RE: Content

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@3DProgrammer.com>]

> 	Having worked in several different publishing markets I haven't seen
> any significant competition between them. When I write for a magazine I
> do seek to get into the most prestigious mag I can, but I do not worry
> about competing with novels or movies that month. My work as a novelist
> may help me get into that magazine, but a flood of the same sort of
> material on the bookstand at the same time isn't likely to affect the
> magazine sales. A glut of similar magazines, however...

I think the strategic contest between visual and print media was decided a
long time ago.  Whereas there can still be a "battle for the eyeballs"
between TV and computer/console games, to use former Intel CEO Andy Grove's
phrase.  One's visual and passive, the other is visual and active.  Attempts
at Web TV, Microsoft's launching of the XBox, these are all gambits for the
future of entertainment.

But to judge the intermediate results, I think DVD is going to win.  It's
mostly passive, so people can space out, which is what most of them prefer
to do.  And then there's the extra "gimmie" of being able to hit a few
buttons to learn more about something, which feels like activity.  Games
will have to deliver truly *amazing* experiences to the audience to compete
against this satisfying baseline of "mild" interactivity.

> But ease of use and expense of modelling and animation
> technology is not so great a barrier (3ds Max and Maya are not the only
> options).

The cost of the software isn't the issue!  It's the clunkiness.  The number
of man hours you'll use up trying to animate some damn thing.  I've hated
all 3D modeling/animation software that I've yet used.  We need cheap,
perfect motion capture and surface fairing.  That's going to be awhile,
there's no mass market economics to drive it.

Anyways, regarding freeware and volunteer projects: been there, done that.
Almost got the T-shirt, still got the floppies.  It's a waste of time.  The
pitfalls of human cooperation are a lot broader than one author's humility
or lack thereof.  See "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred P. Brooks.


Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.