Hello All,
I heard through the grapevine that pmG, without a formal announcement, “let slip” the news about my current status with the company. This sort of thing is usually handled by a (banal) press release, but then it would be inappropriate for me to issue a press release on pmG’s behalf. However, I felt that it would be more appropriate for you to get an explanation directly from me. So here goes:
While I am still a co-founder and partner in the company, it is true that I am no longer involved in messiah’s development or the “goings on” at pmG, and have not been for quite some time. I would also like to take this opportunity to clarify a few other things.
I could be wrong, but I get the distinct impression that there is a small effort to “color” the impact that I’ve had on pmG & messiah. This effort (should it truly exist) could easily be effective since it is highly unlikely that most of you fully understood my contribution… especially since you may have just seen me as the “face/voice” of the company. For the sake of public record: to those who may not know, I was largely responsible for messiah’s development, design, and planning.
First, I should point out that my former colleagues are responsible for some extremely critical & very powerful messiah components (e.g. File mode, the script & expression engines, MetaNURBS, BoneDeform, Softbody Dynamics, the render engine, etc.). Further, there were important areas where I directly collaborated with my former colleagues (e.g. shader processing, frame processing, motion processing… too few, IMO). However, I was indeed responsible for the design and development of the bulk of the program. This included everything on the low level (the program’s core, architecture, gui/tool kit, etc.) to the high level (hierarchical expressions system, sliders, armature system, shader flow, etc.)… and virtually everything in between (e.g. interface, workflows, API’s, etc.). In fact, as my former colleagues can attest, it would be far easier to list that for which I was not responsible.
It was a massive workload to be sure, but add to this the fact that I was also responsible for product/project management, research, and of course communicating with you… just insane. Yeah, I was really working my a** off:D almost 24/7, but I did enjoy my job, overall. It goes without saying that pmG was very important to me. And on that note…
Contrary to rumor, no company could have lured me away from pmG or my partners. pmG was my (and our) baby. I put far too much of myself into the company and I sincerely believed in what it was and what it could become. To be candid, my departure was due to a growing “incompatibility” between my partners and me. The more time passed, the more incongruent our views and vision for the company, and the greater my workload and stress. Ultimately, the reality finally hit me that I was the odd man out and that the grave imbalances were never going to change. Sadly, it became time to move on. And, just as no one fully understood or appreciated the magnitude of all my responsibilities or the complexities of juggling them, I doubt that anyone has any idea how hard it was for me to leave. But in the end, no bad guys, no good guys. It just was what it was.
Regrets? I would love to say that I don’t have any, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate… at least on some days. There are times when I regret not focusing more on my own career and there are certainly some days when I think that I don’t have anything to show for all my hard work and the transition from my first startup (One And Only Media), to Station X Studios (SXS), to pmG. Had I been more career-focused, it is highly unlikely that I would have even joined SXS in the first place (in favor of other opportunities). On most days, however, I do recognize the value of my own accomplishments and contributions within with pmG and in CG, in general. I also recognize that my choices and the resultant consequences along the way were necessary for my current path.
As far as the future of messiah, I’m out of the loop. I will say, however, that while some aspects of the program may need enhancement/overhall, messiah still remains a powerful set of programs. Surely my departure would be felt, but I did leave the many megs of code in a very manageable and accessible state for someone else to take over. And, to that end, I’m happy to see that the pmG guys are still providing you with updates. I have little doubt that they will address your concerns while providing some very cool features & enhancements in the future (I have absolutely no insider info, I just know the guys). They are, after all, a very talented group of individuals, and I do wish them well.
Finally, while moving on was good for me in that I am happier (as are my former colleagues, I suspect), I am disappointed that I was never able to implement all of the great features and enhancements that I had planned. Most importantly, however, I am saddened that I will no longer be directly involved with the messiah community. Just coming here today and reading some of the posts makes me realize just how much I’ve missed interacting with all of you. Your input drove all of the updates; and, above all, I really do miss the highs and lows of releasing new versions. The feeling of “getting it right” with regards to your needs was absolutely phenomenal, and was the main reason I got involved in CG software development. Even the inevitable (and most often understandable) complaints were part of the job that I enjoyed because I knew that this was an indication that you, too, were interested in messiah’s advancement. It’s very important to me that all of you messiah users know just how much I appreciated and valued all of your great input, and I really enjoyed working with you. Thank you very much, one and all!
Warmest regards,
-lyle milton
-former pmG dude
p.s.: if you’ve been trying to reach me via my projectmessiah.com address, now you know why you haven’t heard back from me (no, I was certainly not ignoring you:D ). If you need to get in touch with me please use my personal address at yahoo.com… my username is lmilton.
