Klanky the Robot's 3ds max stuff - Plugins, models and more!

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Fun 3ds max facts:
You didn't ask for them, but what the heck!

  • 3D Studio's original codename for internal use was "THUD", from guess-who's name!

  • Dan Silva, the programmer brought in to create the keyframer module for 3D Studio Release 1, originally wrote "Deluxe Paint" for the Amiga.  I wrote "DEGAS", the paint program for the Atari ST.  Small world.

  • Speaking of the original keyframer module, until about a month before the release of 3D Studio R1, the Modeler, Lofter, Keyframer, Materials Editor and Renderer were all separate DOS programs!  We made a daring decision to roll all these modules into one program using the Phar Lap DOS Extender, and Dan and I spent a two-week marathon session at Dan's home reworking the code to operate under Phar Lap.  It was awesome.  Dan is one of the finest programmers I've ever worked with (and eating fresh pears and figs off his backyard trees didn't hurt, either).

  • The 3D Studio network rendering code was installed one summer between releases when I was working on a set of CG shots for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  I had four computers in my office and needed to have them all cooperating on the rendering to get the job done.  It was a minor miracle that it worked, given the primitive networking in MS-DOS at that time!

  • Video Post was actually a hidden feature of 3D Studio R1, which I hacked in over a few days so that I could do some simple compositing and dissolves for my short film, "Cornerstone".  At that point, it was a very simple script language and nobody else even knew it was there (well, maybe Gary Yost).

  • The IPAS plug-in architecture was dreamed up at SIGGRAPH one summer when I was planning a short film with Joey and Klanky, called "Assault on the Sun".  To do this piece, I needed an automated starfield background generator as Joey and Klanky sped toward the sun in their surplus Apollo capsule/LEM assembly.  I had just finished up a bunch of code for AutoDesk's ADI (Autodesk Device Interface) in 3DS and realized that a similar interface would allow me to hook up plugins.  "Assault" was never made but IPAS was a terrific success.  Not to mention, it relieved Dan and me from having to write all the new features people wanted in 3DS!

More later!


Klanky the Robot® TM & Copyright 1975-2018 Tom Hudson
Contents of this page Copyright 2018 Tom Hudson.
All software provided on an as-is basis with no warranty expressed or implied.