SGI: Computer Graphics

Hello to all,

yesterday i got (get, have gotten ???) the permission from Satu Heikkilä (Realsoft Graphics) to post the link to the Realsoft 3D IRIX-Demo.

Here we go

http://www.realsoft.com/packages/realsoft3d-26.41b-beta-irix-mips.sh (17 MB)

And it is working



Hello Thomas,

Thank you for your interest in Realsoft 3D !

You can download the IRIX version at
http://www.realsoft.com/packages/realso ... ix-mips.sh
During the setup in the User Information -dialog just type "demo" in the
serial number box.

I will be on your disposal if you have any questions.
Kind regards,

Satu Heikkilä
Realsoft Graphics


And the next one:

Thomas,

Yes, of course you can post the link. Thank you for thinking of it.

Please note that Realsoft 3D for IRIX (mips) is still in beta stage. New
release is estimated to be available in the begin of this year- supporting
latest SGI operating systems. At the moment we are converting new native
IRIX setup..

Kind regards,

Satu Heikkilä
Realsoft Graphics


Go get it, boy (and girl)

Thomas W. wrote: Hello to all,

yesterday i got (get, have gotten ???) the permission from Satu Heikkilä (Realsoft Graphics) to post the link to the Realsoft 3D IRIX-Demo.

Here we go
And it is working

The program has been around for a while, and in working condition. Fairly stable on IRIX and the OpenGL shading is pretty fast.

I guess I am one of the few IRIX users that actually bought it so I've had the chance to use it for a while although I must admit I haven't done much with it due to time constraints.
It is worth the money as (at least currently) if you buy it you get access to the Linux version as well, and the program comes with the distributed renderer.

I've been lobbying for some time with Realsoft to make a demo available, and I guess as it seems a few other have in the more recent times, they have. Initially it wasn't going to appear until v5 was released.

Couple of things wrt to the installation:

- After you enter the details, etc and click on 'Finish' the installation will proceed but you will get an ugly Tkl window at the end and it will seem to have hung.
At this point it is ok to kill the installer as it will have done its job. The garbled window is due to the installer needing Tcl/Tk 8.3 and above and expecting it in a path before the IRIX Tcl/Tk version (which is ancient)
You may see messages warning that some libs have not been found. It is OK to ignore them.

- As to the demo version - it is a full product with (I think) a limit to the size of the render...

-If anyone is interested they can mail me to get a brick and scratches plugins I ported to Irix. These are free, and the author made the source code available to me to port them.
This is the link for the Windows version: http://www.schmeling-consulting.de/rs3d.html

The other plugins will be made available with the next release of the program, although the Photoshop and DEMformat plugins do not currently work due to endian issues.

Finally, about this program. If you like it, you should consider buying it.

I am slightly biased in this opinion as I am now involved with the program on more than just a user level, but Realsoft decided to keep the Irix version going initially because I offered to help keep the port alive. Their main seller is (understandably) Windows with Linux a fairly distant second. So far, Irix users have been thin on the ground.
This is partly a fault of their marketing as they haven't done much to raise awareness about the program, but nevertheless the situation regarding the IRIX port was critical.
I can't say that I have helped immensely, but the code has been cleaned up a little and the IRIX build scripts have been updated to build mips4 binaries and libs.
26.41 is therefore the last version to be O32, and I'm glad to bid good riddance to that.
The new build (undergoing testing) seems to have gained approximately 10% in rendering speed.
I guess my involvement has also helped to also decrease the amount of time the Irix version is lagging behind the Windows and Linux versions as far as releases are concerned.
By the time v5 is released, the IRIX version will have caught up to the Linux version release schedule.
Oh, and there will definitely be a v5 on IRIX...
Personally, I hope to keep the IRIX port going for as long as possible (and even if I do get a small compensation from Realsoft for it at some time in the future, I am not expecting this to ever become my main source of income), if for no other reason then because I like the fact that the interface is fast enough on my Octane, and afterall why have a Silicon Graphics machine if there is no graphics software for it ?

Yes, so slightly biased, but I'll repeat it anyway - if you like it, buy it, and then you can bug both Realsoft and me with requests, bugs, etc...

Nik.

Can I just say...:

GO NIK!

:D

i've downloaded it this afternoon from the Challenge and i'll guess i'll try it later tonight..


many thanks for all those information, i love when tester comes out with lots usefull information about software and especially when this involve also a 'keeping' alive the IRIX scene...

nvukovlj wrote: This is partly a fault of their marketing as they haven't done much to raise awareness about the program, but nevertheless the situation regarding the IRIX port was critical.

well, marketing has never been a strenght of Realsoft - which is pretty sad, since Real3D (as it was called back then) is around since the days of Amiga and has always been a very powerful package (though with a steep learning curve, but this seems to be better now). And I never understood why so little was done to actually sell it. I remember the early days of Cinema 4D and Real3D, Real3D was always the better package and (later) much cheaper too.

So, give it a chance, it's a great tool and it really deserves more support, especially for it's price. Even the windows version is not really expensive for 700,- EUR.

Too bad they don't have an OS X version, I'd buy it immidiately.

andreas@rootprompt wrote: Too bad they don't have an OS X version, I'd buy it immidiately.

V5 will be out on OSX as well.

As we both agree, their marketing leaves a lot to be desired.

A cross-grade from an IRIX version may be worth it, as I suspect the OSX version will be the same price as the Windows version. (euro 700, but 400 to upgrade from IRIX/Linux which costs 300)
Worth confirming, but this way you show an interest in the IRIX version by purchaisng it, and later get another version. 2 for the price of 1...

How's that for a sales effort ?

Nik.

hey Thomas, i get this on display :0.1

sgi126 10% realsoft3d
X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation)
Major opcode of failed request: 78 (X_CreateColormap)
Value in failed request: 0x33
Serial number of failed request: 34
Current serial number in output stream: 34
sgi126 11%

works ok on :0.0

Skywriter,

Can you send the error message to mailto:[email protected] ?

None of the dev. machines used have dual-head display though, so I'm not sure how this could be reproduced...

Nik.

Hey thomas, may i ask why you have the Lightwave 3D logo as your tag ?

MIS

nvukovlj wrote: Skywriter,

Can you send the error message to mailto:[email protected] ?

None of the dev. machines used have dual-head display though, so I'm not sure how this could be reproduced...

Nik.

Done Nik!

@ mis:

Something wrong with the Lightwave 3D logo ???

Lightwave 3D v.5.6 was the first 3D programm on my SGI and i think it is a nice logo.

nope nothing is wrong with the lightwave logo

infact your speaking to a registrated user of lightwave since version 2.5 on amiga .

i love lightwave . and at the moment ime waiting for newtek to
release version 8

and on my sgi i only have a demo version.

but i use it alot on pc

MIS

Hi,
I heard about this product in a linux journal and a couple of online resources so I was eager to try the beta out. I downloaded the file onto my SGI Octane (195MHz 896Mb Dual SI cards and 9 gb Hd) and installed it. The installation went well, but whenever I try to run the file as user or superuser accounts I always get the error :
Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request: 1(X_CreateWindow)
Serial number of failed request: 4779
Current serial number in output stream: 4781

I get this error on monitors 0.0 and 0.1. Restarting or switching users hasn't helped. If there anyway you can fix my error, I'd be greatful and eager to apply it. I would love to learn this 3d system, which from all accounts really kicks ass and judging from the galleries, is a 100% pro package.

Thanks,
Eugene Redko

Hmm,

I have never seen this on my system.
Skywriter seemed to get the issue on his secondary display of the dual-head config but not the primary ?

Is your X server set up to run in 24bit mode ?

Yes sir, 24bit mode.

my :0.1 is SSI, and :0.0 is MXE. perhaps that's the difference.

oops the :0.1 is SE, not SSI.

I used to have MXI but since one of the TRAMS died taking away the card with it, I got an SSI. Works fine with that as well...
Must be something else in the setup...

Nik.

skywriter wrote: my :0.1 is SSI, and :0.0 is MXE. perhaps that's the difference.

I didn't think you could have an SSI and MXE installed at the same time. More because of heat than anything really. That and I've never heard of anyone with and SSI & MXE or something similar.

Realsoft have released an update to Realsoft3D v4.5 SP1 for IRIX.

You can get the latest revision from here: http://www.realsoft.com/updates/irix/packages/realsoft3d-26.43-beta-irix-mips.sh

Some changes with this revision:

It is finally n32 and is now mips4 only.
It has Michael Schmelling's plugins included with it. Information about these plugins can be obtained from: http://www.schmeling-consulting.de/

The new revision should render approx. 10% quicker than the old. You can use the benchmark scene available from their site to check this out, although for the demo version you'll need to decrease the res to 300x300
http://www.realsoft.fi/updates/benchmark


During the setup in the User Information -dialog just type "demo" in the
serial number box.

As I have mentioned earlier in the thread, since I am involved with maintaining the Irix version, you can direct any issues you find with it to me, however, I would also encourage anyone who likes the software to purchase it, as you get it for much less than the Windows version and keep the platform supported.

Nik.[/url]

[quote="nvukovlj You can use the benchmark scene available from their site to check this out, although for the demo version you'll need to decrease the res to 300x300 [/url]

There's one of the problems with benchmarking. Since SGI's and peecees have different strengths, the SGI comes off worse than it should using peecee paramaters. Shouldn't an Octane's strengths show up more in BIG scenes, moving lots of data around ? I see where peecee people are having a lot of trouble now using memory over two gigs ... while the Octane and HP workstations are quite happy with 8. But since the usual benchmarks don't test those scenarios, we come off looking like dodos ... There are areas where a benchmark that wasn't peecee-driven would show that there are things Intel boxes flat-out CAN'T do. Small sized scenes would not show off an Octane's strengths, imo. (I was going to say it's better than nothing - but is it, really ? For unbiased people sure, but put these results into a Wintel-fanatic's hands and we'd be better off without ANY benchmarks.)