smudgedragon

Most folks who know me, know that I love animating. Something I do very rarely now. A combination of not being able to afford the programs I *really* want, and a hand that has gone from "okay" to bad to worse in pain. It's no longer just my fingers; the pain, though mild, has spread to my wrist, and up my arm to the elbow and shoulder joint. But bitching about the hand pain is for another post at another time.

Now, with much effort and penny pinching I have a computer that can, for the most part, run anything I want. I have to say, I've been really happy with the jump to Windows 7. Most I need right now is either some new ram, or to upgrade my processor/motherboard. But what I have now will most certainly do the job.

So that leaves the programs.

I have Hash atm. While a good program for learning and messing around, the version I have is sorely out of date. I'm also feeling uneasy with the companies slow, steady decline. Also, I keep bumping into issues that drive me nutz, mostly involving importing and exporting to other formats. Hash very much follows the "Don't play well with others" model that programs held 20+ years ago. That and I keep running into technical issues. So much so I've pretty much stopped working in it.

I love Vue. It does one thing and one thing really well: environments. I cannot sing this program's praises enough. However, it only does one thing. And I'm a character animator. Even using Vue, I'll need something else to do the characters in. But considering most other programs fall to pieces trying to do what Vue does without blinking, having two separate programs is not bad way of going. Oh, and Vue very much likes playing with others. ^.^

What I really want - Maya. There is a reason why Maya is on the top of the heep. I've worked with Maya in the past when it first came out. It's an environment I know and like. It's modeling tools that work well, and gives me options on how things will be built. And some of the available rigging plugins from 3rd parties are to die for (looking at you, The Setup Machine).

But what I am being forced into - Blender. The Gimp of the 3D world. Le sigh.

^this is what I have had to choose and wrestle with for some time. So far, my choice is to not work in any of them and help Radio get back a web presence. But this stalling action is not going to last forever.

However, there's a new one on the block for a limited time, Messiah. For a limited time - they are offering a mass deal of $10.00 basic and $40.00 pro versions of their animation package. In fact- according to their site- I have 7 hours to make up my mind, as of this posting. Problem is, this is an animation only program. feh. I dislike making split second decisions on funds I have so few of. Frack it! *hits the buy now button*

Also... got an email today. AutoDesk, the makers of Max, Maya & Softimage are offering 0% financing until April. It's really temping. really really tempting. But I know that I have no income, per say and we're not out of debt consolidation yet.

Why? why do you mock me so?

In other tech news - Watson (IMB's AI) is playing Jeopardy this week. So far the match is off to a good start.

pt.1

pt.2

Current Mood: annoyed

Ugh - So I have made the decision last night that after I finish Longing for Home, I'm giving up on Hash Animation:Master.

This was a hard and painful dissension since I've used the program for 10+ years now and I do like it very much, mostly for it's actual animation tools. I have a fondness for limited pallets and tool sets, using skills more than tools to get the job done. There have been great things done with A:M so it's not like it's not capable of reaching that level of existence.

But...

A:M has suffered a lot these past couple of years. Most of it self induced. The program itself is easy "cracked". So much so that it's impossible to sell in the Asian markets due to all the illegal downloads. The bottom "consumer" end of 3D market has also had it's feet kicked out from under it by Blender, an open source 3D program. Combine that with a company attitude (most imposed on it by it's owner) that it *won't* compete with the high end programs because professional artists are "all ass-holes". You end up with a company that has purposefully chained itself into a death spiral.

I've also been really fighting the tools the more complected I try to get with my productions. If it's just a single, simple character or two it's fine. But as I try to get more complicated with what I'm trying to achieve, all hell breaks loose. We're talking full on screaming hissy-fits at Micca. Yes, animation should make you think hard about what your doing. That's much different than sending your stress level though the roof in frustration.

Don't get me wrong - there are some really good people working on that program. They recently did a new particle engine. There fur and hair have come a long ways. So has there cloth. They now have a 3rd party 3D pain program plug in that looks pretty decent too. I, unfortunately, have not had the luxury of trying new versions past v13.

All that, however, does not help the fact I'm seeing less and less high-end work coming out of Hash users. Hell, I'm seeing less and less Hash users all together. The less of a user pool, the less knowledge floating around to learn from. In the end I feel like the company won't be around for much longer. I'm starting to feel like I need to jump ship before the run gets pulled out from under me.

But where do I go from here? The current consumer end is in love with Blender. After working three months in it I really want to drop kick the UI on it's head and shoot my computer. Not really an option. My preferred platform would be Maya at this point, along with some plug-ins and other programs to get my up to date. This would cost me about the same as buying a new car.

I just don't know what to do any more, short of just not trying to do any animation anymore.

Pardon me, I need to slink off and cry.

Current Mood: frustrated

Finally finished writing the next episode of Ebin & May. For some reason doing this one was like pulling teeth. probably because it's not a "fun" episode (but one that really needs to be there) and a lot of other bull crap was going on in my life at the time I started it that just fed the issue. Unfortunately, due the complexity of the art involved, it's going to take me more than my typical week to do that art. Darn you big rolling battle on ramparts! *shakes fists* So, um, yeah. Art next. Why do I do this to my self? lol

I also got the next webcomix ready to go for the Radio Comix site. This time Trouble Express by Will Allison. All hammered out and working fine. Now it's up to Will top post. Yeah for sites that I don't have to manage all by my lonesome. Next up to bat is probably going to be Havoc Inc. And yes, I can only really talk about this since Elin has already publicly announced all of this to begin with. After Havoc, it'll be Pervert Club and Bureau of Mana Investigations. I know there's more in the works, but that's all that's officially been announced at this point.

Also, I've been poking at Blender again. I must be a glutton for punishment. I did find a better tutorial buried in the Blender Wiki that gave me the info I needed for a better rigging scheme. Not perfect, but workable. After I get the next Ebin & May and Adventures of Blanc done, I'll poke some more at it.

Ah, my egg rolls are done. Time for me to eat and get back to work.

Current Mood: accomplished

So, lately I've been trying to learn Blender. For those who are not in the know, Blender is a free, open-source 3d modeling/animation/rendering package aiming to be available on all platforms. Think the GIMP for 3D. I'm mostly doing this to reacquire my RTFM* skills.

Initial opinion: It does not suck. I can see where under the right hands it can be very powerful. The question here lies whether my hands are the right hands.

The basic Noob-to-Pro Wiki book is a great way to dive into the program. However, like most 3D applications, rigging is not considered basic and is not giving until the "Advanced" book, which is by far less though out and doesn't explain how to do things, just that they are available to do them. Thanks guys, love you to. I expected BS like this from freeware. It comes with the territory.

So off onto the internet I go looking for non-source tutorials on character rigging. First tutorials I find has a beauty of a quote, which very much sums up Blender for rigging:

"Take a patience pill. Blender is a very powerful piece of software, but getting used to all of its quirks can be frustrating. When you want to take your mouse and hit it with a sledge hammer because clicking the right mouse button never does what it should do, step back, take a breath, and think happy thoughts. Then try from a different approach."

To be fair, all 3D applications tend to have this sort of thing as a "feature". Long nights beating your head against the wall saying "Why the F**K did you do THAT?!"

If I didn't love 3D so much, I'd hate it. Feh.

*Read The F**king Manual

Current Mood: aggravated

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