Topic: Spaghetti Progress - March 2009

[Fanny Pack]

But, at the same time, I am all for OTHER people making ILDA files and abstracts and sharing them with me! 

[James]

So open your code a bit more and be respectful of other people's ideas for generating new art.

James. 

[Fanny Pack]

What do you mean?

[James]

Dean and I have both put a lot of years into what we are working on. You contacted me before the PL even existed about LaserBoy. Please realize that what we are doing leads people right into what you are doing and work with it! A better understanding of our efforts will only do you good!

You know how to read un-fucked-up-format-3. Reading formatted wave would be a sinch for you.

James. 

PS........

What the hell is wrong with you? Why don't you put a GUI on that thing ? !!! 

[Fanny Pack]

Spaghetti reads standard compliant ILDA files.  That is the only claim I make.  If you want to create your own version of format 3 or a wav file with laser data in it then that is cool, but it is not something I am interested in supporting.  LaserBoy is the only application that creates WAV files but it also can as easily create standard compliant ILDA files.  So, there is no problem.  If I change Spaghetti to read your WAV files are you going to change LaserBoy to ready my .frames files?  What about my compliant format 3 files?  You have shown your unwillingness to modify your software to add correct format 3 or a GUI so you have no right to preach to other people about how they should write their software or what they should be interested in.

[James]

LaserWave creates ONLY wave as output. It takes LaserBoy to convert that into ILDA and there is no "compliant format 3".

Other than that, you're exactly correct.

We do not have to agree. It's a conversation.

James. 

BTW Is your .frames file format a secret? If you can't make new art in Spaghetti, what would I find in a .frames file?

[James]

 Hi Gary!

  I e-mailed you a sample file, but I was hoping that others would be curious enough to be interested in the 'formatted' wave concept between LB and LW.  

Hey! How-come I didn't get CC-ed on this? !!! 

James. 

[Fanny Pack]

You can most definitely make new art with Spaghetti because you can use the timeline to create animations.  For example, with a multiple layer time line and nothing but a single circle ILDA file I can make an analog clock that ticks.  The circle is the outline shape in one layer.  Then the circle can be rotated 90 degrees on the X axis to become a line and that sized and positioned to become the roman numerals for the 1 thru 12 on the clock.  And finally, the lines can sized and translated and rotated to become the moving clock hands.  Finally, this snippet of the timeline can be exported to an ILDA file where it will become a ticking clock sequence.

The clock is only an example and probably more complex than needed but I think it demonstrates my point.

My frames files is basically just a compressed ILDA file actually so that it doesn't waste so much space.  I wouldn't expect you to be able to read it.  It was just an example to illustrate a point.  

[James]

That's AWESOME!

So you can output this as an ILDA file?

James. 

[Fanny Pack]

Yes, I support exporting to ILDA files.  The timeline has start and end markers that can be set to specify what is to be exported.  So you can export the entire show or just a single frame if you choose.

That is a useful feature because it allows complex animations created with the timeline to be exported to single ILDA files that can be reused without having to construct them over and over.  In essence, it's like a macro feature.

[meandean]

 Actually, I could care less about palette, as it was a cheat created back in the days when computers just didn't have the horsepower to handle the real thing (I still remember how excited I was to get my first 24bit VGA card- it gave me a reason to do some programming and learn how to write to BMP! Check out 24Plotter on the LaserWave/new site).

 Consider taking some time to look at LB & LW, I think that developers can learn from each other to make better products- this is why I've played with Spaghetti in the first place!!!

[James]

Yes, I support exporting to ILDA files.

That's very cool.

In LaserWave and LaserBoy you can start with absolutely nothing and make all kinds of animations that a lot of people might like to show with Spaghetti.

WRT format 3, consider the fact that LaserBoy puts out 4 & 5. THAT was a huge compromise of my personal ethics for the-good-of-the-cause.

James. 

[drlava]

Yes, I support exporting to ILDA files.

WRT format 3, consider the fact that LaserBoy puts out 4 & 5. THAT was a huge compromise of my personal ethics for the-good-of-the-cause.

James. 

..And thank you for that.

Gary, what are your preferences concerning the sharing of 1.8.0.1?

[James]

Actually, I could care less about palette, as it was a cheat created back in the days when computers just didn't have the horsepower to handle the real thing (I still remember how excited I was to get my first 24bit VGA card- it gave me a reason to do some programming and learn how to write to BMP! Check out 24Plotter on the LaserWave/new site).

 Consider taking some time to look at LB & LW, I think that developers can learn from each other to make better products- this is why I've played with Spaghetti in the first place!!!

Like I've said before... palettes are a perfect solution in certain situations. Consider the case of a cartoon like animation. These usually only have a small set of colors. If there is one-and-only-one palette, then it is easy to make global changes to all of the frames' colors and it is also easy to make sure that the colors are consistent from one frame to the next.

That's about as outdated as common sense. 

James. 

[Fanny Pack]

Gary, what are your preferences concerning the sharing of 1.8.0.1?

I'd rather it not be shared but I am not going to get upset about it.  It is pretty buggy so it isn't worth worrying over.