Anyone who works in the cg animation industry would kill for a good high res 3d display (I know I would!) Trying to model somthing that's displayed on a standard 2d screen is no simple task. Sure, using a shaded view helps provide visual cues as to what is closer to you. However, once you switch to a wireframe view any and all sense of depth is lost.
This type of thinking also strikes me as very "640kb is enough-ish". Just because there isn't an immediate valid use for somthing doesn't mean it's a toy for a privelaged few.
Software costs an arm and a leg here. Damn Aussie dollar. Heck, I bring a copy of Command and Conquer generals in my laptop bag to school, next thing, everybody want's a bloddy copy.
Sweet! You've got a copy?! Can I have one too?:P
I can see it now: special forces recruiting from CS tournaments.:)
Yes there's a pretty picture. A bunch of pasty white overweight geeks crying like little girls as a sadistic drill sergeant tries to get them to do a single pushup.:)
Look, I work with a bunch of 3d apps to make a living, and all I can say about blender's interface is that it sucks. Whoever designed this hodgepodge of icons and textboxes should be dragged out into the street and shot.
Good interfaces are more along the lines of what Maya or XSI have to offer. Blender seems to be another example of crappy open source ui syndrome. It doesn't matter how wonderful the tools are. If the interface is slowing the artist down, then the app is just not viable for production use, and ultimately is nothing more than a toy for hobbyists.
Then why not work on reducing the cost of putting stuff like lead into space? A big railgun could launch raw materials into orbit, where processing plants could actually build the heavy parts of a space station / vessel. The initial cost of a railgun would be more than a single rocket, but it would rapidly pay itself off in savings. Also, you could send stuff up in worse weather than needed for shuttle launches. A shuttle of some sort would still be needed to transport squishy / breakable things like humans and electronics.
As long as these digital cameras output images that use 8bits/channel they're not going to match film. Film has a much greater color range than the 16.7 million or whatever colors that a 24 bit (8bpp x 3 chan) image delivers. Anyone who disputes this can go search google for the term mach banding, and be enlightened. I could talk about the cineon file format as a possible way to capture better quality images, but their site and others would do a better job.
In addition to all the solid advice given here, I offer this little bit: Get in touch with actual animators, modelers, lighting and texture artists. Get as many as possible, from as many different 3d packages as possible to put the program through its paces. Remember, a lot of these people are not very technically minded and will appreciate a clean and intuitive interface. For a prime example of a great UI look at Softimage|XSI It is easily the most intuitive of many 3d packages I've used.
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This type of thinking also strikes me as very "640kb is enough-ish". Just because there isn't an immediate valid use for somthing doesn't mean it's a toy for a privelaged few.
Software costs an arm and a leg here. Damn Aussie dollar. Heck, I bring a copy of Command and Conquer generals in my laptop bag to school, next thing, everybody want's a bloddy copy. Sweet! You've got a copy?! Can I have one too? :P
You could also try out Softimage|Behavior. It has much of the same functionality as Massive.
Yes there's a pretty picture. A bunch of pasty white overweight geeks crying like little girls as a sadistic drill sergeant tries to get them to do a single pushup. :)
Well this explains the interface from hell.
ingenious but nonstandard user interface
That's one way to put it...
Look, I work with a bunch of 3d apps to make a living, and all I can say about blender's interface is that it sucks. Whoever designed this hodgepodge of icons and textboxes should be dragged out into the street and shot.
Good interfaces are more along the lines of what Maya or XSI have to offer. Blender seems to be another example of crappy open source ui syndrome. It doesn't matter how wonderful the tools are. If the interface is slowing the artist down, then the app is just not viable for production use, and ultimately is nothing more than a toy for hobbyists.
In Soviet Russia, Google find YOU!
So that's why the tachikoma in GITS:SAC episode 8 decides it's playing chess rather than go versus Togusa... cute :)
Then why not work on reducing the cost of putting stuff like lead into space? A big railgun could launch raw materials into orbit, where processing plants could actually build the heavy parts of a space station / vessel. The initial cost of a railgun would be more than a single rocket, but it would rapidly pay itself off in savings. Also, you could send stuff up in worse weather than needed for shuttle launches. A shuttle of some sort would still be needed to transport squishy / breakable things like humans and electronics.
I'd rather have a jet turbine motorcycle! Act now, before your place in the darwin awards hall of fame is taken.
As long as these digital cameras output images that use 8bits/channel they're not going to match film. Film has a much greater color range than the 16.7 million or whatever colors that a 24 bit (8bpp x 3 chan) image delivers. Anyone who disputes this can go search google for the term mach banding, and be enlightened. I could talk about the cineon file format as a possible way to capture better quality images, but their site and others would do a better job.
In addition to all the solid advice given here, I offer this little bit: Get in touch with actual animators, modelers, lighting and texture artists. Get as many as possible, from as many different 3d packages as possible to put the program through its paces. Remember, a lot of these people are not very technically minded and will appreciate a clean and intuitive interface. For a prime example of a great UI look at Softimage|XSI It is easily the most intuitive of many 3d packages I've used.