Plant Modeling

[piggy]

Found an open source project at http://ngplant.sourceforge.net/

Anyone ever tried it before ?

[Kadri]

There are topics with  ngplant if you search it on the forum , Piggy.
But how many use it i don't know. Good that you mentioned it. I did forget it.
Have to try it , thanks

[Walli]

I fear that this project suffers from a typical problem - nice start, fast progress at the beginning but at a certain stage the development get´s very slow or stops entirely.
Haven´t checked out ngplant in the last few months, so I might be wrong.

[piggy]

I fear that this project suffers from a typical problem - nice start, fast progress at the beginning but at a certain stage the development get´s very slow or stops entirely.
Haven´t checked out ngplant in the last few months, so I might be wrong.

Check the date ...

The last update was 2 weeks ago.

[piggy]

There are topics with  ngplant if you search it on the forum , Piggy.
But how many use it i don't know. Good that you mentioned it. I did forget it.
Have to try it , thanks

Also found PlantStudio, free, download from http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/download_new.html

[Walli]

yes, two weeks ago - with almost one year pause and the new features beeing mainly jpg/png support and history. Don´t get me wrong, ngplant had a good start and I liked it and I hoped that it will develop good and fast - so that other developers feel pressured to move forward. But to me it looks like one of those nice, little open source gems that can´t evolve enough momentum . Blender is one exception. I hope there would be more exceptions.

Plant Studio is nice, but again time is going by....

Each of these three pieces of software was last tested under Windows 2000. We have had them running under WINE on GNU/Linux and under Parallels on the Macintosh, but we have not done thorough testing. We no longer provide support for current operating systems. If you want to know if our old 1998 software runs on the latest version of Windows, the answer is that we don't know. Sorry. But you can try the zip files and see. :-)

Blender also offers some tools, just look at BigBuckBunny and the nice trees. This could be one of the better bets if you want to stay future proof ;-)

[piggy]

yes, two weeks ago - with almost one year pause and the new features beeing mainly jpg/png support and history. Don´t get me wrong, ngplant had a good start and I liked it and I hoped that it will develop good and fast - so that other developers feel pressured to move forward. But to me it looks like one of those nice, little open source gems that can´t evolve enough momentum . Blender is one exception. I hope there would be more exceptions.

Plant Studio is nice, but again time is going by....

Each of these three pieces of software was last tested under Windows 2000. We have had them running under WINE on GNU/Linux and under Parallels on the Macintosh, but we have not done thorough testing. We no longer provide support for current operating systems. If you want to know if our old 1998 software runs on the latest version of Windows, the answer is that we don't know. Sorry. But you can try the zip files and see. :-)

Blender also offers some tools, just look at BigBuckBunny and the nice trees. This could be one of the better bets if you want to stay future proof ;-)

Much oblige for the pointer.

But there is one common thing regarding all FOSS software like ngplant is that anyone who wants to extend the software can do it - the source code is freely available.

[latego]

But there is one common thing regarding all FOSS software like ngplant is that anyone who wants to extend the software can do it - the source code is freely available.

This is the theory and the FOSS propaganda. The reality is quite different (just name one project which was abandoned and then resurrected).

The reality is that programming is NOT amusing. Laying the foundations, doing some work/proof of concept is but then you exit the inspiration phase and enter the perspiration one (I am refering to Edison's quote). Dealing with bugs, doing regression testing, spending hours hunting stupid bugs (especially in the user interface), writing documentation/tutorials, handling assholes (pardon, users ) and so on kills any enthusiasm. The only reason to keep going on is the need to pay the bills and FOSS projects do not pay bills.

In addition, there are tasks which look deceptively simple and then during the development, you hit a point in which you haven't the slightest idea about how going on. I think that plant generation belongs to this area: easy/not-so-complex from the outside, obscenely difficult in reality.

Dreams are great, but then morning comes and you wake up.

[Walli]

In addition, there are tasks which look deceptively simple and then during the development, you hit a point in which you haven't the slightest idea about how going on. I think that plant generation belongs to this area: easy/not-so-complex from the outside, obscenely difficult in reality.

I think this is very true. I have seen many veeeery interesting tools beeing developed at university. I really said so often "wow, looking forward to see this as product", but I would say probably 1 out of 10 really make it. The rest gets abandonned because of many reasons.

[piggy]

But there is one common thing regarding all FOSS software like ngplant is that anyone who wants to extend the software can do it - the source code is freely available.

This is the theory and the FOSS propaganda. The reality is quite different (just name one project which was abandoned and then resurrected).

Actually there are plenty. But my brain is cramped with other things at the moment (read the thread about brain can't handle more than 2 things at once) so please give me couple of days I'll be back to give you a list of projects which were abandoned and resurrected by others.

[piggy]

In addition, there are tasks which look deceptively simple and then during the development, you hit a point in which you haven't the slightest idea about how going on. I think that plant generation belongs to this area: easy/not-so-complex from the outside, obscenely difficult in reality.

I think this is very true. I have seen many veeeery interesting tools beeing developed at university. I really said so often "wow, looking forward to see this as product", but I would say probably 1 out of 10 really make it. The rest gets abandonned because of many reasons.

Most projects that were stated in universities end up dying early death when the students graduated.

The only projects that survive are those sponsored by the professors.

There are two class of FOSS projects - those started by a community and those started by academia. Those started by communities may die, but even after they die, many other people still remember them and there is always a chance in the future some people may resurrect these projects.

Those FOSS projects started in academia do not have a community behind it - which means they are not that well known. So when the students graduate, the project dies, and since nobody else (other than the students in that class and the professors) know about it, it stays dead.

I agree, it's a big shame to see those projects die. But then it's life, as the French says, c'est la vie.