🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C1CI80.Iq@taligent.com> Jack Palevich <Jack_Palevich@Taligent.com> writes:
>I bought the Macintosh verson of Playmation, and I'm not entirely
>satisfied with it.
>
>Playmation is available on the Amiga, the Macintosh, and Windows. It's
>originally an Amiga program, and it's kept its Amiga style user interface
>as it's moved from machine to machine.

   The Windows version is not exactly Windows standard either, but that
does allow easier support.

>Pros:
> * Cheap! $300, plus another $100 if you want the not-yet-released 24-bit
>renderer.
> * Superb character animation features. You can use animated motions as
>subroutines. You can edit the individual surface definition points. You
>can use a "spine" to quickly animate complex objects.
> * Nice incremental redraw in modeler.
> * Spline surfaces. No more jaggy polygons.
> * Supports QuickTime
> * Comes with lots of sample models and animations.
> * Comes with a tutorial video.
> * Files are ASCII, and they provide limited documentation of the file
>format on their BBS system.

   This one is a bigger pro than you know. ASCII files will allow
movement from system to system. Model on a Mac, Animate on an Amiga
and render on a number of PCs.

>Cons:
> * Weird user interface. Doesn't work like a Mac program. Limited Undo.

    Different user interface. Most parts of the Mac paradime don't
apply. Most 3D programs have *no* undo at all.

> * Comes in five stand-alone pieces. (Model objects, apply surface
>attributes, combine objects into actors and design animation subroutines,
>combine actors, render.)

  This is a good thing. Interfaces are optimized for function, and the 
size of the executables is smaller. Really, I am quite happy with a
modular program as it forces one to adopt good work habits, saving your
work when you exit each module. Also, most modules allow "updating"
i.e. create the animation, fine-tune the objects later, and select
update to load the new objects from disk or the running modeler.

> * Crashes all the time. (This is the first release; quality may improve
>in time.)

   The Windows version is fairly robust.

> * Slow renderer. Only allows ray-tracing.

   A very fast ray-tracer, but I do want a scan-line option.

> * Only renders 320 x 200 x 8, which is pretty crude by Mac standards.

    The 24-bit renderer should not be considered an option.

    In my experience the 24-bit renderer is pixel-per-pixel faster than
the screen renderer. In the DOS version, everything is done in Windows
except 24-bit rendering which is done at the command line. It's uses
a DOS extender. As near as I can tell, all rendering is done 24-bit
and quantized to 8-bit for display. Actually it's a true 32-bit
renderer, and I've been able to alpha-channel matte images over TARGA
backgrounds.

                                Chris Williams
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu