From RealCloth to RealHair - where is Dynadream now ?

Carlo Lanzotti kindly allowed us to "interview" him on the 23rd November 2002. This is the full transcript from the conversation:

B: Carlo - tell us a little about yourself:

C: I'm a 3d animator and a programmer...

B: Tell us about Dynadream:

C: DynaDream is the evolution of a little 3d animation and special effects company that i've driven for a couple of years.
It is composed of four people. Acutally we are working on a 3d animated short film that we are trying to make completely with Realsoft3D and the various plugins that i'm developing. More info on this later.

B: Do you have any ideas for future plugins ?

C: There are some other ideas, but nothing really planned. One might be a character rigging tool...

B: Obviously - RS users are keen to know the status on your plugins..

C: Well, actually RealCloth is 95% ready for the release.
RealBoom and RealWobble are ready for the first beta (I'll release it after the first release version of RealCloth).
RealHair, instead, requires much more work and it's full development will continue after the release of the above 3 plugins. Anyway there is an alpha version ready, i'll show some tests made with it soon.

B: Why write plugings for Realsoft ? - Why not Max or something more mainstream ?

C: Because 3DsMax and other 3d apps already have thousands of plugins written for them :-) (or because i really love Realsoft3D....)

B: How has the feedback from RS been ? Is it good from a developers point of view ?

C: I never got from other companies such good feedback. They (Realsoft's peoples) are always open and fast to give answers to our questions.

B: What would you like to see given to developers from RS ?

C: We developers only want a good SDK manual! :-)

B: Realsoft as a community - are they a helpful bunch ?

C: Much helpful!

B: Have you had help from anyone else to write the plugs or wish to credit anyone ?

C: No, there are no other people that really helped me write the plugins.
There are only a lot of people that encourage me during the development process, and obviously that helped me testing the plugs.

B: Have the RS users been helpful at all ? Do you require a hand to write manuals etc ?

C: A lot useful, expecially the people that helped me beta test the first versions of RealCloth.
Some rs3d users have helped me with the manual and 3d models, many thanks to all!

B: Version 4.5 - how has it impacted on your development ?

C: In no way, i've only linked another rs3d library to my plugins and recompiled.

B: How hard is it to write a plugin for RS ?

C: Well, good question. It is not too hard, but understanding the whole environment the first time is a little hard.

B: Would you recommend others to write plugins ?

C: We hope that the RS3D development community will grow.
Some recommendations to any who wish to start writing plugins for RS3D:

• A big quantity of coffee :-)
• Ask many questions as needed.
• Don't get frustrated. (Sometimes you will be....)

B: Do you interface much with Allessandro* ?

C: Not too much.(He, like me, is too much busy :-) )

*Ed: Alessandro Tasora - Developer of Chrono and Phenomena

B: Does RS open architecture make it easier to write for ?

C: Too much easier, from my point of view Realsoft's peoples are simply a genius!

B: Is the SDK useful from a developers point of view ?

C: It is a must.

B: And finally, has the documentation in 4.5 helped you ?

C: Sometimes yes, sometimes no, but the new documentation and the reference manual (finally we have it!) are well written.
It needs only a good 'search' tool.

Carlo, thank you very much for taking time out to talk about Dynadream with us. We all wish you the best of luck with the plugins and look forward eagerly for their release.

Bernie

other related articles - Interview with Delta Engineering.