Yo Planetside, can I get an update?

Started by acolyte, December 15, 2009, 11:39:38 AM

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acolyte

Hey all. I recently dropped quite a bit on the deep version of T2. I did this because it was the best tool at the time to help me finish my current project. As an animator in the industry I have always been pleased with the level of quality Terragen has provided and brought to the game over the years. When Terragen 2 came out I was speechless regarding its performance. Now I could sit here and complain about a lot of things going down, whether it be the painstakingly slow move from v0.9 to T2, or the utter complexity of the interface; however, that's not why i'm here. I really love this software, and all I would really like to see are a few updates here and there.

Now i'm not talking specifically about updates to the software. (Although updates more frequent that a few months in between would be nice.) :) What i'm talking about is more about the website. I'm a frequent user of many 3d products, and as such I usually spend a small part of each day going through the list of sites to look for any bits of news i can get my hands on regarding new projects, updates to the software, or just interesting things relating to the software. As of today, there hasn't been a main-page update for Planetside since September. The same goes for the announcements section of the forums. I really wish the site was updated a little more often just regarding little bits of news here and there, whether it be the current production of what's going on with T2, or more interviews with people using the software in the industry, or even just the people up top dropping a quick line to say, "Hey guys, what's going on, we're still alive!". I know the users on these forums are very active and I love coming in here and seeing all the cool things that are going down, I just wish the devs would either spend some time bi-weekly updating the site, or take some of their proceeds and hire someone to manage the site so that Planetside feels like it's still alive and kicking. Am I alone in this?

RArcher

You can check the recent posts by "Matt" "Jo" and "Oshyan" by clicking the Members link here in the forums.  They each post here pretty much every day.  There has been quite a bit of information given about exactly what they are working on in terms of the next release.

Kadri

I go to the main site only when i hear something or search for someone to help.
I come directly here ( ı don't go away from here is the proper sentence i think  :) ) .

The staff from Planetside is always here and very helpful .

But yes i think you are right about the main site and such.

Kadri.

neuspadrin

I rarely ever look at the main site.  Everything I need is right here in the forums basically.   That and the wiki.

One thing to remember is planetside is a small operation.  With a dev team of Matt (main engine stuff) and Jo (ui/mac version) (could be more then that, i just know thats what those two basically do).  Then a community manager of Oshyan (who browses the forums, points stuff out for the devs, talks with us, etc ;)).  Theres also John, but you wont see him much.  He's just mainly the money guy and issues you the license.

They don't have too much to update about really.. .but the forums are quite active and full of people.  Thats whats important.  I could care less if the website linked their live twitter feed and updated me with what Oshyan was currently eating for breakfast ;).

acolyte

Thanks for being nice guys. I didn't mean to come off harsh at all if I did. I know i'm probably a little spoiled because of the incredible community involved in keeping the Blender sites up to date from day to day. And I think the forums here are amazing.  ;D I would just like to see some more emphasis brought to the main updates on the site. I mean, if recent news is from September, it just doesn't seem like there's a lot going on. And I know there are tons of production houses out there, including major studios, using Terragen to improve their output quality. So I think it would be pretty cool to hear about those things going on, or maybe get some tutorial-like interviews from some experienced users on the forums. I think it would really attract new people to come here and invest in this amazing software. Hearing about the best of the best using the software and getting tips from pros on the forums always inspires me to go out and create bigger and better stuff. Once again, thanks for the input guys.  :D

cyphyr

We'd all like lots of updates I'm sure, but remember Blender is open source so there's hundreds of people working on developing it all the time whereas Terragen is being developed by just two people.
:)
Be patient, I think there's an update in the works ;)
Richard
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
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Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

Henry Blewer

The same two people do all there own software support also. I see new posts from them often. But it would be nice if they added a new image to the gallery every month, I guess. It would look like there was some activity.
http://flickr.com/photos/njeneb/
Forget Tuesday; It's just Monday spelled with a T

matrix2003

Agrees with RArcher.

Ryan is  correct.  This is a small company of honest people.
This stuff takes a lot of time.  Which I have none of this time of year.

:P  -  Bill .

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-MATRIX2003-      ·DHV·  ....·´¯`*
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jo


Henry Blewer

There are a lot of changes! Thanks for all the hard work! 8)
Now comes our part in using these new tools. ;D
http://flickr.com/photos/njeneb/
Forget Tuesday; It's just Monday spelled with a T

Mandrake

Jo, I notice with the new render engine, that my default setting were kind of low, for a quad core running 64 bit with 8 gig of ram.
Do you think it would make sense to make a sticky chart for equipment versus render settings? Maybe for the wiki

Oshyan

I certainly agree with a lot of your suggestions, and while other replies are correct in that we're a small operation, it's still not unreasonable to do a bit more publicity and updates. Fortunately I've moved into a more active role at Planetside recently, and this is one of the areas I'd like to focus on. So I think you can expect improvements in the coming year. :)

- Oshyan

acolyte

Thanks everyone. Especially the staff for providing feedback. You guys rock, and I look forward to any and all forward movement at Planetside this year. :)