ton wrote:
- BOF feedback was positive, not much criticism or complaints, most people seemed quite happy. Of course the UNDO topic came up, and the everlasting lack of IMPORT/EXPORT. Especially that last topic we really need to make progress. Improving modeling tools (curves/meshes) is high at the list too.
Import/Export will be more easily solved with a better Python API and
making of scripts and pluggable modules. The more code that goes into blender the chances are it will become slower as is seeming to be the case already..
The UNDO topic is more of a new user problem than a poweruser problem? Considering that you could have yoru blend file saved every minute.. Is that actually better?
- I promised for next year a (revolutionary) 2.5 release, and at least the functional/tech specs for Blender3... maybe a prototype demo. (I promise, you all do it, deal?
I think that would be good, probably spend most of the next year documenting what is going on.. Anyone who works on the source would
also not or should not get their work put in unless they produce docs describing how to use the their features.. New features should be optional (preferences?), its possible the users may stick with older versions of blender due to confusion about newer versions of blender.. I'm still on 2.25 because I don't know what I can trust to be there in the interface..
- Siggraph seems to be much smaller than past years, i think its 50-60% of the attendees. This can also be noticed in the presentations (no full theatres) and the smaller tradeshow
It was on the downside after 1996.. I mean spirtually it was getting
worse.. In 1994-1995 there was a lot of hype about a need for artists
and animators.. And about 1997 people recognized it was overdone..
I imagine the games show (E3) gets more interest.. I doubt terrorism could be blaimed (??). I was there in 1995 when it reached 35,000 attendees, 1996 and 1997 were also very huge.. IT seems like its been going down ever since then.. There were about 40,000 at the New Orleans one in 1996 and in 2000 felt like 20,000 or less, atleast there wasn't as much enthusiasm or partying..
A few quick tradeshow news bits:
- NO SGI or SUN... first time ever!
- Apple is there, first time too. but only with a training
- AliasWavefront changed name to Alias and have a new logo. What does the logo remind you of... erm?
Now they can soak up all the ego and history and representation,
it was Alias all along... Oh and that sign, it really does look like a rip off
of the blender logo.. Did you have the blender logo trademarked?
If not, nothing you can really do about it..
Note Chris Landreth left the company.. And admitted that the facial animation "Bingo" was essentially relative vertex keyed. I read that in 3DWorld. He was a science viz artist as lawrence livermore before he ever got into Alias, he was an art hacker.. He's revisiting "The End"
style animation in a new work..
Did I ever tell you about when the A/W merged in 1996 Alias used it as an excuse to convert the Wavefront users to Alias products, years before Maya came out.. What was the point in doing that if they own both product lines?
Oh to have the ability to rewrite history..
- Softimage redesigned interface... looks ok
- Nvidia has extremely impressive realtime 3d stuff.
- compared to booth sizes, maya and softimage still have marketing money to spend. Discreet (3ds) fell back in size
I only walked around quickly for half an hour, too many meetings....
I did that once.. Its hard to do.. I mean it could be like a marathon,
grabing freebies as you go along.. Are they still pushing that "card"
method of registering people from the conference? I remember
when you could get freebies without registering with the companies, now
the freebies are probably smaller and require a registration pass
and a 30 minute seminar on some small 3D app nobody really cares about, like a CAD/CAM package..
Oh, I left my power adapter at yesterdays BOF, it wasnt there anymore... so my laptop battery tells me quit... laterz all!
-Ton-
Time to go to the beach..
I'm sure you can find another down at a Frye's or something.. I guess San Diego has a Frye's..
