenses of reasonable size
have depth of field.  There should be a point of focus such that things
distant from that point should be blurred.  Maybe LW4.0 will do this?
Finally, CG imagry can always out perform even the best of commercially
available optics.  Let me assure you, the filming done on the station
did not appear to be done with state of the art optics.  Thus when one
scene goes from a "live shoot" from inside the station to a "CG shoot"
the really impressive jump up in image quality actually *HURTS* the CG.
This of course didn't stop my roommate from screaming "I want one, I
want one!" everytime a new spaceship appeared on screen.

    Babylon 5 Praise:  Despite what I said about tired old plot
above, there was so much characterization and 'buried treasure' that I
will absolutely die if they don't go with the series.  Why has Garibaldi
been bounced from one station to another?  What is the hole in the
captain's mind?  What caused a grown doctor to go "Uhg!" when he peeped
in on the Vorlon?  What is Alexander's pleasure threshold and what is
she up to with G'kar (BEEP-BEEP)?  What did the Minbari ambasador mean
at the stone garden?  If it was an infocom game I'd search the stone
garden to see if she placed something there...  The writers got one
thing correct, tease the audience.  give us something to think and dream
about.  give us problems that don't go away after an hour or a phaser
blast.
    Limitations.  The writers have concerned themselves with
limitations!  This is very refreshing.  If only the same had been done
on ST:TNG or DS9 (like, if they really did have transporters and
holodecks why aren't they the 'Q'.  I'll skip detailing the 'missed
opportunities of exploiting the technology Paramount wants us to believe
in.)  Fore example, the telepath can't just stand there and casually
grab someone's mind.  It requires concentration.  Aliens are more
difficult to scan than humans.  Sometimes physical contact is required.
Psi can be sheilded against.  Not everyone has access to psi.  It is
very hard to keep an intelligent audience from thinking up ways to
reapply technology that some in SF just casually banty about.  For
example, if the station had 'gravity generators' instead of relying on
centripital force, then that would imply a 'Grand Unification Theory'
had been devised which would cause advances in other areas of science.
Fusion (even if it were cold) would be an 'antiquated' technogy compared
to the power generation abilities of singularities, etc.
    Acting.  I liked the actors a great deal.  The Telepath is not
some new age bimbo with giant hooters and the low cut uniform to prove
it.  The character that embodies wisdom, age, and compasion is a black
actor.  More, instead of a homogenized/americanized black he has a
unique accent and hopefully some cultural baggage as well.  I do hope
they develope this one.  The second in command makes you forget all of
the traditional sterotypes concerning females and their role in society
and challenges us to see them in new ways.  Compare here to the Begoran
character on DS9?  Who would you rather work for?  You don't have to
make a woman a Bi*ch to make her tough.  Then there's the captain.  He
looks the part.  The humble vetran hero of the line (shhh don't mention
it too loud he has flashbacks) with the hole in his mind.  He reminds me
of some colonels I used to work for at the Defense Logistics Agency.  Of
course my favorite is Garibaldi.  But enough of this.  You've read
enough.

    Please, if you've read this far, comment.  I'd like to send a
counter opinion to the Boston Globe to counter their trashing of the
pilot.

--Pete "Mr. Tired Fingers"

P.S. Go see Army of Darkness before it is gone from the theaters.  It is
great!


##

Subject: 1992 AmigaWorld Animation Contest
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 93 12:52:08 EST-10
From: [e-mail] (John Rowe)

Well it's a month since I last posted this question so here it is again...

Has anyone heard any results from the 1992 AmigaWorld Animation Contest?

The waiting is still killing me... 8-(
--
   ____ John    ____       Australian Developer   FAX   [phone]
  //      Rowe //               Christian         VOICE [phone]
 // __        //--          Amiga Programmer, Renderer, 3-D Animator
//__//rafix  //__ffects   EMAIL [e-mail]
         OR EMAIL rowe.adsp.sub.org![e-mail]


##

Subject: Earth images.
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 11:30:40 PST
From: [e-mail]

I've had a few requests to be more specific about where the mercator
images of the earth could be found, so I've been poking about for a
couple days trying to remember where I found the images.  It turns out
they were right here on Portal.  Apparently someone had pulled them off
the net and stored them in the Amiga/Jpeg section here.  Thanks to Harv and
the other busy Internet shoppers for keeping Portal so well stocked.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I hear you say, but what about the rest of us who don't
have Portal accounts.  Good news for you too!  I found the original source
for the 1/2 degree resolution altitude map.  Its on
    ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de        in directory
    /pub/dkbtrace/pics

There is an archive of the image and the c source used to generate it
called earth.lzh.  There is also an earth directory containing the
individual files of the archive in uncompressed form, but the readme
in this directory indicates that it will only be there for a short time.

Happy Shopping!

Mark Decker
[e-mail]

-- My only financial connection with Portal involves me paying THEM
-- $20/month for the privilege of talking to you.


##

Subject: Firecracker 24
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 93 20:48:38 -0500
From: Rob Borsari <[e-mail]>

I just got a used FC24.  Can anyone tell me the current revision of
Light24, and is there any other software that supports this board
directly (I know about imagine ;).   I know that Adpro has a saver for it
and I have the utilities that come with the board.  Does MacroPaint
or Brilliance or somthing support it?  Did Impulse ever upgrade the verticle
resolution?  Any info appreaceated(sp?)  -R-


##

Subject: Giving up again
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 93 13:34:28 MET
From: [e-mail] (Tomasz Plonka V rok)

Howdy,

In reply to my letter, Tom Setzer writes:

>I mean, if your are just using you computer for "titling and simple animation"
>then why buy an A4000?  An A3000 or A2000 would do nicly, giving you plenety
>of room to expand, and as you found out, for the moment, a lot more options.

I'm not using my Amiga for the titling and simple animation only because I want
to -  on a stock A500 the simplest rendering take days or weeks, so this
couldn't be called "production" - and the production is what I am doing
at job. I want a fastest Amiga available - no compromises.

>As far as DCTV, what did you expect for $380(US $, mail order).  It never
>claimed broadcast quality, and IMHO, its GREAT for the price!  You would pay
>$400+ for the software alone on a MAC.

I didn't expected much - but my first render faild due to DCTV picture quality.
It was the word "WIZUAL" extruded from CGTimes font, in blue. The picture
was so blurry that you could read everything and guess only what the word
was in fact.

So I do not want to make a mistake again.


Tom Plonka.


##

Subject: Lens Flares
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1993 01:30:54 EST
From: Paul Joseph Furio <[e-mail]>

 While watching Babylon 5 for the nth time today, I realized that one of the
things that makes the effects so realistic was the lens flare efect.  I wanted
to try adding these to my animation and wanted to know the "correct" way of
making them.  I noticed that they rotate in a line in the same direction away
from the light source that the camera turns, and they extend from the
light source.   But how does one determine how many there are, what colors
to use, and what angle they rotate through and disappear at?
    Thanks.
-Paul J. Furio


##

Subject: Re: Firecracker 24
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 93 18:12:04 PST
From: [e-mail]

>I just got a used FC24.  Can anyone tell me the current revision of
>Light24, and is there any other software that supports this board
>directly (I know about imagine ;).   I know that Adpro has a saver for it
>and I have the utilities that come with the board.  Does MacroPaint
>or Brilliance or somthing support it?  Did Impulse ever upgrade the verticle
>resolution?  Any info appreaceated(sp?)  -R-

No the vertical res was never upgraded. 1024x482 is max. Mostused
mode (by me anyway) is 768x482.

Light24: 125846 bytes is the length of the one on my hard drive.
Can't find a version number anywhere and I might have Turbo-Imploded
it, come to think of it, so the size I have might not match the
size of the distribution file. It hasn't been upgraded in ages...
rumor had it Impulse was working on a new version months ago but
I don't know what happened with that. If I find out, I shall post here.

ADPro, ImageMaster/FC, ImageFX, Imagine, VistaPro2&3 and others support it.
There's certainly ENOUGH good support for the FC24 out there. It could
use a much better "free" paint program tho. I have to tell ya, I
spent the afternoon at the home of one Kelly Keith who works for
Centaur, and he gave me the grand tour of OpalPaint with one hand
while he was installing a new hard drive for me with the other (talented
dude!... and I'm not kidding about this!).. and I have to tell you
that compared to OpalPaint, Light24 is like dragging a piece of
chalk on the sidewalk. OpalPaint is simply the most versatile,
powerful, wonderful piece of painting software I've ever seen run
on an Amiga. Period. And believe me, I think I've seen 'em all.
If Impulse IS going to upgrade Light24, they outta get an Opal and
study what Centaur did REAL hard. Good grief I was knee deep in
drool after playing with that program for a while.

But I digress...
MacroPaint used that goofy "Dynamic Hi-res" mode and was never released
any farther than what I'd call a "beta" version. I've long since
chucked it. Brilliance wil support all "normal" modes like DPaint/AGA
does/will... but not any specific boards.... it's Digital Creations'
answer to DPaint/AGA.

BTW, the new ADPro (watch for the upgrade letter) will have a FC24
LOADER as well as saver. Incredibly useful for sucking the FC's
buffer (whatever was in there from some other use) into ADPro for
further manipulation.

Harv
[e-mail]
[e-mail]