Upgrades...

[Toby]

Hi Folks... just rambling here, but it's something I would like to share with all of you.

I was beta-testing 2.6.7 for most of a day before Andy released it, and I sent him a commendation for the very tasteful way he finally integrated his reminder that a lot of you are skating by with the free version of G-Force and should consider spending $10 to upgrade to Gold, 20 seconds of reminders every 5 minutes ain't (sic) too bad, though I am sure a lot of you are gnashing your teeth at his pure unmitigated gall for inflicting such a 'Nasty' on you and impinging on the beauty of your computer screen, your space.

If that bothers you, I have one thing to say, "Get a Life, People!". Uninstall G-Force from your computer, uninstall your free MP3 player, and stop downloading 'free' music from The Net.

I downloaded G-Force a couple months ago, watched it for a couple hours, said "This Is It!", and bought The Gold. Gold ain't that much better, same basic program, a few extra configs, and now, no 'Please buy me' splash screens to imping on your wa.

Go ahead and spend the $10 for The Gold. That's a a couple of Happy Meals for you and your girlfriend, assuming you have a coupon (and a girlfriend), or a couple large lattes at Starbucks (if you don't), and a lot less than one CD at retail... what's a CD, what's 'retail', what's paying for what we use?

But don't EVER bitch about Andy reminding you that you are taking a free ride and suggesting that you start to pay for your free trip! If your are not taking a free ride, please ignore my diatribe.

Take care, y'all !!!

[JayPro]

Toby;

Your enthusiasm for G-Force is immensely appreciated--especially by me as a user practically since the beginning--in terms beyond simple verbal or written expression. I also sympathize with your feelings about people who would perhaps try and not buy (That's their business/loss IMO).

That said, I have some words of my own. Before I tread any further, though, I ask your understanding that my intent is not to dissuade anyone in this forum from open debate, nor to discourage it. I merely wish to make known my POV from that of a newly-anointed moderator, i.e. one who has been charged with maintaining the general tenor of discussion here.

Occasional exhibitions of zeal such as yours can be an interesting deviation from the standard battery of blasé bug reports and the like. My concern, though certainly not overwhelming, is that such wording *might* be misconstrued by a scant few and give rise to all sorts of backlash that none of us wants. I've seen it in other respectable message boards/forums that I've been part of, and with mostly venomous, if not tragic results (banning, spamming, personal animus run amuck, none of this should've happened etc., etc., etc...). I'm sure you have, too.

Again, I'm in no way fearful of anything like that happening here; but still, the cautionary example suffices IMO.

In short (for everyone who would read this), I would, with *the deepest kindness and respect I can muster for the divergent opinions put forth here*, urge the utmost caution in our dealings with one another. I don't wish to place words in Andy's mouth in any respect (and I hope I'm not doing so here by proxy); but I'm most certain that he would suggest the same.

With respect to paying for the Gold Version, I would exhort all those of you who are uncertain about, or wary of buying the Gold version *at an in extremis reasonable price* to give it a shot.



Also (Toby)...

Where you and I might respectfully part company on *one* issue is where you suggest that the Gold version isn't that much better. I would suggest the following, though:

Go into the Boot file of your G-Force Program, find the part that controls the Union possibility scale and change the ratio from 1/6 to 1/4...or even 1/3 if your OS can handle it. This, of course, exponentializes the chances that you will see unfolding before your eyes not just random pixel flows, but abstract works of art. Think about that.

Think aboutl encountering a sequence of at least three Union effects overlaying atop one another to produce something inexplicable. This IMO goes beyond the simple Flowfield and into the realm of a picture/landscape environment whose dimensions are *palpable and vivid*.

(BTW & Not Necessarily Apropos: For those of you who might be critical of the fact that palettes are not sound reactive, I suggest this as an alternative: Look in your WaveShapes at the code for Parkening Power--and similar kinds--that use color reaction in the Pen function. This is perhaps as close as we're likely to get to something like that happening. However, this might be an opportunity to help both prospective *and* veteran WaveShape artists better integrate the Palette and the WaveShape, something that IMO ought to be explored to greater depths.)

Anyway, Unions may be the primary visible feature of the Gold version (plus Album Art); but again, I believe seeing Unions in action is worth the meager investment.



In conclusion, I sincerely hope that my words here have not caused any offense or misunderstandings; and my apologies go forth to those who feel that way. My apologies also to Andy if this post is looked upon as crossing the line of taboo subject matter.
It's just that as a first-time moderator, I somehow consider myself under obligation to make sure that civility in our honest opinions will guide the free exchange of ideas in this part of cyberspace.

Thank You All For Listening

JwP

PS: Toby...Your "wa"??? Is that a Chinese term similar to someone's "chi"?
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[Toby]

Hey JayPro... if I got carried away, I apologize. It wasn't intentional, but it does happen sometimes. I have this little zealous streak sitting in the back of my mind that sometimes gets unleashed... and when it does, watch out.

In my always humble opinion, Gold really isn't that much better than old plain-Jane G-Force. As you say, the FlowField Unions are really nice, as are the extra configs, but $10... give me a break! That's a Big Mac, a latte (small), and a copy of Penthouse!

You're the one with the mathematical soul... maybe you can quantify it. How much better does a great piece of software have to be to be classified as really great? What is the difference between wonderful and 'more wonderful'? (I will not say wonderfuller, though it applies.)

What is infinity + 10? Get my drift?

Take care!

[Toby]

Sorry JayPro... again... I haven't apologized this much since my first honeymoon.

To answer your question, as I understand it 'wa' is a Japanese concept that defines your personal peace or harmony (or personal space or lack thereof)... a big problem when you are as crowded as they are.

[JayPro]

Toby (thanks for explaining "wa");

I bear ye no ill will. You do have a right to express yourself like that; and maybe I was being a smidgeon overreactive myself.

I'll not quibble with you about a paltry ten-dollar threshold; but I'm afraid I'll have to argue your assessment of my "mathematical soul".

See, I once garnered a final grade of 66---with tutoring, mind ye---in a high-school class whose subject was the (subjectively) dreaded "sequential math", where one has roughly a week and a half's worth of turnaround time to master a barrage of progressively challenging concepts.

Of course, I'm speaking from the vantage point of someone who sees himself as not having the gift, yet being totally in awe of those who do. I am in awe of those who can simply (read: subconsciously) churn out a whole series of G-Force effects, what with having both the math skills and programming ability.

Someone like me, I suppose, would feel more at ease looking at the code and such and asking the question: "How do I extrapolate the various functions of the code into what I end up seeing on the screen, without getting bogged down in mathematical minutiae?"

I continue to do now what I started doing in the beginning: I study others' code and futz around with various functions and figures, from which point I can see how they work. Yes, as time has passed I have obtained at least a small understanding of the math behind it; but I shall ever look at it this way:

(rnd) can be a fan brush.
Aspc is the easel's size
"r", "x" and "y" are the easel's shape.
"theta" is how detailed I want my painting to be.
Cosine is a bristle brush.
Tangent is a painting knife.
Trwv is a kind of frame to put on the picture.
Sqr is like painting with natural objects like sponges and the like.
Clip, Flip, Flor and Sqrt allow me to make more than one painting on the easel if I want to.
Sine is kinda like black gesso that goes on the canvas before everything else
The "i" function is the color of the canvas I use.
The "fft" function is equivalent to the underlying pencil drawing before one begins to paint.
BASS gives it all dimension.
the "s" and "t" functions set the mood.

So on, so on, so on...I guess you get the picture NPI

(come to think of it, I'll wanna redo this post in another thread and organize it better. I like how this came out).

JwP

[Toby]

Muy bueno... I can dig it, but I wasn't sure you could, after trying to follow a few of your conversations with 'Mr. Rovastar Sir'. Math is a tool, and sometimes a joy, but never a way of life.

In my junior year of college, I decided to add math as a second major, since it was only an additional 20-30 units of upper level work in addition to my EE requirements, signed up for some classes, and went forward.

In my very first junior level (non engineering math) class, the prof went on and on about 'something' I actually understood kinda-sorta, and I asked him, "Fine and good, but what is it good for?". BIG mistake... his reply, "It doesn't have to be good for anything, Mr. Jermain! It's mathematics!". I was amazed he remembered my name, but he made his point. I dropped the class (and the second major) and settled for my life of practical math from that point forward.

[Rovastar]

In my very first junior level (non engineering math) class, the prof went on and on about 'something' I actually understood kinda-sorta, and I asked him, "Fine and good, but what is it good for?". BIG mistake... his reply, "It doesn't have to be good for anything, Mr. Jermain! It's mathematics!". I was amazed he remembered my name, but he made his point. I dropped the class (and the second major) and settled for my life of practical math from that point forward.

Obviously the maths prof should have answered.

"Well you can make interesting stuff in GForce"

[anthonyuk]

Hi chaps, (I'm British, so that does include girls!),

Having reviewed the FAQ I didn't see mention to the advantages over the basic G-Force I have somehow inherited with MediaPlayer 9 and the purchase of the "real-thing". At the moment, I cannot get rid of the mouse cursor when I request full-screen and hope that said purchase of the upgrade will resolve this?

Either way, the visuals generated by this software are astonishing. Had I ever taken psychadelic drugs, I can well imagine that's how it looked! Through a decent XML projector, the visuals are mesmeric - so many thanks, Andy!

To be quite honest, I'm about to pay for the upgrade anyway. It would be nice that the pointer would disappear in the purchased version though!

Keep it up (or down, depending on your periscope depth!).

Anthony