United3dArtists Archive

Hi again. I have some questions about Microsoft and TrueSpace. You don't need to go into too lengthy descriptions to answer my questions. Most of the questions could be answered with a simple "yes", "no", or even "I don't know".

1. Does Microsoft actually own TrueSpace now?

2. Is Microsoft in full control of TrueSpace and the original Caligari website?

3. Where is the link to TrueSpace on the Microsoft website if I ever need it?

4. Will Microsoft update and/or upgrade TrueSpace soon or ever, adding features and any possible bug fixes?

5. Will Microsoft shut down the older (original) Caligari website?

One more thing: where is Roman working now, since TrueSpace is no longer run by him, but instead, by Microsoft? (Just wondering what had happened to Roman, since he doesn't seem to be a moderator or a member of this forum to my knowledge) I am asking these Microsoft-related questions because of the "Letter from the founder" thing on the Caligari website.

Thanks in advance.

tamtam wrote:Hi again. I have some questions about Microsoft and TrueSpace. You don't need to go into too lengthy descriptions to answer my questions. Most of the questions could be answered with a simple "yes", "no", or even "I don't know".

1. Does Microsoft actually own TrueSpace now?

Yes.

2. Is Microsoft in full control of TrueSpace and the original Caligari website?

Yes.

3. Where is the link to TrueSpace on the Microsoft website if I ever need it?

I don't believe there is one.

4. Will Microsoft update and/or upgrade TrueSpace soon or ever, adding features and any possible bug fixes?

Nope.

5. Will Microsoft shut down the older (original) Caligari website?

Someday.

One more thing: where is Roman working now, since TrueSpace is no longer run by him, but instead, by Microsoft? (Just wondering what had happened to Roman, since he doesn't seem to be a moderator or a member of this forum to my knowledge) I am asking these Microsoft-related questions because of the "Letter from the founder" thing on the Caligari website.

Roman is working at MS, part of the Virtual Earth Project I believe.

Thanks in advance.

Since MS now has control over TrueSpace, and they might plan on someday shutting down the Caligari website, what do you suppose they will do with TrueSpace? Advertise it? Forget about it, and not let anyone have it anymore? Put a price on it to gain money from it?

Thanks again!

P.S. - This is now officially a sad but true feeling to me when you told me MS now has TrueSpace. It might be the same feeling for others here too (about the sad but true thing).

Sorry but my sadness ended a year or more ago. I'm in shock by the questions you asked.
This is all very old news to just about everyone except Rip Van Winkle.
Your serious when you asked these questions? Does anyone read these threads here or the old Caligari forums,
or the email Roman sent, the last letter posted at Caligari.com, the articles in every Computer Magazine made,...on and on....
Roman visits here every leap year.
Caligari is dead.
Norm and Tom G. haven't been heard from in over a year.
U3DA is all you got. One more year on the lease. If there is enough money we go on.
If not...

"One more year on the lease. If there is enough money we go on.
If not..."

The donate button is on the front page http://united3dartists.com" that few people visit.

We need a "Late to The Party" thread!

Sorry, I had to double check the date on this post....I can't believe anyone with at least a passing interest in Caligari/TS didn't know all this. And Tamtam, haven't you been active on this forum since the news?

Anyway tS is dead but for those people actively using it. If my favourite pencil manufacturer went out of business, I wouldn't stop drawing...just find another supplier. The ideas and skills are my own and can't be taken from me.

Enjoy what tS can do for you or move on to anothr package, there are good free ones like Carrara, Blender, even Sketchup. Just make sure you have your tS installation file kept safe, you can't legally download it anymore.

Your right Splinters, as long as we utilize trueSpace in our workflow it has value. However like the Amiga Computer, a handwritten letter, Motion Pictures made with film, Families living within the same town, a slide rule, video rental stores, Doctors who make house calls, a kid diagnosed WITHOUT Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or 8-tracks... the good things will soon be a memory.

OK we can live without 8-tracks.

Sorry to be so hard on Tamtam because she is a good visitor here. However those questions have been asked to death.

The Finance for this Site is sound until next July. There has been zero Donations made for at least 6-8 Months. I don't expect any too.( since the bill is paid). We all as a group must decide our future here this coming May or June. I'll be asking for commitments then not now.

Currently I would like to see everyone just helping out with Articles or ideas. If you want to help with information on our hardly seen Main Page please ask Prodigy for permissions to utilize Joomla.
I have asked repeatedly for a link from the forums back to the Main Page as a landing zone so that we actually use it for news updates etc all on one page. That is badly needed here.
The links on the Main Page is in need of an overhaul, just like Marcel observed.
The Artist of the Month/Months is a great idea that is being worked on.
There is no active or correct link to U3DA on the Caligari Site anymore. Anyone downloading trueSpace will not know we are here. When they killed the Forums there the correct URL went with it.

There has been some amazing projects being done by many users here. That is my hope that we exist in a year.

I dont know if that would work but if we post on other forums would it be possible to use a banner of this forum or any other way.
We need to get people from other forums and soft to regularly go here.......
in photography it works.. I´ve come to other sites that way...........
How would other people know that we have such a nice community here?
Any thoughts ?
Peter

trueSpace is dead? where can we send flowers? Curious, it still work on my computer.

marcel wrote:trueSpace is dead? where can we send flowers? Curious, it still work on my computer.

TS 7.7 was just released...

marcel wrote:trueSpace is dead? where can we send flowers? Curious, it still work on my computer.

Well as an updated program .... something you would invest hours and hours learning as a new program I think we can say
it is dead as a dodo.Its still working on most of the computers though.
If this community relys on Truespace and the Truespace knowledgebase it will also be dead in a few years from now.
If this community wants to outlife the next few years its got to have something interesting for new people coming from all sorts of
different directions.My 2 cents..
(Microsoft is controling Truespace but they are not controling us )
Peter

Hi Tamtam,

No one means to be hard on you. You're having the same reactions and asking the same questions we all did when we found out. Your reactions and questions are no less valid than anyone else's here. It is just a surprise that anyone didn't already know.

I know you have other 3D software than TS. Remember that this forum is not only for TS. Please share your knowledge and work in any 3D software and ask questions about it here.

Other stuff: I think the forum needs more organization regarding the different 3D programs. Maybe sub-forums for things specific to the the popular ones.

marcel wrote:trueSpace is dead? where can we send flowers? Curious, it still work on my computer.

My copy just has a bad attitude. It 'doesn't play well with others'. I compile my plugins just fine, load them into trueSpace ok, then trueSpace tells me, 'I don't like that guy. He's telling me what to do... tryin to boss me around and stuff. I'll just crash. That'll show 'em!'.

[quote="RAYMAN(Microsoft is controling Truespace but they are not controling us )
Peter[/quote]

All Your Base Are Belong To Us!

Sorry, I just didn't realize so many people asked the same sort of questions, and I wasn't sure about how Microsoft was handling TrueSpace, because I also wasn't sure if Microsoft actually had TrueSpace. I thank all of you for the answers to my questions, and like some of you said, it wasn't meant to be harsh or anything mean to me. I will be okay.

Again, thanks, and sorry about the misunderstanding. Maybe I didn't know about all these "Microsoft controlling TrueSpace" realated posts, or where to find them. I actually did a search for the words in my topic before posting this topic, but I didn't see anyone asking the specific questions I had.

Hey no worries tamtam.

Although progress has been slow <sorry about that!>, there are plugins in development. It'd be nice if there
were more interest from would-be devs, to make addons, and replacements for some of
the partially working tools. The capability is there. It's just not 'easy'.
The question: 'should someone make a developer's tutorial' has been passed around.
Trouble is, where to start? And, is it worth the effort? That boils down to, how many folks
are truly interested and dedicated enough to invest the time and effort to learn how to make
plugins. I know there's devs out there that are familiar with the type of programming required
for plugins. So, how do we get them interested... is it possible...

My point being, although trueSpace is no longer being developed by the original devs, updates
can be made by coders out there.

froo wrote:Hey no worries tamtam.

Although progress has been slow <sorry about that!>, there are plugins in development. It'd be nice if there
were more interest from would-be devs, to make addons, and replacements for some of
the partially working tools. The capability is there. It's just not 'easy'.
The question: 'should someone make a developer's tutorial' has been passed around.
Trouble is, where to start? And, is it worth the effort? That boils down to, how many folks
are truly interested and dedicated enough to invest the time and effort to learn how to make
plugins. I know there's devs out there that are familiar with the type of programming required
for plugins. So, how do we get them interested... is it possible...

My point being, although trueSpace is no longer being developed by the original devs, updates
can be made by coders out there.

Quite frankly I´ve never seen any purpose in doing so......
I posted a lot about using what it can do now with other programms as an extention.
What I see as a posssible solution is Collada importers and exporters as well as fbx im and exporters for BOTH model side and workspace side.
That way you can import from the free Sketchup... or export animations to Vue or export to Houdini etc.
i am also watching the nurbs for workspace side development but actually would have preferred an open 3dm importer for model side same as an exporter.
i would have been able to make my models in another nurbs package and use some of the truespace tools to carry on like bending or twisting...
All in all it would be preferable to build bridges to other programs that are usefull rather then build the program .. something that failed a year ago...
you wouold be surprised how well truespace animated models work in ie Vue using Collada for the animation export..
below is the truespace horse from the library with the truespace movement and truespace bones inside Vue used with the collada exporter..

Well, the nurbs tool is something I chose to work on, because I find the math very interesting, and it's fun for me.
The good thing about this is, the 'nurbs node' is a mesh modifier, which attaches to the editable mesh output mesh connector.
This means, once the code is written, then ANY mesh modifier created hereafter can be adapted from this nurbs code,
since all mesh modifiers require access to the same data streams from the editable mesh. So that's why I feel it is important.
And, it interests me; I enjoy doing it. And, I can take this coding experience to other apps.
Clinton 'beat me to the punch' on the FBX package, it looks like. He will release the code,
so it can be ported to the Model side as well I suspect. So, there's not much point 'reinventing the wheel': i.e.
having two plugins that do the same thing: import/export FBX / Collada in Workspace.

Bottom line is, I may as do what I like with what I have, with the little free time I have.

Ahh sorry I went off on such a tangent here.

froo wrote:Well, the nurbs tool is something I chose to work on, because I find the math very interesting, and it's fun for me.
The good thing about this is, the 'nurbs node' is a mesh modifier, which attaches to the editable mesh output mesh connector.
This means, once the code is written, then ANY mesh modifier created hereafter can be adapted from this nurbs code,
since all mesh modifiers require access to the same data streams from the editable mesh. So that's why I feel it is important.
And, it interests me; I enjoy doing it. And, I can take this coding experience to other apps.
Clinton 'beat me to the punch' on the FBX package, it looks like. He will release the code,
so it can be ported to the Model side as well I suspect. So, there's not much point 'reinventing the wheel': i.e.
having two plugins that do the same thing: import/export FBX / Collada in Workspace.

Bottom line is, I may as do what I like with what I have, with the little free time I have.

Ahh sorry I went off on such a tangent here.

I understand pretty well how you got into doing it and I respect your work very much.
What I said was just my point of what would be interesting from my viewpoint as to what would get things going.
Its at least how I would and do still use Truespace......
Peter

I think it's sad but it seems as the future development of TS is dead.

Shame you microsoft to not develope TS!!!!!!

Instead Iam trying to learn Blender for I think there is a future in that program but still I use TS because I'm familiar with the software

RAYMAN wrote: I understand pretty well how you got into doing it and I respect your work very much.
What I said was just my point of what would be interesting from my viewpoint as to what would get things going.
Its at least how I would and do still use Truespace......
Peter

Thanks Peter. Ok. I originally thought you wanted a 3dm importer/exporter on the Workspace side. I have looked into that.
I have not studied the 6.6 SDK for some time though. Maybe DesignDevil could handle the Model side version then...

froo wrote:

RAYMAN wrote: I understand pretty well how you got into doing it and I respect your work very much.
What I said was just my point of what would be interesting from my viewpoint as to what would get things going.
Its at least how I would and do still use Truespace......
Peter

Thanks Peter. Ok. I originally thought you wanted a 3dm importer/exporter on the Workspace side. I have looked into that.
I have not studied the 6.6 SDK for some time though. Maybe DesignDevil could handle the Model side version then...

@ Froo Would be cool !

@Tommy yes it is a shame !
But we have to live with it... I figured out after all those years with soft and gear and all the equipment ....... its me who has to move and find a solution
companies like Microsoft ... and BP arent going to help......but there is a huge market. and all you need is enough money and to get that you need to do a lot of work......as long as you live in a free enough world and you can do so..... thats the ticket.
Would Ts 7.xx have been good enough to stand alone would we have seen it in MS hands ? Ts 5 and 6 sold enough to keep it going on its own but 7 was "spaghetti" al dente..... not the same perspective as the user base I´m afraid.But that doesnt mean that you shouldnt use it for what its good for .. you just have to find out
how to integrate it into your pipeline.....well anything can be usefull....even spaghetti al dente as long as you can hook those wires to an outside and have it do something in another package.. but TS left it without a serious renderer on the workspace side... its like a car with 5000ccm without wheels... thats a shame...
Peter

New plugins or not, TS will be always the same, with its qualities and its bugs. Now i use more often specialized and simple soft with TS (as moi3d). I find most of mastodon 3d soft boring to begin with a new tool. If I had to use them, I would prefer another job! It's safer not to put all my eggs in the same basket Especially because I am my own boss and work alone.

i thougt you leave TS Parva.