Hi Jean,
Very eloquently put. I have to agree with all you said. This has been
something I mentioned a few times before. IF I WERE developing RS, I would
have a simple front end and tools but with the ability if one wished to
dig in to the complex stuff behind, for those who wish to.
As much as I really appreciate others developing shaders at the click of a
finger and uploading it in a zip, one is at the mercy of how that person
describes that shader AND also the wording that person has used in the
shaders interface - as to how effectively you can use it. To illustrate
same I am going to have a look at such shaders and try and tweak the
wording to my satisfaction, then upload if I succeed. A before and after
type thing :)
I would divide the user base as follows:
1 - The Ultra 3D beginner in general
2 - The 3D enthusiast who has experience, but is more artistic and not a
techy in any way
3 - The proggy / techy Experts where 3D is secondary to redesigning and
turning RS code upside down
4 - A mix of 2 and 3 above
I would fall into 2 - I think its the likes of me that gets a bit
frustrated with zero proggy knowledge [ not built that way ]. I know what I
want, but have to wade through what I still see as complex - VSL and/or
scripting. When i cant figure it out [ which is most of the time ] - I have
to ask at the list / IRC - and may or may not get a reply that satisfies my
requirement.
All this eats into the artistic side and sometimes stops this part of the
process, hence leading to a load of folders with non finished projects. So
yes to this day - I still am fighting with RS.
Anyways, my 2 cents,
Cheers
Aidan
At 14:51 01/12/2006, you wrote:
Hi Beg-inner,
There is 2 problems on this list:
-The list is divided in 2 groups : ultra beginners and experts (geeks
that are more programmers than 3D artist)
-Because Realsoft has a button or a function for everything, it makes
the mind lazy.
My point is that with very simple 3D software without any special
function other than moving keyframe on the timeline, basic modeling and
creating materials with check boxes and sliders, you don't get that kind
of problem. Why, because there is no complex function to automate the
process, so just by observing the work of other you can replicate it.
Automated function, like in Windows makes users becomes more and more
ignorant, because they loose their ability to think by themselves.
And automated functions hide what is really going on.
Like I said many times : You don't need all those fancy features
because you can do them all by hand. If the animation is not to your
liking animate frame by frame. Model point by point, Make your material
in Photoshop, Do adjustements in photoshop on the final render. Attach
the point to the bone point by point. Animate physic by hand. Do it manually.
Note : Scripting, Automated Rigging, Multi UV map, Complex shaders,
Automatic Walk, batch rendering, Constraint were all made for Big
studios, not for 3D artists. They are made for big production, And I
don't think anyone on this list will ever animate more than 10 minutes of
video.
From what I have seen elsewhere (other simpler or limited 3D app) the
beginners are doing much more impressive stuff with simpler software and
faster.
If I was responsible of the desing of Realsoft I would cut the
features in half. And I think that instead of people asking what is the
magic script to do this and that, we would see people actually doing
stuff, not thinking about how to do it, but doing it right away.
Sometimes this list is look like the developer list of AmigaIntent :
people are talking about the software but never really using it for a goal.
Realsoft users are trying every feature of the software instead of
doing a project of their own.
In short : don't rely on automated features, the time it takes to find
out how that feature is working it's the time it takes to do it manually.
Next time, if you see an animation on this list, don't ask how to do it in
Realsoft with the automated fuction. Just do it manually like you would
when your wife has a bad headache.
Don't take this too seriously : )
Jean-Sebastien Perron
www.neuroworld.ws
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