Exciting news...
Well, exciting for me, anyway. As you may know, I'm VERY interested in computer graphics and making the kind of 3D effects that you see in movies like Spiderman. IN pursuit of this endeavor, I bought a copy of Lightwave from Matt Kelling about 4 years ago. It comes with a thing that looks like a USB drive which you have to have plugged into the computer while you're using the program (it's called a dongle and is a means of verifying that I have a legitimate copy of Lightwave and not an illegal duplicate). Unfortunately, I lost this critical device about 2 years ago. Ever since then, I've kept the software in the hopes that I could buy a replacement dongle or otherwise fix my problem.
Well, while I was in Iraq I got REALLY serious about this whole 3D graphics thing and I decided to find out about buy a dongle. It was going to be $200. Not awful, but I still want to upgrade from version 8 (which I have right now) to the latest version, which would cost an additional $400. That's a total of $600, which is ironically the same amount that I payed Matt in the first place. Well, I hemmed and hawed for the year that I was out there using my absence from general civilization as an excuse to not buy the software and do LOTS of research about my options. Well, I can continue with Animation:Master (piece of crap), or I can buy a new copy of Lightwave. But if I'm going to buy Lightwave all over again, then I might as well consider buying something else. Well, Lightwave has several peers. Maya was at the head of the pack as far as quality goes, at $1000. Lightwave fell close behind, at $600. 3D Studio Max was also a contender at $900, and Autodesk brought up the rear as my least favorite, at about $1200. Either way you slice it, it's a LOT of money. This gave Helen hives (not really, but she hates spending money, especially lots of money). I reassured her that I wasn't going to buy anything without weeks and weeks of thought a research and she still had hives (not really, but I have to tease her). I reassured her that I wasn't going to buy anything before I came home from Iraq and the hives subsided a little. Then I got home from Iraq.
Now firstly, I should reassure all 3 of our readers that I do in fact "wear the pants" as it's often said. I make the decisions and Helen graciously and respectfully carries them out. To her credit, she enjoys this arrangement and maintains her own dignity with grace and royal poise. This is another way in which my father and I are very similar (and it confuses my mother a little): yes, I expect Helen to do what I say, but I would much rather that she agree with me that what I'm saying is correct. When my dad tries to convince my mother to come alongside him, she often mistakes it for being "wish-washy." Anyhow, the point is that I wear the pants, but I try not to be dictatorial. Helen is not inferior to me, nor should any other man think that Helen is to submit to him (only to "her own husband"), and I try to make decisions WITH her. Like this spending LOTS of money thing.
So, I tried to help her understand why I was interested in spending lots and lots of money and why it wasn't like buy a game or spending money on a hobby (I intend to support our family doing this). Well, the cool part is that not only did Helen understand what I was trying to do and support me (once she understood it), but I didn't even have to spend lots and lots of money!! That's right, I found everything that I needed to make Lightwave work on eBay for $120!! It's brand new, it's never been opened, the seller has great reviews and it's even cheaper than buying a new dongle!
Needless to say, I'm very excited about getting mail on Monday or Tuesday because I have both of those days off from work. If it doesn't come then I'll still be excited, but it won't be quite as cool because I won't have a bunch of free time to play with it.
Anyhow, that's the news from Lake Woebegone.
Well, while I was in Iraq I got REALLY serious about this whole 3D graphics thing and I decided to find out about buy a dongle. It was going to be $200. Not awful, but I still want to upgrade from version 8 (which I have right now) to the latest version, which would cost an additional $400. That's a total of $600, which is ironically the same amount that I payed Matt in the first place. Well, I hemmed and hawed for the year that I was out there using my absence from general civilization as an excuse to not buy the software and do LOTS of research about my options. Well, I can continue with Animation:Master (piece of crap), or I can buy a new copy of Lightwave. But if I'm going to buy Lightwave all over again, then I might as well consider buying something else. Well, Lightwave has several peers. Maya was at the head of the pack as far as quality goes, at $1000. Lightwave fell close behind, at $600. 3D Studio Max was also a contender at $900, and Autodesk brought up the rear as my least favorite, at about $1200. Either way you slice it, it's a LOT of money. This gave Helen hives (not really, but she hates spending money, especially lots of money). I reassured her that I wasn't going to buy anything without weeks and weeks of thought a research and she still had hives (not really, but I have to tease her). I reassured her that I wasn't going to buy anything before I came home from Iraq and the hives subsided a little. Then I got home from Iraq.
Now firstly, I should reassure all 3 of our readers that I do in fact "wear the pants" as it's often said. I make the decisions and Helen graciously and respectfully carries them out. To her credit, she enjoys this arrangement and maintains her own dignity with grace and royal poise. This is another way in which my father and I are very similar (and it confuses my mother a little): yes, I expect Helen to do what I say, but I would much rather that she agree with me that what I'm saying is correct. When my dad tries to convince my mother to come alongside him, she often mistakes it for being "wish-washy." Anyhow, the point is that I wear the pants, but I try not to be dictatorial. Helen is not inferior to me, nor should any other man think that Helen is to submit to him (only to "her own husband"), and I try to make decisions WITH her. Like this spending LOTS of money thing.
So, I tried to help her understand why I was interested in spending lots and lots of money and why it wasn't like buy a game or spending money on a hobby (I intend to support our family doing this). Well, the cool part is that not only did Helen understand what I was trying to do and support me (once she understood it), but I didn't even have to spend lots and lots of money!! That's right, I found everything that I needed to make Lightwave work on eBay for $120!! It's brand new, it's never been opened, the seller has great reviews and it's even cheaper than buying a new dongle!
Needless to say, I'm very excited about getting mail on Monday or Tuesday because I have both of those days off from work. If it doesn't come then I'll still be excited, but it won't be quite as cool because I won't have a bunch of free time to play with it.
Anyhow, that's the news from Lake Woebegone.
posted by Matt at 15:50
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