Proof that the Macintosh is the superior computer.

Either that, or Mac users are superior.

Howzabout THIS for a new feature of the new version of the Mac operating system:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/dashboard/hulagirl.html

heheheh!

As the proud owner of a brand new, top of the line pc.....
I couldn't agree more!
Mac is still superior in every way.....

That's all the proof I need. Just got my new G5, It rocks!

I'm using it to design my own tiki mug!

After a long mac-less stretch, I finally got another mac. I love it.

As someone who runs mac, windows and now 3 different flavors of linux/unix, I LOVE my mac!

And this isn't a dig at anyone, I just thought it was a cute widget.

So is anyone using Tiger yet?

I'd like to upgrade my G4, but I removed the DVD drive so that I could install a CD-RW drive. (and Tiger comes as a DVD)
My computer only supports one optical drive, so I can't use the DVD drive at all. Therefore, I'd have to get the CD installation kit for an additional $10. I'd like to know if it's worth it? I'm running 10.2 right now.

Love the hula girl widget BTW, it just sweetens the deal all that much more :wink:

I'm running 10.3.8 - but that whole dashboard/widget deal makes me salivate! Check out a nice demo here:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/theater/dashboard.html

Mac? wow I still hold a fondness for my Atari system too but I won't claim it's superior to an X-Box witha straight face.

I'll say this for Apple, they make pretty computers!

I'm just waiting for them to come out with one they just blatantly call the Mac Eyecandy.

Haha, I'm just giving you guys shit. I startedout on a mac in art school, but had to make teh switch to PC after school when I started doing comouter animation for a living. As someone who has used both I find PCs superior by far. I understand Mac users are very loyal to their macs and more power to them. As for me, I just personally prefer working a PC.

As far as what I have noticed about other Mac users who finally make the switch they all seem to be the same way I was. When I worked at Rezn8 productions all the animators were on PCs and all the designers were on Macs. Eventually all the designers were also given a PC so they could start getting used to working on a PC since there were programs they would be needing like 3d Max and Digital Fusion that are just no there for Macs, but they were allowed to keep their Macs. Once the designers got used to the PC every single designer in the office said they had no need for their Mac anymore. All the Adobe programs designers use are also on PC but there were to many things that were just on PC and not on Mac. The only person in the whole office that did not give up her Mac was a producer who was not very computer literate and needed something more for email and for schedules and not actually for design or animation work.

In the end the only thing that matters is getting the job done and if you are more quickly able to get the job done with a Mac then that is what you should use. If you are more quickly able to get the job done with a PC then that's what you should use. I find Mac users act liek a religion about their Mac. They say it's the right choice and anyone who disagrees just hasn't seen the light yet. PC users are not as cultish about it because most have most been past Mac users. My preferance is for the PC, but I have had two PCs just die on me in the past. I have also had a Mac die on me so I know that the story about how only PCs crash and corrupt your files is just that, a story. But like I said, in the end you should use whatever gets the job done. Since I'm an animator I use a PC, I know plenty of designers who still are on Mac.

99% of all graphic designers, animators, etc use macs, and they are the industry standard. Don't use this thread to argue, that's not what it was meant for. Oops, my bad :)

Even Microsoft Uses Macs

Everyone knows that sometime in the next few years we’ll see Longhorn. Microsoft needs the time to see what the new Tiger release has and make sure they will not be out-done by Apple. In the mean time, Microsoft has launched a huge 12 month campaign called “Start Something”. It will explain to everyone why Windows XP machine is still all you need even after 5 years. So their first campaign posters and online ads came out. Microsoft so thoughtfully posted one of the new "Start Something" ads that's part of the new global awareness campaign for Microsoft Windows XP and invites users to click the image for high-res version.

Well, various MacDailyNews readers clicked to view the image, downloaded it and checked the file's info by using iPhoto's "Get Info" and other methods to view the file's EXIF information which shows it was created with "Adobe Photoshop CS Macintosh." As one reader wrote, "Isn't it ironic? A picture launching their big campaign designed to steal the thunder from Apple - is made on a Mac!"

You can find the Microsoft ad here. (Until they take it down or change the ad)

Mac's ROCK!

99% wow you got a link to something that can back that up? The animation house I work at now Red Gypsy, does not have a single Mac. The last place I was at Digital Dimension did not have a single Mac. Digital Dimensions sister company in Canada does not have a single Mac. Tigar Hare Studios does not have a single Mac. Schematic is a Mac house, granted. Whenever they needed something really nice they would call me in to do it on a PC. Previous to that I was at rezn8 and today there is one single Mac there, same producer using it as 8 years ago when I first got there. A friend of mine works for Blur studios, not a sinle Mac. Another friend works at frantic films, no Macs. Encore has no macs, 3d Bob has no Macs, ILM uses Softimage on XSI. Pixar is owned by Steve jobs, the creator of macintosh, their painters use mac, their animators have to use a real computer for so they are on PC. I'm trying to figure out where you got the 99% from?

[ Edited by: suicide_sam on 2005-05-06 12:12 ]

As a MAC user since Christmas morning - I've got to say I like it a lot but using it is like trying to speak a foreign language that is oddly recognizable but strangely different than what you are used to. I really haven't witnessed the advantages of using the MAC instead of my old Sony Vaio. I've got Final Cut Pro which will come in handy but I haven't even tried it out yet and Itunes is cool as far as its compatibility with my Ipod but... for everyday tasks such as reading Tiki Central, sending e-mail, playing around with MP3s and a little writing on Microsoft Word here and there I sheepishly have to admit that I don't see an advantage.

I've had my Sony for nearly 7 years and have never had any problems with crashing or acting up and I keep the thing running constantly. So to those who are “in the know”... what am I missing? (And don't tell me for doing artwork, spreadsheets, animation, or whatever - with the tasks that I've mentioned that I perform on my computer only :)) I recently had to rip a bunch of LPs into MP3 format and I turned to the sad old PC lying on the floor underneath the throne the MAC now occupies. Needless to say it worked perfect and I got the job done with no trouble... except crouching on the hardwood floor to edit and title the audio tracks.

I hate to talk bad about the MAC and I think I've done pretty well at avoiding any criticism because my wife would be devastated if she knew I haven't been as impressed with the overly extravagant Christmas present she thought I was absolutely going to love. Enlighten me!!!

I didn't mean to start a flame war. It was just a joke about a cute little widget.

Buy the computer that runs the software you want to use. I bought my Mac in order to run iLife. I wanted Garage Band, iDvd, iMovie, the iphoto publishing tools, the ability to create slideshow videos with music, cross-dissolves, push ins and easily master dvd's of that, and the entire integrated suite of tools for mastering dvd's of home videos of my daughter. That's what I bought it for. Sure, I could buy tools for the PC that could do the same thing (though not as elegantly). But the software prices alone are more than the mac, and the mac comes with all of that free.

If you haven't been running iLife, you haven't been running the main reason most people buy macs. If you wanted to read email and browse the web, well the mac will do that too, but it's not going to be superior to anything you can do on any other system.

[ Edited by: BarkerBird on 2005-05-06 12:12 ]

Like i said, everyone should use whatever gets the job done. I just find it funny that mac users hold their Macs so sacred. When everyone has been willing to go with what works best at teh time. If Wavefront is the best thing to get the job done then thats what you use, XSI, whatever, you just move on and use whatever will get the job done.

I will say that Mac makes things very easy for the home user.

Oh, suicide sam, there are more macs out there than you think.

For example, compositing. The best compositing program is still Shake, and that's an apple piece of software. I don't know for sure, but I'll bet that all the compositors at Pixar are running macs.

We're running linux here at Disney Feature Animation. But we have more than a few macs, and many of them are in production, not just the machines of coordinators or non-computer savvy people.

I don't get your "real computer" comment. They're all real.

I call mine BIG MAC and I think I spend more time with it than I do my own wife. Darn work! Still I have TC on the screen most of the time.

But how many of you have a custom made tiki cover for their mac? eh? eh?

I'm puzzled by people who can be so passionate over a metal/plastic box full of software. I get "jabs" at work by the (Windows) iT guy over my G5. WTF? He seems clever but the joke is lost on me. Did rivalries once exist over typewriters/steno machines/etc.? Sorta doubt it.
The HULA GIRL dashboard IS cute (and frivolous).

Oh and, Road Kutter- I love the way your work area is neat as a pin and then...RATFINK! Just great!

It appears that what started off as a topic about a cool "Hula Girl" gadget, has spiraled into a topic similar to the "Mac and Cheese or Top Ramen" thread in Bilge.

I prefer Mac & Cheese!

I agree we're way off-topic.

Not sure what any of this has to do with tikis.

Rat Fink is my insiration and gets me through the day by bobbling is head.

I was only showing the clean part of my office, I should have done a panoramic of the room but that would only piss people off. I also have another G5 and a G4 at my disposal... 1 just isn't enough.

On 2005-05-06 12:41, BarkerBird wrote:
For example, compositing. The best compositing program is still Shake,

is that a fact or opinion? I have been composoting on Digital Fusion since 97 and it's still my favorite thing to composite with. I have also used Premiere, After Effects, and Shake, and Digital Fusion is what works bets for me so it's what I use.

Who would have thoght one little Hula Girl would have sparked all this?

Wow! Look what I come back from lunch & a visit to the Apple Store at the mall to find! (The wife is getting an iPod for Mother's Day.... she really deserves it!)

All one can claim is their own experience - but I have been strictly using Macs since 1999, always loved them, very easy to use, elegant design, good customer service & never never ever a virus in sight!

I've been really wanting to learn 3-D, so I'm taking classes in Maya right now. I could have bought a brand new G5 (I wish I had - we have a few in the office & they are great) - but opted for a hi-end PC (Alienware) instead, as I felt I really needed to get some PC skills under my belt (and the school I'm going to is mainly PC). So I have a brand-new, high end PC running Windows XP - and I still think it's not great. Maybe it's the 'eye-candy" factor (XP just is sad compared to OSX), maybe it's silly stupid things like, whenever my PC "goes to sleep" if I get pulled away for a while it always crashes when I try to start up again. Or things like, needing to have the number keys lock pressed when signing on with my password. There are many things that just make no sense to me as a Mac user (and it sounds like vice versa re: that "foriegn language" comment made further back the thread). It probably all has to do with my inexperience on the PC - but I just find using it a tad frustrating. I'm sure I'll be more comfortable with it as time goes on, but Mac has always worked out of the box for me....

Just don't get me started on my iPod battery!!!!! (friggin' 1 year warranty.... grrrrrr...)

*On 2005-05-06 12:46, Kava King wrote:*I get "jabs" at work by the (Windows) iT guy over my G5.

The more jab the better! :wink:

I'm the Windows IT guy at my work and I use a PC at work and a Mac at home. Both Macs and PCs have drastically improved in the past few years in performance, usability, design, and stability, while coming way down in price. It just seems that Macs are improving at a much faster rate lately than PCs.

My next purchase is going to be a PDA. The Dell Axim is what I'm getting as it's most compatible with the network at work.

Where's Apple's PDA? iPods are great but they can't do much but play music.

I'm enjoying this discussion but I agree it should be in the Bilge forum.

It's hard.

My husband is a pc user, and we each love our own platforms for our own reasons. I use a PC here at work and can't stand the thing. It too crashed every time it went to sleep until yesterday, and until I got this new tin can, my old one only shut down if you held the power button down for a full 15 seconds. The tech guy couldn't even figure that one out! My Dad decided to do me a 'favor' by updating something, bad idea. I almost lost everything. Total system meltdown.

These are things I would never have to deal with on my Mac. And if they did happen, I could fix them myself. Maybe if I was all over PCs from an early age I could fix them just as well.

My husband is under the impression that you need to replace your PC completely every 2-4 years, and doesn't understand why I don't want to get rid of my G4! I've had it for at least 5 years, but it still runs the most current operating system very well.

I'm not generalizing, I'm just stating my experience with him specifically.

I'm just fine with my 17" monitor(he wants me to get a 19" flatscreen, but I see no need for it. I think he wants something that looks nice in the living room)

Don't bother arguing with Mac lovers, we won't give in. Ever. And we know that you won't either. Maybe we need to start a 'PCs Rule' thread in Bilge, so PC users can tell us about what makes them so special! :)

POSITIVE people, think positive!

I love that hula girl, an if one were available for my PC here at work, well I'd fire her up!

Here is my favorite mac accessory: (also works great with the PC)

*On 2005-05-06 12:45, roadkutter wrote:*But how many of you have a custom made tiki cover for their mac? eh? eh?

Awesome tiki cozy roadkutter!

I have been (and always will be) a mac-o-phile. I have a new G4 laptop that is only 2 months old and already they have a newer version. I wish mine came with Tiger but it didn't. I've been debating whether or not I needed the upgrade and this thread has inspired me.

While all my friends lament to me that their PCs crashed or have been infected by virus' I have never experienced a crash or a virus with any of my macs. The only thing I have found it that if you launch a laptop at high velocity, it will deconstruct. I do not recommend this.

I will now decorate my new mac with a dashboard hula doll and tiki-fy my laptop case.

That's it, I'm done... time for a Mai Tai!

On 2005-05-06 13:13, suicide_sam wrote:

On 2005-05-06 12:41, BarkerBird wrote:
For example, compositing. The best compositing program is still Shake,

is that a fact or opinion? I have been composoting on Digital Fusion since 97 and it's still my favorite thing to composite with. I have also used Premiere, After Effects, and Shake, and Digital Fusion is what works bets for me so it's what I use.

Well, everything's opinion, isn't it.

I've never used Digital Fusion, but I've used all the other programs you've mentioned, plus Matador and Wavefront Composer as well as a bit of time on Flame.

I don't actually know of any effects houses or animation companies which primarily use Digital Fusion.

But not of that has anything to do with my core point, and that was that Shake is the primary tool for professional compositors, and it's made by Apple.

On 2005-05-06 13:32, thejab wrote:

Where's Apple's PDA?

Right here:

But not of that has anything to do with my core point, and that was that Shake is the primary tool for professional compositors, and it's made by Apple.

Well that was the point that I was argueing. Which hey I know lots of people that swear by Shake so if you love it then thats what you should use and more power to you. I was just saying from my personal experience and from the places I have worked I have seen Digital Fusion as the primary compositing software. Rezn8 Productions uses Digital Fusion, Tigar Hare Studios, Digital Dimension, and Red Gypsy. It's a node based program and actually I find lots of people who use shake find Digital FUsion very easy to pick up, as well as many people who use Fusion find Shake easy to pick up. At Digital Dimension I did stuff for Elf, Blade III, the last Superbowl, and a couple of other things, and it was all comped in Fusion.

On 2005-05-06 14:16, BarkerBird wrote:

On 2005-05-06 13:32, thejab wrote:

Where's Apple's PDA?

Right here:

Yep, I remember that! They were 10 years ahead of their time, but now with WiFi, Bluetooth, color screens, fast processors, and cheap memory and storage, the Newton's just a toy.

On 2005-05-06 14:29, suicide_sam wrote:

. Rezn8 Productions uses Digital Fusion, Tigar Hare Studios, Digital Dimension, and Red Gypsy. It's a node based program and actually I find lots of people who use shake find Digital FUsion very easy to pick up, as well as many people who use Fusion find Shake easy to pick up. At Digital Dimension I did stuff for Elf, Blade III, the last Superbowl, and a couple of other things, and it was all comped in Fusion.

Tiny houses. Last time I saw Tigar Hare (say hi to Michael Tigar from his old Moguls buddy Bruce) It was being run out of a rented residential house in Sherman Oaks.

What do the big boys use? The places that can get anything they want. What does Weta use? What does Pixar use? What does Blue Sky use? What does Tippet use? What does DreamWorks use? What does Disney use?

Shake.

The ones not using shake (ILM, Sony), are using custom software the've written themselves.

(Sorry to drop names there, but you dropped them first. If you want a pissing-contest, wait till I've unzipped. :wink: )

[ Edited by: BarkerBird on 2005-05-06 15:00 ]

Tiny houses. Last time I saw Tigar Hare (say hi to Michael Tigar from his old Moguls buddy Bruce) It was being run out of a rented residential house in Sherman Oaks.

What do the big boys use? The places that can get anything they want. What does Weta use? What does Pixar use? What does Blue Sky use? What does Tippet use? What does DreamWorks use? What does Disney use?

Shake.

The ones not using shake (ILM, Sony), are using custom software the've written themselves.

(Sorry to drop names there, but you dropped them first. If you want a pissing-contest, wait till I've unzipped. :wink: )

[ Edited by: BarkerBird on 2005-05-06 15:00 ]

Now, now, I did some freelance work for Tigar Hare and they are a small house and actually things are pretty sketchy there because of mismanagement, but are you calling Rezn8 and Digital Dimension tiny houses? When I was at Rezn8 I worked on tiny jobs for tiny clients like CBS, FOX, The Olympics, a couple of Superbowls (who watches the superbowl anyways). And Digital Dimension has been taking allot of the effects work away from the big boys in the last couple of years. They just recently did Mr and Mrs Smith starring Brad pitt and Angelina Jolie. You're asking me what the big boys use and I won't pretend to know because I'm not there. I just emailed my buddy Dave Humpherys at ILM to find out what they use there. Dave was always a big Digital Fusion guy when we used to work at Rezn8 but i don't know what the standard is at ILM.

Here go a couple of those places you are calling tiny houses
http://www.rezn8.com/
http://digitaldimension.com/

By the way, I won an emmy award at one of those tiny houses so there work must not be so insignificant.

On 2005-05-06 13:53, stuff-o-rama wrote:

While all my friends lament to me that their PCs crashed or have been infected by virus' I have never experienced a crash or a virus with any of my macs.

What kind of dream world do you live in and can you take me there? I've been working on Macs for the last 16 years and there isn't a system that I haven't crashed. From os 3 and Illustrator 88 to the latest OSX and PS CS, they all crash. I love my mac but to say it never crashes is crazy.

(Sorry to drop names there, but you dropped them first. If you want a pissing-contest, wait till I've unzipped. :wink: )

Actually I wasn't trying to drop names I was answering this comment that you made.

I don't actually know of any effects houses or animation companies which primarily use Digital Fusion.

You seem to be attacking my calling them small houses.

They ARE smaller than Weta, DreamWorks, Disney, Tippet, and the other places I've listed.

Care to address my main point, that Shake is used at those larger houses?

How big is RezN8? How many employees?

On 2005-05-06 15:23, Rob Roy wrote:

What kind of dream world do you live in and can you take me there? I've been working on Macs for the last 16 years and there isn't a system that I haven't crashed. From os 3 and Illustrator 88 to the latest OSX and PS CS, they all crash. I love my mac but to say it never crashes is crazy.

My mac has never crashed. But then again, I just got it a month ago! :wink:

How big is RezN8? How many employees?

Probably not nearly as many as your big houses, by the way did you catch the last part of that message where Dave Humpherys at ILm just told me that Shake is a kick ass program but Fusion is very compareable, and that Shake is NOT there primary compositing program?

On 2005-05-06 15:26, suicide_sam wrote:

By the way I just heard back from Dave Humpherys at ILM. They don't use Shake, they use something proprietary. So I guess you were wrong again.

actually i should correct myself, Dave said they do use Shake but not primarily. Dave said taht Shake is a kick ass program but Fusion is very comparable. But the primary thing there is a proprietery thing.

Read my quote above. I never said that ILM used shake. I said they used a proprietary compositor.

How the hell did this thread turn into a debate?

Let's steer it back to what it was meant to be: a Macintosh love-thread.

If you don't agree, go post somewhere else.

You can argue Mac vs. Windoze vs. Linux on 10000000000 other sites.

I started with an Apple II in 1985,
a Mac IIx in 1989,
a Mac IIci in 1994,
an 8100 in 1996,
and a G3 in 1999.
As soon as my income improves a bit, I am going for a G5, looks like dual 2.0's at the moment.

My only hesitation about the G5 is that it doesn't look as easy to open up and tinker with as the G4s and G3s were (the way the whole side folded down was COOL, and still makes PCers gasp whenever I show them that), and also it looks like I can't put both a super drive and my ZIP drive into the front of the thing - is there only one removeable media bay?

Any G5 owners out there care to comment?

i'm not excatly sure what your arguement is then. If you look back through the posts what I said was use whatever works best for you. Fusion works best for me. And you are telling me that I am wrong. how do you know what works best for me or not. You said no effects houses primarily use Fusion so when I mention some that do you felt the need to turn it into a pissing contest.

I'll say it once again, If you like working with Shake or with a Mac then more power to you. I use what works best for me. I have been using Fusion primarily since 97 and it works for me so I use it. If you disagree thats fine, use Shake or whatever you want to use. believ it or not everyone else does not need to comply with the your choices.

By the way isn't Disney in bed with Apple now a days?

I said I hadn't heard of anyone using Fusion. That's not the same as saying nobody's using it.

But when you listed the houses using it, I had only heard of RezN8 and Tigar Hare before. I was unaware of their toolset.

None of this is any skin off the mac's nose, as most houses running shake are running it on linux anyway.

Zzzzzz Zzzzzzz, someone wake me up when this is all over and we'll go for a cocktail!

Hey like I said use what works for you. At one point the only thing the big boys used was SGI machines. A few years back I was using one of those 5 thousand dollar machines as a footrest.

Macs Rule!

On 2005-05-06 15:41, suicide_sam wrote:
i'm not excatly sure what your arguement is then. If you look back through the posts what I said was use whatever works best for you. Fusion works best for me. And you are telling me that I am wrong.

I never said you were wrong. I said the primary compositing tool used by compositing professionals was shake. That statement is correct.

If you disagree thats fine, use Shake or whatever you want to use. believ it or not everyone else does not need to comply with the your choices.

It's not my choices, it's just a fact. It's the bestselling compositor used by professionals. I don't say you have to use anything. I'm just saying, for better or for worse, the 800 pound gorilla in the compositing world is shake. YOU were the one who said that instead of a mac, you used a "real computer."

By the way isn't Disney in bed with Apple now a days?

More like UN-bed. You haven't read about the famous feud between Eisner and Jobs?

[ Edited by: BarkerBird on 2005-05-06 15:51 ]

Alright don't worry it's over. Or at least I don't feel like keeping it going.

I've yet to be enlightened - can anyone out there in a not technological profession who uses a computer for entertainment purposes explain to me why MAC is better than PC? In simple terms even I can understand? No offense to anyone but, I personally don't give a shit or even understand which company is using which format for what purpose, I need to know how this damn G-5 is gonna improve or change my life!