But they don't pay. Apple (who produce Shake) and A|W (whose baby is Maya) would charge more than any visual effects house could afford for access to the source.
Yup. Almost all of the main tools in use today are programmable. Usually at two levels: at a high level script/shader level and with a low level API (that may or may not be the same API the original develops use). In some cases the end user gets many of the headers used to develop the app allowing them to derive classes from the built in classes and at the other end of the spectrum a full API is written for third party developers that hides some of the internals.
Occasionally they do. But most visual effects houses do not have access to the source for major applications and no effects house has access to all of the tools on which they depend.
Because the department I run would be using that software if we had access to it. Even in our closest vendor/client relationship we do not have access to the source code (though in some cases we may have escrow arrangements to deal with a vendor's bankruptcy) and we are a major effects house backed by one of the largest studios.
Take one example, Alias|Wavefront. We have a dedicated developer from them who has helped with writing plugins in house as well as making some small tweaks to our custom version of Maya. But we do not get to look at the source code at all under any circumstances.
As a rule, no major studio will rely on a tool without access to the source code.
This is so completely false it's unbelievable. Studios use software such as Renderman, Maya, Filmbox, Mental Ray, RealFlow, Photomodeler, 3D Equalizer, Softimage, Photoshop and Shake all without access to the source. And they rely on these packages. They also rely on OSes such as Irix (still!) and Windows for which they have no source. This statement isn't even a 'stretch' of the word 'rule'. It's just plain false.
Thank you. I'd forgotten about that powerful example. It's an excellent example of what I'm talking about! What happened when it was illegal to broadcast Gerry Adams's voice? Every media outlet worked around the rules until they settled on playing the video with a dubbed voice in an Irish accent. The free speech tradition in the UK is far stronger than the ability of the UK government to suppress it without the need for a constitution. Unlike in the US where the news outlets merely toe the government line with voluntary self-censorship or whatever euphemism it's given these days.
Right. And imagine it wasn't Chirac compared to a worm but someone calling Microsoft products crap on the front page of a newspaper. Then we'll see who has freedom of speech in the US.
The fact is: no national newspaper in the US would dare to call the leader of an allied nation a 'worm'. Even the likes of National Enquirer wouldn't have the guts to do it - they reserve that kind of stuff for easy targets like Saddam Hussein. The UK has far more freedom of speech than the US because there is a strong culture of such freedom in the UK and that freedom is stronger than the ability of the courts to fine. That culture is sadly lacking in the US where freedom of speech is just an empty phrase kids learn to recite at high school.
Forget chocolate. Use those microwavable poppadoms instead. You can see the standing waves clear as day when you heat those. They cook so quickly (30 seconds) that there is no time for conduction of heat through them. As a result the pattern of cooking directly reflects the microwave energy distribution.
...arive. The problem is, the alternative is going to screenings paid for by the studios and these are almost invariably in LA. I hope they don't stop. And I certainly don't want them reverting to VHS. IMHO Anyone who judges the quality of a movie based on a VHS is wasting their vote.
but discards facilities such as EQUIVALENCE, which are difficult to teach, use, or debug
Eh? EQUIVALENCE is the substitute for the lack of pointers that makes FORTRAN usable. Sheesh! Next these people will be telling us that GOTOs are bad for your health.
OK. Maybe you're right about Linux users. But have you ever tried to get help from the FreeBSD community? Sheesh. I have to wear my asbestos suit before I risk asking them for help with anything.
That's a large part of it. I guess you could also argue that habit is a form of "rational ignorance". It's an example of subconsciously not bothering to even thing about whether something is worth your while.
Mandelbrot invented the term and took credit for that observation.
Yup, that's what he does for a living, take credit for things.
Meanwhile I'll just put the horrible orange colored volume containing the original teletype generated printout of the Brooks-Matelski set back on the shelf.
Actually I'm pretty excited about finding this. It seems I'm not the only one who thinks that Mandelbrot is little more than a self-publicist. People should see him give a presentation. It's like a sales pitch for himself.
I wonder if there are any web pages about that other IBM-paid self-publicist - Chaitin.
When the RIAA started their lawsuits was it goint to change people's downloading habits. For every person who said yes another person would say no. It's not like this is the result of some kind of chaotic process. Millions of people all over the world independently chose how they would respond so the result is an average. You'd thing that humans, by now, would be good at being able to predict such a trend. But they can't. Human behavior is a mysterious thing.
I certainly take issue with the notion that people always act out of self-interest. People are too lazy to do that. People don't even think about what they are doing most of the time and simply act out of habit.
Re:As a Brit living in the US I feel very aware of
on
Ask Neil Gaiman
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· Score: 1
You figured out the subtext I guess. Well done!
As a Brit living in the US I feel very aware of...
on
Ask Neil Gaiman
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· Score: 5, Interesting
...how you tailor your writing to which side of the Atlantic your intended audience is on. When I read Neverwhere it was the US edition and clearly contained language and explanations that would seem a little inappropriate to readers in the UK. Do you carry out your own 'translations' of your books? What differences do you see between American and British audiences to which you need to adapt? And how involved are you in the translations to other languages and hence cultures?
Telstar is a British record label that specializes in compilations of popular music. Their albums have names like 100% Dance Volume 4 and Best of Dance '92. They make much of their their sales through TV advertising and their TV spots are well known to British audiences. Their web site isn't actually down. It's just that they have a long flash animation on their front page and it takes ages to load.
Confusingly there is another Telstar records bases in Hoboken in the US.
Slashdot Mirror
But they don't pay. Apple (who produce Shake) and A|W (whose baby is Maya) would charge more than any visual effects house could afford for access to the source.
But full source access is rare.
I did. But more to the point, did you?
Try looking up MX records. (You may need to study up on internet protocols to interpret the result.)
Occasionally they do. But most visual effects houses do not have access to the source for major applications and no effects house has access to all of the tools on which they depend.
Take one example, Alias|Wavefront. We have a dedicated developer from them who has helped with writing plugins in house as well as making some small tweaks to our custom version of Maya. But we do not get to look at the source code at all under any circumstances.
Fortunately a strong culture of free speech among the media makes for a good alternative to a constitution in limiting those controls.
/.? I said 'media', not half-assed unedited blogging. Nobody cares about the opinions of /.ers
Thank you. I'd forgotten about that powerful example. It's an excellent example of what I'm talking about! What happened when it was illegal to broadcast Gerry Adams's voice? Every media outlet worked around the rules until they settled on playing the video with a dubbed voice in an Irish accent. The free speech tradition in the UK is far stronger than the ability of the UK government to suppress it without the need for a constitution. Unlike in the US where the news outlets merely toe the government line with voluntary self-censorship or whatever euphemism it's given these days.
The fact is: no national newspaper in the US would dare to call the leader of an allied nation a 'worm'. Even the likes of National Enquirer wouldn't have the guts to do it - they reserve that kind of stuff for easy targets like Saddam Hussein. The UK has far more freedom of speech than the US because there is a strong culture of such freedom in the UK and that freedom is stronger than the ability of the courts to fine. That culture is sadly lacking in the US where freedom of speech is just an empty phrase kids learn to recite at high school.
Forget chocolate. Use those microwavable poppadoms instead. You can see the standing waves clear as day when you heat those. They cook so quickly (30 seconds) that there is no time for conduction of heat through them. As a result the pattern of cooking directly reflects the microwave energy distribution.
...arive. The problem is, the alternative is going to screenings paid for by the studios and these are almost invariably in LA. I hope they don't stop. And I certainly don't want them reverting to VHS. IMHO Anyone who judges the quality of a movie based on a VHS is wasting their vote.
Hey! Hi leviramsay! Oops...mustn't do anything to connect this account to my K5 one...
Here it is! Suitable for reading on Windows, MacOS X, PalmOS and Pocket PC.
but discards facilities such as EQUIVALENCE, which are difficult to teach, use, or debug Eh? EQUIVALENCE is the substitute for the lack of pointers that makes FORTRAN usable. Sheesh! Next these people will be telling us that GOTOs are bad for your health.
OK. Maybe you're right about Linux users. But have you ever tried to get help from the FreeBSD community? Sheesh. I have to wear my asbestos suit before I risk asking them for help with anything.
That's a large part of it. I guess you could also argue that habit is a form of "rational ignorance". It's an example of subconsciously not bothering to even thing about whether something is worth your while.
Meanwhile I'll just put the horrible orange colored volume containing the original teletype generated printout of the Brooks-Matelski set back on the shelf.
Actually I'm pretty excited about finding this. It seems I'm not the only one who thinks that Mandelbrot is little more than a self-publicist. People should see him give a presentation. It's like a sales pitch for himself.
I wonder if there are any web pages about that other IBM-paid self-publicist - Chaitin.
I certainly take issue with the notion that people always act out of self-interest. People are too lazy to do that. People don't even think about what they are doing most of the time and simply act out of habit.
You figured out the subtext I guess. Well done!
...how you tailor your writing to which side of the Atlantic your intended audience is on. When I read Neverwhere it was the US edition and clearly contained language and explanations that would seem a little inappropriate to readers in the UK. Do you carry out your own 'translations' of your books? What differences do you see between American and British audiences to which you need to adapt? And how involved are you in the translations to other languages and hence cultures?
Confusingly there is another Telstar records bases in Hoboken in the US.
Being able to do that reliably is way beyond current image processing technology.