Quote from: PabloMack on April 21, 2010, 05:52:10 PM
We have here a sort of catch-22 situation. PS knows that new-hires (even considering that money is not a problem) are going to have to get up to speed. This puts more strain on those who know how the software works. I, for one, would be delighted to write a book on TG. But I am a relative beginner so I need information from PS to bring me up to speed. I need documentation. See the dilemma? Knowledge necessarily has to trickle from the designers/implementors down to those who write documentation. And the best way to do that is for them to write documentation for internal use in combination with some sort of internal education program. This all takes time away from development. But when you are chasing a changling, it makes it all the much more difficult. Anyone care to elaborate on how much TG2 has diverged from original TGC? This might give us a guide on how much TG is changing thru time.
This sounds a bit as circular reasoning to me.
Needing documentation to be able to write a book. You're absolutely right, but to a certain maximum extent I'd say.
If it would only be because of documentation then everyone could write a book about anything, without needing any experience with the subject.
In 3D software packages like these a good book distinguishes itself from a regular book by mainly the experience of the author with the software-package and how well he's able to transfer his knowledge to the reader. The latter is dependant on the author's writing skills.
As said before the documentation is being worked on and all the information available can be found here in these forums.
So far I find the majority of your questions very advanced and way beyond the scope of a "relative beginner" as you describe yourself.
I'd say start at the beginning.
I tried to motivate you before a couple of days earlier that the best way to learn TG2 is to spend time here reading the tutorials, going through file sharing and for example reading NWDA contest entries, since these contain a lot of tips about anything.
In the meantime you could actually start using TG2, render images, post these here, explain what you tried to make and what you still want to achieve.
Ask for help and lots of people will try to, including me.
This is the best advice I can give you.
This may sound harsh, but isn't meant to.
It's best to skinny-dip first into TG2
Cheers,
Martin