Comments on Comments

There hasnt been much progress on the Tangara this week, but I have been working on a few smaller items, and one or two pieces that will end up in the Tangara later.

Thanks for all the comments on the last post. I wanted to respond to some of them here.

Features

Nathan asked if the cab would be animated. It sure will!. How much is animated wlll depend on how long it all takes, how well I can communicate between the cab script and the exterior one. (That should be easy). Essential things like the driver will obviously go in first, while less-essential items like blinds will be added later, as time and skilz permit. Pretty much everything suggested was already on my list for considereation. (plus a few more ideas too). I'll keep you posted here, as it all progresses.

Alex mentioned the Cityrail Driver by Davido. I have seen it, and his Freightcorp drivers, but I would like to make my own for several reasons. (Some of which will become apparent when you get to see the Tangara). No offence to Davido, his models are excellent, and indeed I have been very impressed with everything so far from Cardiff Workshops, but I have some ideas in mind and making my own driver mesh would allow me some extra flexibility. This is one of the several smaller things that Ive been working on this week.

Payware

Payware is an issue that can polarise people. Some people "get it" and dont mind parting with a few bucks, others expect that everything should be handed to them for free, and most are somewhere in between.

Over recent months, a few people, (ky most recently) have commented at various times that the Tangara should be (or could be) payware. I take that as a very big compliment. Thank you. These comments generally mean that people appreciate the work that has been put in to the model, and I gratefully accept that.

Ive said from day one that the Tangara (and all its variants) will be FREE, and will be uploaded, unencrypted to the DLS to be looked at and learned from, however I am not promising the same for any future models that I might build. Each will be decided on its merits when its started. At present, I currently have no payware items planned.

Here is my take on payware:

Over the last 4 months, since starting on the Tangara, Ive spent quite a bit of time at my computer. Im a geek, so my wife is quite used to that, but recently it has been a lot more time that it used to be, and it has caused some friction on occasion.

Without even considering the number of hours spent working on the Tangara, I do feel that it would be nice to recieve a little appreciation for the time spent away from my family, but at the same time I also understand that its my choice to do that.

Its not about money - Im never going to get rich making 3D models. Its simply about people appreciating the effort that went in to it. Im hoping that Auran might select the Tangara to be included in future versions of Trainz, if its considered good enough, and that is one form of appreciation.

Money is obviously another form, and is merely a token. If I ever do release payware, it wont be more than a few bucks per download - definately under $5 (probably with a couple of dollars to spare) because accumulaing vast amounts of money is not the point. Its simply about saying Thank You.

Having said that, I am working on a Redfern Workshopz website to be released at some time in the future, and one of the required features will be an online store, to allow me to make payware models available, if I choose to do so. This is just one of many features that I require for the new site, and its no more, or no less important than the other required features, such as project management or forums.

Now, if only drupal would play nice.