By Evil Bob

elcome to Evil Bob's Croutons (or small chunx of toast). This is a column which will wear many hats over time - sometimes an article, sometimes a collection of info-tidbits, or gossip, sometimes a prolonged rant, sometimes even a tutorial. Like the wily chameleon, this space will change to suit the ever-changing environment of its creator: Evil Bob.

And why not?


Handy Web-Bits for LightWave, Flyer and Video

There's massive quantities of cool stuff and useful NewTek-related info out there on the web. With a little careful searching you can find it - but who has the time for that?! So, I was curious and went a-lurking for some of this data so that I could save you the time of scaring it up on your own.

For instance, Flyer users will definitely be interested in reading The Flyer FAQ. In case you were new to the web and wondering "What's an FAQ?!": an FAQ is a common enough web entity known as a Frequently Asked Questions list - and they're pretty handy reference sources. In fact, I was going to write about some of this stuff for novices until I read over the Flyer FAQ. I found that they saved me the trouble by covering a lot of information all in one page.

If you are wondering how the Flyer achieves its excellent performance as a nonlinear editing system, you'll probably want to know a little more about NewTek's proprietary VTASC compression method which makes broadcast-quality nonlinear editing on the Amiga possible (and soon for the PC). You'll no doubt also want to have a look at the Flyer Specs as well. On the whole, there's really not very much Flyer Info out on the web at the moment. We look forward to rectifying that in part with this new magazine.


If LightWave is more your speed, you're in luck because I've located numerous resources which should prove helpful in your LightWave treks. There is far more LightWave than Flyer info on the web at the moment, and I've tracked down the good stuff so that you don't have to.

There's The LightWave FAQ with lots of fast help for you, as well as fast info on LightWave's Layout. But if you're just digging around for LightWave Objects, you can find a ton of Objects and Scenes at Tomahawk. There are also several other places to freely obtain LightWave objects. There's even a dedicated LightWave User Group (Long Island media Group).

In addition, if your interest is in 3rd party development, there is information on the web about both LightWave Software Development, and the accompanying helpful Unofficial LightWave Bug List. For discussion with others, in addition to the comp.graphics.apps.lightwave and comp.graphics.packages.lightwave USENET Newsgroups, there's also a LightWave IRC Page and a LightWave Web Board.


FYI: If you're a videographer looking for some handy sound effects to use in your video presentations, you'll be pleased to find that Visual Inspirations maintains an archive of quality sound effects which are freely downloadable right from their website.

If you're in search of some fast general information on the subject of video editing, here are 4 pages which will fill in a lot in a hurry:



I couldn't help but be reminded of the Amiga recently when I read this:

"...transcends inflexible personal computer and traditional workstation designs, which constrain performance with distributed graphics, imaging, and video memory.

...unlike typical PC and workstation architectures, where data must be transferred between graphics, video, and imaging memory located on separate boards, all data resides in main memory where every engine has direct access to it. No longer do dedicated pools of memory exist throughout the computer to be utilized only at specific times; memory is automatically reallocated according to need. Expanding texture memory becomes a matter of simply buying a standard memory upgrade."

A description of the Amiga? No. Actually it's a description of the "new" O2 from the jolly lads over at SGI - a computer designed to take full advantage of this bold new thinking in non-distributed machine architecture.

Will Wonders never cease?


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