Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!masscomp!calvin!mark
From: mark@calvin..westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: A2500 vs. A3000
Message-ID: <61673@masscomp.ccur.com>
Date: 31 Jan 91 15:09:51 GMT
References: <678@b17b.INGR.COM>
Sender: news@masscomp.ccur.com
Reply-To: mark@calvin.westford.ccur.com (Mark Thompson)
Organization: Concurrent Computer Corp. Westford MA.
Lines: 71

In article <678@b17b.INGR.COM> dale@b17b.INGR.COM (Dale Rogers) writes:
>I'm very close to buying either a 2500 or a 3000.
>Tammi at New Tek told me that they will NOT support the Toaster on the
>3000

This is contrary to what NewTek has been saying for some time. They
have always said that they do not *currently* support the 3000 but
they were reworking the board to make it fit in (at which point they
would support it).

>Fine.  So I should get the 2500.  Except that one of the issues that first
>attracted me to the 3000 was the higher resolution display.  What is the
>highest resolution that I can hope to achieve on the 2500?  This is
>including additional monitors/video boards that I can add on later.

If you have to have the Toaster now, get a 2500. As for display resolution,
the stock 3000 is better than a stock 2500. However, boards such as the 
soon to be released ULowell graphics card will allow up to 1024 x 1024
with 256 out of 16M colors on either the 2500 or 3000. I don't know if
you can run your workbench on it though.

>My goal is to produce nice animations, both 2D line drawing (cell
>animation) type stuff, and 3D Rendered stuff with the intent to go to Video
>Tape (thus my interest in the Toaster).

Note that the Toaster works only with full 24bit color images so that
going to tape with your animations is not a real-time process. It requires
a single frame record capable VCR or video disk recorder.

>Also, The same dealer is trying to interest me in Imagine.  It sounds good.
>Is it?

Well, if you haven't used Turbo Silver, let me caution you....Imagine is
a very capable 3D animation package with a DISTURBINGLY NON-INTUITIVE
user interface! It will create stunning images, but will take you months
to figure out how to create them. To make matters worse, the documentation
is absolutely terrible. If you decide to go this route, make sure to get your
name on the imagine electronic mailing list (imagine@athena.mit.edu) where
people discuss how to do things that should be simple, like wrapping a brush
on a flat object.

However, if you buy a Toaster, you will be the proud owner of Lightwave 3D
which has to be the easiest to use 3D animation package ever created for
the Amiga. It creates stupendous images and with all of its special
effects and high rendering speed, you won't even care that it doesn't do
ray-tracing. Note however that Lightwave only supports 24bit output.

Another consideration for 3D animation is Hash Enterprises Animation
Journeyman. I can't comment on its ease of use, but suffice it to say that
if you plan on doing character animation (animals, people, and nice blobby
objects) don't consider any other program except this one. Unfortunately,
you can't get it from a dealer, only direct from Hash. It runs $500.

>While I'm in question mode: What's a good digitizer/pen model to go with?

If you are a sketch artist with a light touch (like myself), avoid the 
Easyl. It requires too much pressure (IMHO) and the surface is slightly
uneven. The one I have liked the most is the one used by RD&L for AProDraw.
I think it is a SummaSketch. It uses a corded pen but it is fairly quick,
responsive, will take a light touch, has good resolution, and will even
work with a moderately thick stack of paper on top (about 1/8 - 1/4 inch).

Hope this all helps, give me a buzz if you have any more animation or
Toaster questions.
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