From: Peter Fraterdeus Subject: ".programmer", etc. Date: Tue, 1 Oct 91 01:27:28 PDT Reply to: ".programmer", etc. Hi, Peter from Alphabets Design, in Evanston. Just added this conf to my regular list, so I hope to get to know the regulars before long. Following are some observations, so you'll know me, and my vote on comp.multimedia.programmer I'm all for it. Should include discussion of Director 3.0, SuperCard 1.6 (Coming Soon) and products like Swivel 3D which are scriptable. MacroMind is soon (already?) shipping a Windows driver for movies created on the Mac. The Paracomp/MacroMind merger looks to be a powerful one. I think there's going to be some very interesting stuff coming out of there in the next few years! In fact, as more software takes advantage of the AppleEvent IAC process under System 7.0 (mac), we will start to write symphonic productions, using interactive telecom and iconic data access to remote and local info nodes, including audio/video/ databases. We already spend quite alot of time in virtual realities! The illusion of threeD (2.5D?) on my Mac desktop, the timeshifting of my answering machine, the space in a telephone conversation across the ocean. Speaking of multi-media, is it really a subset of virtual reality? Imagine going to a client's office with no disk of your own, ready to give a full interactive multi-media presentation on the Marketing of Consciousness in Semi-Permeable Membranes, through Semi-Conducting Crystals. Your sit at the flat, vertical monitor, 24-bit LCD, scan the face of it for a familiar icon. "Here, let's start it up, you say." Clicking on the icon, a short command script is executed. Initiating an ISDN connection with your machine back at the office, It "immediately" springs to life with a Splash of color and a deep rich chord rumbles out of the speakers nearby. Your presentation runs at 30 frames per second, in stereo taking advantage of intelligent communications software that only transmits the changes in the scene, and scripts that run on the local machine. I've just been looking at the QuickTime Beta disk that Apple sent to Developers. There's some very wonderful stuff on it. Still rough in places, though. I think you'll need a very current CD drive to really play extended stuff from a disk. Great third party demo from Digital Video Applications Corp. called DiVA VideoShop. they're selling beta versions too..... (DiVA 617 491 4147, Cambridge, Mass.) Peter Fraterdeus Alphabets Design Group. Evanston, Illinois pfraterdeus@igc.org / petros@chinet.chi.il.us Also see my note about SC^3--Swivel3D Command Set Compiler......