pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com (Pierre Altamore) (09/17/90)
On 13 Sep 90 02:49:32 GMT n350bq@tamuts.tamu.edu (Duane Fields): >I'd like to create 24 bit ray-traced images with Sculpt and then port >them to a larger system to view the picture. What all RGB-24 formats are >there, and what should I look for where in terms of getting them displayed >in their full 16.7 million glory? >Duane Hey.. I'd like to do the same! Problem is that Sculpt doesn't render 24-bit files. I'm not quite sure what it does but it sure as all heck ain't 24-bit.. Try it, you'll actually see color bands where wonderous a 24-bit gradient should be! I know it says 24-bit in the menu and the manual.. THEY LIED! Do yourself a favor and ditch Sculpt, there's NO support for it. Byte By Byte may still be in business but they've orphaned Sculpt Amiga (Did someone say Centaur? They just sell it). Enter the next generation of 3d on the Amiga and get yourself a copy of 3D Professional (ONLY if you have an accelerated machine!), wait for Imagine or get LightWave with a Toaster (best bet). I too still use Sculpt, but not for long. UUCP: crash!pro-graphics!pierre | Critical Mass Software ARPA/DDN: pro-graphics!pierre@nosc.mil | P.O. Box 23 Internet: pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com | Short Hills, NJ 07078
John.Matthews@comp.vuw.ac.nz (John Matthews) (09/18/90)
In article <4455@crash.cts.com>, pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com (Pierre Altamore) writes: |> On 13 Sep 90 02:49:32 GMT n350bq@tamuts.tamu.edu (Duane Fields): |> |> >I'd like to create 24 bit ray-traced images with Sculpt and then port |> >them to a larger system to view the picture. What all RGB-24 formats are |> >there, and what should I look for where in terms of getting them displayed |> >in their full 16.7 million glory? |> >Duane |> |> Hey.. I'd like to do the same! Problem is that Sculpt doesn't render |> 24-bit files. I'm not quite sure what it does but it sure as all heck |> ain't 24-bit.. Try it, you'll actually see color bands where wonderous a |> 24-bit gradient should be! I know it says 24-bit in the menu and the |> manual.. THEY LIED! |> |> Do yourself a favor and ditch Sculpt, there's NO support for it. Byte By |> Byte may still be in business but they've orphaned Sculpt Amiga (Did |> someone say Centaur? They just sell it). Enter the next generation of 3d |> on the Amiga and get yourself a copy of 3D Professional (ONLY if you have |> an accelerated machine!), wait for Imagine or get LightWave with a Toaster |> (best bet). I too still use Sculpt, but not for long. |> |> |> |> UUCP: crash!pro-graphics!pierre | Critical Mass Software |> ARPA/DDN: pro-graphics!pierre@nosc.mil | P.O. Box 23 |> Internet: pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com | Short Hills, NJ 07078 Just a slight mention on the 24-bit output from the Sculpt range. It is worthless UNLESS you have an accellerator with math co-processor and the version of the program designed for this package. Optimizations used in the standard version for speed result in a huge loss of accuracy in the final colour information. This improves with the special versions.
danb20@pro-graphics.cts.com (Dan Bachmann) (09/18/90)
In-Reply-To: message from pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com
Well, ImageLink by Active Circuits should convert Sculpt RGBs and
other IFFs and GIFs to 24-bit Targa graphics systems.
I found our graphic arts department at college has a few Targa
systems... I hope to try it out soon, but I hear it's hard to get access.seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) (09/20/90)
In-Reply-To: message from pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com Regardless of what you might believe, Sculpt DOES generate 24bit files. Since you point out that it says it does in the manual, but you also noticed the banding, why don't you take the time to read the note for the framebuffer driver?! It plainly states that DITHERING is turned off when generating 24bit images, because they don't think you need it. Since I too have seen the banding, there obviously IS a need for dithering...but it is in 24bits. I agree that Byte by Byte is a pretty lame company. I don't think they deserve an Amigan's business since they've obviously forgotten we exist. Sean //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc | ARPA: !crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc@nosc.mil | " Fanatics have their INET: seanc@pro-party.cts.com | dreams, wherewith they | weave a paradise for RealWorld: Sean Cunningham | a sect. " Voice: (512) 994-1602 PLINK: ce3k* | -Keats | Call C.B.A.U.G. BBS (512) 883-8351 w/SkyPix | B^) VISION GRAPHICS B^) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
252u3130@fergvax.unl.edu (Phil Dietz) (09/20/90)
The reason I see that Byte by Byte quit, is that they produced some very technical software -- software that only seems to find its place in the professional video world. Because of the SMALL software group, the price was increased to make any sort of profit. As a result of this high price, most Amiga'ns don't want to buy it so they grab a copy somewhere and forget about Byte by Byte. This is the uzi that killed them. They have now gone to the Mac II world where they have machines that the real business world owns, and companies that don't mind shelling out the high price for it. It's too bad they left though. Just another company that has fallen because of the Amiga's <potential>. Phil Dietz <<<=================--------- Cheap Ad ---------===================<<< Phil Dietz SWL Lincoln 550 MEGS! 2 lines 252u3130@fergvax.unl.edu (402)421-1963 IBM, GIFS, MAC, AMIGA
a976@mindlink.UUCP (Ron Tarrant) (09/20/90)
> 252u3130@fergvax.unl.edu writes: > > Msg-ID: <1990Sep20.000911.23240@hoss.unl.edu> > Posted: 20 Sep 90 00:09:11 GMT > > Org. : Comp Sci and Engr, Univ. of Nebr. > Person: Phil Dietz > > > The reason I see that Byte by Byte quit, is that they produced some > very technical software -- software that only seems to find its place > in the professional video world. Because of the SMALL software group, > the price was increased to make any sort of profit. As a result of this > high price, most Amiga'ns don't want to buy it so they grab a copy > somewhere and forget about Byte by Byte. This is the uzi that killed > them. > > > Phil Dietz > > I think we would have to do a confidenial survey to find out if this was actually true. I believe that most people who stole copies of this program (any most others) did it simply so they could put another 'feather in their cap'. I don't believe stolen copies of most programs are used, just filed away in a box to be pulled out during those times when a pirate wants to impress someone with how much software they possess. If I'm right then the potential market isn't affected because those who really use SA4D really did buy it... most of them, anyway. I only know of one person around here who uses it and didn't buy it out of several dozen legitimate users. A little math tells me that if this phenomenon is the same elsewhere, then the "lost market" is about 2-3 percent. To me this doesn't warrent pulling support for legitimate users or turning one's back on the market in general. I started with Sculpt 3D then Animate 3D and finally SA4D. That's a lot of money to give someone who claimed in the Sculpt 3D manual that they would around in the next century but then copped out and flew the coop as soon as they saw the last of the big bucks from Amiga users. Last count that I heard, BbB had 17,000 registered users of their Sculpt/Animate products. If only half of them are SA4D owners, then they've pulled in a substantial amount of money. The Amiga kept their doors open for three years. As far as I'm concerned, BbB can drown in rat p___. If they ever do claim to be coming back to the Amiga market I will do what I can in my own small way to keep them from pulling a con on the Amiga market again. -Ron Tarrant a976@Mindlink.UUCP
jlange@oracle.com (Jim Lange) (09/21/90)
In article <4513@crash.cts.com> seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) writes:
In-Reply-To: message from pierre@pro-graphics.cts.com
I agree that Byte by Byte is a pretty lame company. I don't think
they deserve an Amigan's business since they've obviously forgotten
we exist.
Sean
I've seen alot of Byte-By-Byte bashing lately, and perhaps it is deserved (I
never upgraded SA3D to SA4D), but I just spoke to Brian McCullough (VP of
Technical 'something-or-other') of Byte-By-Byte yesterday. He explained that
although they are currently in the midst of the development/release cycle of
the Mac version, they plan on continuing Amiga development when the Mac
version is finished. It is a slow process because they have only one person
doing all of the code (presumably Eric Graham) and he can only do one thing at
a time.
He also said that the Mac version doesn't have the animation features of the
Amiga version, but has a much nicer rendering system including texture
mapping. He explained that SA has been through 3 major code revisions and is
getting very spagetti-ish, so the Mac version is a complete rewrite. When
they switch back to the Amiga, they will actually be porting the Mac version
to the Amiga, but because of the way it is coded it will be very easy (just a
matter of a different windowing system).
Take this for what it's worth, but this is what he told me. Perhaps if
current users let them know what they think (or that they feel abandoned),
Byte-by-Byte might modify their schedule, or at least send out a letter
indicating their future Amiga plans.
Jim Lange
Oracle Corporationbobl@pro-graphics.cts.com (Bob Lindabury) (09/21/90)
In-Reply-To: message from seanc@pro-party.cts.com > Regardless of what you might believe, Sculpt DOES generate 24bit files. > > Sean >From what I've been told by programmers that are working on conversion programs to read the RGB files that Sculpt creates, they only create a 12 bit file. I'm not actually sure of this but all the banding problems seem to have to do with the routines to create backgrounds (sky w/dithering). Although the manual states that no dithering is done, it's quite obvious that the algorithm that creates the sky is bogus. I output the (fake) 24 bit files to red, green and blue files and then convert them over to TARGA files. There is no way that these things are true 24 bits deep or if they are, the way Sculpt renders is terrible. Obvious banding is created on all skys. If these were true 24 bit files, you wouldn't need dithering and you wouldn't see banding in the sky. I think all this will be moot anyway as there are much better programs either being released now or in the near future. Lightwave 3D is probably my program of choice at this point but I've heard good things of Imagine. We shall see. Jezz..I would love to test drive these things before purchasing them. I certainly don't want to plunk down $500+ and find out that the program isn't going to fulfil my needs... -- Bob ______ Pro-Graphics BBS `It's better than a sharp stick in the eye!' ________ UUCP: crash!pro-graphics!bobl | Pro-Graphics: 908/469-0049 ARPA/DDN: pro-graphics!bobl@nosc.mil | America Online: Graphics3d Internet: bobl@pro-graphics.cts.com | CompuServe: RIP _________ ___________ Raven Enterprises 25 Raven Avenue Piscataway, NJ 08854
seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) (09/22/90)
In-Reply-To: message from 252u3130@fergvax.unl.edu Where'd you get this idea??? Sculpt has gotten more than it's fair share of sales in the Amiga community. Sales slacked off because their product can't hack it anymore. The Mac owners are just used to paying high prices...so in a sense, they're Byte's stooges. Sculpt on the Mac does *very* little more than the Amiga version. It's $1500 where it can be picked up for about $89 on the Amiga. Does it texture-map, bump-map (or any mapping for that matter?), have soft shadows, support spline-based movements? The list can go on an on. Turbo Silver, although harder to use, has ALWAYS had better output than Sculpt. You would see the same is true if you compared Sculpt to the other Mac renderers on the market. Even though they don't compare with what's available on the Amiga (except for maybe MacRenderMan), they all beat Sculpt on features and output. Sorry to flame, but Byte-Me has done nothing impressive since they first introduced S/A4D...it's stagnated, and other companies have picked up where they left off. Sean //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// UUCP: ...!crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc | ARPA: !crash!pnet01!pro-party!seanc@nosc.mil | " Fanatics have their INET: seanc@pro-party.cts.com | dreams, wherewith they | weave a paradise for RealWorld: Sean Cunningham | a sect. " Voice: (512) 994-1602 PLINK: ce3k* | -Keats | Call C.B.A.U.G. BBS (512) 883-8351 w/SkyPix | B^) VISION GRAPHICS B^) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
jerry@truevision.com (Jerry Thompson) (09/22/90)
I hope Byte by Byte won't have to leave the Amiga market entirely. Keep in mind that they are STILL selling Sculpt 4D for the Amiga. The fact that they are soaking Mac users for a version WITHOUT animation capabilities at $1500 shows they aren't doing the Mac world any favors. They should advertise that they have an advanced animation version available for $3000, it also comes with a special piece of hardware required to run it. :-) -- Jerry Thompson | // checks ___________ | "I'm into S&M, "What I want to know is, have | \\ // and | | | | Sarcasm and you ever seen Claude Rains?" | \X/ balances /_\ | /_\ | Mass Sarcasm."