Ok, are you sure you know Maya Unlimited? I don't know why your knocking Maya FUR. Wasn't Pixar using it to do Monsters inc. Sully was awesome looking, and his fur/hair was supremely realistic. (mountain tumble in snow)
Either way this has turned way off topic so this is my last post on this particular subject.
Ok, are you sure you know Maya Unlimited? I don't know why your knocking Maya FUR. Wasn't Pixar using it to do Monsters inc. Sully was awesome looking, and his fur/hair was supremely realistic. (mountain tumble in snow)
Either way this has turned way off topic so this is my last post on this particular subject.
We got quite carried away, will continue via PM as I think it is interesting to get in contact with other Mac CG people
Forget the quad G5. If they follow the trend of the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, there would be an LCD iMac with teakwood-covered dome, teak keyboard with brass accents, teakwood mouse, 15" screen, 800 MHz G4 with 256MB of RAM, with fancy speakers, for $10,000.
The TAM was not a top-end machine performance-wise. And it was an AIO, not a modular (tower) Mac.
And if they make the mistake of celebrating "the computer for the rest of us" with a gussied-up, $10,000 PowerBook-in-a-box then they'll have demonstrated that years of wandering in the marketshare wilderness isn't enough to stomp out that old Apple arrogance.
I'm expecting a new iMac on the anniversary. That would be exemplary. Failing that, Apple will roll out a 3GHz PowerMac.
Is January 24th kinda the date everyone is looking to? Is that the "official" anniversary then?
And yes, if they **** this up by offering some idiotic ultra-boutique Limited Edition Titanium Key Lime Dalmation with a retro-edition floppy drive that no normal person could actually afford, that will be a snotty little gesture to the faithful, won't it?
It had better be an iMac, and it had better be under $2000. And it had better be cool.
Kickaha and Amorph couldn't moderate themselves out of a paper bag. Abdicate responsibility and succumb to idiocy. Two years of letting a member make personal attacks against others, then stepping aside when someone won't put up with it. Not only that but go ahead and shut down my posting priviledges but not the one making the attacks. Not even the common decency to abide by their warning (afer three days of absorbing personal attacks with no mods in sight), just shut my posting down and then say it might happen later if a certian line is crossed. Bullshit flag is flying, I won't abide by lying and coddling of liars who go off-site, create accounts differing in a single letter from my handle with the express purpose to decieve and then claim here that I did it. Everyone be warned, kim kap sol is a lying, deceitful poster.
Now I guess they should have banned me rather than just shut off posting priviledges, because kickaha and Amorph definitely aren't going to like being called to task when they thought they had it all ignored *cough* *cough* I mean under control. Just a couple o' tools.
Don't worry, as soon as my work resetting my posts is done I'll disappear forever.
Even at its worst the next Power Mac will start at 2.4 MHz and we should see that by month's end.
Is this the Jan. 24th date? Jan. 16 is a popular one right now at spymac.com. They seem to be hinting more towards the 16th date, but it could be a date in prep. for the 24th. This new system of letting out stuff gradually in the year is cool, because it keeps us on our toes the whole year. The other way cut us off at two points through out the year.
Quote:
Originally posted by pfflam
I think it should be called the Twentieth Anniversary Thing: TWAT-(registered trademark-pfflam)
Wow, now that's NIIIICE. I could only imagine the investor's meeting of which Jobs doesn't speak much at anyway, but spilling the beans on that...
Quote:
Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon
I think if Apple could combine the best bits from the cube and iMac they'd have a winner. Separate display though.
Lemon Bon Bon
I think that you'd have it pretty close, but people still want that I-DON'T-WANT-TO-HOOK-IT-UP-EASY-TO-USE-COMPUTER. But it would be sweet if the display was detacheable. I'm kind of blending your ideas with ones of Steve Jobs.
Quote:
Originally posted by Fat Freddy
...
In June at WWDC:
- Power Mac G6 (PPC980) 2.8GHz 1799$
- Power Mac G6 (PPC980) Dual 2.6GHz 2499$
- Power Mac G6 (PPC980) Dual 3.0GHz 3499$
Cheers
WHOA! the G5 has only been selling and out in people's hands for about 3 months if your lucky. More if you are suprem-o lucky. The G4 has been going for about 4-5 years now. Hacking the G5 now into the lesser processor would mean a rapid upgrade in all of the consumer product lines. IBM would probably be not to happy about that. G6 is out of the question for now. Last I heard, the 980 is still in creation process?! If that's really true, then we still have a year for product at the very minimum. I like the wishful think'n tho.
I thought this was a surprising admission today by Fred about the iMacs price (posted at Thinksecret):
Quote:
iMac price
Responding to a question about iMac sales that were lower than an analyst's expectations, Anderson said that the "sweet spot" of the consumer market is $1,000, and that the iMac, starting at $1,299, is priced above that spot. He would not comment on future efforts to move the iMac line closer to that price.
Seems like he wouldn't admit the iMac is overpriced if it was going to stay that way for long.
Also the Mac rumor site that everyone loves to hate, macosrumors.com, said today that a 20th Anniversary G5 iMac will be announced on the 24th along with faster Powermacs.
Funny, and a good price point, but not for a G5 iMac, or something that is to commemorate 20 years of the Mac. It's too cheap, and Apple specs on it would be costly. I don't think it's going to be a G5 iMac anyway.
First, there is a huge difference between a complete package and something like Maya. I just said that in its fullest version, XSI is much more usable than Maya Unlimited. And even Weta, ILM, Framestore and other would agree. All of them use Maya because they write their own extensions.
I am a standalone user of 3D packages who neither has the time nor the expertise to write my own hair plugins and other stuff. XSI does this for me already. I was at the mental images anniversary where ESC gave a presentation of what they did for the second and third Matrix. They said they use Maya because it's flexible, but they'd never use Maya things like fur because it just is far away from being useable for a professional production.
A big production house uses Maya big time. For smaller projects and about everything I do, I can't afford customizing my Maya environment for about three months before actually start working.
Every package has its advantages, but I already said that.
I agree that XSI is a strong package and it would be awesome to see it on OS X. XSI is gaining momentum, but it is still from being totally complete.
XSI's hair wasn't developed by Softimage. They just had it hooked into it through XSI modular system. They have helped improve it and tie it in with there soft-body engine but it still is far from being a complete hair system. Also, XSI still does not have rigid body dynamics. Softimage 3D does but XSI doesn't. That is a big seller for out the of the box usability for some. Fluids is another thing. Personally I have used fluids on more occasions than I can remember. There are other little things here and there, but then it would be getting too off topic.
The point is that both of them are tailored towards different audiences right now. XSI is awesome for game companies, while Film studios lean more towards Maya's architecture. Maya is gaining headway in the game market while XSI is gaining headway in Film production. Having them both on OS X would be awesome. We need them both on our platform.
As for my 2k4 predictions, I am not going to state the obvious like the G5 speed bumps. We know those are coming as are iPod updates.
I think the 20th ANN machine will blow us all away. We will also see more high-end releases related to the 3d market. 3DLabs will be releasing their poly-eating cards sometime this year. Maya unlimited will be released this year. High-end cards from nVidia and ATI will hopefully happen. Luxology will hopefully have their product that they have been demoing out sometime this year. These guys wrote LightWave's modeler which in a lot of facilities (ILM, Pixar to name a couple), is considered one of the best Sub-D modelers.
Besides that, it's anyones guess. We just don't know. Apple has been super tight lipped on their upcoming releases, even to their highest level developers. All in all, here's looking to a 2004 to remember.
Good Post foad. The type of stuff I like hear about. I hope to see all the things you mentioned in 2004. 3Dlabs card, is iffy though for me. Compared to a Nvidia Quadro for (Maya anyway) it's probably not going to cut it. None of their (3Dlabs) earlier cards do that well with Maya. But Highend 3D cards is what Mac's need big time so you wont hear me complaining about a card that works well for someone else's 3D package.
Good Post foad. The type of stuff I like hear about. I hope to see all the things you mentioned in 2004. 3Dlabs card, is iffy though for me. Compared to a Nvidia Quadro for (Maya anyway) it's probably not going to cut it. None of their (3Dlabs) earlier cards do that well with Maya. But Highend 3D cards is what Mac's need big time so you wont hear me complaining about a card that works well for someone else's 3D package.
:BUMP:
While I agree that 3DLabs have been weak in some areas, one thing they are insane at it the amount of polys they can handle. nVidia and ATI are catching up, but for raw poly power, 3DLabs are still king. They blow at almost everything else though.
I just think that we need formal support from the major hardware 3D manufacturers for the Mac to be a viable 3D platform. The Maya, XSI and Modo codebases are platform independent. It isn't totally easy to do a port of Maya or XSI but it isn't that hard, relatively speaking.
The crap 3D cards that we have right now won't cut it for high amounts of realtime shaders, large poly counts, and heavily texture driven scenes.
One we get that full support, I will be solely using my G5 for my 3D work. I can get rid of my Linux install.
Oh how I can't wait for that day to come...homefully it is really soon this year!
I'm throwing out some things that I'd like to see:
::tablet, with ideas that onlook IBM's paper for the future.
::wireless revamp, get rid of those AA batteries. there implemention is terrible for Apple. Incorporate a self charging solar panel for when the mouse isn't in use...something. Or get rid of the whole thing. Also for pro models, the two-button mouse is cool...but for iMac's and the like, do one button. The i-people need the simplicity of the una-button.
::G5 redesign, processor & case. Double, Quadruple RAM configs and maxes, speed: FAST. More Drive bay space.
::iMac, G5, redesign away from white, more metal.
::eMac, G4, top end Mhz, still white, still cathode ray.
::iBook, up Mhz, the current gray/white scheme...bad. LCD: more contrast, equivalent to the 12" PB. up MAX RAM, HD.
::iPod redign, again, away from white...try metal again. probable: colorize, like mini-pod.
Comments
Either way this has turned way off topic so this is my last post on this particular subject.
Originally posted by onlooker
Ok, are you sure you know Maya Unlimited? I don't know why your knocking Maya FUR. Wasn't Pixar using it to do Monsters inc. Sully was awesome looking, and his fur/hair was supremely realistic. (mountain tumble in snow)
Either way this has turned way off topic so this is my last post on this particular subject.
We got quite carried away, will continue via PM as I think it is interesting to get in contact with other Mac CG people
And no, Pixar didn't use Maya Fur
EOT-
Production run of 20,000
4 G5 chips @ 2.6 ghz
2 15k rpm hardrives raided
2 gigs of ram standard
2 button apple mouse w/scrollwheel
30 inch studio display
$10,000
How bout them apples?
Originally posted by mello
What about having the fabled quad processor G5 Uber System for the 20th Anniversary Mac?
Production run of 20,000
4 G5 chips @ 2.6 ghz
2 15k rpm hardrives raided
2 gigs of ram standard
2 button apple mouse w/scrollwheel
30 inch studio display
$10,000
How bout them apples?
Sorry, too cheap
20.000 bucks are right 8)
The TAM was not a top-end machine performance-wise. And it was an AIO, not a modular (tower) Mac.
I'm expecting a new iMac on the anniversary. That would be exemplary. Failing that, Apple will roll out a 3GHz PowerMac.
I will be very suprised, if the old Apple's arrogance is coming back.
And yes, if they **** this up by offering some idiotic ultra-boutique Limited Edition Titanium Key Lime Dalmation with a retro-edition floppy drive that no normal person could actually afford, that will be a snotty little gesture to the faithful, won't it?
It had better be an iMac, and it had better be under $2000. And it had better be cool.
Originally posted by pscates
Is January 24th kinda the date everyone is looking to? Is that the "official" anniversary then?
(scissor action here)
It had better be an iMac, and it had better be under $2000. And it had better be cool.
Ack I dont have the ad at work.. but it went along the line of ..
"On January 24th Apple will release Macintosh and you will see why 1984 wont be like 1984"
*crosses fingers for a 20" 2ghz G5 iMac (4 x A106 s/drive) with Ati 9600 mobi 64mb vid card and 160mb hdd, 512mb ram in one slot*
pretty please
Now I guess they should have banned me rather than just shut off posting priviledges, because kickaha and Amorph definitely aren't going to like being called to task when they thought they had it all ignored *cough* *cough* I mean under control. Just a couple o' tools.
Don't worry, as soon as my work resetting my posts is done I'll disappear forever.
Originally posted by Mr. Bob
Why is cubist so negative?
Even at its worst the next Power Mac will start at 2.4 MHz and we should see that by month's end.
Is this the Jan. 24th date? Jan. 16 is a popular one right now at spymac.com. They seem to be hinting more towards the 16th date, but it could be a date in prep. for the 24th. This new system of letting out stuff gradually in the year is cool, because it keeps us on our toes the whole year. The other way cut us off at two points through out the year.
Originally posted by pfflam
I think it should be called the Twentieth Anniversary Thing: TWAT-(registered trademark-pfflam)
Wow, now that's NIIIICE. I could only imagine the investor's meeting of which Jobs doesn't speak much at anyway, but spilling the beans on that...
Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon
I think if Apple could combine the best bits from the cube and iMac they'd have a winner. Separate display though.
Lemon Bon Bon
I think that you'd have it pretty close, but people still want that I-DON'T-WANT-TO-HOOK-IT-UP-EASY-TO-USE-COMPUTER. But it would be sweet if the display was detacheable. I'm kind of blending your ideas with ones of Steve Jobs.
Originally posted by Fat Freddy
...
In June at WWDC:
- Power Mac G6 (PPC980) 2.8GHz 1799$
- Power Mac G6 (PPC980) Dual 2.6GHz 2499$
- Power Mac G6 (PPC980) Dual 3.0GHz 3499$
Cheers
WHOA! the G5 has only been selling and out in people's hands for about 3 months if your lucky. More if you are suprem-o lucky. The G4 has been going for about 4-5 years now. Hacking the G5 now into the lesser processor would mean a rapid upgrade in all of the consumer product lines. IBM would probably be not to happy about that. G6 is out of the question for now. Last I heard, the 980 is still in creation process?! If that's really true, then we still have a year for product at the very minimum. I like the wishful think'n tho.
iMac price
Responding to a question about iMac sales that were lower than an analyst's expectations, Anderson said that the "sweet spot" of the consumer market is $1,000, and that the iMac, starting at $1,299, is priced above that spot. He would not comment on future efforts to move the iMac line closer to that price.
Seems like he wouldn't admit the iMac is overpriced if it was going to stay that way for long.
Also the Mac rumor site that everyone loves to hate, macosrumors.com, said today that a 20th Anniversary G5 iMac will be announced on the 24th along with faster Powermacs.
Should be an interesting start to the new year.
Originally posted by pscates
It had better be an iMac, and it had better be under $2000. And it had better be cool.
How about $1984,
or would that be too corny?
Originally posted by åsen
How about $1984,
or would that be too corny?
Funny, and a good price point, but not for a G5 iMac, or something that is to commemorate 20 years of the Mac. It's too cheap, and Apple specs on it would be costly. I don't think it's going to be a G5 iMac anyway.
Originally posted by TobyX
First, there is a huge difference between a complete package and something like Maya. I just said that in its fullest version, XSI is much more usable than Maya Unlimited. And even Weta, ILM, Framestore and other would agree. All of them use Maya because they write their own extensions.
I am a standalone user of 3D packages who neither has the time nor the expertise to write my own hair plugins and other stuff. XSI does this for me already. I was at the mental images anniversary where ESC gave a presentation of what they did for the second and third Matrix. They said they use Maya because it's flexible, but they'd never use Maya things like fur because it just is far away from being useable for a professional production.
A big production house uses Maya big time. For smaller projects and about everything I do, I can't afford customizing my Maya environment for about three months before actually start working.
Every package has its advantages, but I already said that.
I agree that XSI is a strong package and it would be awesome to see it on OS X. XSI is gaining momentum, but it is still from being totally complete.
XSI's hair wasn't developed by Softimage. They just had it hooked into it through XSI modular system. They have helped improve it and tie it in with there soft-body engine but it still is far from being a complete hair system. Also, XSI still does not have rigid body dynamics. Softimage 3D does but XSI doesn't. That is a big seller for out the of the box usability for some. Fluids is another thing. Personally I have used fluids on more occasions than I can remember. There are other little things here and there, but then it would be getting too off topic.
The point is that both of them are tailored towards different audiences right now. XSI is awesome for game companies, while Film studios lean more towards Maya's architecture. Maya is gaining headway in the game market while XSI is gaining headway in Film production. Having them both on OS X would be awesome. We need them both on our platform.
As for my 2k4 predictions, I am not going to state the obvious like the G5 speed bumps. We know those are coming as are iPod updates.
I think the 20th ANN machine will blow us all away. We will also see more high-end releases related to the 3d market. 3DLabs will be releasing their poly-eating cards sometime this year. Maya unlimited will be released this year. High-end cards from nVidia and ATI will hopefully happen. Luxology will hopefully have their product that they have been demoing out sometime this year. These guys wrote LightWave's modeler which in a lot of facilities (ILM, Pixar to name a couple), is considered one of the best Sub-D modelers.
Besides that, it's anyones guess. We just don't know. Apple has been super tight lipped on their upcoming releases, even to their highest level developers. All in all, here's looking to a 2004 to remember.
:BUMP:
Originally posted by onlooker
Good Post foad. The type of stuff I like hear about. I hope to see all the things you mentioned in 2004. 3Dlabs card, is iffy though for me. Compared to a Nvidia Quadro for (Maya anyway) it's probably not going to cut it. None of their (3Dlabs) earlier cards do that well with Maya. But Highend 3D cards is what Mac's need big time so you wont hear me complaining about a card that works well for someone else's 3D package.
:BUMP:
While I agree that 3DLabs have been weak in some areas, one thing they are insane at it the amount of polys they can handle. nVidia and ATI are catching up, but for raw poly power, 3DLabs are still king. They blow at almost everything else though.
I just think that we need formal support from the major hardware 3D manufacturers for the Mac to be a viable 3D platform. The Maya, XSI and Modo codebases are platform independent. It isn't totally easy to do a port of Maya or XSI but it isn't that hard, relatively speaking.
The crap 3D cards that we have right now won't cut it for high amounts of realtime shaders, large poly counts, and heavily texture driven scenes.
One we get that full support, I will be solely using my G5 for my 3D work. I can get rid of my Linux install.
Oh how I can't wait for that day to come...homefully it is really soon this year!
P.S. if this became a little off-topic.
Originally posted by åsen
How about $1984,
or would that be too corny?
Wow, that would BE AWESOME...but very corny...oh man that would be so bad, think i'd punch someone.
-walloo.
Clever... and WHAT a marketing coup.
::tablet, with ideas that onlook IBM's paper for the future.
::wireless revamp, get rid of those AA batteries. there implemention is terrible for Apple. Incorporate a self charging solar panel for when the mouse isn't in use...something. Or get rid of the whole thing. Also for pro models, the two-button mouse is cool...but for iMac's and the like, do one button. The i-people need the simplicity of the una-button.
::G5 redesign, processor & case. Double, Quadruple RAM configs and maxes, speed: FAST. More Drive bay space.
::iMac, G5, redesign away from white, more metal.
::eMac, G4, top end Mhz, still white, still cathode ray.
::iBook, up Mhz, the current gray/white scheme...bad. LCD: more contrast, equivalent to the 12" PB. up MAX RAM, HD.
::iPod redign, again, away from white...try metal again. probable: colorize, like mini-pod.
more later.
-walloo.