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From: mcn@acl.lanl.gov (Michael Neuman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: NeXTs for Animation?
Keywords: animation
Message-ID: <26798@beta.gov>
Date: 30 Jun 91 18:42:44 GMT
Sender: enigma@beta.gov
Followup-To: mcn@acl.lanl.gov
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 23

I'm looking at a variety of systems to purchase for a home workstation. I'll
be needing it mainly to visualize scientific data as well as for general 
programming. Thusfar, I've been considering NeXT, SGI, and SUN.

One of the most important features (aside from computational power and Unix
compatibility) is the systems ability to produce animations. By this, I mean
availability of animation & titling software, as well as if it's any good!

Taking a look at the NeXT versus the SGI or the SUN, it's easy to say that
the NeXT is inferior, but for the price, the NeXT really outperforms the
other two (on a $ per MIP basis).

Has anyone produced animations on the NeXTstation color/monochrome? If so,
did you find the machine easy to use? Were the animations as good as you
hoped them to be? Did you find anything that you wished was better? How long
does it take to ray trace/phong shade/etc. an image?

Thanks!

-Mike Neuman
mcn@acl.lanl.gov
Advanced Computing Laboratory
Los Alamos National Labs