From ballen@3dartist.com Mon Mar 27 16:21:21 1995 Date: Mon, 27 Mar 1995 17:08:40 -0600 From: 3D Artist magazine To: adams@tgax.com, animmaster@aol.com, pcmike@aol.com, tess@graphics.rent.com, thaifan@aol.com, trinity@tyrell.net, wag@sirius.com Subject: TESS#505 ================================================== THE T E S S E L L A T I O N T I M E S #505 Issue #5 of 1995, for Monday, March 27th ================================================== TESS is Columbine, Inc.'s weekly electronic publication usually posted Monday evenings to supplement 3D ARTIST magazine. See the end of this file for contact information for companies whose products are mentioned here. _______________ TESS on the Web Go to The Graphics Alternative BBS Web server in the Multimedia Resources area: http://tgax.com/resource.htm __________________ TESS subscriptions Send an E-mail message stating "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to tess@3dartist.com. _______ DETAILS This file may be passed between individuals and can be reposted in any online forum _as_long_as_ the file is not modified in any way (it must be left whole and unchanged). It should be posted as TESS505.TXT (TES505.TXT where only six characters are allowed), or compressed as TESS505 with the appropriate DOS-style extension (ZIP, etc.). Reposting to *mailing lists* is NOT recommended. TESS's master files are maintained with corrections on our 3dartist.com Internet site (ftp to 3dartist.com and go to /3dartist/ballen/tess). These are the latest corrected copies, and the only TESS files for which we can vouch file integrity. This file's contents are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in or with any other print or digital publication without permission. Any trademarked names mentioned in this file are the property of their respective owners and are used only in editorial fashion without intent of infringement of such trademarks. Columbine, Inc. and its publications are totally independent. No companies or products are endorsed. Published by and (c)Copyright 1995, all rights reserved Columbine, Inc. P.O. Box 4787, Santa Fe, NM 87502 USA 505/982-3532 voice - 505/820-6929 fax 505/820-6929x3 voice mail E-mail: tess@3dartist.com Staff: Alex Kiriako, Editor, TESS & Sysop, 3dartist.com Bill Allen, Publisher & Pres., Columbine, Inc. Sally Beach, Vice Pres., Columbine, Inc. Carol Williamson, Admin. Asst. This issue was assembled primarily by TESS Publisher Bill Allen. ________ CONTENTS 505.00 - Heads Up 505.00.01 - The Coming Week in 3D 505.00.02 - Price Cuts & Special Offers 505.00.03 - Shows Soon 505.00.04 - Artists' Call Deadlines 505.00.O5 - Galleries & Art Shows 505.01 - Digi-ography for Sale 505.02 - PhotoFusion 2.0 505.03 - Cyberspace Developer Kit World Viewer 505.04 - 3D Online 505.04.01 - 3D Sites 505.04.02 - Web Sites for 3D by Eric Haines 505.05 - More News 505.05.01 - Getting Ready for NAB 505.05.02 - User Groups 505.06 - Follow-Ups 505.07 - What's Up in Santa Fe 505.07.01 - TESS 505.07.02 - 3D ARTIST 505.08 - Contacts 505.00 - Heads Up Here's the stuff you need to know the soonest... 505.00.01 - The Coming Week in 3D AutoCAD r13 On the Road tour: Cleveland 3/29/95, Denver 4/4/95, and Los Angeles 4/6/95. $99 one-day class held by the AutoCAD Helpline (800/373-3284, fax 216/765-1703). 505.00.02 - Price Cuts & Special Offers Through 4/15/95: See TESS#501.01.01 about Byte by Byte's competitive upgrade offer available for SoftF/X for Windows 3.1/95/NT. 505.00.03 - Shows Soon April 10-13, NAB, Las Vegas: see 505.05.01 below. April 18-20, Convention Ctr., Long Beach, Calif.: Direct Response TV Expo & Conference, exhibit hall noon to 6pm, except 11-3 on 4/20. Contact Advanstar Comms., P.O. Box 6429, Duluth, MN 55806; 800/331-5706. 505.00.04 - Artists' Call Deadlines April 13th for New Mexico-based artists for the "Binary Vision" juried exhibit for 2D and 3D computer art. Contact The Printmaker, 1807 - 2nd St. #40, Santa Fe, NM 87501; 505/425-9456. April 24th for the Electronic Cinema at the Int'l. Symposium on Electronic Art, Sept. 17-24, Montreal, Que., Canada. Call 514/990-0229, fax 514/842-7459, E-mail isea95@er.uqam.ca. April 26th for the Computer Animation Festival/Electronic Theatre at Siggraph 95 (Aug. 6-11, Los Angeles, Calif.) Contact: Frank Foster, 310/280-7603, or E-mail caf_et.s95@siggraph.org. 505.00.O5 - Galleries & Art Shows Through March 31, 9-5pm Mon.-Fri., New Mexico computer artists/Rio Grande Siggraph show, KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave., Albuquerque, N.M. 505/982-3532, nmca@3dartist.com. 505.01 - Digi-ography for Sale We learned 3/15/95 (and last week got permission to tell you) that computer map maker Magellan Geographix and 3D model foundry Viewpoint DataLabs are jointly developing a new product line described as "the first comprehensive library of 3D maps available." Viewpoint will develop the 3D maps from Magellan's data, and both companies will distribute both 2D and 3D versions. More than 600 ready-to-use maps are promised, "cartographically accurate...of every continent, country, state, and many great cities." The maps will come in low and high resolutions, and range in price from $100 to $1,000, slated to ship in June. Magellan reportedly has been supplying digital maps to publications, the broadcast industry, and other businesses for three years now. Its products can be purchased directly from CompuServe (go magellan). [OK, so did we just coin "digiography" for the first time, or does someone own that already?] 505.02 - PhotoFusion 2.0 First time we heard of this software was when a longtime reader called and asked if there was anything like it for PCs. Sorry, the answer is no. PhotoFusion is a $695 Mac Photoshop acquire plug-in dedicated to compositing bluescreen foreground images with backgrounds without having to deal with tedious edge definition. It reportedly eases significantly working with shadows, hair detail, and getting background colors to come correctly through smoke, water, and transparent objects. An example shown in their literature has correct matting for a cast fish net and its shadow! Per the announcement received 3/16/95, and answers we got today 3/27, version 2.0 has a new interface and is easier to use than v1.2, and also has some additional controls. 505.03 - Cyberspace Developer Kit World Viewer On 3/22/95 we received from Autodesk the following forwarded 3/21/95 message: Subject: Cyberspace Developer Kit World Viewer Author: Brian Blau at smtpcc2 I have placed a demonstration program for the CDK r2 out on the Autodesk Information system. This program will showcase the basic capabilities that a developer can take advantage of when using CDK to build virtual worlds. Please distribute this demo to anyone interested in CDK and virtual reality technologies. The basic feature list includes: * Windows 3.1 with win32s v1.2 OR Windows NT 3.5 operating system * Requires WinG (for both Win 3.1 and NT) * Reads .DXF and .3DS files * Plays animations that exist in the .3DS file format * Texture maps (.GIF, .JPG, and .TIF) can be applied to geometry * Interactive realtime navigation of the models using the mouse * Shaded and wireframe display modes * Windows compatible help system that gives the user information about how to use the program, CDK r2 highlights, and some Autodesk information. * Can be used as an Internet helper application when using Netscape and Mosaic All of the files and instructions can be located on the information server, just enter http://infosys/MultiMedia/Products/cdk/cdkwv.html into your favorite html browser to find the CDK World Viewer home page. This is the preferred distribution method. I can also make individual disks. These files will be uploaded to the CDK asoft CompuServe forum as soon as I can get to a modem. CDKWV will also have a home on the real Internet soon as well. Please test things out and let me know if any problems are found. 505.04 - 3D Online 505.04.01 - 3D Sites On 3/25/95 we heard from artist Bob Mannle about his Web site for stereograms and other forms of stereoscopic imaging: http://www.tisco.com/3d-web "Most of my work can be found in the '3D Gallery' and/or under 'Yellow Pages/New Vision Technology'. You'll see that stereograms are just a small part of the specialized 3D services I offer. I've been doing 3D for about 12 years now." Thanks to Todd Wiedemann, we received forwarded on 3/21/95 the following message dated 3/17/95 from Richard Tilmann , much abridged here: Announcing MeshMart at: http://cedar.cic.net/~rtilmann/mm/index.htm This is a WWW site dedicated to providing meshes, textures, and tools--a source of both shareware and commercial products. MeshMart will provide a WWW graphics front end to public domain ftp sites, such as Avalon. Also, we will work to develop a consignment market for 3D artists. There are several technical problems to solve--the means of building and managing a catalog of object listings [and] providing a secure and reliable means of buying and selling meshes over the Internet. In the meantime, we will provide what service we can. 505.04.02 - Web Sites for 3D By Eric Haines I finally got access to the World Wide Web in a non-stupid form and am now wasting time clicking on colored words. A number of interesting computer graphics sites exist, and here are some of my finds from watching Usenet traffic and just general searching. I haven't been around long enough to be critical and judge what are the "best" sites; rather, this is a list which encompasses different facets of computer graphics. Educational, commercial, hobbyist, BBS related sites, and others are listed, many of which are jump-off points for other worthwhile pages. http://www.cm.cf.ac.uk:/Ray.Tracing/ Actually, an old site, but it bears repeating. Points to all sorts of raytracing related things. A great place to start explorations. Contact: Ian 'The Grim' Grimstead http://mambo.ucsc.edu/psl/cg.html A great jump-off spot for other computer graphics programs and sites. http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/ A good place as any to jump off and see what's going on in research at various computer graphics programs around the world. http://www.mcs.com/~bcleach/www/illusions.html "Illusions - a computer graphics/animation related magazine" Covers 3D Studio, LightWave, Alias & Wavefront as well as SGI in general. Contact: Brian Leach http://www.lightside.com/~dani/ "3D Web," a site about the computer graphics industry. Includes resumes of computer graphics people interested in various sorts of work, pointers to various production houses, etc. http://www.tgax.com The Graphics Alternative BBS now has a Web home page. Under construction, but has some nice bits to it. Contact: Adam Shiffman http://www.sgi.com/ Silicon Graphics, Inc. home page. Pretty, but annoying if you have a slow link, so here are some direct addresses: http://www.sgi.com/grafica/ GraficaObscura, an eclectic collection of images, hints, and essays related to graphics. Contact: Paul Haeberli http://www.sgi.com/tech/openGL/openGL.html - OpenGL related http://www.algorithm.com/~cwatkins/algor.html Chris Watkins' company's home page, also includes a number of pointers to other pages worth checking out. http://metallica.prakinf.tu-ilmenau.de/GOOD.html The "GOOD" raytracer and modeler and whatnot (see Ray Trace News v7n1 and RTNv7n3). Contact: Ekki Beier http://www.cs.tu-berlin.de/~lulli/xray/xray.html The XRay raytracer, a new one in pre-pre-release for MS-DOS and Windows (code is portable to others). Contact: Christian Schnell http://www.eecs.uic.edu/~malic/ Various MPEG animations, including one on 3D morphing. Contact: Mihailo Alic http://archpropplan.auckland.ac.nz For things related to the Radiance program: http://archpropplan.auckland.ac.nz/Graphics/radiance/radiance.html Contact: Paul Bourke http://siggraph.org/library/bibliography/bibliography.hmtl WWW version of Siggraph online bibliography. Contact: Stephen Spencer http://info.acm.org/~joyces/homepage.html Shawn Joyce's home page, a nice little jump-off point for various commercial renderers and other stuff. http://www.petech.ac.za/~kon Yet another images site; interesting in that it's based in South Africa. Contact: Kon Wilms ______ The above is reprinted from author Eric Haines' *Ray Trace News* v8n1. See previous issues of TESS for his reports about 3D online. 505.05 - More News 505.05.01 - Getting Ready for NAB Las Vegas 4/10-13 Booth 1715 - Digimation with HSC & Positron: new 3DS IPAS programs 1731 - ElectroGIG: GIG3DGO new v3 plus lower-priced package for NAB 1818 - Immersion Corp.: digitizers S-233 - In:sync: Razor Pro 17280 - Ultimatte Corp.: PhotoFusion (see 505.02 above) NAB announcements are starting to come in and we'll have more previews in the next two issues. In a fax received today, 3/27, Digimation announced they will be showing a new 3D Studio explosion plug-in, and "the next generation land editor" called World Builder. 505.05.02 - User Groups On 3/22/95 we received the following message from Terry Cotant : TESS#504 asked about trueSpace user groups. Reliable Software Solutions has been attempting to start a tS UG for awhile, so now seems like an appropriate time to make it "official." Our UG will be multi-national, as we have a ton of customers and contacts thanks to CompuServe. Since I am the section leader for the trueSpace Users Group and Technical Support areas on CompuServe, this will be sort of an extension to that existing group. CompuServe and our trueSpace-devoted BBS (313/453-7639) will initially be the "meeting place" for the Users Group, and we'd like to extend that to a newsletter sometime soon [and even a semiannual CD] depending on how much participation we can get... Heavy emphasis will be placed on performing total "projects" with trueSpace (ie: developing a game, multimedia presentation, etc.). 505.06 - Follow-Ups 502.01.04: Sculptor Walter Arnold's correct E-mail address is sculptor@mcs.com 3D ARTIST errata: Page 4 ad in both 3DA#17 and #18: The Xaos Tools fax number is 415/558-9886. 505.07 - What's Up in Santa Fe 505.07.01 - TESS Deadline for TESS#506 is 1pm Mountain Time (3pm New York time), Monday, 4/3/95. (Deadline usually is Monday, but will be 4/7/95 for TESS#507 because NAB starts 4/10.) 505.07.02 - 3D ARTIST Editorial and space deadline for 3DA#20 is 4/18/95. The issue focus will be hardware for 3D graphics. 3DA#21 will have as its focus 3D medical illustration, and we're looking for related articles. "I see the new issue on the newsstand, so why don't I have my copy?" That's a question we started hearing again last week, and the answer is that newsstand copies truck out to distribution centers soon after leaving bindery, but subscriber copies have to wait to be stuffed into envelopes and addressed, which happened to take much longer than usual on 3DA#18. Then they get turned over to the post office for delivery (or storage?). The postal wait can be as little as four to eight days, or as long as three or more weeks. Mid-Atlantic states seem to take longest. If you move and don't tell us well in advance, the post office trashes your copy, and only sometimes sends us notice. We have to ship via a class of mail that does NOT get forwarded. Too many copies are lost this way, so we have stopped replacing them for free after the last mailing of an issue goes out. 505.08 - Contacts The following companies have products mentioned in this issue of *The Tessellation Times*. When you contact companies, please BE SURE to say you heard about them from TESS. > Autodesk, Inc.; 111 McInnis Pkwy., San Rafael, CA 94903; 800/879-4233; 415/507-5000, 491-8311 fax; autodesk.com > Byte by Byte Corp.; 8920 Business Park Dr. #330, Austin, TX 78759; 512/795-0150, -0021 fax; bytebybyte.com; http://bytebybyte.com > Magellan Geographix; 6464 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara, CA 93117; 800/929-4627; 805/685-3100, -3300 fax > Ultimatte Corp.; 20554 Plummer St., Chatsworth, CA 91311; 800/993-8046; 818/993-8007, -3762 fax > Viewpoint DataLabs Intl.; 625 S. State St., Orem, UT 84058; 800/328-2738; 801/229-3000, -3300 fax __________________ 3D ARTIST magazine If you haven't seen 3D ARTIST and can't find it on a newsstand or through your local user group, E-mail your snail mail address to t3.info@3dartist.com for a sample issue in North America. Elsewhere, we send sample pages. [end]