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From: DEB110@psuvm.psu.edu (Doug Bischoff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: BYTE December ignores AMIGA!!
Message-ID: <90334.135228DEB110@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 90 18:52:28 GMT
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 62


      Okay, NOW I'm upset.
      First time I'll ever write to a magazine and it's to tell them that they
goofed in a big way.
      In the same issue where they preview the Amiga 3000UX and say that it can
out-Unix a NeXT, MAC II, and 386 PC, they do a huge cover-story series on the
state of Computer Graphics today.
      Over half of the articles are dedicated to Ray-Tracing and photo-realism,
while the rest are dedicated to Compression and HDTV compatability.
      Allow me to quote:

        "All this wonderful color talk may seem like a moot point if you use a
         PC compatible machine.  Workstation-quality graphics have moved to the
         Macintosh..."

      *NOT!!!*

      Okay, I'll admit it.  32 bit color looks nice.  But I believe that someon
pointed out that the eye can't even DISTINGUISH colors more than 16.8 million
(24 bit) so all that extra color is OVERKILL.  Yes, the extra headroom is very
nice, and I'm not knocking that.

      The word AMIGA or COMMODORE does not make a single appearance in this
entire series of articles.  Not once.  I checked.

      Now for an example:
       How much does a Pixar Graphics machine cost?  About $50,000?  I can't
       say for sure, but that's my guess.  Please correct me if I'm wrong (as
       if I have to ask on this network, as someone already pointed out).

       They did a nifty 6 panel layout of graphics designed on a Pixar machine
       of the 6 steps, I can do the first 5 on a framebuffered Amiga using
       Turbo Silver (or Imagine would probably be easier :-) ) and the last
       one would just take a bit of tricky object designing.

       These were all done on the Pixar, and showed a progression that was
       basically:
                 Wire Frame
                 Solid Shading
                 Edge Smoothing
                 Shading/Shadows (Ray trace) with Light sources
                 Texture Mapping
                 Reflections and directional Light sources

        Even in the "comprehensive" end section detailing "all" the available
        graphics engines there was NO MENTION of the AMIGA or COMMODORE!

     I'm rather upset (obviously).  I'm seriously considering reproducing the
panels and sending them in with my letter, perhaps on disk in 24 bit files so
they can render them and see the screen shots.
     I was under the impression that BYTE gave fair coverage to the AMIGA!!!

     Comments, criticisms, voices raised in support?  All welcome.  (Even *sigh
flames)

/---------------------------------------------------------------------\
| -Doug  Bischoff- |    *** ***    ====--\         | "It's so neat to |
| -DEB110 @ PSUVM- |   *  ***  *     ==|<>\___     | see an AMIGA say |
| -The Black Ring- |    *** ***        |______\    |   "Welcome to    |
| --- "Wheels" --- |      ***           O   O      |   Macintosh""    |
| Corwyn Blakwolfe |     T.R.I.     -------------  | ---- AMIGA ----  |
\---------------------------------------------------------------------/