I went to a fair today: Office '99. It covered everthing from furniture, to
cash registers, to computers, to software (my favorite). I just saw the box
to 3D Studio MAX for the first time in my life. I understand why Lance likes
it so much. I also got a chance to play with 3DS VIZ 3 and MAX 3 for about
an hour. I got a headache. Everything was great, I was even running it on a
500MHz PIII, so the rendering was sweet, but my work felt imprecise. Placing
everything by mouse is quite annoying to someone who types everything
precisely and mathematically in POV script. I know _of_ MAXscript, but I
don't know how to do it. All in all, MAX 3 has a very nice interface, and
lotsa stuff we only dream of in POV-Ray, so it's cool, very cool, especially
because of the fast rendering, although the ocasional faceting annoyed me.

They're having a presentation tommorow which will cover MAX 3 and all the
new stuff it has. I found out that it will cost me $500 to learn MAX from
the people at that stand, since they are the only Autodesk Certified
Trainers in Panama. I'm not too sure on that being such a wise investment.
They had examples of their students work posted on the walls. Blech! They
need to stress texturing and lighting.

I noticed another sad fact: 95% of the people there only cared about VIZ
because of its architechtural capabilities. Naturally, they were even more
interested in Autocad. It seems most people here do architechture-3D, that's
why I've never heard of them. They say that only a few publicitarias
(commercial graphics boutiques?) use MAX, plus national TV.

I mentioned POV-Ray. Everyone there has heard _of_ it. My attempts to
explain more about it resulted in instant boredom and ingnoring from the
'nice' people. As soon as a I returned to 3D Studio, they had my full
attention again.


PS: Every other stand had a pretty blonde lady with a miniskirt and a tight
t-shirt and a nice smile. They really made the fair a complete experience.
=}

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> I mentioned POV-Ray. Everyone there has heard _of_ it. My attempts to
> explain more about it resulted in instant boredom and ingnoring from the
> 'nice' people. As soon as a I returned to 3D Studio, they had my full
> attention again.

Isn't that the way though?  When I played in the Jazz band in high school there
were two guitarists, another kid and myself.  I praticed every day and listened
to everything the conductor taught me.  I picked up the nuances of swing and
learned how to quickly learn any sheet music that was put in front of me.

The other kid had a fancy new stratocaster.  He polished it while we practiced,
and occasionally strummed a chord or two.  I bet that kid still has that guitar
sitting in a case somewhere.  Probably has the original strings on it too.

My guitar was a beat up old telecaster that I purchased used.  Sometimes the
cheapo strap I used came loose and the guitar would hit the floor - I brushed it
off and kept playing.  You can get used guitars that are in really good
condition for cheap, since most people don't stick with it.  To me, something
like that which has seen so many years is in a way more precious than the latest
craze shining in the music shop window.

Some people get really upset when I tell them this one:  I once went to see Les
Paul play at a small club in New York city and had him sign my guitar at the end
of the night.  He signed it "Mike, Keep on pickin' Les Paul."  Well, I kept on
pickin and rubbed the signature right off!  So when I tell people that, they
think that's really stupid and think the guitar could have been worth a lot of
money, but to me that was never the point.

Not sure what my point here is though.  Guess I'm just getting nostalgic or
something.  Hmm...maybe I'm just pointing out that some of us are into this
stuff because we love it.  That's not to say that making a buck at it or using
an expensive program somehow spoils that, but just that for some people that's
all there is to it.

-Mike

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I had a guitar once.

Bob

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Mike wrote:
> 
> Some people get really upset when I tell them this one:  I once went to see Les
> Paul play at a small club in New York city and had him sign my guitar at the end
> of the night.  He signed it "Mike, Keep on pickin' Les Paul."  Well, I kept on
> pickin and rubbed the signature right off!  So when I tell people that, they
> think that's really stupid and think the guitar could have been worth a lot of
> money, but to me that was never the point.

Nice story !  I think it makes the thing even more precious, since you 
are the only one who still knows what was written ! 
Aaah, guitars *sigh* !  I often pick mine while I watch Povray
rendering;
if I had a quicky crap-line renderer, I wouldn't have the time to pick
it
up so often ;)

Fabien.

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Careful, I think I see Lance coming, and he looks disgruntled... Hide,
quick!

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On Sat, 2 Oct 1999 00:03:06 -0400, "TonyB"
<ben### [at] panamaphoenixnet> wrote:

>I mentioned POV-Ray. Everyone there has heard _of_ it. My attempts to
>explain more about it resulted in instant boredom and ingnoring from the
>'nice' people. As soon as a I returned to 3D Studio, they had my full
>attention again.

The situation here is even worse. No one has ever heard of POV. When I
explain, they react in one of these three ways:

a) Can in do real-time previews of my anims?
b) What do you mean you have to type everything in?! (dumb look)
c) Do you want MAX 3?

I can understand them... if they can buy MAX for $8 (or burn it for
$2), why should they use POV? And to answer your next question, I will
*never* use MAX because I was personally offended by this software!
Besides, Lance is using it, and he likes Quake (yuck!) :)


Peter Popov
ICQ: 15002700

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Peter Popov wrote:

> Besides, Lance is using it, and he likes Quake (yuck!) :)
> 
> Peter Popov
> ICQ: 15002700

And here I thought Lance was an ok kinda guy but this really tears it !

-- 
Ken Tyler
1100+ Povray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html

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TonyB <ben### [at] panamaphoenixnet> wrote:
: I mentioned POV-Ray. Everyone there has heard _of_ it. My attempts to
: explain more about it resulted in instant boredom and ingnoring from the
: 'nice' people. As soon as a I returned to 3D Studio, they had my full
: attention again.

  AFAIK this is a very common phenomenon. Almost all people who use 3DS a
lot, specially if doing it professionally, will tell you a thousand and
one excuses why povray is not good.
  Often this happens although they have seen only a couple of (mediocre)
povray pictures and they have heard that it's a text-based program.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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Peter Popov <pet### [at] usanet> wrote:
: c) Do you want MAX 3?

  The correct answer to this is: "Yes, but I don't have the money".
  Usually that's enough to shut them up.

-- 
main(i,_){for(_?--i,main(i+2,"FhhQHFIJD|FQTITFN]zRFHhhTBFHhhTBFysdB"[i]
):5;i&&_>1;printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ":(_=0,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Warp -*/

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On 4 Oct 1999 06:04:27 -0400, Nieminen Juha <war### [at] cctutfi> wrote:

>  AFAIK this is a very common phenomenon. Almost all people who use 3DS a
>lot, specially if doing it professionally, will tell you a thousand and
>one excuses why povray is not good.
>  Often this happens although they have seen only a couple of (mediocre)
>povray pictures and they have heard that it's a text-based program.

  Warp, I've always felt that the software, be it POV-Ray, 3DS, Softimage,
or RenderMan, is but a tool for the artist. It's what that artist *does*
with the software that counts. I've seen some entries in the IRTC that is
more artistic and imaginative than the featured images in CGW (Computer
Graphics World) magazine but they don't devote any print space to freeware
ray tracers :(

  Putting the vast resources of Pixar or ILM into the hands of some joe (or
Jeanne) off the street won't automagically give them artistic talent. That's
a quality that some are born with and others, like me, strive to develop an
eye for.

-- 
Alan
http://www.povray.org - Home of the Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer

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