Well said Neil. Just to clarify, I didn't mean anything against
anyone's length of time with RS. I have been here since '94, but still
consider you an 'old timer' :)
To clarify on my hobby comment, I have had to use other more developed
programs for my job because RS was just not up to the task (like many
others have had to do) or didn't fit the pipeline imposed on me by
others. I think David Ingebretsen still lurks faithfully on the list,
but I think RS has likely fallen to a hobby-passion level with him also
years ago, as I don't believe he does his accident recreations with RS
(I may be completely wrong, and will gladly eat these words if so).
Aside from work I have always loved RS and want to support and use it as
much as possible, but have found myself wanting more, as Martin expressed.
I enjoy your work Neil - keep it up.
Happy rendering,
Brandon
On 11/5/2010 11:20 AM, Neil Cooke wrote:
Hi Folks,
Two cents ....
I'm not an old timer ... been with RS since 2004. But I have no
intention of shifting, I use it on a daily basis, it does everything I
need and more. I dont know any other 3D app and have no need to move.
RS is perfect for my needs and I enjoy drawing with it.
My purpose is to have RS as a tool in commercial illustration and
graphic art studio. Occasionally some animation work. It is not a
hobby for me. The support I have received when ever I have become
stuck with some aspect has been superb.
Thanks
Neil Cooke
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* Brandon <rsl...@silvergravity.com>
*To:* user-list@light.realsoft3d.com
*Sent:* Sat, 6 November, 2010 3:30:57 AM
*Subject:* Re: SDK/ sites down/ frustration/Realsoft
Martin,
Excellent points made, and I fully agree. It is getting hard to stick
with RS for a hobby. Like you stated, that wow factor we had with v4
has long since faded, and I would like to see it again. I find myself
unmotivated to upgrade to v7 from v6, but would like to find myself
highly motivated in the future for a v8 release. I used v6 last year
for a work project, and I just find it lagging behind the other software
available.
How many of us old timers are there still around that have the same
unvoiced thoughts?
Best regards,
Brandon
On 11/5/2010 6:43 AM, mengil...@gmx.net <mailto:mengil...@gmx.net> wrote:
> Hey all and hey Realsoft in special.
>
> I want to keep this decently short; had written an even longer text
before.
> The story was that lately I´ve been trying to convert a scientific
shader formula into a usable shader for RS3D.
> Because I´m an amateur, I need help and so I looked around for
information, basically finding nothing.
>
> All in all information and general resources regarding RS3D are
simply insufficient, and the issues with missing documentation and web
resources are well known for years.
> Today there are most probably not even ten websites left that offer
a notable amount of content regarding RS3D.
> The Wiki seems to be dead for years, the forum doesn´t even let you
register an account (because of understandable issues, I know), the
Render Daemon site is completely down, realsoft.info as well, and now
I see that I can´t even download the v6 and v7 SDK, because, even
though they are listed, their links just don´t work.
> It seem as if there was nobody tending to the website at all, the
only useful information comes from a handful of personal websites that
are scattered throughout the web.
> As far as I know, there isn´t even a single website anymore that
somehow gathers RS3D-stuff like the Render Daemon did, not a SINGLE!
>
>
> This is getting unbearable.
> As I said, these problems are known for years, but they don´t get
better, instead they seem to get worse.
> There seems to have been a short "golden age" of webpresence for
RS3D, with the wiki and the forum and all.
> But now all that was built in that age has gone to ruin, or so it seems.
> There has to be something that can be done about that.
>
> As I think about it, the wiki is still there, I could contribute to
it, I´ve never done that.
> And I would love to do that if I saw some sense in it.
> But just adding stuff to a personal homepage or expanding an unused
wiki wouldn´t do the trick.
> Realsoft itself HAS to have the WILL to renew the efforts to promote
and develop RS3D, this would have to be some kind of a priority for
Realsoft/Vesa and Juha.
> And I don´t see that will, that priority.
>
> Now I can totally understand if ones own life comes in the way of
other things, family to tend to, etc..
> And as I understand it, that´s exactly why Realsoft kinda lags behind.
>
>
> But I have decided to voice my opinion in a strong manner.
> Because I don´t think that speaking softly does any good.
> Realsoft has been a small but consistent part of my life; I´ve
joined this list somewhere in the ninetees.
> And so I don´t want to "betray" Realsoft by acting as if everything
was ok for me somehow.
>
> Cause it´s not.
> Again - this is getting unbearable.
> When will these issues be resolved? Will they ever be?
> If I´m looking at the situation I´d much rather guess that RS3D will
have died long before that could have happened.
> The somehow revolutionary RS3D v4 was released over ten years ago
now, and I very much feel that it´s time to have another revolution
like that.
>
>
>
> So please, Realsoft, get it going!
>
>
>
> And if you don´t think that you can handle that (because of
understandable time- and priority-issues), then take the consequences.
> I mean, there would be several options.
> One would be to get an investor and hire a (bigger) staff.
> Another would be to sell the software or the entire company and to
let someone else develop and publish the program.
> And yet another one would be to release RS3Ds code under an open
source license.
>
> All of the above would still leave the possibility to participate in
the development of RS3D, to influence it´s "shape", and to simply make
money with it.
> With an investor, existing personnel would simply be kept.
> And even with the investor getting some of the earnings, this would
surely be overcompensated by increased sales.
> With the second possibility personnel could possibly stay in leading
positions.
> Released as open source, there would be several possibilities.
> As I understand it, you could release it under a license that
permits selling for profit, so that Realsoft could be kept as it is
and sell RS3D bundled with professional customerservice.
> Whatever license would be chosen, participation would be pretty easy.
>
> Now I think to remember a discussion here, several years ago, where
people said that RS3D could take the road that Cinema 4D had gone and
get bigger.
> If I recall correctly, Vesa statet that he didn´t want to go that
way, because he wanted to keep the company small and handleable, that
he wanted to retain control over Realsoft and didn´t have the time to
personally supervise a bigger company.
> Or at least that was the essence of what he wrote.
> And I can understand that attitude.
>
> But as I see it, something has to be done, if Realsoft 3D is not to
disappear.
> If the only possible outcoming of carrying on like this is to see
ones own great work becoming unnoticed, then irrelevant, then
forgotten und at last burried, there has to be some action.
>
> Or so at least I think.
>
>
> Greetz
>
> Martin
>
>
> PS: In the mean time, please bring the v6 and v7 SDKs back on. ;-)
>
