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Stonewalls
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Stonewalls // Work in Progress
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 7, 2006, 7:31pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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missunderstood, the link to 1000skies is the page where you can click on every Image to get a higher resolution, that you can save as jpg in youre texture folder.
The HDRI files you can convert to jpg with the free tool HDRI shop
Oh really? Well then I'll head back over there! I remember cheaking that sight out some time ago and there was to much money involved for this poor struggling artist! Thanks for the clarification Visu - very much appreciated - and it might save me from trying to wring some good sky backgrounds out of my hardly ever used Bryce.:o
Chrono - Hi, thanks for stopping by. This is a Work In Progress so the lighting is very simple - just two infinites - and they are set-up for a fairly flat light to assist me in placing everything. Hopefully you'll get to see plenty of light plays.
I've been busy building a ship for this scene - and I find it hard to limit myself to low poly counts! Watch this space:) |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 13, 2006, 1:49am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Well for those who are interested, here is a newer version incorporating my ship and showing the scene using a variation on the "noon" lighting setup included in tS6.6 lighting library. The orange of the sunlight has been dialed back and the shadows changed to 'transparent'.
I've had to deal with some memory issues getting this rendered (my machine is not getting any newer) and for subsequent pictures in this series I'm thinking I'll use IBL's instead.
Big thanks to Visu and to everyone who's commented.
So.... what do you think now?:confused:
PS: Beach added as suggested. |
Post by 1image // Feb 13, 2006, 1:58am
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1image
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Scale the ship a little bigger otherwise looks great dude. |
Post by Délé // Feb 13, 2006, 2:04am
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Délé
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I do agree with 1image, it would be nice to see the ship just a tad more. Excellent work though Wizard! :) I like it very much. Composition is nice. |
Post by Vizu // Feb 13, 2006, 2:43am
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Vizu
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WOW ! you do a amazing job with it. |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 13, 2006, 2:44am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Thanks Délé and 1image.
Yeah I was wondering about the size of the ship too. I was actually very careful to scale it accurately against the castle )I just made sure the doors were the same height :) ) but then when I pushed the ship off into the distance it made the sea look wrong somehow - probably because there is no curvature to the sea plane like there is in the 'real world'.
Délé I'm planning more views of the same general scene with the ship much closer..... time, it all takes so much time.... |
Post by turumdarak // Feb 13, 2006, 6:52am
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turumdarak
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To fix the ship, try giving it a blue tint to make it look farther away. Looks good. |
Post by MadMouse // Feb 15, 2006, 8:08am
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MadMouse
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Hi Stephen, looking really cool. Maybe you could leave the small ship at that distance and add another docked at the pier??? just an idea.
ATB Steve.:) |
Post by b_scotty // Feb 15, 2006, 11:13am
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b_scotty
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Very nice! I only have one question....When can I order the poster print? :) |
Post by W!ZARD // Feb 16, 2006, 7:16pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Thank you for the kind words gentlemen and the excellent suggestions. Apologies for not getting back to you sooner - the real world has been getting in the way. Added to this I have been having problems with insufficient memory (IIRC) which has made working on this scene somewhat frustrating - it's all worthwhile when I get such positive feedback from folks.
With the weekend (well it is here - 17 hours ahead of California) I hope to be able to put some more work into this project.
If anyone wants to help out by emailing me some more RAM I'd be most appreciative!!:D
Thanks again
Stephen
W!ZARD |
Post by trueBlue // Mar 3, 2006, 4:08pm
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trueBlue
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Congratulations with your winning pictures! Well deserved, I really like these scenes. I still would love to see some animations of them. |
Post by Délé // Mar 3, 2006, 4:12pm
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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I agree. Well deserved! Congratulations Wizard! :D |
Post by Alien // Mar 3, 2006, 4:27pm
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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Conga Rats! (dah dah dah dah dah *squeek* dah dah dah dah dah *squeek*) :D
Well done W!ZARD :cool: |
Post by GraySho // Mar 4, 2006, 12:35am
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GraySho
Total Posts: 695
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Congratulations. Nice to see the beach ;). The image turned out really great. |
Post by Johny // Mar 4, 2006, 1:49am
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Johny
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Congratulations Wizard! :banana: |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 4, 2006, 10:45pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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WooHoo! Holy Dancing Banana's, I won something! :banana: :banana: :banana:
Well that news certainly made my day! Thanks for the kind words of congratulations Gentleman and a big thankyou to Roman and Calligari. I entered this month with no expectation of success particularly as I knew there was some great pics being entered - Richards guitar pic, Splinters 'Doris' image and Kheang Chruns amazing car spring to mind!
As with my earlier win last year I owe a huge thanks to the folk of this community who have inspired and assisted me in so many ways, so ... er.. thanks people, you rock!
ATB
Stephen
W!ZARD:D |
Post by splinters // Mar 5, 2006, 6:17am
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splinters
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Well done Wizard-I really liked your images-seemed very 'narrative' like they should be part of an animation or illustrations in a book. I look forward to seeing what you do with TS7 now..;)
Never expected to win myself this month but I do like to see my artwork on the gallery page from time to time, this month especially so as the Union Jack really does jump out at you.....we Brits eh? Besides, winning is less of a 'celebration' if you already own all the prizes...only kidding Tom.:D
So again, well done....now stop smiling and get some stuff done with TS7....you do get TS7 don't you?....;) |
Post by rchappell // Mar 5, 2006, 7:24am
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rchappell
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Tremendous work Wizard. Well done with you winning images they are stunning.
Like Splinters I look forward to seeing you work with TS7. |
Post by splinters // Mar 5, 2006, 7:53am
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splinters
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By the time I can afford to buy tS7 it will be a free demo on a magazine cover disc! :( . My only resort is to win a copy in the Caligari Monthly contest (which is how I got my beloved copy of tS 6.6 :D ). To do that I need to do something really outstanding as I'm competing with artist who already own tS7 and it's advanced rendering abilities so I need all the help I can get!!
Ironic...no?
:D |
Post by noko // Mar 5, 2006, 1:22pm
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noko
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Very nicely done W!ZARD and well deserved, congratulations :banana: . Inspirational for me as well so thanks for that as well. |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 5, 2006, 5:30pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Ironic...no?
:D
Chuckle! Yes, now if only I can repeat the same trick with Lotto!
Splinters, you mentioned the 'narrative' aspect of my images - there is a common narrative thread with almost all of my work. My ultimate goal is a book or graphic novel using tS images. I have a general outline of the story and an assortment of characters in various states of development. It's essentially an alien invasion meets wizards and witches story - think Douglas Adams meets Terry Pratchett and you'll get the general feel I'm aiming for.
Almost every image I construct has the potential to be included in the story line somewhere.
There is a very long way to go with this project but Roman's generosity in providing such inspiring prizes for the monthly gallery has certainly made a major contribution to my project.
Thanks again for the kind words everyone - you guys are the greatest!
Re animating these scenes - yeah, I too would love to see them animated but it's not likely given the size of many of my scenes. I watched "The Incredibles" again last night and kept imaging my own scenes produced with that sort of quality (I mean, who amongst us doesn't?) - then I watched the credits! One person cannot come even close to what Pixar and similar companies produce (well not yet anyway! Maybe with tS 9?).
I have further plans for this castle on a rock scene - at the very least I want to make a sunset and a nightime version as well. Watch this space.
Here's another WIP (still requires minor post processing (on ships wake)) from this sequence of images.... |
Post by Alien // Mar 5, 2006, 5:59pm
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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Re animating these scenes - yeah, I too would love to see them animated but it's not likely given the size of many of my scenes. I watched "The Incredibles" again last night and kept imaging my own scenes produced with that sort of quality (I mean, who amongst us doesn't?) - then I watched the credits! One person cannot come even close to what Pixar and similar companies produce (well not yet anyway! Maybe with tS 9?).
I wouldn't say impossible - ever hear of Killer Bean 2 (http://www.jefflew.com/news.html)? That was done by 1 guy. Admittedly he didn't use tS, but he did finish it over 5 years ago, so with tS7 [or 7.1]...?
I know he uses a lot more cartoon-ish look than you would [judging by what I've seen so far], but it goes to show what 1 guy can do, eh? :) |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 5, 2006, 6:50pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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I wouldn't say impossible - ever hear of Killer Bean 2 (http://www.jefflew.com/news.html)? That was done by 1 guy. Admittedly he didn't use tS, but he did finish it over 5 years ago, so with tS7 [or 7.1]...?
I know he uses a lot more cartoon-ish look than you would [judging by what I've seen so far], but it goes to show what 1 guy can do, eh? :)
I wouldn't say impossible either Alien :) . Gallileo rebuilt the entire universe and moved Earth from it's centre - all with two bits of ground glass and some imagination so I figure that anything is ultimately possible. I checked out the Killer Bean site - cool stuff!
I guess the thing for me is that I like the sense of 'unreal reality' that CG images usually have - and so for me I would want things like fairly realistic cloth and hair motions for example, in any animations I did. In the credits to "The Incredibles" there was a huge number of CG artists working on just the hair and cloth motion. That is the sort of production values I would want for my own animation.
Sure one guy could maybe build the great pyramid of Cheops but it's got to be easier with 300,000 minions to do the donkey work!!
Really the only thing I know for sure about 3d CG art is that I love making it and I've still got SOOO much to learn. |
Post by Alien // Mar 5, 2006, 8:01pm
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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I wouldn't say impossible either Alien :) . Gallileo rebuilt the entire universe and moved Earth from it's centre - all with two bits of ground glass and some imagination so I figure that anything is ultimately possible. I checked out the Killer Bean site - cool stuff!
You should download the video if you can. Having said that, you're still stuck on dial-up, aren't you? Well, if you're are & you're interested the low quality 1 would take about 75 mins, & the high res "remastered" version would take about 3 hours. You could leave it going while you go do something else - I think most download managers these days are able to disconnect you when you're finished & some can even shut down your computer if you want.
I guess the thing for me is that I like the sense of 'unreal reality' that CG images usually have - and so for me I would want things like fairly realistic cloth and hair motions for example, in any animations I did. In the credits to "The Incredibles" there was a huge number of CG artists working on just the hair and cloth motion. That is the sort of production values I would want for my own animation.
Hmmm... Have you seen an animation called Fallen Art (http://www.fallen-art.com/eng/)? It wasn't made by just 1 guy, but it also didn't take anywhere near as many people as would be used on something like a major film like The Incredibles. If you don't mind another "big" [well, big for dial-up anyway :p] file [16.3MB, ~55mins on dial-up], you can find a low res v. here (http://www.codewolf.com/video/index.php?video_url=Fallen_Art.avi&type=AVI&name=Fallen_Art). You may want to click the Stop button in your browser as soon as the actual page has loaded, as the way it's done it auto-loads the video. After you've stopped the page, you can use the download link with a download manager prog. I haven't seen The Incredibles, but Fallen Art is a lot more realistic than Killer Bean 2 [as well as being very funny in a twisted sorta way :)].
Sure one guy could maybe build the great pyramid of Cheops but it's got to be easier with 300,000 minions to do the donkey work!!
Very true. :)
Really the only thing I know for sure about 3d CG art is that I love making it and I've still got SOOO much to learn.
Well, from the look of your work, you're a lot further ahead than I am. :) |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 5, 2006, 9:24pm
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Cheers Alien. I might look at downloading 'Killer Bean' at some stage.
I guess I look on animation as being an intrinsically different artform to still images. Movement can convey information that static images can't - or at least conveys certain types of info more efficiently. I'm thinking here of South Park where the animation could not get much simpler yet still manages to convey story information.
My background as a painter and photographer means I tend to think in terms of light and how it behaves within a scene and so I like still images that capture the nuances of light - mega-budget animation such as 'The Incredibles' has the ability to address both animation and light where as a hobby guy like me with my coal-powered computer (1.2 gHz processor, 256 MB RAM etc is no longer 'state of the art' :( ) is required to compromise a little.
You said: "Well, from the look of your work, you're a lot further ahead than I am." Thank you for that but I should point out that (like most folk) I'm only good at what I already know how to do! There are huge areas of tS that I've only touched the very surface of - animation being a prime example! I've started to get to grips with tS bones and deformation tools but only for the purposes of posing still figures - so much to learn still.... |
Post by Alien // Mar 6, 2006, 4:05am
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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where as a hobby guy like me with my coal-powered computer (1.2 gHz processor, 256 MB RAM etc is no longer 'state of the art' :( ) is required to compromise a little.
:eek: Ouch! & to think I thought my system was getting "long in the tooth"... Maybe it's time for an upgrade? I was going to suggest upping your RAM to at least 1GB as the 1st thing to do, but given the age of your CPU that might not be the best idea, as I'm betting your system still uses SDRAM, yes? Which would mean if you bought extra RAM for your current system you'd have to replace it with DDR RAM when you upgraded CPU & motherboard, so you'd be throwing money away on that.
I'm not normally an advocate of buying ready-made/off-the-shelf systems, but as I'd recently seen a Dell ad on TV for a really basic system that was comparatively cheap I thought I'd see what sort of prices Dell offered to New Zealanders... :eek: I thought hardware prices were bad enough for Norm in Canada! :eek: Might be worth seeing if you can find something 2nd-hand for a bit more reasonable price. |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 6, 2006, 4:53am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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:eek: Ouch! & to think I thought my system was getting "long in the tooth"... Maybe it's time for an upgrade? I was going to suggest upping your RAM to at least 1GB as the 1st thing to do, but given the age of your CPU that might not be the best idea, as I'm betting your system still uses SDRAM, yes? Which would mean if you bought extra RAM for your current system you'd have to replace it with DDR RAM when you upgraded CPU & motherboard, so you'd be throwing money away on that.
I'm not normally an advocate of buying ready-made/off-the-shelf systems, but as I'd recently seen a Dell ad on TV for a really basic system that was comparatively cheap I thought I'd see what sort of prices Dell offered to New Zealanders... :eek: I thought hardware prices were bad enough for Norm in Canada! :eek: Might be worth seeing if you can find something 2nd-hand for a bit more reasonable price.
Yep! Well past time for an upgrade but sadly I have not got the resources available for that - my health issues keep me from fulltime work and hence (combined with international monetary exchange rates) I can't forsee any major upgrades in the immediate future.
My system is about 6 years old now and yes it uses SDRAM and will only accept a maximum of 512 MB :( .
I do have some options however - my partners machine is a lot newer and a bit faster (2gHz) and so we've been talking about boosting her RAM and upgrading her machines graphics card - not an ideal solution but at least it's a viable option.
I've looked at the Dell off-the-shelf basic machines myself but I can't say they excite me very much - I can pick up a new 2.8gHz machine with a CRT monitor for just under NZ$1000 (about US$660) but would still need to quadruple the RAM and upgrade the graphics so it's not really much of an option even if I had that kind of money available.
I have seen the machine I want (3gHz cpu, a gig of ram and a 128 MB graphics card running a 21 inch LCD monitor) and it's about NZ$2000 (approximately US$1300) and would run tS7 quite happily but it might as well be ten times as much for me!
Now you know why I don't have my computers specs included in my forum signature like the big boys do!!:o You can probably also see why I don't do much in the way of animation too! |
Post by Alien // Mar 6, 2006, 7:33am
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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Yep! Well past time for an upgrade but sadly I have not got the resources available for that - my health issues keep me from fulltime work and hence (combined with international monetary exchange rates) I can't forsee any major upgrades in the immediate future.
Sorry to hear about your health. :(
My system is about 6 years old now and yes it uses SDRAM and will only accept a maximum of 512 MB :( .
That's a pain. :(
I do have some options however - my partners machine is a lot newer and a bit faster (2gHz) and so we've been talking about boosting her RAM and upgrading her machines graphics card - not an ideal solution but at least it's a viable option.
I'd say the RAM's the more important of the 2. Unless you use solid mode [D3D or OGL] all/most of the time &/or want to be able to see all the DX9.0c eye-candy in the player, then even a DX7 card should suffice in the short term.
I've looked at the Dell off-the-shelf basic machines myself but I can't say they excite me very much - I can pick up a new 2.8gHz machine with a CRT monitor for just under NZ$1000 (about US$660) but would still need to quadruple the RAM and upgrade the graphics so it's not really much of an option even if I had that kind of money available.
Well, as I said, I don't normally suggest off-the-shelf stuff, but I had a look because I didn't realise how high prices were in NZ, & thought that even the "cheapy" systems would have been a significant step up, but it looks like they don't have any cheap systems. :( 1 thing that bugs me about Dell is it didn't look as if you could opt to get just the base system, eg without mouse, keyboard, & monitor - I figured that if you left those off [as you already have mouse, keyboard, & monitor] you could save a bit, but I couldn't see that as an option.
I have seen the machine I want (3gHz cpu, a gig of ram and a 128 MB graphics card running a 21 inch LCD monitor) and it's about NZ$2000 (approximately US$1300) and would run tS7 quite happily but it might as well be ten times as much for me!
I know what you mean - I'm not exactly "rolling in it" either, but prices over here are considerably more reasonable, especially for buying stuff seperately for a DIY build . Despite what I said about off-the-shelf systems, there is 1 I would buy [not a Dell], but unless I win the lottery that's not going to happen, as it's several times the cost of that Dell 1 you want. :D My more realistic goal is to end up with a dual-Opteron system - the theory being that after I've had it for maybe a year or 2 prices on dual-core Opterons will have come down enough [as quad-cores will probably be out by then!] for me to be able to replace the 2 single core CPUs for a pair of dual-cores.
Now you know why I don't have my computers specs included in my forum signature like the big boys do!!:o You can probably also see why I don't do much in the way of animation too!
Yes I definitely see your point. My current system isn't [i]that great, as I've already said [XP3200 (2.2Ghz), 2GB RAM, 128MB Radeon 9600 Pro]. |
Post by W!ZARD // Mar 7, 2006, 12:29am
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W!ZARD
Total Posts: 2603
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Hi Alien
Thanks for your kind words about my health - it's a win some/loose some deal really - it means my income is fairly limited but at least I have plenty of time for rendering!
About my computer set-up, we have three machines in our little home network, 1 is very low spec but makes an ideal little server for our net connection, printer, scanner etc. My current machine was built mostly for sound processing - top of the line soundcard (well it was 6 years ago!) etc - and it works brilliantly for that. The problem is I made the mistake of installing terragen on my machine and became totally addicted to 3d! Now like most addicts I'm constantly looking for a bigger better 'hit'.:D
My partners machine is better for graphics though, faster, newer etc. I've been on the phone with my friendly computer guy and he can fix me up with plenty of RAM (I'm looking at a gigs worth at this stage) and medium good graphics card at very reasonable prices. He's plugged into wholesale suppliers and can get me hardware at trade prices which means I can build a system to suit my needs and my budget - perhaps not the ideal solution but certainly a viable alternative.
So I'm swapping my machine with my partners - she does mainly documentation work with MS Word and Publisher and my pooter is plenty good enough for that - so I do have some useable options: it just involves a bit of swapping things round in the short term and saving for a bigger monitor in the long term. |
Post by Alien // Mar 7, 2006, 7:22am
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Alien
Total Posts: 1231
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About my computer set-up, we have three machines in our little home network, 1 is very low spec but makes an ideal little server for our net connection, printer, scanner etc. My current machine was built mostly for sound processing - top of the line soundcard (well it was 6 years ago!) etc - and it works brilliantly for that. The problem is I made the mistake of installing terragen on my machine and became totally addicted to 3d! Now like most addicts I'm constantly looking for a bigger better 'hit'.:D
LOL, yeah, I know how that goes - in that case, might I recommend you don't start reading webcomics [1 of my vices]. :D
My partners machine is better for graphics though, faster, newer etc. I've been on the phone with my friendly computer guy and he can fix me up with plenty of RAM (I'm looking at a gigs worth at this stage) and medium good graphics card at very reasonable prices. He's plugged into wholesale suppliers and can get me hardware at trade prices which means I can build a system to suit my needs and my budget - perhaps not the ideal solution but certainly a viable alternative.
That sounds good. At least that way it takes a bit of the sting out of prices caused by global exchange rates. [I just checked on xe.com - UK£1= NZ$2.68! WTF!? :eek: :confused:]
So I'm swapping my machine with my partners - she does mainly documentation work with MS Word and Publisher and my pooter is plenty good enough for that - so I do have some useable options: it just involves a bit of swapping things round in the short term and saving for a bigger monitor in the long term.
You're lucky to have such an understanding & generous woman in your life. :) As for monitor - I haven't the faintest idea about prices over there, but you should have a look at the prices of refurbished stuff available over there. I saw a UK place doing a refurbished 19" CRT for about a 1/4 of the cheapest price of a brand new 1. Don't accept anything less than a 3 months guarantee on 1 though [you probably won't get more than that on a refurb, but you shouldn't accept less either].
An extra thought - maybe you could try for another win in the monthly comp, but this time [as you've already won tS7] if U win pick tSNet as your prize, then you can harness the power of both machines [when your other-half isn't using hers I mean :)] for rendering. |
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