Enjoy NEWSTEK’s exclusive interview with Dr. Eric Graham, creator of the famous Juggler animation on the Amiga computer and Sculpt Animate 4D on Amiga OS & Mac OS Classic.

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A great mini review of Aladdin 4D is on the Team Amiga website thanks to rednova. He is running A4D via a very fast Amiga Virtual Machine on a 2Ghz PC. This allows Aladdin scenes to render in just a few seconds per frame even with the most complex settings. Thanks for taking time to write the review rednova. This is a great way to keep the Aladdin 4D spirit alive and keep using the software until a new version is released. Of course A4D also works great with the new version of Amiga Forever 2008 that just came out.

Aladdin 4D mini review

Todays announcement that Microsoft purchased Caligari Corporation and their 3D animation package Truespace gave us an old feeling of Deja Vu. This is not the first time Microsoft has purchased a 3D company, they tried this in 1996 when they acquired SoftImage. Blame it on the French if you want but that marriage only lasted for two years before Microsoft sold SoftImage at a loss.

Like a silent movie remake who knows if this latest release will be good or bad for the industry. Last time around SGI was so afraid of the SoftImage purchase that they bought Alias and Wavefront and merged them into what later became Maya. Life has a funny way of doing unexpected things like that. How will this affect Aladdin 4D? It won’t, we will keep pushing forward and yes the Windows version will still be lowest on our list. But like a old horror movie you will not know the end of this story until we are further into the plot.

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Todays average computer user replaces their machine about every three years. If they are using Windows maybe even sooner, once it slows way down because too many applications have been installed or it has a major spyware and or virus infection running rampant. Mac OS X users may keep there system a little longer but eventually OS X upgrades no longer work on old hardware after 3-4 years. Amiga owners though keep using their machines literately until the silicon wears out or the battery becomes so old it leaks on the motherboard. It speaks volumes about the quality of the product and the value the users see in it. The founder of DiscreetFX has an Amiga 1000 is his possession that was donated to us after its owner passed away.

That owner had the machine on every single day since he purchased it. The time line for this was 1985-2006, over twenty years. We tested the machine today to install a compact flash card in it. The machine booted right up and works flawlessly. This is the rich heritage that Aladdin 4D comes from. When we first took Aladdin over there was a vocal minority that called for the Amiga version to be laid to rest. For the focus to switch to Windows and Mac. When we asked this vocal minority why they want the Amiga version killed they don’t really provide a good reason to do it. They mentioned that other 3D animation programs that came from Amiga adopted this policy but what does that prove? Future sales of Aladdin 4D will be generated more by listening to customers and adding features they want then platform choices. The risks and ROI generated by A4D is equally split anyway. We don’t do accounting based on operating systems. Unless a Genie comes out of the lamp and grants a wish to see the future we can’t even tell how many will sell. It could sell one unit or a million.

If sales are low at first we won’t blame the Amiga or run away, we will just work harder on the next version. We will always look at that A1000 still puring away after all these years and strive to build a product like that, something customers love. The Amiga should inspire us all.

We are on a hunt. Not a safari hunt but a hunt for old and new 3D animation software. Some things we already have like the latest version of Aladdin 4D, we have lots of those. We also have Sculpt Animated 4D, The Amiga Video Toaster version of LightWave 3D and a few others. What we don’t have is early versions of Aladdin 4D for our historical library. We need those and are willing to pay for them.

If you have other packages you would like to get rid of please contact us via the Aladdin 4D forums.We will let you know if we need what your selling. You might be surprised how much you can get for your old 3D software thats collecting dust.

Apple has made great inroads with the Mac since they allowed the old Mac to die and be reborn via a unix FreeBSD/Next kernel. Apple almost died a horrible death like Commodore. Unlike Commdore they understood this before it was too late and gave control of the company back to one of the original founders. Who knows what today’s Amiga would look like if it too was given back to its creators.

Mac OX X Leopard bears little resemblance to OS 9.0 and this is a very good thing. Even todays Mac hardware has shed its Motorola and PowerPC heritage and runs on Intel hardware. The great thing about this is that Windows is regulated to guest operating system status. Sure Windows can be step up and run full speed but its not encourage or required. Mac OS 9.0 can no longer be run via an Apple solution so the divorce from old Mac to new is complete. Of course Apple has seen record growth and is a Wall Street darling now. The post Windows era is upon us and customers are now open to options beyond Windows. Mac OS X is now used more in Japan then Windows. The shift away from Windows will continue.

When Commodore died in 1994 it sent a shockwave through the Amiga professional software market. Developers went out of business or ported their applications to other platforms at the speed of light. It was a very sad day to be an Amiga owner with a large investment in creative software and hardware. Our founder was in such a situation. He vowed though if given the chance he would help the market if the shoe was ever on the other foot.

He got his chance a few years later when the Video Toaster consulting company he founded morphed into digital video effects software development. The promise has been kept at DiscreetFX till this day. While it is true that we develop for Windows and other operating systems we have never let the dream die. The Amiga is always brought up in a positive light. Amiga and AROS bounties are supported. The Amiga is still proudly mentioned on the website. An effort was even made in 2006 with investors to purchase the rights to the Amiga itself. The goal has always been to create another shockwave but this time in the other direction. With Aladdin 4D we have a chance at that shockwave. If Aladdin 4D can be upgraded and made native on Amiga OS 4.0, MorphOS & AROS it can be a glowing example of fast professional native 3D software that users of those operating systems can be proud of. OS 4.0/MorphOS/AROS have no native commercial 3D software available for them today.

They do have products like PageStream 5.0 Pro & HollyWood 3 and every application counts. These products must be supported if a professional creative market is to be reborn on Amiga systems. We will work hard to keep the dream alive and hope other developers will join in. Even 3D animation software developers. Competition is good and makes a vibrant and alive 3rd party software market. At the end of the day it does not really matter who the IP holder of Amiga is or what they do. What matters more is what 3rd party developers do. The Amiga market has matured to a level that one company no longer matters. The community is what matters most of all. We will work hard to do our part, will you?

The Amiga Computer Platform is what Aladdin 4D was originally created for. Many say it is the computer that launched the modern gaming industry. Many of the current game developers were formed or perfected their craft on the Amiga. Affordable Desktop Video & 3D Animation software also began life on this system.

Many of these tools are still around today on Windows & OS X. LightWave 3D, Cinema 4D, Video Toaster, DiscreetFX, TrueSpace, Digital Juice to name a few. We just wanted to say thanks Amiga for making the magic happen. If your an old Amiga fan or just want to give the platform and some of it’s great retro software a try the Italian company Cloanto makes an Amiga Virtual Machine that allows this.

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