I agree with you almost completely. I have come to the conclusion that programming is not art, it is craftmenship. Video games are the fusion of art and craftsmenship, such as web pages sometimes are, although video games, or interactive entertainment of other kinds take it to much higher levels. (If its not entertainment, it doesn't need to contain art, so interactivity alone does not necessarily mean a combonation of art and craftsmenship). I think there should be a word for a the intersection of a tool and artwork, but I can't think of one right now.
Exactly, Freenet needs to take a break from the experimental 'games over freenet stuff' and make it easy enough for Joe Buttfuck pinstrip to use, and then it can fly. It doesn't take much for file sharing to be succesful, it just has to work, unlike cuteMX, and countless other crap things that couldn't even downlowd files effectivly. There also needs to be a way to share files that aren't encrypted on the hard drive. I want to share all my music, but I don't want to have to use twice my normal space to have one store that I use and one encrypted store that I use to share with other people. I also want the option to see what other it is caching on my hard drive. That would just be fun.
Yeah we get it, tables turned, haha, everyone on slashdot is a hypocrite right? The MPAA and RIAA have done so many donwright evil things, I don't give a shit what happens to them and many others don't eighther. This is the start of a witch hunt and everyone here knows it but you obviously. Don't like what someone is doing? A witch! They are violating our copyrights, and must be completly stripped of their constituional rights! No one cuts off your phone service if they think you are making prank phone calls, it is not dealt with in that way. The same way as file sharing should not be dealt with with a mentality that they can do whatever they want to someone because they are suspected of doing something wrong. I had my ISP kick me and my family off because I used the telnet account which was set up for me by them. (They weren't too bright, and did everything by the defaults). I downloaded the passwd file to see who else was using this ISP and they thought I was trying to 'hack' the system. The passwd file was shadowed of course. Many people rely on their internet connections for more than play. Some people care about their freedoms enough to realize when they are being taken away one step at a time.
I agree to some extent, but perl's OO features are weird and frightening to me, and I know a whole lot of languages. Something needs to be done there for sure, there is no excuse for it. Ruby and python are about opposites when it comes to how they deal with OO (power vs. simplicity) so when perl changes its OO features to something mroe practical it will invitably take one of those roads and take more from one of those languages then the other. Its not going to be something completely new, they tried that already, and it sucks.
Its not joe smoe who will switch to linux, it is the people that are on the verge of switching. Something like this will make people like me want to go completely linux, and people like my dad start to consider it more and more.
As far as how many times a "high value" program can be copied is pretty much moot to me. I don't typically make copies of copies.
Now I will be pissed if the scheme is implemented where I can't pass a copy of my recording to a friend to watch. Or if I can't go back and watch the same episode of a show more than xx number of times.
So what you are saying is that you don't mind your rights being taken away until they infringe on your lifestyle?
"... Vorbis was the least realistic, with MP3Pro sounding better and Windows Media Audio best of all -- but none of these formats achieved CD quality."
I talk to the vorbis guys at #vorbis on irc.openprojects.net sometimes and I believe that at beta 4 this wasn't implemented but now that 1.0 is out it is in there. You are right, it was one of the last big things for them to do before they released 1.0.
It is alot of work to make a character that detailed, and I am surprised that the artists would put so much work into something that isn't really going to be shown to very many people (maybe now it will be though). Although I guess that after the Maxim cover it wasn't that big of a stretch.
Non-realtime rendering typically makes no use of 3D acceleration. I say typically because sometimes non-realtime, high quality openGL previews are made. But for stuff like this, not a chance, I wouldn't be surprised if the computers they used didn't even have video cards in the first place, and did a boot-from-LAN type thing.
I think you, and a lot of people that responded to you are forgetting, that many shots were motion captured, in which case, straight human character animatiors are out of the equation and mimes are in. Yep, mimes, as seen in Hideaway which was a movie to make early use of motion capture, and likewise mimes.
I would say that Industrial Light and Magic is probably one of the world's largest SGI companies, if not the largest. Two years ago they had around 900 employees (many traditional artists and programmers) but still I think they even do their rendering on SGI's although they might be starting to switch now. 'The bandwidth just isn't there on other computers' I remember reading.
I am surprised there were no articles on Shrek and Linux because it was done not only using linux for the rendering but for some of the actual animating, modeling, etc. as well (what with Maya, Houdini, shake, Photorealistic Renderman, BMRT, and Mental Ray running on Linux and all). Pacific Data Images is a big linux convert (as read in Post magazine) and have been using Linux probably more than any other major studio.
I saw Final Fantasy last night at a theatre preview and I can attest that the story is cliche but everyone should go and see it for the animation, which is beautiful, and everything you could hope for. It was the most visually impressive movie I have ever seen.
Sony's new workstation is way too new to be able to get anything done with, that won't happen for a while, assuming anyone is going to end up using it at all.
I know it sounds like anti-open source tripe and that's why I hate to make the argument but its the truth. The point I am trying to make is that Blender is different from the other major open projects out there in that high end 3D graphics are constantly making leaps and bound. Linux is gaining on MS because it is moving fast while MS is not. I didn't know about the python script to renderman interface and I am actually not that surprised, although I am also not surprised it isn't complete. I don't know much about the rendering quality to be honest, but I don't really like 3D studio's eighther.
Part of the reason I love lightwave, 3ds, and am starting to love Maya as I learn more about it is elegance. This is something that Blender does not have. It is the main crutch holding it back. The interface is horrible, and I don't feel there is any excuse. By engineers for engineers doesn't make sense eighther, the interface is awkward and makes accuracy difficult. I have used Lightwave, 3DS, Maya, Truespace, and Imagine and they are all much easier to work with then Blender, even Truespace.
The reason it is used so much is simply because it is free. I don't think as it stands anyone would buy it until the interface is redone.
From the Blender website: Because we have always believed in Open Source products we decided to open some parts of Blender 2.0. Also we have used some Open Source packages in the creation of Blender and we must of course give these back to the OS community. Here is a short overview of what you can expect in the near future: So I guess 'it's coming' which could mean anything really.
Anyone here knows if blender was actually used for some serious work like a movie or special fx? No sarcasm here, I'm just curious
The reason this is so long is because my friend swears by Blender, almost entirely because some of it is GPLed, and I have a difficult time convincing him that right now there is no Free equivelent to high end commercial 3D graphics, not by a longshot.
I have never heard anything of the sort and I HIGHLY doubt it. The four main 3D packages are Lightwave 6.5b, 3D Studio MAX 4, Softimage XSI 1.5, and Maya 4. Most of the special effects that you see are done with Softimage and Maya. Almost everything that is rendered for film is rendered with a program created by Pixar called Photorealistic Renderman. Things that aren't rendered with it (things that need true shadows, reflections, and refrections, which don't come along as often as you might think) are rendered with eighther BMRT (free for non commercial use, and adheres to the Renderman scene description standard that Pixar invented) or Mental Ray (Very high quality renderer that comes with Softimage. The reasons that Blender has probably never been used in commercial serious production of film, television, or games are the following:
1. Poor rendering. Blender doesn't have the quality or features neccesary in its own rendering engine and does not have renderman scene output.
2. Animation features. The 'Magic Four' described above have many animation features that can aid in about every area of animation. What separates Softimage and Maya from Lightwave and 3DS is for the most part very powerful animation tools.
3. Blender's interface is wretched. It is beyond reproach and it pains me to say it, but I cannot think of how it could be any worse. It seems that features were just tacked on an buttons were thrown into the panel. It is not elegant in any way. I have used a lot of different 3d packages so anyone who replies and says 'its great when you get used to it' doesn't understand. Just because you suffered through documentation, manuals, and experimentation to finally be able to use it doesn't mean it's intuitive because it isn't. Lightwave, Maya, and 3d studio are intuitive interfaces. If you can't use Blender don't worry, it doesn't mean that you aren't cut out to do 3D.
I don't want any of this to detract from Blender, because the main reason it isn't used in high end production is that it doesn't matter that it is free. When stuff needs to be done, and done well, the people under the gun reach for the best tool and Blender isn't it. Maya unlimited costs $16,000 per license. Blender is a low-end program, and could be a good one at that. Magazines and websites are starting to pay attention to it as they should, but just because (some) of Blender is GPL doesn't make it the best thing out there. Maybe if it stays around as long as the other programs mentioned here it will aproach the same functionality. Most have been through about least 8 very major revisions, and each revision usually takes at least a year with a full team 10+ people working on it. The exception is Lightwave which is worked on by a very small team but manages to more than keep up because of phenomenal programmers.
Re:Books about Graphic Software...
on
The Blender Book
·
· Score: 1
The math behind nurbs isn't even incredibly complex let alone using nurbs. They are actually very simple, even though they are a great tool.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with you almost completely. I have come to the conclusion that programming is not art, it is craftmenship. Video games are the fusion of art and craftsmenship, such as web pages sometimes are, although video games, or interactive entertainment of other kinds take it to much higher levels. (If its not entertainment, it doesn't need to contain art, so interactivity alone does not necessarily mean a combonation of art and craftsmenship). I think there should be a word for a the intersection of a tool and artwork, but I can't think of one right now.
Exactly, Freenet needs to take a break from the experimental 'games over freenet stuff' and make it easy enough for Joe Buttfuck pinstrip to use, and then it can fly. It doesn't take much for file sharing to be succesful, it just has to work, unlike cuteMX, and countless other crap things that couldn't even downlowd files effectivly. There also needs to be a way to share files that aren't encrypted on the hard drive. I want to share all my music, but I don't want to have to use twice my normal space to have one store that I use and one encrypted store that I use to share with other people. I also want the option to see what other it is caching on my hard drive. That would just be fun.
Yeah we get it, tables turned, haha, everyone on slashdot is a hypocrite right? The MPAA and RIAA have done so many donwright evil things, I don't give a shit what happens to them and many others don't eighther. This is the start of a witch hunt and everyone here knows it but you obviously. Don't like what someone is doing? A witch! They are violating our copyrights, and must be completly stripped of their constituional rights! No one cuts off your phone service if they think you are making prank phone calls, it is not dealt with in that way. The same way as file sharing should not be dealt with with a mentality that they can do whatever they want to someone because they are suspected of doing something wrong. I had my ISP kick me and my family off because I used the telnet account which was set up for me by them. (They weren't too bright, and did everything by the defaults). I downloaded the passwd file to see who else was using this ISP and they thought I was trying to 'hack' the system. The passwd file was shadowed of course. Many people rely on their internet connections for more than play. Some people care about their freedoms enough to realize when they are being taken away one step at a time.
PHC
I agree to some extent, but perl's OO features are weird and frightening to me, and I know a whole lot of languages. Something needs to be done there for sure, there is no excuse for it. Ruby and python are about opposites when it comes to how they deal with OO (power vs. simplicity) so when perl changes its OO features to something mroe practical it will invitably take one of those roads and take more from one of those languages then the other. Its not going to be something completely new, they tried that already, and it sucks.
Its not joe smoe who will switch to linux, it is the people that are on the verge of switching. Something like this will make people like me want to go completely linux, and people like my dad start to consider it more and more.
but with the power of the internet, morons can give themselves microphones! Hopefully the inverese is also true.
how so? I know CSS but I can't think off the bat how that would be done, and it would be very useful to me. Mind sharing? it would be a big help.
PLATFORMS NOT IMPACTED: Tru64 4.0.G, NetBSD, and OpenBSD are not vulnerable
this isn't offtopic, it is a problem
As far as how many times a "high value" program can be copied is pretty much moot to me. I don't typically make copies of copies.
Now I will be pissed if the scheme is implemented where I can't pass a copy of my recording to a friend to watch. Or if I can't go back and watch the same episode of a show more than xx number of times.
So what you are saying is that you don't mind your rights being taken away until they infringe on your lifestyle?
"... Vorbis was the least realistic, with MP3Pro sounding better and Windows Media Audio best of all -- but none of these formats achieved CD quality."
I talk to the vorbis guys at #vorbis on irc.openprojects.net sometimes and I believe that at beta 4 this wasn't implemented but now that 1.0 is out it is in there. You are right, it was one of the last big things for them to do before they released 1.0.
It is alot of work to make a character that detailed, and I am surprised that the artists would put so much work into something that isn't really going to be shown to very many people (maybe now it will be though). Although I guess that after the Maxim cover it wasn't that big of a stretch.
Non-realtime rendering typically makes no use of 3D acceleration. I say typically because sometimes non-realtime, high quality openGL previews are made. But for stuff like this, not a chance, I wouldn't be surprised if the computers they used didn't even have video cards in the first place, and did a boot-from-LAN type thing.
I think you, and a lot of people that responded to you are forgetting, that many shots were motion captured, in which case, straight human character animatiors are out of the equation and mimes are in. Yep, mimes, as seen in Hideaway which was a movie to make early use of motion capture, and likewise mimes.
I would say that Industrial Light and Magic is probably one of the world's largest SGI companies, if not the largest. Two years ago they had around 900 employees (many traditional artists and programmers) but still I think they even do their rendering on SGI's although they might be starting to switch now. 'The bandwidth just isn't there on other computers' I remember reading.
First http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Server/9029 /images4.html is a link to a very large gallery of images from the movie. There is even one of the Aki naked, although I am not sure why it got made in the first place. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Server/9029 /aki_nude.jpg is the direct link.
I am surprised there were no articles on Shrek and Linux because it was done not only using linux for the rendering but for some of the actual animating, modeling, etc. as well (what with Maya, Houdini, shake, Photorealistic Renderman, BMRT, and Mental Ray running on Linux and all). Pacific Data Images is a big linux convert (as read in Post magazine) and have been using Linux probably more than any other major studio.
I saw Final Fantasy last night at a theatre preview and I can attest that the story is cliche but everyone should go and see it for the animation, which is beautiful, and everything you could hope for. It was the most visually impressive movie I have ever seen.
Sony's new workstation is way too new to be able to get anything done with, that won't happen for a while, assuming anyone is going to end up using it at all.
I know it sounds like anti-open source tripe and that's why I hate to make the argument but its the truth. The point I am trying to make is that Blender is different from the other major open projects out there in that high end 3D graphics are constantly making leaps and bound. Linux is gaining on MS because it is moving fast while MS is not. I didn't know about the python script to renderman interface and I am actually not that surprised, although I am also not surprised it isn't complete. I don't know much about the rendering quality to be honest, but I don't really like 3D studio's eighther.
Part of the reason I love lightwave, 3ds, and am starting to love Maya as I learn more about it is elegance. This is something that Blender does not have. It is the main crutch holding it back. The interface is horrible, and I don't feel there is any excuse. By engineers for engineers doesn't make sense eighther, the interface is awkward and makes accuracy difficult. I have used Lightwave, 3DS, Maya, Truespace, and Imagine and they are all much easier to work with then Blender, even Truespace.
The reason it is used so much is simply because it is free. I don't think as it stands anyone would buy it until the interface is redone.
From the Blender website: Because we have always believed in Open Source products we decided to open some parts of Blender 2.0. Also we have used some Open Source packages in the creation of Blender and we must of course give these back to the OS community. Here is a short overview of what you can expect in the near future: So I guess 'it's coming' which could mean anything really.
Anyone here knows if blender was actually used for some serious work like a movie or special fx? No sarcasm here, I'm just curious
The reason this is so long is because my friend swears by Blender, almost entirely because some of it is GPLed, and I have a difficult time convincing him that right now there is no Free equivelent to high end commercial 3D graphics, not by a longshot.
I have never heard anything of the sort and I HIGHLY doubt it. The four main 3D packages are Lightwave 6.5b, 3D Studio MAX 4, Softimage XSI 1.5, and Maya 4. Most of the special effects that you see are done with Softimage and Maya. Almost everything that is rendered for film is rendered with a program created by Pixar called Photorealistic Renderman. Things that aren't rendered with it (things that need true shadows, reflections, and refrections, which don't come along as often as you might think) are rendered with eighther BMRT (free for non commercial use, and adheres to the Renderman scene description standard that Pixar invented) or Mental Ray (Very high quality renderer that comes with Softimage. The reasons that Blender has probably never been used in commercial serious production of film, television, or games are the following:
1. Poor rendering. Blender doesn't have the quality or features neccesary in its own rendering engine and does not have renderman scene output.
2. Animation features. The 'Magic Four' described above have many animation features that can aid in about every area of animation. What separates Softimage and Maya from Lightwave and 3DS is for the most part very powerful animation tools.
3. Blender's interface is wretched. It is beyond reproach and it pains me to say it, but I cannot think of how it could be any worse. It seems that features were just tacked on an buttons were thrown into the panel. It is not elegant in any way. I have used a lot of different 3d packages so anyone who replies and says 'its great when you get used to it' doesn't understand. Just because you suffered through documentation, manuals, and experimentation to finally be able to use it doesn't mean it's intuitive because it isn't. Lightwave, Maya, and 3d studio are intuitive interfaces. If you can't use Blender don't worry, it doesn't mean that you aren't cut out to do 3D.
I don't want any of this to detract from Blender, because the main reason it isn't used in high end production is that it doesn't matter that it is free. When stuff needs to be done, and done well, the people under the gun reach for the best tool and Blender isn't it. Maya unlimited costs $16,000 per license. Blender is a low-end program, and could be a good one at that. Magazines and websites are starting to pay attention to it as they should, but just because (some) of Blender is GPL doesn't make it the best thing out there. Maybe if it stays around as long as the other programs mentioned here it will aproach the same functionality. Most have been through about least 8 very major revisions, and each revision usually takes at least a year with a full team 10+ people working on it. The exception is Lightwave which is worked on by a very small team but manages to more than keep up because of phenomenal programmers.
The math behind nurbs isn't even incredibly complex let alone using nurbs. They are actually very simple, even though they are a great tool.
Damn, my idea for 'Donglekey brand pepsi' might not fly after all
Amen to that. I like the idea of targeted ads, it just makes sense that advertising could start being useful and stop being just an annoyance.
that extra A really detracts from my point
Exactly, you shouldn't have marketing zombie restards trying to market super computers.