[Ed Lee]

OK, this pix was partly influenced by the movie Stargate, notably the center gate itself. The idea is somewhat different...with totally different angle to the story. Anyway, it was pretty elaborate model building and texturing - took almost a week to complete. It's all 3D Max. I do like the software but the company's got an attitude now.

[This message has been edited by Ed Lee (edited February 17, 2001).]

[A. Mount]

See Ed? See? No, see? I'm not even going to bother saying anything. Just.... no.

a.

[-HoodZ-]

eh? what r u talking about A? well anyways took only a week eh....damn im still trying to get the hang of 3D Max.....hmmm when you say that the company has an attitude do you mean towards you or 3D Max?

[The Incredible MGC]

This is a gorgeous, very well done piece. I don't know what A.Mount is talking about! hehe

[Rage-lion]

Dont know what A. Mount is talking about either...very beautilful piece..

[Ed Lee]

Yeah, I'm back. This image was posted late last night. Thanks for the compliments. Anyway,ever since Discreet took over Kinetix they've hired some people who don't have a clue about 3D biz and gave them jobs.They don't know how to treat their customers. Same thing at work as well. Ed--

[TheMilkMan]

Damn ed looks good..nik=ce lighting and the textures look great....wow wish we could work with that many polys in our game !!! Why would you use max for this kind of work would'nt maya or softimage be better they certainly handle and render high poly scenes better. Hey man you are sooooooo right about discrete they can kiss my hairy white ass.. e are getting sick of them ....a lot of people are going to want to switch to max 4 and they are going to loose a lot of customers with this attitude they have lately. There support department sucks bad now. Hey dont you work with Feng over at blur??? I mean why are you guys using max it is not a high poly program.....you should be using softimage for that kinda stuff.

[Ed Lee]

Hey Milkman, you're absolutely right on about Discreet. Yeah, I'm at Blur a Max house, and yeah I work with Feng. He's got some skillz for a punk. Anyway, I own my Max at home..a legit version. So, I finally got R4 a month ago and still can't get it authorized because the "people" in the customer service dept. are giving me such a hard time (I almost wanted to send it back to them and get my money back). I also have Lightwave - and they're far better in customer dept. Anyway, this "person" made me fetch the invoice from '97, wanted every little info and it's still not enough to give me the code. When Kinetix was by itself they were much cooler,but Discreet's attitude totally sux now. The owners at Blur are just shaking their heads thinking "what the...." And yeah, I'm trying to push Blur to get Maya because of some similarities. They did have a Maya person come over to give a demo, but Blur does everything fast and felt Maya with it's price and slow rendering time wasn't worth the time. Well, with this advent of Discreet's sucky attitude maybe they will reconsider. What software do you use? Ed--

[anticz]

Max isn't a high poly program? I wish someone had told us this before we went and built Myst3 in Max.

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Mike B. - Supervising Janitor
anticz.com
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[edible snowman]

sorry about that anticz,you must have missed that memo. I guess myst 3 is going to suck now... why are people so quick to bash 3d programs? I could be wrong(and i frequently am) but its my understanding that any of them can be good if you know how to use it.

[LowJack]

Ed, I like the lighting and attention to detail. I also like the way the camera is tilted. Nice work. I�ve tinkered with 3D Max a little and it looks like you know what you�re doing. I�m a veteran Softimage user myself and I�m now working with XSI 1.5 (incredible). Anyway, good job.


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NO CHEESE

[Ed Lee]

Yes, true, it depends on the driver. There's alot of talk about which software is good and which one is better. They all have both good points and bad, but after using the software and trying out different ones, one can't help but knotice that there are subtle differences - depending largely on what one's company is working on: Film efx, games, ride film, commercials, broadcast graphics, internet. I feel given the budget Max can probably do them all but centainly it can't go up against Maya, or large and high profile studios like DD, ILM or SonyImageworks would use it, but they don't. Yes, it depends on the artists, and I use the term loosely since some of them came out of tech school and are not trained artists. But, it does help to know and understand art and film making process. With a 3D program one can achieve both.It's just that with any software comes all kind of baggages; support, upgrade,services and more money one has to dish out to get most out of the 3D investment.It's bummer Discreet has decided that the customers shouldn't be treated with courtesy. Ed--




[This message has been edited by Ed Lee (edited February 17, 2001).]

[Roy Fielding]

Yep... this is a nice piece. I am a Maya user and have recently had to use Max for a short-term project. I must agree, Max certainly doesn't like throwing around "mega meshes". You've done a great job using a donkey like Max.

No offense to Max lovers. I also have lots of quarrels with Maya too..... although I do still prefer Maya to all other packages at present.

The only minor niggle with this picture I have is with the foreground area. Looks like it wasn't given much attention?

Roy )

[AliasMoze]

Some of the best 3D animation I've seen was done in Max. It's cliche, but it really isn't the program; it's the artist

Ed, looks great. I mistook it for a painting at first.

[Shaded]

Masht impressive suh...

[Vortx]

Ed, you need the Sijun 10-step. =)

This piece looks much cooler on screen than the print-out i saw.

I'm not an expert in high-res modeling...but max is definitely a good tool for game development.

Now i've seen some amazing stuff from Blur lately....especially their latest work....and it's all done in MAX. Blizzard's WCIII trailers were pretty sweet too.

-feng

[EviLToYLeT]

Great piece ed. Hrmm... I wouldn't have any say on 3d software or the companies... too expensive for me to buy But... you may want to try this openfx renderer. It's free too.
http://openfx.org/news/index.php

Then again theres blender at
http://www.blender.nl

cheers! (But i bet you already know about those.

[ambient-whisper]

looks like a good thread to advertise( though i get nothing out of it >_<!grr )

u guys tried mirai yet?. soon itll support the jig renderer...renderman...etc...
in my opinion its the best poly/subd app... ( probably because they* invented it?!...uh yea.( not polys..but the subd technology)

*they refers to...( symbolics/ trippleiii/ nichimen/ and now wingededge.)
( makers of nendo)

yall 3d lovers should try it..its like a drug..

and that pic is awesome...especially for a 1 week piece..( i used to be a maxer, mayaer, houdinier( though for only a few months on houdini)...ahh..memories..)
_____________
-M-K-
ambient-whisper


[This message has been edited by ambient-whisper (edited February 18, 2001).]

[Ed Lee]

Thanks Evil, yeah I have Blender - that Dutch 3D software. I met their people actually and for the price it looks great! Hey Amb (Dunno, but that name ambient-whisper gives me the willys), anyway, Mirai's pretty cool! My second choice after Maya. Supposedly, their sub-div poly modeling is the best thing that's out there. I do have Nendo - and I've built some cool models with it. You know about Symbolics? That's cool...yeah, they were bought up by Nichimen...now WingedEdge(what's with the name?) I got to meet Bay over there. Nice enough guy...Yeah, Max - they gotta do something with their renderer, I also have complaints about their modeler. After using Lightwave's modeler (probably better than Max's) it just seem so clunky. AND Discreet better overhaul their overbearing attitude! Or I'm returning their stoopid software. Ed--

[ambient-whisper]

the only reason i know about symbolics is because im working for bob coyne...he used to work on symbolics/trippleiii/ nichimen/ since 1985..and his job was to design the paint system..( that was before photoshop.)
about the winged edge name...well its an actual polygonal technology that they are using in their product.

Wingededge-notes

wingededge-code

enjoy!

ps: you seen the video that Bay Raitt made yet?.


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-M-K-

[ambient-whisper]

damn 2x post ...why cant we delete our own posts?.

[This message has been edited by ambient-whisper (edited February 18, 2001).]

[WICKED]

well i got lost in all those post, just wanted to compliment you for the work way up in the top. The only thing that bothers me is that blue coned thing up in the top middle of the picture. It just dosent look like its part of the image.

WICKED

[TheMilkMan]

/nm

[This message has been edited by TheMilkMan (edited February 18, 2001).]

[mantis]

Super pic but I am quite upset right now. That was my idea for an 'event horizon' pic except the orb in the middle would have been the sphere from the movie. Now, you took it and I can't finish my pic....actually I haven't even started it but it was a looming idea that was about to take creation. too bad it's "already been done" by you . It's agreat pic though, g'job.

[Nex]

whow, thats really great!

would it be possible to see a mesh rendering of this- puuuhleeese?

[Ed Lee]

Hey Mantis, I'ld like to see you pic. Should post it anyway..Like I said the ring idea came from Stargate...But, ya know knowing movie making people they have researchers digging through alot of materials for a possible movie idea. I ran into so many "scouts" who scour through comic shops out here to look for just that. AND it's not uncommon for movie makers to hire authors for story consultants...like Star Wars - Joseph Campbell in fact. And I bet you they got somebody for Stargate/Independence Day. So, my point is they got that ring idea from somewhere else..I mean the ring is nothing new.... Ed--

[Ed Lee]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nex:
whow, thats really great!

would it be possible to see a mesh rendering of this- puuuhleeese?

---

Sure Nex...Ed--

[biggunn01]

damn so that sh*t is tight. i'm feelin it. i can't do 3d stuff. and even if i could it wouldn't look like that. you get MAD PROPS.
wes

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WESLEY GUNN
www.mpstudios.net