2BitSculptor

There is no reference to Pixar as the developer of this software. It was primarily designed for Renderman, which IS by Pixar, but exports to a few other formats as well. It has been around in various stages of development since 2001.

Hi, My name is Chuck. I'm located in South Central Wisconsin, an hour west from Lake michigan. I've been married to the same wonderful woman for 36 years and have 3 grown children and 5 grandchildren. I'm currently a freelance artist, sculptor mostly, but have in the past illustrated for ad agencies and was a scientific illustrator for a USDA research lab. While working at the lab, I was introduced to the Amiga and some very neat little public domain 3D programs, then came Impulse's Imagine (first called Silver) and NewTek's Lightwave, and even beta tested Impulse's Organica organic modeler.... which in turn introduced me to the world of garage kits (independently sculpted and produced resin model kits). I've been sculpting kit prototypes now for more than a decade and have even sculpted a few commercially produced toy prototypes. I've also taught basic drawing and figure sculpting for a local technical college.

I'm agreeing with the suggestion for a final 3DC3 for the current 3DC features at no price increase (over the already stated full value) and a 3DC3 Pro version, with the new advanced features at additional cost. You can keep the hobbyist and small 3D shop users (who helped 3DC grow) and, as well, draw in the larger 3D shops and professional users. If you could create a scaled down version of 3D coat, present features locked in, with updates for only bug fixes and small features that make the current 3DC experience more pleasant. Then an option to upgrade, or add-on, the new features you are developing. I look at the introduction of 3D Brush as a beta price with the increase for stages in the development.. Then you can do the same for the advanced features while they are in development, new purchasers have the option of just buying 3DC3, or paying a bit more for the current state of 3DC3 Pro. Ground floor users, who got in on earlier Pro developments pay with testing and suggestions, and get the final numbered upgrade at no additional cost. When you announce features for a new numbered version, set a price for the final version, and give anyone who wishes to be a beta tester a break (30% off ?) on the final price if they prepay. Now might be a good time to consider it. best regards, Chuck

Andrew, Thanks to you for an incredible application, as well as a totally refreshing approach to program development. You've had a lot of help on the way, and those who have assisted have already benefited from the evolution of 3D Coat, basically for free. I have, in the past, most willingly paid $100 just to be in a 'Continuous Upgrade Program' (CUP) for 3D software. The original software only cost me $80. and each new and wonderful full number upgrade was $100, which was prepaid by the CUP price. So basically, I PAID to be a beta tester. I have no sympathy for those who are complaining now. By the way, THAT software company no longer exists making 3D applications, as the cost of the software was well below what was needed for the company to survive. If you were to disappear, and it is sad to think, people would hunt the internet for and also share the last great version of your software, with no regard of you and the story behind 3D Coat, only caring for themselves. This is your program. You have to price it for your own needs. It would be another matter if you were intentionally gouging the user base, but you aren't. The price your are proposing is MORE than fair. If users can't keep up with the pricing demands, then they should again scour the internet for those free or low cost tools in the same way that they found 3D Coat. As always, where there is a need, it will be filled, but not always with what we desire. It will be a struggle for me to meet your new pricing schedule, but (as mentioned by others) it would be far more expensive for the alternatives. There is too much discussion already. Best Regards, Chuck

Reminds me of a modeling program from a few years ago called Organica (I was part of the beta test team)... The developer has since left the market and the program was never refined enough for my needs, but it was great fun. I believe it used a marching cubes method to create the surface after the volumetric stuff was assembled. it was like building objects from basic shaped and used surface attraction to smooth the shapes together into a surface... like the old blobby technology of a decade ago. Here are some pics of the screen and objects I ... http://www.2bitstudio.com/gallery2/native01.jpg http://www.2bitstudio.com/gallery2/org-dragon.jpg http://www.2bitstudio.com/gallery2/native08.jpg

3D DL (3D Digital Laminate) AS LP (Andrew Shpagin's Layer Paint) Chuck

A "Yahoo" is what the tribe of horses called humans in Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver'sTravels (1726). Wikipedia-Gulliver's_Travels, Part_IV Chuck

"Digi Paint" was a paint program by NewTek (makers of Lightwave) in the early days of the Amiga computer. I think I was the first one to buy it as soon as it was introduced. Chuck

I'm already using "Bit" :lol: :lol: Chuck "2Bit" in reference to the parable of the poor woman who gave all she had in worship, NOT in reference to the one on the corner who charges a "fee" for what she provides..... oh.... wait....

3D-Harvest Layer Harvest 3D-Feast Pixel Harvest 3D Dream Catcher Layer Genie LayerGenie3D MapMagic MapMagic3D MapGenie MapGenie3D PaintMagic PaintMagic3D PaintGenie PaintGenie3D VertexGenie VertexGenie3D I tried..... Chuck

The program did not detect the presence of the dongle as a device... the information before and after was identical. You may already know this, but the dongle uses a driver for it's operation, so I think (I'm just speculating) that you must access the driver to read the dongle. The driver is installed when you install LightWave. Look for "Sentinel Protection Installer 7.4.0.exe" in your LW root directory. I don't know if there is information you can gain from it. Chuck

My thoughts are that he didn't want to post it on his official site yet, and is making beta updates available to the public through this route. He has already stated that he will post it there when he is ready. For him it was convenience, even though the service he is using is unreliable for some. I'm sure eventually, all will be ironed out. He is a small company with high hopes for the application. Time is being spent on getting the software ready, then the pipeline for access will improve. I'm sure he is aware of the frustration that some are experiencing, and is also experiencing his own (no-one likes to see this sort of thing happen). There will always be kinks to work out. I don't think that it in any way reflects negatively upon his professionalism. You have to start somewhere, and I certainly appreciate the very visible interaction he has presented with this release. Chuck

Very odd indeed. Couldn't imagine the problem, maybe an ISP connection issue? (grabbing at straws)

I received an instability warning. The debug info only partially gets transfered to the email response (I'm using Thunderbird). I will try to get a screen cap if I can duplicate the error. I attempted to reduce poly count on my landscape model while in low-poly object view.... it caused the crash. I may have to fix my geometry first... there are a few overlapping poly's Chuck

Here is a comparison picture of my landscape. You can see that the z axis only is flipped. Thanks Chuck