I did not have anything digital before the Amiga. Just an electronic typewriter that saved one line at a time before printing to the page.
But I do remember when I was in in music college (1978) Roland was advertising what was more or less the precursor to a music midi recording DAW in a box. I remember thinking what a dream. A symphony in a box that could layer sounds. Up to that point I had to find musicians to rehearse and play my scores.
I later realized that dream with my Amiga 2000, and various software and hardware I used to record music sores.
Prior to that, a friend had a PC with a dos midi program (1988 1989) that I used to sequence parts for songs using a midi keyboard.
Sweet memories. I remember the Amiga developer David Joiner created a MIDI-based music editor for the Amiga, called Music-X. It was quite capable for those days. It was also featured in the TV show The Computer Chronicles, which is still viewable via The Internet Archive. That show is retro computing nostalgia heaven.
I was using Studio 16, a sound card and software, along with Bars and Pipes for midi sequencing.
At one point, I had a 16mm flat bed editor. The sound track on the flatbed was dedicated to a mag track with SMPTE code. I output that code (analog audio) into the SMPTE input on the Studio 16 sound card. This drove the audio timeline. I used this to edit the sound digitally to the analog film edit. So I was literally splicing and editing picture on one hand and digitally editing the sound, with my Amiga.
If the new company decides to EOL Lightwave, would that really impact many people? I only ever saw it in action on an Amiga once, but I get the impression from former users that putting it down would be a mercy.
There is a very simple and obvious reason for this. And one of the main reasons NewTek has gone quiet for what, 2 years now?
And the reason is that LightWave development as it was going under the plans by LW 3D Group - which has been dismantled - has stopped.
Simply, they pulled the plug on development. That program was stopped. Of course they have not come out to admit this ever. But it is obvious. The old team came out and basically stated as such - without saying too much.
As far as we can tell, there is no real LightWave development design team in place.
What is there, is like one or 2 guys. All they have done, for what we can guess, last year or so, has been to do nothing but take what was left unfinished and present it in a way that a release was possible.
There was no release announced. No plans laid out. Just one day out of the blue after over a year of silence they said. Ok here it is. And they dumped it on the market.
So all of these new releases seem to be nothing more than what bug fixes and small features are able to be added in.
That’s it. They are just trying to milk it for all they can, it appears. There seems to be no future plans for LightWave as we knew it.
And with THAT, you two should really focus on learning Blender and making art, as I said in the other LW thread… Call this an intervention. Please guys, there are so many better things to be doing with your time…
The art that happens after winning a Windows Solitaire game doesn’t count, if that is what you are referring to.
Listen, I am a recovering forum junkie (kinda… sorta…)… and I do genuinely care, believe it or not. I just can’t stand to see anyone not making good use of their time – because of losing some loved ones waaay the hell too early and thus having the whole “life is too short” thing driven home bigtime – and because a nephew of mine who I really care about has completely pissed away his twenties (my twenties were the stuff of legends - and I wish everyone in their twenties could have the same experience) on Xbox Live, forums, texting like a freak… and gawd knows what else. He has no job, no girlfriend, no motivation, and certainly no prospects… I know, I know, it is all relative, and I am not the one to decide what is and what is not “good use of one’s time”… Only you can do that…
Says someone who has put more words on the screen in the last few comments than i have on the whole thread. Follow your own advice, i am quite happy not to answer this thread again.
Edit: I need to mind my own business. Period. I’m absolutely cursed with concern, empathy… crap like that. I really don’t want to give a sh!t about anyone who is not family or friend… but it is in my damned DNA somehow…
Ha! I gotta chime in on this! Were any of you “old timers” at the Amiga convention in the mid 80s @ Disneyland Hotel? Did you go to Allen Hastings’ presentation?
Do you remember Allen not being able to answer a bunch of questions about 3D animation’s future and cutting edge technology. And then some young guy in the audience was giving the answers? Then Allen invited him on stage to answer the questions more easily?
LMAO, I was that young guy. I proceeded to outline my vision for Animated Texture Mapping and other features of the future. I gave some use case examples on ATM. Lol…I was hoping to get a job with Newtek, lol…Peeps in SoCal were using the Lightwave dongle a lot! ; )
It ended up the algorithm concept inspired them so much that they coded Animated Texture Mapping, keeping the name I gave it. IIRC they even put it on the front of the box of the next version! IIRC it was 2 or 2.5…
I still remember standing on that stage like it was yesterday and laugh every time I go to the Disney Hotel for an event.
Do any of you guys remember that or even what Allen’s talk was entitled? I have found out the name of the event. But not found a program or his talk title. I have the program buried somewhere deep in my storage unit, lol.
I used to run into him @ SIGGRAPH after that and we would chat it up. Fun stuff and great guy. With L3D and Modo his accomplishments helped shape the industry IMO. I remember when Modo early on had a SIGGRAPH booth and they were stuck in the very back of the expo room and barely anybody could find them. I was thinking, “Don’t these people know who this guy is?!” Lol…
I also knew a couple of the guys that used L3D on the early days of The Walking Dead. I was happy to see it getting some love and respect at the time.
Wow…memories, lol… Anybody remember that talk title?
True story: A couple hours ago an email from Newtek announcing LW 2019.1 went into my Junk Email box for some inexplicable reason (quite ironic indeed, as I don’t remember this happening with other NT emails)… Without hesitation I deleted it, because there is no compelling reason to even bother to look at it… And with that, I will cease my discussing anything LightWave related…
