MR forum, can it get any worse.

[_PopArt]

the ags glass workaround looks nice, but i must say that all of the images they have posted for ags look *horrible* - very very crappy cg. I dont want to be harsh or biased, because i think maxwell is a great render engine, but thats the way i see it. (insert cheesy cliche here). Maybe they are just test images, we will wait and see:)

[Fran]

Sure, there's been plenty of speculation about alot of things, but there is still a solid list of well documented (major) mistakes on NL's part. We have numerous missed release dates and of course a long laundry list of broken promises (constant updates? 10x speed inprovements by Dec of last year?) Not even the most fuzzy-minded relativist could deny any of this.

 

And you don't really need a lawyer to tell you it's OK to say that NL told us one thing, and did another. I mean, c'mon- anyone can sue anyone else for basically anything they want, but it would be sad to think that our outlook should be solely dictated by that... doesn't leave much incentive for getting up in the morning.

 

2+2=4. There, I said it. Sue me!

 

Regardless, any magazine editor worth his/her salts will be able to determine what is appropriate content for a software review. My first instinct would be to try to float as much "fair warning" content in there as possible. Even though NL does not follow common standards of care and practice in their operation, a magazine or portal and a reviewer should. I've seen situations where a software review is followed by a forum link for discussion of the article - sometimes with the author. That is where the real meat and potatoes gets diced. Oops. More cheesy cliches. Sorry.

 

Like, when you go to Amazon or Newegg looking to buy something. Do you read the customer reviews? I sure do. All of them. In fact, a customer review holds far more weight with me than the Amazon blurb. BTW, I've noticed several times where a Newegg item will have 5 stars by it and then 9 out of 10 reviews gave it a 1.

 

I want to know why a product is good or why someone says it sucks. We in the trenches are the ones who will know that. But a professional reviewer can't say things like "I've heard from several people that..." Slipping in "need-to-know" stuff would have to be well-considered and carefully worded in order for it to be effective. [ETA] I'll leave this last bit in, even though I realize you are speaking of hard and fast things like missed deadlines and dropped features, and not insider stuff.

[Devin Johnston]

the ags glass workaround looks nice, but i must say that all of the images they have posted for ags look *horrible* - very very crappy cg. I dont want to be harsh or biased, because i think maxwell is a great render engine, but thats the way i see it. (insert cheesy cliche here). Maybe they are just test images, we will wait and see:)

 

This is something I've been worried about since the RC's were released. I've been asking for the A-Team to produce some RC5 or V1 images that are on the same level as the Beta and so far I haven't seen anything. I saw the same thing you did in these new images and I'm very worried that the look of Maxwell that we all fell in love with has been lost.

[AdamT]

I think we'll have to wait and see how the image quality turns out. The images posted do look like relatively quick test renders rather than serious attempts. As far as RC5 goes, I suspect that the lower quality we've seen has a lot more to do with the the artists than the software. Many of the artists who produced kicka*s beta renders haven't been participating lately--for one reason or another (*cough*).

 

That said, I do think RC5 was lacking a little something compared to beta.

[Devin Johnston]

It looks like Tom agrees with you, I guess we'll see.