ali@polya.Stanford.EDU (Ali T. Ozer) (06/03/88)
---- I got hold of May 1988 issue of "Computer Graphics Today," and while looking through it, I ran across a section on the Amiga, in a section about NCGA '88... Quoting without permission from pp 8-9: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga awareness spreads Commodore's (West Chester, PA) Amiga line of computers made a splash at NCGA; in particular, the Commodore Amiga 2000, which runs more than 700 software programs written for AmigaDOS. It is expandable up to a maximum of 9 MB and features a window-oriented user interface. Among its multi-tasking capabilities, the Amiga 2000 supports a wide range of high-level graphics and animation capabilities for video professionals and businesses. 3-D animation applications for product demonstration tapes, training films, video graphics and corporate logos can be developed easily with Aegis Development's Videoscape 3-D. The output can be recorded on any professional or home VCR, including VHS, Beta and 8mm systems. Setting the Amiga apart from other desktop PCs are its custom Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) chips ... The VLSI chips handle graphics, sound, animation and direct memory access, thereby freeing the Amiga's 68000 Motorola central processing unit to run application software in a multi-tasking environment. The high-powered 3-D animation abilities of the Amiga for professional and amateur use are demonstrated with Sculpt 3-D and the 68020 board. Sculpt 3-D from Byte-by-Byte provides a simple but powerful interactive interface for designing and generating animated computer simulations of 3-D scenes. The Sculpt 3-D program employs ray-tracing techniques to create animations with lifelike appearances complete with colors, textures and shadows. [ ... more stuff about 400% speed increase with the CSA board, a mention of a $6000 price tag for a full (A2000+HD+3M+genlock+camcorder+VCR) system, also mention of MIDI capabilities ... ] Although the Commodore booth was filled with enthused third-party staffers, Commodore's support for non-video developers has been generously characterized as "innocent bystanding." Whether or not this is accurate, the fact remains that brave new application worlds await for the Amiga. Commodore clearly feels that the Amiga's future outside of video and graphics design is in the hands of users and developers. After all, those who want a workstation-powered but outrageously low-priced platform have only one place to look. The question is, will Commodore wake up before the color-capable (and more expensive) Macintosh penetrates these markets? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me clarify that this is the first time I saw this magazine and I have no idea what kind of a magazine or how well respected it is... The rest of the magazine pretty much centers on high-powered graphics machines (like Pixar) and graphics packages for the IBMs. I just wanted to pass the info along! Ali Ozer, ali@polya.stanford.edu or ali@next.next.com