 | | | Its done first week | Its done first week 2004-01-27 - By Dave Angelini
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RorrKonn,
The Mothership could promote the daylights out of a product...and that would
be helpful...but in the long run I don't think it would help revive the tS
plugin market. I think the tS user has severely wounded that market for the
very reasons mentioned previously (e.g....we are all starving amateur
artists. One way to revive the plugin market is for the plugin developer to
price their software low enough such that they make it up in volume.
Unfortunately, it is always a leap of faith for anyone who has worked 1000
hours on something to then sell it for $19.99. I am also sure that some
have done that only to find out that we still won't buy it(gracious...are we
that cheap!).
Another way is for Caligari to capture a whole new customer base...namely,
the "not-so-starving" professional artist.
We all want to see Caligari go after the high-end market. We all believe
that tS deserves equal space on the professional's shelf right next to LW or
3DS. Unfortunately powerful software alone won't get them there. It also
requires that Caligari starts to change the professional markets perception
of their product. All things being equal, if you were starting a CG
business from scratch and had no prior knowledge other than what you've read
in the trade
magazines on all the CG software out there, would you bet your business on
tS? That is the nut to crack...you have to get professionals willing to bet
their business on tS.
So no matter how good the software is, tS is just not in that space and it
is going to take some serious work to get there. One idea for Roman to
consider is to hire some really good LW or 3DS masters as "artists in
residence". These guys...or gals.... job is to push tS to the limit. They
should stretch it and break it and push the development team to create a
stable app capable of existing in a production pipeline (....psd output
please!). The outcome should also be some really stunning, cutting edge 3D
animation piece that just shakes people's perception of tS. Professionals
should look at it and think "Maya" or "Softimage" and then fall off their
chair when they realize it is trueSpace. "You mean a $600 application did
that!!!" is the reaction that Caligari should be going for. The next
benefit would be the testimonials on tS from these LW or 3DS masters who
made this animation. Imagine the power of say a person like Marco Spitoni
(3DS master who made "The Hunt") being quoted in a 3D World add as follows
(NOTE: hypothetical quote....not real):
"I could never have made this animation so quickly and easily using my old
software. Using trueSpace is the most intuitive, powerful and stable
software for the money on the market today".
-Marco Spitoni: Imagina2002 nominee
for Best Director for "The Hunt"
That would wake up the market....but it would take some serious cash to do
it (masters don't come cheap)....but once done, everything else would fall
into place. The professional base would grow, plugin developers would again
be attracted to the tS platform because they see some cash potential, which
in-turn would attract more professionals, etc...etc...etc..
I don't know. Just because it looks like a high-end app, runs like a
high-end app, and produces like a high-end app will not make it a high-end
app. It is the high-end users who do that and that is who Caligari has to
go after.
There are still some tough roads ahead.
Take care,
Dave Angelini
P.S. For those who don't know Marco Spitoni....check him out at
http://www.cee-gee.net/
You've got to love those Italian masters!
-- ---- ---- ---- -----
RorrKonn wrote:
A big + would if the MotherShips promoted ya stuff on there site, Releases
info with CD etc etc.
If the MotherShip promotes it then the customer will hear about it and trust
it right away.
RorrKonn
http://www.Atomic-3 (See http://mic-3.ora-code.com)D.com
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