Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!pikes!mercury.cair.du.edu!mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!isis!uunet!tronsbox!chsdip!groo From: groo@chsdip (Bill Squier) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Imagine: "World Famous Support" ?? (LONG) Summary: Enthusiastic Customer Support Message-ID: <663171569-comp.sys.amiga@chsdip.UUCP> Date: 7 Jan 91 09:41:22 GMT Lines: 243 After spending about a week with Imagine, a friend of mine and I had come up with a two-page list of minor bugs/additions we'd like to see/questions. Remembering their comments in the two page errata sheet, we decided to call them up and let them know "ASAP", just like it says. We were greeted on the phone by a man who sounded like this was the twelve-thousand'th call he'd received that day. Me: "Hi, I have some bug reports, suggestions and questions for you guys, are you the person who's supposed to handle all that" Him: (droning like he was about to fall asleep) "Yes. I'm that person. However, I have limited time, so please only ask questions. I shouldn't have my time >wasted< by suggestions and bug reports." Whew, okay I thought, nice guy... I proceeded to ask some questions, which he droned out unhelpful answers to. Some of these things are down right wrong, so I figure I'll redirect them to you guys. 1) When you make a sphere transparent, is it considered hollow or solid? ie- how many index of refraction changes does the light ray go through? The answer the tech support guy gave was completely off base. He said: "The sphere is hollow. If you want to make it appear solid, turn up the index of refraction." That's just plain WRONG. If it's hollow, the ray's going to undergo four (4) seperate changes, bending it at a completely different angle by the time it emerges from the other side. Turning up the index of refraction would just exaggerate the "hollowness" of it. 2) Be careful about the following statement (from the Tutorial manual, page 3): "There is no limit to the extents of any axis, either positive or negative". That works all fine and good until you push something out beyond 1024 in any direction, and select "Trace" mode for rendering. Apparently you have to adjust some aspect of the "Globals" settings under the Action editor in the Stage Editor for this to work. I believe the tech support guy mumbled the "size" attribute needs to be changed, but I haven't had a chance to try it. After being thouroughly frustrated with this "support", I drafted a letter containing everything I wanted to say, and I'm about to send it off to Impulse. My suggested addtions and comments follow, and if you'd like to add anything, drop me a line and I'll include it in my letter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ After working with your product Imagine v1.0, I have compiled a list of problems and suggestions that I'd like to share with you. I've devided the list in to five distinct sections to provide some degree of clarity. Section 1: Bugs/Quirks The [Parent] button available in all your disk requesters does not work correctly. It limits you to your projects top-level directory. Frequently I have an object stored in another project I'd like to access quickly, and I have to resort to typing the path manually. In the Attributes requester, the object's name is limited to 8 characters, quite a few less than Turbo Silver. If this is an intentional "feature", I'd like to see at least the old length back. The [Import] button in the Project Editor is undocumented, but easy to figure out. In requesters that allow you to change multiple settings (Attributes, Transformations, etc.) clicking a new choice leaves an "X" in the previously selected box. In the Mold requester, under Extrude, the Mirror Ends option is undocumented. There is no documentation for the PlayIAnm utility. Section 2: Additions General: -------- Ability to apply all general operations to the children of an object as well (for example, the Fast Draw option) Interrupt all view generations when zooming and panning. Currently, only the perspective draw is interrupted. Separate pan/zoom controls for the perspective window. A key or gadget to recenter the "rotate" sliders on the perspective window. A CAD/CAM-like Zoom to box option, where you drag out an area which you would like to fill the entire view. Make Hide Points available in editors besides the Detail Editor. An option to remove the "edge" lines in Perspective window in Shaded mode. For requester, try to default to an appropriate directory, if one exists. For example, default to Project_name/Objects for object save/loads (unless it has been changed by a previous use of the requester, as is currently the case), and Imagine/Im_Textures for texture loads. Recently there's been a flury of activity on Usenet (a world-wide news distribution service) concerning your product. I have seen Steve Menzies post there, but I would suggest your company actually getting an account on a local system that carries net-news, or even setting up a site on an Amiga in your offices. The software is public domain (Matt Dillon's UUCP 1.06D is an excellent choice) and easy to set up. I'm sure Mr. Menzies would have some input concerning this. There's been quite a bit of interest generated there, and people would love to have Impulse that easily accessable. Stage Editor: ------------- Lock mode in the Stage Editor. (Snap to grid) If the camera is tracked to an object, and that object is moved, update the perspective window appropriately. Currently, a Goto cell 1 is required. Allow all Pick Modes (Drag Box, Lasso, ...) Project Editor: --------------- Add a Turbo Silver "Set Zone" equivalent. A "Show while tracing" mode, similar to the Sculpt-4D option. After selecting Cancel during a render, how about an "Are you sure?" requester as in Turbo Silver. Detail Editor: -------------- Ability to apply Color, Reflect, and Filter to child objects. Why are these the only attributes that are not carried over from the parent? Cycle Editor: ------------- Option to prevent certain segments from ever pivoting, twisting, or moving. A "Lock in place" option. Add a Translate requester for precise numerical adjustments. Change orientation of assigned object (rather than having it always be oriented along the Z axis) at the time of the assignment. An Insert Segment option. (You have Remove) A Relocate Segment option. (Attach the segment at a different location) Group scaling operations. Snap to Grid/Lock feature The program will load a grouped object as a cycler, and it does a pretty good job (even though it's not supposed to do it at all). Is it possible to "smooth out" that process. This would be an incredibly useful feature! An option to have the segment conform to the size of the object assigned to it, rather than the (current) other way around. Ability to Insert Cell. (Again, you have Remove) Section 4: Compliments Probably your favorite section... While I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with your product, there are certain minor, often overlooked features that make it that much more enjoyable to work with. It's always the little things... Double clicking in requesters to load/save/etc. A big gain over Turbo! A drag-able screen. That one pixel line at the top is infinitely useful. The Shaded/Hidden line perspective window. Countless times I had no idea what the Wire Frame view in Turbo Silver was showing me. Saveable/loadable Attribute settings. Simplifies a lot of operations! Again, that's just the little things, but it's the finer points of a program that really impress me. Section 5: Additional F/X and Texture suggestions Cracked Rock/Granite (Texture) Just like on the manul cover Clouds (Texture) Again, just like the cover Burlap (Texture) Good for the one-legged race animations. :-) Viens (Texture) Medical/science anims? Scales (Texture) Dragons and fish Stucco (Texture) ouch. Marble (Texture) Wood just doesn't come up with a realistic Marble effect. Fur (Texture) Animals. Frosted (Texture) Just like "Smoked Glass" Fog (F/X) Might not be an F/X item, but definitely a useful option Melt/Collapse (F/X) Similar to Explode, but affected by gravity. Possibly for Melt, dividing triangles into smaller ones while applying "Collapse" Now that I think of it, this could probably be simulate with a Morph. ----- Bill Squier (groo) Amiga : uunet!tronsbox!dsoft!chsdip!groo (best) `Only Amiga!' VAX : uunet!vaxb.stevens-tech.edu!u93_wsquier