Whoever tagged this as "rpg" doesn't know what an "rpg" is. So...it's an arcade game? A board game? A sport? Just because the video game industry churns out RPG after RPG, doesn't mean it's too broad of a category. 'Gimmicky Brawler/Platformer Hybrid' doesn't have the same ring, I guess.
FACT - when you preface a sentence with the word FACT, you look like an asshole This is the sort of nuanced, self-deprecating humor that's actually funny.
As far as bloat goes, Max 2008 is actually a faster than 2009. I don't miss the instability of the older versions at all. I probably won't mess with Maya in the near future. Most of what I do is game environmental art and I don't see much advantage for my sort of work. We'll probably see a greater cross-pollination of features with each successive version of the bigger packages. Mountain to Mohammed and all that.
As someone who cut their teeth on Blender and is now learning Maya, I find it's lack of hotkeys disturbing.
Instead of memorizing hotkeys, i have to memorize cryptic icons and magically shifting menus.
After 6 months of working with Maya i've found i prefer Blender for almost everything. Ugh, that goddamn hotbox. >
I've found a recurring theme with animators generally liking Maya and modelers who have experience with other packages not liking it much for polygonal modeling. Maybe once the industry matures more we'll see a greater consistency in interfaces (or at least the ability to properly customize them).
I have also been learning to use blender recently, and would agree with you on the efficiency front, but not on the intuitive one - it took me ages to find a decent tutorial (I eventually used the noob to pro wikibook), and without one I was stumped.
The problems with the interface for beginners is that not much is apparent - for example, I could create a cube/cylinder/monkey, and with a bit of fiddling managed to make it red and clear, I could sometimes move random nodes. But this was essentially it.
The problem comes due to the heavy reliance upon keyboard shortcuts and unnamed icons, which once learned are certainly efficient and easy to use, but they don't facilitate easy learning. This is a very large and often neglected aspect of learning something as complex and just plain *weird* as 3D modeling and animation: Documentation! Say what you will about the 3ds Max interface (I like it for poly modeling) but the documentation and tutorials are some of the best I've seen for a good introduction to 3D. I found Blender daunting when I last tried it because there really was a shortage of available tutorials and other documentation.
Good documentation will carry a mediocre interface better than poor documentation will carry a great interface.
I just don't think most of the people here understand the difference between 'easy to use' and 'easy to learn'. Blender looks like a really interesting tool, but a lot of people have unrealistic expectations for making complex tasks simple. Having used 3ds Max in a production environment for four years, what's 'intuitive' now is far different from what it was when I started.
First of all, I realize that this e-mail was not necessarily about the interface, but I'm going to prelude these comments with a comment about them anyways.
This is a message directed towards all people who are not familiar with 3d applications. Most 3d applications have historically had interfaces that deviate from the standard application interface. Get over it.
As someone who has been toying with various 3d applications since 1990 and having taken some time to learn Blender recently I can say this. Blender's interface is actually quite intuitive and effcient. I'm sure it helps that you can access all the functions from the GUI now instead of having to memorize hotkeys.
Keyboard shortcuts often make for a more efficient workflow, but *having* to use them makes for a much steeper learning curve.
>That's already over the line. The second you put yourself (or worse, annoint ANYONE to) the position of deciding what thoughts are proper and which improper you are a threat to liberty.
The purpose of the law has never been to govern thought.. but expression. You're welcome to sit in the privacy of your home, or your local cafe and think about how much you hate group X or how you'd like it if other people hate group Y.
At issue is encouraging others to do so. So... don't ask, don't tell?
Doom 3 was essentially a tech demonstrator for their game engine, and seems to have had much greater success as a sales tool for their technology rather than being anywhere near as groundbreaking as the original. Cynical but profitable.
They work well if you're ten people. They feel like sweatshops when you're 80. They're loud, lack privacy, and its too easy for people to yell across the room or walk up to your desk instead of forcing them to think about whether they really need to initiate the communication in the first place or if its something they can figure out/live without in the first place.
Open Concepts are music to a companies' ears. They're cheap as hell. Designers/artists/loud people love them. But engineers who can't do math while listening to music on headphones rightfully hate them. Not all artists love them.
Doing concept art and trying to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the piece you're working on is much harder if you're surrounded by noisy solipsists.
Well then time to build myself an EMP, teflon coat my house(bugs can not climb teflon), rig up a positive pressure airlock system, and put really bright lights on my house(to pwn their tiny cameras). No, you just need your own bugs.
Why did the owners sell it? Didn't it make enough money for them?
They simply couldn't have run out of ideas.
I am pretty bummed about this. I think there's a good chance that Masamune Shirow did. He was displaced by the Kobe earthquake and the rumor has it that he's been in declining health for a number of years. His newer work hasn't really been story oriented... when it's come out at all. The writing team for the series did a great job of rearranging and expanding his stories, but the challenge of keeping things fresh seems great.
Then there's the problem of concepts that were once innovative being absorbed into the mainstream of pop culture: If your stories stay the same, you become a has-been. If you change them to suit the audience you're a sellout. Or you can develop something different entirely. If he develops his work further I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to work on Appleseed again.
Slashdot Mirror
I was thinking more 'Mob Rules' era Sabbath. It's underrated in my opinion.
Or is there some mysterious eBay-PayPal-Scientology connection I'm ignorent of?
They're all full of assholes?As far as bloat goes, Max 2008 is actually a faster than 2009. I don't miss the instability of the older versions at all. I probably won't mess with Maya in the near future. Most of what I do is game environmental art and I don't see much advantage for my sort of work. We'll probably see a greater cross-pollination of features with each successive version of the bigger packages. Mountain to Mohammed and all that.
Instead of memorizing hotkeys, i have to memorize cryptic icons and magically shifting menus.
After 6 months of working with Maya i've found i prefer Blender for almost everything. Ugh, that goddamn hotbox. >
I've found a recurring theme with animators generally liking Maya and modelers who have experience with other packages not liking it much for polygonal modeling. Maybe once the industry matures more we'll see a greater consistency in interfaces (or at least the ability to properly customize them).
The problems with the interface for beginners is that not much is apparent - for example, I could create a cube/cylinder/monkey, and with a bit of fiddling managed to make it red and clear, I could sometimes move random nodes. But this was essentially it.
The problem comes due to the heavy reliance upon keyboard shortcuts and unnamed icons, which once learned are certainly efficient and easy to use, but they don't facilitate easy learning. This is a very large and often neglected aspect of learning something as complex and just plain *weird* as 3D modeling and animation: Documentation! Say what you will about the 3ds Max interface (I like it for poly modeling) but the documentation and tutorials are some of the best I've seen for a good introduction to 3D. I found Blender daunting when I last tried it because there really was a shortage of available tutorials and other documentation.
Good documentation will carry a mediocre interface better than poor documentation will carry a great interface.
I just don't think most of the people here understand the difference between 'easy to use' and 'easy to learn'. Blender looks like a really interesting tool, but a lot of people have unrealistic expectations for making complex tasks simple. Having used 3ds Max in a production environment for four years, what's 'intuitive' now is far different from what it was when I started.
This is a message directed towards all people who are not familiar with 3d applications. Most 3d applications have historically had interfaces that deviate from the standard application interface. Get over it.
As someone who has been toying with various 3d applications since 1990 and having taken some time to learn Blender recently I can say this. Blender's interface is actually quite intuitive and effcient. I'm sure it helps that you can access all the functions from the GUI now instead of having to memorize hotkeys.
Keyboard shortcuts often make for a more efficient workflow, but *having* to use them makes for a much steeper learning curve.
The purpose of the law has never been to govern thought.. but expression. You're welcome to sit in the privacy of your home, or your local cafe and think about how much you hate group X or how you'd like it if other people hate group Y.
At issue is encouraging others to do so. So... don't ask, don't tell?
Just another shell game.
Doom 3 was essentially a tech demonstrator for their game engine, and seems to have had much greater success as a sales tool for their technology rather than being anywhere near as groundbreaking as the original. Cynical but profitable.
They work well if you're ten people. They feel like sweatshops when you're 80. They're loud, lack privacy, and its too easy for people to yell across the room or walk up to your desk instead of forcing them to think about whether they really need to initiate the communication in the first place or if its something they can figure out/live without in the first place.
Open Concepts are music to a companies' ears. They're cheap as hell. Designers/artists/loud people love them. But engineers who can't do math while listening to music on headphones rightfully hate them. Not all artists love them.
Doing concept art and trying to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the piece you're working on is much harder if you're surrounded by noisy solipsists.
That isn't really black, though...
Get the hell back to 4chan you moron. Hey, it works for the editors.
A Dragon Ball movie is already on the works, set to be released in 2009.
IMDB Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1098327/
Leaked photos: http://themovingpicture.net/new-dragonball-set-photos 2009 backwards is 9002. Over 9000. Coincidence? I don't think so.
They simply couldn't have run out of ideas.
I am pretty bummed about this. I think there's a good chance that Masamune Shirow did. He was displaced by the Kobe earthquake and the rumor has it that he's been in declining health for a number of years. His newer work hasn't really been story oriented... when it's come out at all. The writing team for the series did a great job of rearranging and expanding his stories, but the challenge of keeping things fresh seems great.
Then there's the problem of concepts that were once innovative being absorbed into the mainstream of pop culture: If your stories stay the same, you become a has-been. If you change them to suit the audience you're a sellout. Or you can develop something different entirely. If he develops his work further I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to work on Appleseed again.
Nah, it'll be the telco ISP's that'll be selling the ones that'll actually succeed.
If you're going to plagiarize, at least do from someplace more obscure. Especially if you get paid to be clever for a living.
High quality work is always gorgeous, regardless of the medium.