A few years ago there was an exhibit at Epcot (Disney World) showing a 3D computer model of the interior of the Lascaux caves in France. Perhaps that is what you are thinking about. Pretty sophisticated 3D graphics for its time.
Re:Modeling applications?
on
Video with Depth
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· Score: 2, Interesting
There are already some optically based 3d scanners on the market. The first ones used a scanning laser beam to trace out a line that described an object's surface texture. More recent versions use a purely optical method (I think).
This system could probably be used for modeling by placing a physical model on a turntable and recording its changing z-depth over time. I wonder how accurate it is at close range. This could be really useful for architects who want to develop a 3D site plan. Simply snap a few shots at the building site, construct a DXF file based on the depth information, and import it into your CAD software.
The camera is probably intended for use with compositing applications like Shake, which can process z-depth information, as well as RGB, and alpha. Great for seamlessly integrating live action with computer generated 3D, particularly realtime 3D
This also poses the question: what other types of useful information can a digital camera acquire, if we are not limited to the visual spectrum? Would it be possible to extract diffuse color, reflected color, transparency, or other "ray depth" information from real life subjects?
Linus has the ability to exercise a tremendous amount of control over any Linux distro without even touching a line of code: Linus owns the "Linux" trademark.
What this means is that no distro can call itself "Linux" without his blessing. Thus far, Linus has been exceedingly generous with his trademark, allowing pretty much anyone to use it however they wish. As far as I can tell, though, if anyone messes with Linux to the point of making it look bad he is perfectly within his rights to insist that they stop calling it "Linux".
This does not mean that he can stop distribution of the kernel, but he can (and should) control the use of the term "Linux" and it's associated terms and icons. Linux has acquired a reputation and a value in the marketplace which needs to be protected and preserved. It falls to Linus himself to enforce his trademark and preserve it's value.
Compared to the Zaurus, this PDA looks like it wins in the user interface department. Nice icons, simple graphics, and no attempt at fake buttony looking widgets. The screen space on a PDA is so tiny, why waste it by drawing drop shadows and raised lines around buttons, as if on a desktop?
The Zaurus seems to win overall based on its features, but this one seems to have made some good decisions, too. Is that a jog dial on the left side?
Judging by the posts I've read so far, Slashdot readers have no sense of humor. Everyone seems to be treating this as criticism of Windows, springboarding into anti-MS diatribes. Dave Barry probably loves Microsoft because it gives him some wonderful source material.
Please, please do not send Dave Barry a copy of Linux! Do you guys really think you could stomach the abuse that he would unleash on Linux and Linux users?
Some of us actually use this stuff for work. I speak of animators, modelers, chemists and mathematicians. The entertainment industry (3D animation for film, television, and those games you enjoy) is extremely competitive. Thanks to the legacy of IRIX, there is a solid Unix culture there. This is the one area where Linux on the desktop has a serious competitive advantage!
"Visual PC?" I have never heard of such a thing. Is this a new development, or are you referring to the old NT "Visual Workstations"?
As far as the Maya renderer is concerned, the Maya Batch (network) Renderer has been out for years. It was the first product that Alias ported to Linux.
Slashdot seems to like to insert a space exactly 50 characters into any text links. Almost certainly, this is due to the width of the text box on the Post Comment page. Can someone look into fixing this, please?
Look who matches donations to the EFF
on
DMCA 2, Freedom 0
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· Score: 3, Funny
(sorta off topic)
If you work for Disney, Fox, or Time Warner, your employer will match your donation to the EFF!
Outrageous demonstrations of technology should take a back seat to well integrated personal information management software. That is the case, anyway, if you want to make a functional handheld that appeals to people who have to manage contacts, generate ideas, and coordinate schedules (isn't that everyone, though?).
Unfortunately, most of these gadgets are just overpriced candy for geeks and executives. I still use a HP 200lx (80186 CPU, 2MB RAM, and kickass PIM software designed by Lotus, inc). The technology is ten years old, but was (and is) favored by doctors, lawyers, and anyone who had a serious need to manage their personal information.
What would I like to see in a dream handheld? I would like whoever owns the copyright on the 200lx PIM software (Lotus/IBM?) to release it as open source or integrate it into a next generation handheld. Yes, I am aware that The Palmtop Paper sells upgraded 200lx's. I would like to see basically a 200lx with Bluetooth, USB, backlighting, a touchscreen...
... no dependency on a stylus, though. A stylus is a clumsy solution compared with the efficiency of thumb-typing.
According to TheForce.net,
some prints of Montsters, Inc. were apparently shipped without the Episode II trailer attached. Odd, because the trailer was supposed to be attached to each print before it reached theaters.
If you want to see the trailer (reports are correct, it's not too great), call your local theater fisrt and make sure they are showing it.
When I first started the client, it shut down with an error: "...loading libGL.so: QGL_Init: Can't load libGL.so from/etc/ld.so.conf or current dir". The problem is due to the fact that the NVidia GL lib is located in/usr/lib/GL, with a symbolic link to/usr/lib/libGL.so.
Problem was solved by doing a "cp/usr/lib/GL/libGL.so.1.0.1512.nv_glx/usr/local/games/wolfenstein/libGL.so". A symbolic link in this directory did not work.
These bills are being drafted now? What are the numbers? How, specifically, can we reference the piece of legislation in question when we contact our representatives? Our reps in Congress are overwhelmed with information, and need specifics in order to take action. If you chose to act, don't act blindly.
Read the specs carefully. It does not claim that the unit itself can be connected to a computer. It only claims that the DVD-RAM format is compatible with other computer-enabled DVD-RAM drives.
In the former Soviet Union, access to space is for sale to anyone who can cough up enough cash. Meanwhile in the capitalist stonghold of the USA, space is restricted to an elite corps of individuals deemed "worthy" by the government.
Of course, congressmen like John Glenn can hitch a ride whenever they like. It makes for great footage on CNN. The Proles just eat that stuff up.
Renderman is not free. Most commercial studios who want a Renderman-complian renderer go with Pixar's product, "Photorealistic Renderman" (PRman). Prman costs, I think, between $7k and $10k. For multiple render licenses, it is probably quite a bit more. In addition you have the Renderman Artist's Tools (MTOR, etc) for many thousands more.
Even BMRT will cost you some money, if you use it for commercial purposes. It used to be $100, might have gone up though. BMRT is a raytracer, and not suited to feature film work like PRman.
Actually, no. The whole point of using Linux in this respect is to replace the expensive, increasingly outdated SGI hardware with new, fast, cheap x86 hardware running Linux. PC hardware running Linux fits into an existing SGI production pipeline quite well, and porting in-house IRIX based software is much easier than to NT.
Slashdot Mirror
A few years ago there was an exhibit at Epcot (Disney World) showing a 3D computer model of the interior of the Lascaux caves in France. Perhaps that is what you are thinking about. Pretty sophisticated 3D graphics for its time.
There are already some optically based 3d scanners on the market. The first ones used a scanning laser beam to trace out a line that described an object's surface texture. More recent versions use a purely optical method (I think).
This system could probably be used for modeling by placing a physical model on a turntable and recording its changing z-depth over time. I wonder how accurate it is at close range. This could be really useful for architects who want to develop a 3D site plan. Simply snap a few shots at the building site, construct a DXF file based on the depth information, and import it into your CAD software.
The camera is probably intended for use with compositing applications like Shake, which can process z-depth information, as well as RGB, and alpha. Great for seamlessly integrating live action with computer generated 3D, particularly realtime 3D
This also poses the question: what other types of useful information can a digital camera acquire, if we are not limited to the visual spectrum? Would it be possible to extract diffuse color, reflected color, transparency, or other "ray depth" information from real life subjects?
Linus has the ability to exercise a tremendous amount of control over any Linux distro without even touching a line of code: Linus owns the "Linux" trademark.
What this means is that no distro can call itself "Linux" without his blessing. Thus far, Linus has been exceedingly generous with his trademark, allowing pretty much anyone to use it however they wish. As far as I can tell, though, if anyone messes with Linux to the point of making it look bad he is perfectly within his rights to insist that they stop calling it "Linux". This does not mean that he can stop distribution of the kernel, but he can (and should) control the use of the term "Linux" and it's associated terms and icons. Linux has acquired a reputation and a value in the marketplace which needs to be protected and preserved. It falls to Linus himself to enforce his trademark and preserve it's value.
Compared to the Zaurus, this PDA looks like it wins in the user interface department. Nice icons, simple graphics, and no attempt at fake buttony looking widgets. The screen space on a PDA is so tiny, why waste it by drawing drop shadows and raised lines around buttons, as if on a desktop?
The Zaurus seems to win overall based on its features, but this one seems to have made some good decisions, too. Is that a jog dial on the left side?
Judging by the posts I've read so far, Slashdot readers have no sense of humor. Everyone seems to be treating this as criticism of Windows, springboarding into anti-MS diatribes. Dave Barry probably loves Microsoft because it gives him some wonderful source material.
Please, please do not send Dave Barry a copy of Linux! Do you guys really think you could stomach the abuse that he would unleash on Linux and Linux users?
Gaming? Naah...not I.
Some of us actually use this stuff for work. I speak of animators, modelers, chemists and mathematicians. The entertainment industry (3D animation for film, television, and those games you enjoy) is extremely competitive. Thanks to the legacy of IRIX, there is a solid Unix culture there. This is the one area where Linux on the desktop has a serious competitive advantage!
There is a company which makes a dedicated rendering card. Not quite what you are talking about, but certainly faster than an all software solution.
That virus hate crime thing is satire, as in: "It's funny. Laugh".
"Visual PC?" I have never heard of such a thing. Is this a new development, or are you referring to the old NT "Visual Workstations"?
As far as the Maya renderer is concerned, the Maya Batch (network) Renderer has been out for years. It was the first product that Alias ported to Linux.
Slashdot seems to like to insert a space exactly 50 characters into any text links. Almost certainly, this is due to the width of the text box on the Post Comment page. Can someone look into fixing this, please?
(sorta off topic)
If you work for Disney, Fox, or Time Warner, your employer will match your donation to the EFF!
Read all about it here.
Outrageous demonstrations of technology should take a back seat to well integrated personal information management software. That is the case, anyway, if you want to make a functional handheld that appeals to people who have to manage contacts, generate ideas, and coordinate schedules (isn't that everyone, though?).
... no dependency on a stylus, though. A stylus is a clumsy solution compared with the efficiency of thumb-typing.
Unfortunately, most of these gadgets are just overpriced candy for geeks and executives. I still use a HP 200lx (80186 CPU, 2MB RAM, and kickass PIM software designed by Lotus, inc). The technology is ten years old, but was (and is) favored by doctors, lawyers, and anyone who had a serious need to manage their personal information.
What would I like to see in a dream handheld? I would like whoever owns the copyright on the 200lx PIM software (Lotus/IBM?) to release it as open source or integrate it into a next generation handheld. Yes, I am aware that The Palmtop Paper sells upgraded 200lx's. I would like to see basically a 200lx with Bluetooth, USB, backlighting, a touchscreen...
According to TheForce.net, some prints of Montsters, Inc. were apparently shipped without the Episode II trailer attached. Odd, because the trailer was supposed to be attached to each print before it reached theaters.
If you want to see the trailer (reports are correct, it's not too great), call your local theater fisrt and make sure they are showing it.
Sorry, CONTOUR is too similar to "kontour" (formerly Killustrator). Perhaps NASA should have a little more respect for intellectual property rights!
When I first started the client, it shut down with an error: "...loading libGL.so: QGL_Init: Can't load libGL.so from /etc/ld.so.conf or current dir". The problem is due to the fact that the NVidia GL lib is located in /usr/lib/GL, with a symbolic link to /usr/lib/libGL.so.
/usr/lib/GL/libGL.so.1.0.1512.nv_glx /usr/local/games/wolfenstein/libGL.so". A symbolic link in this directory did not work.
Problem was solved by doing a "cp
These bills are being drafted now? What are the numbers? How, specifically, can we reference the piece of legislation in question when we contact our representatives? Our reps in Congress are overwhelmed with information, and need specifics in order to take action. If you chose to act, don't act blindly.
Read the specs carefully. It does not claim that the unit itself can be connected to a computer. It only claims that the DVD-RAM format is compatible with other computer-enabled DVD-RAM drives.
In the former Soviet Union, access to space is for sale to anyone who can cough up enough cash. Meanwhile in the capitalist stonghold of the USA, space is restricted to an elite corps of individuals deemed "worthy" by the government.
Of course, congressmen like John Glenn can hitch a ride whenever they like. It makes for great footage on CNN. The Proles just eat that stuff up.
Renderman is not free. Most commercial studios who want a Renderman-complian renderer go with Pixar's product, "Photorealistic Renderman" (PRman). Prman costs, I think, between $7k and $10k. For multiple render licenses, it is probably quite a bit more. In addition you have the Renderman Artist's Tools (MTOR, etc) for many thousands more.
Even BMRT will cost you some money, if you use it for commercial purposes. It used to be $100, might have gone up though. BMRT is a raytracer, and not suited to feature film work like PRman.
Actually, no. The whole point of using Linux in this respect is to replace the expensive, increasingly outdated SGI hardware with new, fast, cheap x86 hardware running Linux. PC hardware running Linux fits into an existing SGI production pipeline quite well, and porting in-house IRIX based software is much easier than to NT.