Quoted from: Stewart Mcsherry back in December 08
The news from us - please look very shortly for all our models in TG2 format as a set of lowcost DVDs. it has been slow coming but it will be out in January. Well where are they?
We have been very supportive of Terragen, and close friends with Matt, and we want to see everyone able to easily use our models inside Terragen. Yeah well, first you have to make them available and affordable
stewart mcsherry
ceo | xfrog inc.
503 boccaccio ave
venice ca 90291
310 933 5949
I checked the site and nothing yet? :'( I'm sure they could get a fair amount of business from Us, don't you? But then again, maybe they don't need our measly few dollars . Who knows? I guess it's not a good idea to spit out dates around here, eh? LOL
dates are cursed ^^
that will be a good idea to have some new models in TG2 format...
Did you already try sending him a private message Jay?
This should give him an email notification and thus get his attention to this.
I thought at the time he made this announcement that he might have been hoping that the final release of T2 would be announced in January and the Xfrog DVDs would coincide with that event (which never happened). But that was just me reading between the lines. He was right in some of what he said though; "it has been slow coming".
John
I expected these soon. Hopefully politics haven't entered the picture and we can soon enjoy the wonders of cool plants again. It was one thing to kill off Lightning (with his cool plants and excellent craftsmanship) and another thing to do that while not providing a decent replacement.
Quote from: calico on February 11, 2009, 08:33:23 AM
I expected these soon. Hopefully politics haven't entered the picture and we can soon enjoy the wonders of cool plants again. It was one thing to kill off Lightning (with his cool plants and excellent craftsmanship) and another thing to do that while not providing a decent replacement.
Ehmmm...Calico...I don't know and don't want to sound harsh but it seems you've missed the essence of the extreme (long) discussion regarding Lightning's plants etc.? Or am I mistaking? In the end it didn't turn out to be craftmanship but violating the license of the model(s)(er).
I certainly agree with you that after putting Lightning on non-active they should have come with a replacement. It seemed they had plans for this, but as Jay started: where are they?
It wasn't just his using already created plants, but his modification of these plants that made them excellent. I own xFrog plants and these are okay, but what Lightning did was make them look better. His grass was the best we had ever seen, before he came along.
So, yes, I know about the whole mess. But, that's why I'm mentioning it now - we had plants and now we could have plants at a reasonable price as we were told, if xFrog comes through.
Ok Calico, I see, glad we're on the same frequency then :)
Martin
P.S. Something completely different: I saw my postcount said "leet" instead of a number, what does that mean?
I'm not sure. Does it still say 'leet'? I see 1338...or was it 1337?
it was 1337 ! ^^
no it were really symbols and not numbers, I even copy pasted it between the "-s.
Could it be someone from Planetside was messing with you?
How late is it there? Have you checked your tonic? ;D
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on February 11, 2009, 11:34:23 AM
no it were really symbols and not numbers, I even copy pasted it between the "-s.
Ghehe...it was 5:45 pm at that moment :)
Heheh, good old 1337. I would guess that it's a clever touch by the programmers of the forum system.
It probably is a joke indeed...I swear it was written :)
I'm not into that computer-talk-thingy...so didn't realize 1337 is 'leet' and what does it actually mean?
Quote from: Tangled-Universe on February 11, 2009, 01:36:29 PM
I'm not into that computer-talk-thingy...so didn't realize 1337 is 'leet' and what does it actually mean?
leet is a short form of the word elite most used by pseudo hackers who think they are cool (and elite, obviously).
It also stands for a kind of deformation of the English language, the so-called leetspeak. The ordinary charakters are replaced with similar looking ASCII symbols. 1 = l, 3 = e and so on. This way the uber elite hack0rz can chat with each other without everybody understanding them. Did I mention they feel very cool and elite in doing so?^^
50 1f y0u 533 50m37h1n6 |1k3 7h15, y0u 4r3 3xp3r13nc1n6 |3375p34k. :P
!t w0rk5 1n fr3nc]-[ t00 !
t]-[3r3 !s 1337 3v3ryw]-[3r3...
64m3r5 l4n6u463...
Yeah, but where's the plants?
Found 'em!
(http://dvice.com/pics/happinessisnuclearpower.jpg)
SCNR :>
Thanks for the explanation :)
Like Calico said: let's get back to the plants!
Martin
leet: a court formerly held at regular intervals by the lords of certain English manors.
leet (Scotland): a list of applicants or candidates for a post or office.
ergo
Either you've done something wrong, or you're being considered for a position at Planetside.
John
Okay; back to the plants. I've just sent an email to Xfrog (sales@xfrog.com) making an enquiry about the announced plants.
"Could you give me a progress report on the DVDs of plants you are making for Terragen2 (tgo format). In a previous announcement on Planetside Forums you indicated they would be available in January."
John
Good work John, I'm curious how fast they will respond and what they will say.
Perhaps we should spam them about it :p lol
Martin
I have sendt Xfrog some emails before. I never got any answer. It was about something else, but still.
- Terje
I have not yet received a response from xfrog regarding the announced DVDs of tgo plants. So I have contacted them again this morning with the following message:
"On the 12th of February I contacted you (sales@xfrog.com) with the following request:
"Could you give me a progress report on the DVDs of plants you are making for Terragen2 (tgo format). In a previous announcement on Planetside Forums you indicated they would be available in JanuaryCould you give me a progress report on the DVDs of plants you are making for Terragen2 (tgo format). In a previous announcement on Planetside Forums you indicated they would be available in January."
(a) Did you receive this message? (It appears to have been sent successfully from my end.)
(b) If you did, why didn't you respond by way of reply?
It would be courteous if you could respond (reply) to my request this time.
Thank you
JohnRobertson"
I added my email address at the bottom of my message in case they are unaware of or are unable to use their Reply To Sender button.
John
Thanks for the initiative John, looking forward to see where they come up with...I bet they don't have them yet and that it will take a looong time. But, we'll see :)
Martin
Maybe (wishful thinking on my part, perhaps)...just maybe xFrog is working to get these trees to us when the new Planetside site is revealed or when bigger publicity begins to happen for TG2.
I just sent an email to Stewart at greenworks. Since he is the one that made the announcement. Perhaps he will reply? Below is the email copy
Hi,
A while back you made an announcement that Greenworks was working on several small packages of plants for TG2 that you would be offering in Jan of this year. Well the troops are getting restless as to where they are? Any updates I can share with the forum or would you please reply to this thread at planetside forum? http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=5685.0 Thanks for your cooperation!
Jay Testerman
Very professional, Jay. Thanks for looking out for us.
Maybe someone in Greenworks will realize they have a market here, though not huge (for now).
Well, look at it this way. There are 5514 Members signed up at this Forum, right. So, if greenworks was able to sell a 20 Dollar package to only half the members/users that would be $55,140.00 I wouldn't mind that extra income. Damn, maybe I'll invest in Xfrog and try my hand at it?
hehehe good idea ! at least we'll have new vegetation ;)
Lightning was so close to this. Darn. Darn. Darn.
Quote from: buzzzzz1 on February 16, 2009, 10:50:08 AM
...maybe I'll invest in Xfrog and try my hand at it?
Hey schmeerlap, Did you ever get a response from Xfrog? I haven't as of yet.
Well as I said earlier. I never got any answer and that's is a really, really long time ago. I hope you guys do tho.
I also hope they make a Xfrog 4.0 Standalone. If they ever do, I'll buy it and make some plants for us :)
- Terje
Quote from: buzzzzz1 on February 17, 2009, 12:08:48 PM
Hey schmeerlap, Did you ever get a response from Xfrog? I haven't as of yet.
Hi Jay
No I haven't had a reply to either of my emails to xFrog sales. I was going to wait a couple of days and send an email to Stewart McSherry as my next move, but seeing you've taken the initiative with that I won't bother now. Or, maybe I will if you don't get a response within the next day or two. I'll keep watching this space.
John
Thanks for the update John. Well two days and no reply. Just went to the Xfrog site and clicked on the store and buy online. Seems that doesn't reply either?? OK, I see it this way, I don't know exactly the price of a CD full of xfrog plants but I know it's several hundred dollars. Why would I spend a couple hundred dollars with a company that doesn't reply to emails and has a online store that doesn't seem to work?? Apparently they are independently wealthy and don't need the business. With the world economy the way it is, seems to me they would be a little more attentive to potential customers. At this point I don't think I want to deal with a company like this. Unbelievable!!
Hmmmm......
Quick enough to moan about their content being lifted though ;D
Quote from: mr-miley on February 18, 2009, 10:35:04 AM
Hmmmm......
Quick enough to moan about their content being lifted though ;D
No kidding about that!
I tell ya, I think Klas should focus on creating plants because His/Her's are by far the best I've worked with. Instead of asking for donations they could open a store and be busy I'm sure.
I agree. Klas should consider a storefront.
Removed useless rhetoric...the BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
Lightning's work was great and his models changed our renders. Hope he reappears.
I now know what's up and can't wait. ;D
[edited on Friday night, 2/20/2009]
Quote from: calico on February 18, 2009, 02:17:55 PM
It seems like Planetside would benefit from making some deals with some company for objects for their product rather than wait for this sort of scenario.
I agree with this statement... it will be a great improvement to TG2
Keeping you updated on the xfrog plant package scenario. I have sent the following message to Stewart Mcsherry this morning in a latest bid to extract some kind of response from xfrog.
"Hi Stewart
My name is John Robertson and I get a great deal of pleasure using Terragen2. The one area where it lags behind other 3d scene generating applications is quality foliage content. You mentioned in a recent comment on the Planetside Forum how you were supportive of Terragen2, and indeed you did provide a free sampler at the launch of the Terragen beta version. In that same comment you made reference to a package od DVDs with further foliage content for Terragen - here is what you said:
"the news from us - please look very shortly for all our models in TG2 format as a set of lowcost DVDs. it has been slow coming but it will be out in January.
We have been very supportive of Terragen, and close friends with Matt, and we want to see everyone able to easily use our models inside Terragen."
Your sales team and yourself personnaly have been contacted by myself and at least one other member of the Planetside Forum in the past week or so enquiring about this package of foliage content which you indicated would be out in January. However, there have been no replies to our email enquiries, nor any response elsewhere by yourself or any member of the xfrog sales team regarding these enquiries.
I would be grateful if you could put an end to this silence. I'm sure you have your reasons for this unresponsive behaviour, but I think it would at least be courteous of you to respond, even if it is to say you are still working on this project, or that you have reconsidered its feasibility.
Your non-response to the recent enquiries made is typically the way businesses of doubtful repute behave when confronted with difficult questions. I am not suggesting you fall into this category, but am simply bringing to your attention how this non-response of yours may be seen by potential customers.
Yours faithfully
John Robertson"
No-one can hear a plaintive email scream in cyberspace.
John
Greenworks has almost a monopoly in the plant generation business, so they are completely free from the need of behaving kindly with those pesky customers...
I advise you to check Arbaro (get the .PDF of the paper on which it is based, otherwise you wont understand anything!) or ngPlant (there are some tutorials in Blender related forums/websites). For Ivy, there is the well known Ivy Generator. All these programs are not evenly remotely in the same league as XFrog, but at least they are free.
Bye!!!
At last. Persistence does have its rewards.
John
What are you talking about?I just read the announcement in the Terragen Forum. Groovy.
Quote from: schmeerlap on February 19, 2009, 07:59:21 PM
At last. Persistence does have its rewards.
John
Seems xFrog is still practicing their old ways of being non-responsive. Any suggestions?
I'm excited about a new Modo plugin I have seen called Tropism, and also have been using SpeedTree.
-Derek
A year ago I my foliage plan was to upgrade my old XFrog plugin to work with new versions of Maya. The upgrade wasn't expensive but it also didn't work – at all – problems with the interface as I recall. They promised a workable update "soon." I've since moved on to SpeedTree.
If you have access to SpeedTree, you certainly don't need XFrog.
Yep! I'm digging in and learning SpeedTree now. Got me a subscription, and and am amazed at the power in that app. SpeedTree has so many more features it is mind boggling at first.
-Derek
LOL. This thread is 10 years old.
Wow! 10 Years! Sometimes when searching the forum I don't notice the dates, and just reply. ;)
On a positive note I finally did get a genuine apologetic reply from Stewart over at xFrog. Sounds like they are crazy busy right now because of some new changes/products coming soon. Not sure how much I can say, so I'll just leave it there.
-Derek
Since I already have all their stuff, minus the software, it'll be great to what new they might have to offer.
Maybe they're fixing all the models
I haven't had any issues with the models, have you? I think they are adding new products soon. :)
-Derek
Quote from: D.A. Bentley on May 01, 2019, 10:43:14 AM
I haven't had any issues with the models, have you? I think they are adding new products soon. :)
-Derek
I refer to the frequently noticed/commented on, square tree-trunks and branches in my renders....stuff like that
Oh yea, they are not the best for close up shots sometimes (depends on the tree). I haven't tried anything else other than SpeedTree trees. The Cinema Library trees are very nice, but I work mostly in games so I have only ever used the lower quality Games Library trees. I have seen some impressive stuff come out of e-on Plant Factory too.
-Derek
Oh to be able to afford Speed Tree...still saving to update my maintenance