Wow, Maggy, that was awesome.

Why do I feel that we will be referencing parts of that song for years.

"Pro's said oh,you do not know
Silence while our forum grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence"

That is some good stuff right there!

that forum got shot down last week, really. You can hear the echos and see the dust motes in that giant empty space, now.

I stop by once in a while to hear the sounds of silence.....................

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

And the real bummer is that guy, or gal, doesn't get an answer, at least right now.

Google Groups seems to have resolved their server issues, although they were certainly having problems yesterday.

Since I have already been exposed to the Google Groups cooties many times with no noticeable ill-effects (although I realize that dulled sensibilities may itself be a symptom) I can swing by and confirm that your guy or gal has been answered. What was the issue or the name of the poster?

-Gully

That is a very nice gesture, Gully. I can't remember the particulars of the poster, but it was about how to deform the faces of a cube to achieve a sagging effect. I talked about the Sandbox tools, and using Add Detail to get a grid on a cube so you can deform with Smoove. I also said you go make a grid from the raw, copy and rotate the face into a grid, and then start Smooving. I was in the Pro group (I think that is what it is called).

Yeah, fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice..........

I doubt there will be a twice, really.

It's not enough that the site is an unorganized chaotic mess, but it doesn't work, too?!!

Bad google, very bad.

FWIW, I have had tech support messages bounce back, too, which is highly annoying!

Well, for the first time, I thought I would be a civil minded SUpper and check out googlegroups. One of the first threads was someone asking a decent question and I thought, "What the heck, this is a good time for a first post".

So, I type out my reply and send it. And it gets punted back with a "there was an error connecting with google and you post was not posted" or some such. And to make matters worse, as soon as you navigate away from that page, your message is deleted. So, instead of copying my message and coming back later to post, I have run back here with my tail between my legs.

Nothing like smashing your thumb with the first swing of a new hammer.

And the real bummer is that guy, or gal, doesn't get an answer, at least right now.

Sure makes me appreciate here!!!

I use the H.264 codec almost exclusively. Excellent quality with decent file sizes, though a highly textured 364 acre development, 1024 x 768, 8 minutes long is 2.4 Gigs. And that is with 2D trees (2000 of them)

Unfortunately, that option to change aspect ration is windows only.

Why on earth they would have any options that are platform specific is beyond me.

You can't change the codec!! Yikes, that is a major deal breaker, too. What is unbelievable to me is that the exports work great in 5 and they have managed to ruin an essential functionality in the "upgrade"

If I had paid for 6, boy would I be upset; as it is, I am just disappointed and losing confidence for the future direction of SU.

I, too, seem to start my new projects in 6 and then migrate (hehe) into 5 at some time or another. My huge issue with 6 is that the animation export does not work at all. There is a weird z-fighting issue that promotes horrible flashing and flickering if you have two surfaces that are close to each other (a blue skin for a lake picture, a driveway on a topography that I need independent, etc.) CraigD has been working with me on and off for months on this issue and I guess they are having a heck of a time resolving the issue.

Another export issue is that 5's default aspect ratio is 4:3 and 6's is 16:9. So if you set up all your scenes in 6 and then save as 5 to get a good animation, every view is different from what you originally set up. This has cost me days in tweaking setups.

6 orbits significantly better on the Intel Mac than 5, so I will use 6 on the bigger models to model some things.

I am probably one of the minority, but I have found the whole Styles thing to be overblown, less than intuitive, and really 90% wasted on me. It would be great if they had a slimmed down 6 that we could use that didn't have all these "cute" features that I can do in photoshop better and with more adjustability. A great feature would be a global texture opacity slider, so you can moderate the overall look of a model, too.

Overall, I have found the 6 release to be fairly disappointing. I am not convinced about the direction SU is heading and I shudder to think that 5 may be my default version from here on out. I hope I am wrong........

And what about Layout? Also quite disappointing, IMHO.

Very cool! I WILL study up this weekend and get into it! (About the time I finally found the "type here" box everybody had signed off

Coen, there are definitely no flies on you...good job again!

@cphillips said:

@unknownuser said:

No takers for coding a Mac version?

Too bad, because I want to play, too.

Someone is working on the Mac port now. I don't have an ETA yet tho.

That is excellent news! Just knowing that it is in the pipeline is very exciting!

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

No takers for coding a Mac version?

Too bad, because I want to play, too.

Tom, your trees rule! I really don't like using any but yours. Your balance between beauty, filesize, and artistic "feel" are unsurpassed.

I dub thee "Foliage Man"!

Thanks!

@shaun tennant said:

then you have an hour and 15 min to get 16 people over here and signed up. I'll give you some help - post a sign that says Free Beer or Hot ladys! That's how we got Chuck (Kannon)

It's amazing how I react to those two things. I am weak, very weak

Jeez, Ross, that's quite the list of things you have cut out! I am impressed with your will power. I mean, no beer 8O .

I may as well throw another pool into the mix.....

As Shaun likes to say, "KKKAAAAAAANNNNNNOOOONNNNNBBBBAAAALLLLLLLLL"

SLASH!

jeez, are you serious? 3 minutes with the 8 core?!!

drool, drool. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's 8 core mac pro............

That is a pretty impressive capability, Coen, and it sure sounds fun. I would use it, for sure, probably more than I should

Your forum has quickly become the coziest place I know on the net! Good place and good people, you know. Nothing wrong with BYOB.

Thanks again Coen! I think most of the alienation has come from google, though........

Perhaps a donation plan for a gallery? I'd be 'in' for doing something like that.

Cheers, Chuck

Thank you as well, Coen.

I am so happy here; does anyone mind if I set a hammock up in the corner and make myself at home?