Hi Everyone,
Here is a link to a quick tour I did on the Paralumino product lineup. Basically tried to highlight the primary features of every Paralumino plugin and show how they could be combined with other 3rd party plugs.
Its only 30 minutes long…but hopefully you’ll get a good idea of our capabilities and our limitations. The examples are simple, but straight forward.
Good over-view of what your plugins offer…and well positioned enlightenment and request of Illustrator import and where and why it is needed.
I’m still floored at the resistance this has been met with. I use Mrs Bebel all the time and to have ilustrator import (with actual editing as an option - I can dream) would be far more efficient.
I don’t use Maya so don’t know if that capability is there but in Max it is…and done extremely well. Complete editing of outlines and profiles within one interface. C4D is only half-way there - LW and Modo for this sort of stuff is a joke.
I still think there is a huge missed opportunity here in mograph if some of these absolute basics are ignored or shrugged off as being too hard to do.
I also want to commend you on your persistance in pushing and forwarding EI despite obvious resistance.
This sort of stuff will not be done in Tesla - Complex beveling and extrusion is outside of what a basic nurbs program will do…ACIS can be quite efficient at fillets and bevels but it can also be extremely finicky…complex, multi-leveled bevels in Tesla? I’m sorry…just not going to happen:-) If this is being used as as an excuse I think there is much miscommunication and misunderstanding between those working on development.
Hi Paul…
This demo was just the beginning of what could be accomplished with these plugins. Are they perfect? No. However, EI users need to start realizing what they’re missing by not having more advanced component level geometry and animation tools inside Animator. As the plugin API continues to evolve new versions of these plugs could become non-modal and interact with Animator in realtime and then we’ll really see some interesting stuff.
I created a 4 page market analysis of EIAS and Paralumino and submitted it to Brad showing him how the this plugin lineup can help resolve a number of problems being encountered inside of Animator. Hopefully he’ll read it and agree. He also has a link to this video feed.
I gotta just keep pushing.
Wow, seeing placer deposit and Paralumino combo is the kind of thing i was hoping to have. You havent even touch the parameters in Placer so these cubes can also have animation as well. Am i wrong here? Incredible how you ,odify the extrusion and Placer updates . Somply amzing Brian and Blair teamwork.
Push Illustrator import into Trestle and some type of Bezier handles ASAP.I will like to see motion graphers getting this plugin into their work. How about it Thomas? 
Edgard
Ediris,
Yes… I didn’t place any animation on the stamp object…so sure there’s a whole set of animation features within Placer that I’m not even utilizing. The point was to show how internally generated geometry within animator opens the door to vast potentials. Being that its dynamic…if you don’t like the results, just fix it in Animator instead of bouncing back into a modeling application.
So much faster.
Yes i understand you were running out of time. 
It looks like you need to show another 30 minutes i really wanted to see more and more. Cool plugins, hopefuly Brad will listen to our prayers.
Wow, this video is a really good show of what’s already possible within Animator and what it could become if it was more “tightly” integrated. :bounce:
Very interesting video Brian, thanks for taking the time to do it ! 
I must say i’m amazed to see how well the foundations of EIAS have been thought back in time ! :surprised
When you think of it, this application is now almost 20 years old, yet it is capable of doing things like this within plug-ins, that’s just insane !! :eek:
Hats off to the guys behind Electric Image, it’s truely an amazing 3D app ! :bowdown:
Cheers,
Laurent aka Tartiflette
I’ll see if I can create another demonstration that utilizes a number of plugins in combination in a more real world situation.
Brian,
Thank you very much for demonstrating some of the plug-ins. It is especially helpful to see the work flow, in understanding what the plug-ins offer. The sample renderings are great, and still don’t always show what was actually done. Bravo.
I look forward to learning more about your tools. I may have to suffer that jet noise again and buy some more of your stuff. :rolleyes:
Take care,
Yon
Hello,
Nice video , very handy, I like the examples with Dante and Placerdeposit, it helps a lot to understand the possibilities of the tool.
would be nice more examples of the potential for interaction with other pluguins.
Thank you Brian
Cheers
Diego
Hej Brian,
very nice and good explaining video…and great plugins…thanks for your work !
Just one question:
I wonder if there could be any trick or workaround in Trestle that allows me to
meet a desired form or a specific path (following a reference) so far.
Being able to place a kind of underlay for painting over or copy could help a lot.
I dont want to open old sores ;-) as I guess thats one of the reasons why you want
a version 2 with AI import.
But maybe there`s an idea how this could be worked around until we (hopefully)
get this feature.
Thanks
Tom
Hi Tom…
I’d love to have the ability to import a template to trace over, but from what I’m told from the Igors, that capability is not supported by the plugin API. But maybe someday in the future.
Hi Tom,
Import the picture onto a plane, create an little ubershape, set it to animateable, trace round your underlay with the ubershapes animation path, then use the free plugin, path2line to convert the path into a form that trestle will read… Off you go :)
Ian
Ian,
Actually…that doesn’t quite work. Yes, you could use your technique to trace out the shape with a motion path and use path2line to turn that path into a polyline, but that resulting polyline won’t be accessible in Trestle’s drawing editor.
But of course the Path2line polyline will work just fine with the rest of our plugs.
Actually I stand corrected. I totally forgot about the import group function. You can create the wire generated by path2line and use the import group function to scan the resulting polyline and it will be generated inside Trestle. I’ll work up a quick demostration.
Great !
This could be really helpful as you often want to meet specific given contours.
Maybe also that new mouse tracker plugin can be useful here…especially when
you own a wacom tablet.
Thank you
Tom
Glad you got it working Brian, this feature is how I have imported lines from illustrator before, if I remember correctly you can export lines in DXF 2001 from illustrator and EI will open those natively. A simple video showing this workflow would be nice, I’ll see if I have time this weekend
Ian
Yes… the process works, its just a bit convoluted.
I guess I shouldn’t complain. At least it does allow single polyline chains into Trestle from Illustrator indirectly. You can imagine how laborious this becomes if you want to import a large number of objects. (Though Trestle will see a multi poly chain object, you must specify which single chain you want. No holes are supported.) This is also the way to support EIM/Tesla wires indirectly as well. I get so focused on wanting to support direct AI import into Trestle that I tend to overlook this feature.
What I’d like to see here is a streamlining of the process.
Done.
It should be pointed out that Wiremaker is also critical to the process. You can take a 3D model and potentially use Wiremaker to generate polylines from Unshared edges (especially for Text objects). Once those are saved out and reimported back into EI via fact, they can be Group Scanned by Trestle and turned into editable curves.
are there any plans for a paralumino super bundle price?
for ordering trestle, swage, revolver, scrim, braider and mrs bebel?