Indeed. I use modo and Silo for modeling hard surfaced objects, and rendering in modo or Maya (via Mental Ray). Then there's sculpting specific apps like Mudbox and ZBrush (which also does texturing).
You'll rarely, if ever, find a studio using one program. Certainely none of the bigger ones, and I don't even know of any smaller studios that rely on one piece of software for all their needs. For the hobbyist though, this isn't always a viable option due to the costs associated with some of the software.
Modeling especially, seems to be segmented. Model a base mesh in modo/Silo, bring it into ZBrush/Mudbox for sculpting, rebuilding topology in modo or Silo again, and then bringing it all together into Maya/XSI/3DS/LW/etc.
One of blender's shortcomings is that there are a number of ways to model with it and the most efficient, I have found, is not the standard "extrude it from a box", and only a few tutorials cover the more different methods (like drawing outlines as a 2d plane and moving them into their 3d positions). You've just described every single modeling app out there. However, sometimes the "extrude from box" is the most efficient. It all depends on what you're modeling, what you're modeling for (animation-ready models can have different requirements from "static" models), and of course, the artist at the keyboard and mouse.
As for tutorials, if you're looking for modeling tutorials, look at tutorials written for other apps. The one thing about modeling tutorials is that they can basically apply to any application, despite being written for a different one. The tool names may be different, but the concepts are the same. There's MANY non "extrude from box" tutorials out there.
you need to learn the "stupid" keyboard shortcut in any graphic app to get reasonably effecient. take any application open source or commercial, and you'll see that they all have keyboard equivelants to menu items. believe it or not blenders many shortcuts are fairly well organized.
yeah it's a hurdle, but if you want to be good at anything, you need to clear a few hurdles.
why is it flawed? because it takes effort to learn? come on... You and I seem to think a like - and in fact you made a key point (your last sentence) I forgot to mention. Any time spent learning those "stupid keyboard shortcuts" is going to be time well spent - it'll save time in the long run. Much quicker to hit "P" to fill a poly than, for example, having to search for "Generic Poly Modeling Tab" and then finding the "Create/Fill/etc Poly" button. Also, I don't know how it is in other industries, but being an artist, I value efficiency. The quicker and more efficiently I can model the better. It helps to "stay in the zone". Rather than fidgeting around looking for tabs, buttons, etc, I can get straight away to realising my ideas.
Any modeler/artist worth their salt is using mostly key shortcuts - at least to enable a tool. It's simply too inefficient to use the mouse to perform an action. With there being more and more modeling tools than ever before, it can simply be too cluttered to have everything on screen, which means navigating through various tabs/menus/etc. In modo** and Maya, I'm enabling every tool I use with a click of a key, a mouse gesture, etc. That said, if Blender wants to appeal to more newbie hobbyists, it should have a decent GUI that'll let them get started. (Disclaimer, I haven't used Blender in years, so I'm saying this on what you said about the need to learn keyboard shortcuts)
**I'd like to see a freeware/OSS project take the approach Luxology is taking with modo. First, they baked out the modeler end of the app in the first release. Then in the second major release we got a render engine and texturing/painting tools (and of course refinements and improvements to the modeling end of things). Presumably, in the third major release we'll get animation (and other improvements to modeling and texturing and rendering). I personally like this approach because instead of stretching yourself too thin focusing on everything at once, you start off by getting the basics of each "component" right. This seems to be a result of their Nexus core, which from what I gather is a developmental platform, where they can "bake" out various versions of the program.
Racing and sports games can be engrossing. While they may lack "characters" with traits and personalities you can identify with or plot lines, the word engrossing (as I understand it) simply means to take one's full attention. Racing sims surely require this. So do some sports games. Or at least, they can.
Also, the post you responded to says *I* have the right to say who can and cannot sell my product." - It doesn't say anything about dictating what you can and can't do with a product you've purchased.
Again, it may not be a law, but a company can sell or refuse to sell their product to anyone they choose. A reseller can't force a company to sell them their product.
It may not be a law, but companies certainly do have the right to tell their resellers what they can and don't with their product. If the reseller signs a contract with Sony (or whatever company), the contract may stipulate what can and can't be done, and the reseller is legally obligated to follow that contract.
Again I ask, if your brother rob a bank should you go to jail? Your father raised both of you, why shouldn't he go to jail? You talked to your brother at some point, surely you are to blame. All of these statements are as silly as what you are trying to say.
There's a fundamental difference you're missing (or rather, ignoring). The Sony board are legally responsible for the actions of their employees. My father is not legally responsible for my actions. So if they pass a law making parents legally responsible for their child's actions, does that make a difference? Whether or not something is morally right or wrong, does not depend on legality. I'm not excusing Sony for the rootkit scandal, I'm just saying that legality shouldn't play a role in a moral judgement.
It's also not Eidos's responsibility to worry about whether or not their business decisions will set a precedent for other publishers to follow. They make business decisions with their own bottom line in mind, NOT Sony's or any other publisher's. While I agree on the first part of the quoted comment, and also the second, the two may be at odds with each other. Okay, so that may not make sense. What I mean though is that by setting a bad precedent, it may hurt their bottom line. For example, if they hold off on PS3 releases till 2008, and others look at that and follow suit, it could hurt the PS3's sales, and therefor Eidos' bottom line. If they create games with a 2008 release schedule, and others do the same, and it then affects the sales of the PS3, that's potentially less customers to buy the game, and they may have wasted time, resources, and money on the production of those games. Apologies for the terrible wording of my post, but hopefully you get the idea.
Indeed. I've felt for awhile one of the biggest problems with our country is the two party system. Too many people, both politicians and the common voter, vote along party lines. There's just not much room for people who aren't a member of either party. All too often, they get labeled as quackjobs by the population and the media.
Most 3D apps are also heavily keyboard based as well. Sure, they have buttons as well, but to be in efficient in any of them, you're going to use the built in key mappings (usually the most widely used tools are given key mappings) or create your own, or, most likely a combo of both. It's just too time consuming and irritating to have to move the cursor over to a button for the tool you need, especially since many (or maybe most) packages have a tabbed style system of laying out their UI buttons. Artists, including 3D artists, need to be able to fluidly move from one tool to the next. "Flow" is very important. That is, if you're constantly having to break your rhythm to select a tool from a list of buttons, it's going to sap one's energy, motivation, and inspiration. I simply don't know of a single digital artist who hasn't in some way customized their UI's for their various apps. Or, at the very least they'll learn and use the included key mappings.
Creating some things, like say cars or airplanes doesn't take much artistic ability. 3D sort of falls between technical and creative. To create a car is more of a technical challenge than a creative one (that, an existing car, and not your own concept), but rendering it in a pleasing and expressive way takes creative skill (and natural, the technical skill of knowing your tools).
I care very much. All that time spent tweaking setups in GTR2/rFactor/F1 Challenge in test sessions would be meaningless (and almost, but not quite, as meaningless as this post) if I didn't get to actually race!
Yes, it's tragically ridiculous how many (read: most) people take whatever Apple and the mainstream media feeds them -- at face value. It works both ways, and it works the same way for just about anything.
True, real images have noise in them, but you don't need the camera adding extra noise that is not there in the "real" image. So true. The problem I've seen a lot of people struggle with is distinguishing between camera noise (the added noise you speak of), and the real, natural noise. I've seen more than one example of someone applying a filter like Noise Ninja to an iamge, only to get the cartoony effect that Frobnicator was reffering to. For instance, think of a picture of a road. The concrete/asphalt/etc surface is going to have what appears to be noise (the natural bumps, color variations, etc in the road surface), while the sky may have noise introduced by the camera. Say the sky has a lot of noise, so the user goes and bumps up the strength, smoothness, and other settings of Noise Ninja to remove this. The result is that the road also gets blurred, and looks very unnatural. The key is to only apply the filter to the areas that need it, as opposed to the whole image.
I've often wondered what the ratio overseas is in terms of good versus crap when it comes to movies. I suspect it's relatively the same as it is here in the US. The thing is, it's often only the "good" foreign movies that make their way over here. To me, it's kind of like music. So many people claim the music of today is terrible compared to music from the 60's and 70's. They'll mention the same 10 or 15 bands, or songs, and convienantly leave out all the crap that came from those times. People tend to only remember the best of times.
PCs are also the home of sims, be it flying or racing/driving. I'm a big fan of the Gran Turismo series (for playing against friends), and it simply doesn't come close to being a sim. I've also never seen a flying game on a console that comes anywhere near close to what is available for PCs.
Can you tell me where I said Ardour, Jack, and Sweep are not profession-level software? If you read my post, I never made any such statements. I know a few people who are in the field of sound/music production, and very few of their core tools are freeware apps. Sure, some of the utilities they use are, but again, they're not the core apps that they do the majority of their work in. Chances are, they already have their OSX/Windows systems set up, configured, and all their software already installed, so I don't see this causing a lot of people to switch. If anything, I think it'll just make it easier for hobbyists, who are already familiar with Linux, to get more into sound/video/graphics with Linux. The general person, who might be interested in sound/video/graphics, but who isn't familiar with Linux is probably not even going to consider this when there's iMovie, etc out there on systems they're most likely more familiar with. The professionals who already use and know Linux probably have everything set up already - though it might make it easier for people new to the "scene".
I'm not really knocking the idea, just saying it's not going to cause a large number of people to switch over. It's just more of the same old "Linux is going to take over !!" hype. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for Linux to be more well recieved in every aspect of computers, but it's just not going to happen for Joe Sixpack for awhile. It seems to be making more inroads in the professional communities, especially in areas like 3D where Linux seems much better suited for massive render farms and the like.
Having such flavours of Ubuntu will probably make their conversion to Linux easier:) Until they realise that most of their professional-level software isn't installed in these packages...
This is a pretty vague generalisation. During *acceleration* it is almost always true. Under cornering (without accelerating however, both FWD and RWD cars can understeer. Naturally, FWD cars tend to be heavier on the front end, which contributes to understeer. Brake balance, suspension, and aerodynamics (not so much in road cars, but more evident in race tuned cars) all play a role in oversteer vs understeer.
Also, uncommon (in road cars), but possible, is snap oversteer in a FWD car. Suddenly dropping off the throttle during cornering can cause the front wheels to gain more traction, and the back can slip away.
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed. I use modo and Silo for modeling hard surfaced objects, and rendering in modo or Maya (via Mental Ray). Then there's sculpting specific apps like Mudbox and ZBrush (which also does texturing).
You'll rarely, if ever, find a studio using one program. Certainely none of the bigger ones, and I don't even know of any smaller studios that rely on one piece of software for all their needs. For the hobbyist though, this isn't always a viable option due to the costs associated with some of the software.
Modeling especially, seems to be segmented. Model a base mesh in modo/Silo, bring it into ZBrush/Mudbox for sculpting, rebuilding topology in modo or Silo again, and then bringing it all together into Maya/XSI/3DS/LW/etc.
As for tutorials, if you're looking for modeling tutorials, look at tutorials written for other apps. The one thing about modeling tutorials is that they can basically apply to any application, despite being written for a different one. The tool names may be different, but the concepts are the same. There's MANY non "extrude from box" tutorials out there.
yeah it's a hurdle, but if you want to be good at anything, you need to clear a few hurdles.
why is it flawed? because it takes effort to learn? come on... You and I seem to think a like - and in fact you made a key point (your last sentence) I forgot to mention. Any time spent learning those "stupid keyboard shortcuts" is going to be time well spent - it'll save time in the long run. Much quicker to hit "P" to fill a poly than, for example, having to search for "Generic Poly Modeling Tab" and then finding the "Create/Fill/etc Poly" button. Also, I don't know how it is in other industries, but being an artist, I value efficiency. The quicker and more efficiently I can model the better. It helps to "stay in the zone". Rather than fidgeting around looking for tabs, buttons, etc, I can get straight away to realising my ideas.
Any modeler/artist worth their salt is using mostly key shortcuts - at least to enable a tool. It's simply too inefficient to use the mouse to perform an action. With there being more and more modeling tools than ever before, it can simply be too cluttered to have everything on screen, which means navigating through various tabs/menus/etc. In modo** and Maya, I'm enabling every tool I use with a click of a key, a mouse gesture, etc. That said, if Blender wants to appeal to more newbie hobbyists, it should have a decent GUI that'll let them get started. (Disclaimer, I haven't used Blender in years, so I'm saying this on what you said about the need to learn keyboard shortcuts)
**I'd like to see a freeware/OSS project take the approach Luxology is taking with modo. First, they baked out the modeler end of the app in the first release. Then in the second major release we got a render engine and texturing/painting tools (and of course refinements and improvements to the modeling end of things). Presumably, in the third major release we'll get animation (and other improvements to modeling and texturing and rendering). I personally like this approach because instead of stretching yourself too thin focusing on everything at once, you start off by getting the basics of each "component" right. This seems to be a result of their Nexus core, which from what I gather is a developmental platform, where they can "bake" out various versions of the program.
Already been tried. It's called the population of Wisconsin.
Racing and sports games can be engrossing. While they may lack "characters" with traits and personalities you can identify with or plot lines, the word engrossing (as I understand it) simply means to take one's full attention. Racing sims surely require this. So do some sports games. Or at least, they can.
As if the average slashdot reader has ever heard of exercise.
Sorry, it was just too easy.
Madness?! This! Is! SLASHDOT!
Also, the post you responded to says *I* have the right to say who can and cannot sell my product." - It doesn't say anything about dictating what you can and can't do with a product you've purchased.
Again, it may not be a law, but a company can sell or refuse to sell their product to anyone they choose. A reseller can't force a company to sell them their product.
It may not be a law, but companies certainly do have the right to tell their resellers what they can and don't with their product. If the reseller signs a contract with Sony (or whatever company), the contract may stipulate what can and can't be done, and the reseller is legally obligated to follow that contract.
There's a fundamental difference you're missing (or rather, ignoring). The Sony board are legally responsible for the actions of their employees. My father is not legally responsible for my actions. So if they pass a law making parents legally responsible for their child's actions, does that make a difference? Whether or not something is morally right or wrong, does not depend on legality. I'm not excusing Sony for the rootkit scandal, I'm just saying that legality shouldn't play a role in a moral judgement.
Indeed. I've felt for awhile one of the biggest problems with our country is the two party system. Too many people, both politicians and the common voter, vote along party lines. There's just not much room for people who aren't a member of either party. All too often, they get labeled as quackjobs by the population and the media.
Wow, how'd you convince him to do that?
Most 3D apps are also heavily keyboard based as well. Sure, they have buttons as well, but to be in efficient in any of them, you're going to use the built in key mappings (usually the most widely used tools are given key mappings) or create your own, or, most likely a combo of both. It's just too time consuming and irritating to have to move the cursor over to a button for the tool you need, especially since many (or maybe most) packages have a tabbed style system of laying out their UI buttons. Artists, including 3D artists, need to be able to fluidly move from one tool to the next. "Flow" is very important. That is, if you're constantly having to break your rhythm to select a tool from a list of buttons, it's going to sap one's energy, motivation, and inspiration. I simply don't know of a single digital artist who hasn't in some way customized their UI's for their various apps. Or, at the very least they'll learn and use the included key mappings.
Creating some things, like say cars or airplanes doesn't take much artistic ability. 3D sort of falls between technical and creative. To create a car is more of a technical challenge than a creative one (that, an existing car, and not your own concept), but rendering it in a pleasing and expressive way takes creative skill (and natural, the technical skill of knowing your tools).
I care very much. All that time spent tweaking setups in GTR2/rFactor/F1 Challenge in test sessions would be meaningless (and almost, but not quite, as meaningless as this post) if I didn't get to actually race!
Yes, it's tragically ridiculous how many (read: most) people take whatever Apple and the mainstream media feeds them -- at face value. It works both ways, and it works the same way for just about anything.
So true. The problem I've seen a lot of people struggle with is distinguishing between camera noise (the added noise you speak of), and the real, natural noise. I've seen more than one example of someone applying a filter like Noise Ninja to an iamge, only to get the cartoony effect that Frobnicator was reffering to. For instance, think of a picture of a road. The concrete/asphalt/etc surface is going to have what appears to be noise (the natural bumps, color variations, etc in the road surface), while the sky may have noise introduced by the camera. Say the sky has a lot of noise, so the user goes and bumps up the strength, smoothness, and other settings of Noise Ninja to remove this. The result is that the road also gets blurred, and looks very unnatural. The key is to only apply the filter to the areas that need it, as opposed to the whole image.
I've often wondered what the ratio overseas is in terms of good versus crap when it comes to movies. I suspect it's relatively the same as it is here in the US. The thing is, it's often only the "good" foreign movies that make their way over here. To me, it's kind of like music. So many people claim the music of today is terrible compared to music from the 60's and 70's. They'll mention the same 10 or 15 bands, or songs, and convienantly leave out all the crap that came from those times. People tend to only remember the best of times.
PCs are also the home of sims, be it flying or racing/driving. I'm a big fan of the Gran Turismo series (for playing against friends), and it simply doesn't come close to being a sim. I've also never seen a flying game on a console that comes anywhere near close to what is available for PCs.
Can you tell me where I said Ardour, Jack, and Sweep are not profession-level software? If you read my post, I never made any such statements. I know a few people who are in the field of sound/music production, and very few of their core tools are freeware apps. Sure, some of the utilities they use are, but again, they're not the core apps that they do the majority of their work in. Chances are, they already have their OSX/Windows systems set up, configured, and all their software already installed, so I don't see this causing a lot of people to switch. If anything, I think it'll just make it easier for hobbyists, who are already familiar with Linux, to get more into sound/video/graphics with Linux. The general person, who might be interested in sound/video/graphics, but who isn't familiar with Linux is probably not even going to consider this when there's iMovie, etc out there on systems they're most likely more familiar with. The professionals who already use and know Linux probably have everything set up already - though it might make it easier for people new to the "scene".
I'm not really knocking the idea, just saying it's not going to cause a large number of people to switch over. It's just more of the same old "Linux is going to take over !!" hype. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for Linux to be more well recieved in every aspect of computers, but it's just not going to happen for Joe Sixpack for awhile. It seems to be making more inroads in the professional communities, especially in areas like 3D where Linux seems much better suited for massive render farms and the like.
Or more accurately, at least in Counterstrike, the guy you just killed says "OMG HAX"
This is a pretty vague generalisation. During *acceleration* it is almost always true. Under cornering (without accelerating however, both FWD and RWD cars can understeer. Naturally, FWD cars tend to be heavier on the front end, which contributes to understeer. Brake balance, suspension, and aerodynamics (not so much in road cars, but more evident in race tuned cars) all play a role in oversteer vs understeer.
Also, uncommon (in road cars), but possible, is snap oversteer in a FWD car. Suddenly dropping off the throttle during cornering can cause the front wheels to gain more traction, and the back can slip away.