[morris13]

Did that get your attention? I was hoping so =) wEvil is the skinner for a campaign project i'm modeling for, and he tells me that a friend of his thinks he could do a .max plugin that would allow you to save models as POFs. It occurs to me that quite a few of the modders here use max for modeling and texturing, and more probably would if you could convert directly to .pof instead of having to deal with the dreaded truespace. This individual isn't a modder, just a MAX guru that wEvil knows.
Now I dunno about the rest of you, but i would be willing to pay some real money for something that would save me that much frustration, and I'd like to think that you guys might feel the same way. So if you hate Torturespace as much as I do, put your money where your mouth is and put in a pledge to pony up a lil bit of cash for this thing if the guy can pull it off. If enough people offer some concrete incentive, its that much more likely that this guy will actually pull a piece of code out of his butt that will make all our lives a LOT easier, and I don't think that 15 or 20 bucks would too much to expect for something that could save a serious modder literally days worth of work.

[Jabu]

I seriously hate TrueSpace, but since 3DS is HELLA expensive, for now I'm stuck with it.

So this wouldn't help me  

[Martinus]

I'm all for this except the guy who's doing this "thinks" he can pull it off. More assurance would be nice.

Pretty please  

[wEvil]

He knows his stuff - beleive me  



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 http://www.wevil.co.uk  - how NOT to do a website

[morris13]

 

Originally posted by Maeglamor:
I'm all for this except the guy who's doing this "thinks" he can pull it off. More assurance would be nice.

Pretty please  

Well, and nobody is asking you for anything up front either. I'm just saying that if this guy DOES get this accomplished, we should make it worth his while, especially since he's not a modder and won't get any real use out of it himself.

[Battlecarrier01]

I think Kazan was also thinking about making a 3ds-pof plug.  You might want to e-mail him or something, maybe you can work together? I would guess it's worth a shot.

Quick note, I'm not sure how many people would actually pay for this though.  Kazan has made cob-pof and pof-cob converters and he doesn't ask for money.  

[This message has been edited by Battlecarrier01 (edited 06-01-2001).]

[Jabu]

Kazan's said many times that he's not a graphics programmer in the first place, and doesn't really know much about 3DS.

I don't know how he feels about this, though.

[morris13]

Well, I don't really have anything to do with it, I just thought you guys would be interested. Kazan has certainly contributed amazingly to the MODing community and this isn't to disrespect him in the slightest. The situation is slightly different in that the person that wEvil is talking about is a professional 3ds artist and has constructed .max plugins successfully already. Unlike Kazan, however, he isn't a member of the MODing community and so won't see any of the results of the work he might put into this. (new ships/campaigns/etc) Personally I think that it behooves us as the potential benificiaries of a professional's time constructing a tool he has no personal use for to offer him some sort of concrete gratitude.

[JarC]

 

Originally posted by morris13:
Personally I think that it behooves us as the potential benificiaries of a professional's time constructing a tool he has no personal use for to offer him some sort of concrete gratitude.

If it were a standalone tool, and even then, it's only hobby and one that I don't want to spent that kind of cash on...but when it requires having to get 3DS Max...as already has been pointed out...3DS is kinda heavy on the purse...way too heavy at least for me to justify buying it only to create an FS Model...so...sorry...thnx for the offer but no thanx...now, if it were a plugin for TrueSpace...that would be another matter...

At least it is more affordable...  

[wEvil]

who said we *HAD* to pay.

it would just be nice to give him a little something for his efforts  

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 http://www.wevil.co.uk  - how NOT to do a website

[Shrike]

Why don't you guys just get him interested in FS2... then he'll do it for fun.  

Seriously, I have nothing against the idea of a small gratuity.  However, firstly there's the simple problem of organizing it.... we'd be dealing with international exchanges, money order, etc etc.  This can get complicated, especially when you consider that we're talking about a five dollar check from a couple people.  Secondly, this is just a hobby to me.  I can easily dig up five bucks or whatever, but there's the aforementioned hassle of getting it sent.

Not to slight his accomplishments any, but I'd have to think about this one.  Your friend would certainly get his name in the credits to a fair number of campaigns, I'd expect, but I don't knoe about anything more.

Why don't you take him out to a drink at the pub for all us FSers?

[Martinus]

Sorry if I sounded a little pessimistic guys, I was just being cautious. This is a modding community and due to the fact that it's run by guys (and gals, just in case)in their free time it doesn't really have any guarantees. Plus this guy is a professional so he would have a job that would have priority over anything he could do for the FS community.

[This message has been edited by Maeglamor (edited 06-01-2001).]

[Kazan]

Rule 1: never let a programmer write a program that doesn't scratch his personal itch!

So what's his personal itch to justify writting this program?

Mine isn't all that great - to write it so one is done and to boost the usage of POFCS and try and create my tools as the standard so i can put them on my resume and have them look nice - but it's sufficient to have a good util come out

[edit]Note to Shrike: I think it would be illegal for him to charge for it because the fact that it outputs Volition's proprietary model format, if he did it would entitle V [and possibly interplay] to some royalties

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FreeSpace 2: The Babylon Project Effects Nerd and Programmer.
http://freespace.volitionwatch.com/babylon

Alliance Productions
http://alliance.sourceforge.net

Did you say you wanted your head used as a soccer ball?
The Klooges are coming! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

[This message has been edited by Kazan (edited 06-01-2001).]

[Martinus]

There was no mention of him charging for it, it was proposed that anyone who used it could give him a small donation. Least that's the way I've read it.

[wEvil]

i was just whingeing  at him about not being able to get my models into the game and sortof waved the URL at him, and he said he'd try and knock something up

He does for the 3dmo (MaxedOut) community, and 3D stuff a great interest of his.

Anyway..i feel like i've trodden on some toes here so i won't stick my oar in again.


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 http://www.wevil.co.uk  - how NOT to do a website

[Shrike]

Well the thing is, if he feels that writing a plugin that he personally will never use (but will get used) but will broaden his knowledge of 3D formats/conversions, then all the better... just because he won't use it doesn't mean he won't get something useful out of it, or juest find it fun.

[morris13]

 

Originally posted by Maeglamor:
There was no mention of him charging for it, it was proposed that anyone who used it could give him a small donation. Least that's the way I've read it.

That was actually exactly my point. This thread and the idea of throwing some money his way was MY idea. not his. He doesn't even know me. This is a guy who isn't part of our community willing to throw a bunch of his time and expertise into making OUR lives a lot easier. I thought that demonstrating outright how grateful we would be for his work might give him incentive to push through with what might otherwise be a rather frustrating and unrewarding effort. I thought that behaviour like that deserved some kind of reward from the beneficiaries(us), but I guess i'm alone in that belief. I guess I'm slightly dismayed at the response that my idea has generated, and so please, by all means, forget all about it.

[This message has been edited by morris13 (edited 06-01-2001).]

[Setekh]

Well put. Let's not get angry at either, though this is a worthy discussion. As Shrike put it, he would be gaining in terms of learning experience (which is almost entirely why I do renders) - but throwing money into the equation would probably complicate things more than is necessary. I'm sure there could be something else we could do to show our gratitude.  

[Grey Wolf]

Hey Setekh, since you're online, would you mind getting on ICQ? I have a few questions.

[Setekh]

I'm there, but can't be for long...