3ds Max to ILDA Tutorial

[James Lehman]

I'm not selling a product. I am trying to give away an understanding. It is complex.

I feel as though I was born to be a "wizard" of sorts. I was born a gay man. Not all gay men get to be wizards, but some of us do!

We are often feared. We spontaneously create new human knowledge.

Look it up. We really do!

LaserBoy is my gift to humanity.

Think of me as a freak and an disillusioned idiot if you like.... or not.

I am not trying to make a product in a box with a price. I am trying to create a generic, teachable understanding of laser vector art in the most human, generic way I can.... open source C++ with an associated, (free), working application.

I want nothing more than to be welcome in places like SELEM and other world wide gatherings to share what I have learned from my work and experience with LaserBoy. I'll find a way to stay alive within all of that. I don't think I need a paycheck or a dividend.

I know it is hard to understand. But I was put here for more than just to make money.

James.

PS I love you.

[Speculative Lasers - Dan]

I was a 3d animator by trade specializing in 3d max, maya , and descreet production tools such as combustion etc...

im mainly interested in trace it at the moment but it is relevant to the 3d question

from my test, im sure trace it can do it very well, in fact close enough to represent 3d vector with occulded faces. i think its only a matter of using the correct shaders what would be ideal is a more data dense format, such as RPF which contains useful tags like object id, and velocity information

the appeal for traceit is that it can handle long files, in truth i think most of my show creation is going to be done via 3d max, its just faster and has more control,

i have max and a limit version of maya plus afx and painter, this software suite is expensive, adding more cost is always something i try to avoid.

im uploading a few files original Qtime(but wastnt really optimised for traceit) and ilda result

Dan

[buffo]

What what you're saying that Max converter saves everything in 3d and somehow without masking anything makes back faces invisable? Magic I say.

If you don't believe it, then maybe you should visit someone in your area that has the 3D Studio max plug-in so you can see it in operation for yourself. (I think Carey has it...)

I have to admit that you've been rather prickly about this issue lately Doc, and I'm at a complete loss to explain why. Bill has a valid point. There are a lot of Pangolin users here. I don't see anything wrong with him mentioning that the 3D studio plug in has some features that your solution doesn't offer. It wasn't an ad for Pangolin, it was information.

It's not like everyone else freaks out when you post about your tutorial videos. For that matter, I know you've interjected your advice into other threads before; are you saying that because Bill runs a company that he can't do the same? And if that's the case, does that apply to other people as well? What about Dave and Aijii? What about Bridge? Are they also not allowed to suggest solutions that they happen to sell?

Seriously dude - chill out. The software you are using (Trace-it) is actually a Pangolin product that Bill gave to you (and others) for free. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...

Once again. There are many people with different systems. If Max converter and Cinema 4d converter were avalable for a price which didn't include the price of a card then there was a very different story.

Huh? What kind of nonsense is this? So now we can only talk about software solutions if they are CHEAP? Screw that!

Personally, I'm happy that there are other solutions out there. (And just for the record, I own and use at least 3 other laser show software packages besides Pangolin's LD-2000.) But there's no question which one I prefer, and I don't like the idea that just because the Pangolin software is more expensive, you don't think people should be able to talk about it.

Yes, the 3D Studio Max converter plug-in is expensive (at least compared to free software). But so is 3D Studio Max, for that matter. Still, I've seen what can be done with the combination, and I have to admit that it's *awesome*. And considering the amount of money that most people have already spent on lasers, it's not fair to imply that Pangolin, or 3D Studio Max, or the plug in are out of reach for everyone.

They may be out of reach for you. (And, indeed, 3D Studio Max is out of reach for me as well at the moment.) But I think you're letting your own envy cloud your thinking.

Adam

[Dr Laser]

If you don't believe it, then maybe you should visit someone in your area that has the 3D Studio max plug-in so you can see it in operation for yourself. (I think Carey has it...)

I hope you know the difference between 3D and 3D renered as 2D, and how 2d can represent 3d. Can you for example take 3d ILDA and rotate it so the backfaces are dynamically invisable with no code used. No you can't do that. You need a program to do a masking. If Maxconverter makes 3D with masked backfaces...I see no point because 3d renered as 2d will visually be the same.

that Bill gave to you (and others) for free.

Guess again... I did pay for traceit! and actually Traceit is from Russian company LAS which Pangolin bought. And I screamed with joy when I found out that they make a stan alone version.

Huh? What kind of nonsense is this? So now we can only talk about software solutions if they are CHEAP? Screw that!

If you read more carefully you see that I'm not talk about cheap. Actually I was bringing this issue to BILL for a very long time. What I was talking about is a STAND ALONE VERSIONS. I don't need another controller. I have 3 controller card DSP. This is more then enough. Can run 3 inepenant projectors or 6 paiered. And funny that you mentione SCEW THAT is you can't even afford 3ds max No Max converter is not out of reach for me.... I just dont' really need a Pangolin controller card!. Again if we had Cinema 4 plugin as free with Pangolin card an for example $400 as a stand alone then this would be a good competitor.
Max converter.....xxx$ with card an more expensive as a stan alone. Thats what my argument is all about.

So Max converter an Cinema 4d converter CAN'T be a competitors as long as they are hardware dependant. That is my argument.

PS. And yes beside the tutorial itself it's basically provocation for Bill to make a stand alone versions.

An Adam here is an old animations I did with Illustrate/Laserboy combo...an some Traceit. I'm still working on this show with a lot of club 3d scenes.
I didn't use MAX since V3. But now I'l recalling more and more things that I forgot.

LP mixer speakers glass with straw spinning model and button and blast are all one with Il/Laserboy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTjDfaKHDzI

[James Lehman]

We all obviously have our own motivations here on the PL. Some of us happen to be moving in similar directions.

I'm glad to see a bit of controversy every now and then. It tells me that there are other people out there who are taking all of this rather seriously.

AND those people are willing to stand up for what they are trying to do and defend the statements that they have made.

Good show!

James.

[Dr Laser]

I was a 3d animator by trade specializing in 3d max, maya , and descreet production tools such as combustion etc...

im mainly interested in trace it at the moment but it is relevant to the 3d question

from my test, im sure trace it can do it very well, in fact close enough to represent 3d vector with occulded faces. i think its only a matter of using the correct shaders what would be ideal is a more data dense format, such as RPF which contains useful tags like object id, and velocity information

the appeal for traceit is that it can handle long files, in truth i think most of my show creation is going to be done via 3d max, its just faster and has more control,

i have max and a limit version of maya plus afx and painter, this software suite is expensive, adding more cost is always something i try to avoid.

im uploading a few files original Qtime(but wastnt really optimised for traceit) and ilda result

Dan

Funny I use to be 3ds max architectural an landscape designer. Made video presentations for customers. An I sucked with combustion. I could do a simple fire and it looke ok but thats about it.
Dan we are talking about Illustrate!/Laserboy and Max converter. Traceit is really a image tracing software. I tried to use it to convert from max but this attempt failed. It wasn't that good. Actually Swift 3d wasn't that good too.

[drlava]

Versions 2.5+ of 3D Studio Max come up on Ebay for under $200, and illustrate! supports them all. Not sure about the pango plugin (Bill?). So that would be a decent way to save some $. The extra renderers, raytracers in the new versions aren't needed at all for what we do making laser shows.

[Dr Laser]

350$ for version 6. I got my 8 for 600$. Trust me 8 is maximum eveyone will ever need for lasershows. I would use my old v 3 if it run good under XP. Somehow it doesn't like ATI Open GL support in XP. But I'm sure there are ways around the problem. Nvidia doesn't have that problem

[Dr Laser]

I was a 3d animator by trade specializing in 3d max, maya , and descreet production tools such as combustion etc...

im mainly interested in trace it at the moment but it is relevant to the 3d question

from my test, im sure trace it can do it very well, in fact close enough to represent 3d vector with occulded faces. i think its only a matter of using the correct shaders what would be ideal is a more data dense format, such as RPF which contains useful tags like object id, and velocity information

the appeal for traceit is that it can handle long files, in truth i think most of my show creation is going to be done via 3d max, its just faster and has more control,

i have max and a limit version of maya plus afx and painter, this software suite is expensive, adding more cost is always something i try to avoid.

im uploading a few files original Qtime(but wastnt really optimised for traceit) and ilda result

Dan

Do you have original 3ds max file if so it would be easy to transfer it.

[pyrodigy]

Finally.....

Things needed:
3d Studio MAX (Any version will do)
Illustrate! (Free 30 days fully fuctional trial)
http://www.davidgould.com/Illustrate/Products.htm
Laserboy (Free as a free beer) [BEER IS NOT FREE! FREE BEER IS FREE!]

Video: XVID 800x552 9.94fps 414Kbps [Video 0]
Audio: PCM 44100Hz mono 705Kbps [Audio 1]
Size: 70.7mb
Time: 8:23

http://laseremitter.com/tuts/illustrate/3dstoilda.avi

This is my first post in this forum.When i look for how to i slip out my disgusting laser show editor, i found solution...
I would like to thank you for Dr.Laser
- 3d Studio MAX + illustrate plugin
- Laserboy
combination works perfect
Also Thanks you for who developped Laserboy program.This is a big event for humanity.