A lot of the decision is going into getting in under this 1/31/2002 window for purchasing Combustion2.OSX for the original $3.5k while assessing the return on investment applied in the Wash.D.C./Dulles corridor commercial & corporate market "at this time". This decision would include the degree of market penetration of *discreet in this same target-market area which is still in its infancy in thsat the field rep is still looking for a distributor for *discreet products. Also, too, I was able to discuss this with a chosen few of the other working professionals that work directly in the Wash.D.C. production market;predominantly broadcast.
Bottomline: There just is not enough production work, that I can discover, in the sort of highend compositing/motion graphics composiing in trhe wash.D.c./Dulles market outside of this area's 500 lb gorilla,Henniger's. Although I'm in the process of applying all of this towards producing my promo-DVD to shop around as my 2002 digital portfolio which will make a few rounds in my old N.Y., so it's still pretty close to a decision to save $1.5k now, and incorproate what I
can do much more easily within the more sophisticated Combustion2 UI workflow and seamless mod-integration into this next promo DVD, or upgrade to AfterFX5.5,FinalCutPro3 and Lightwave7 and make do with that. BTW:Lightwave7.OSX does have a solid alternative to serious Particle Generation in BOTH 2D & 3D with rendering enhanced by OSX.
As I say,it's a tough call after what I saw, questioned,and discussed at last night's demo.
All that said I must say I was very impressed with the degree of ease with which the well-designed Combustion2 UI
allowed workflow thorughout its range of seamlessly-integrated modules. The 2D particle generator is such a showstopper elliminating all those distractions of having to invest in "3rd Party Plug-ins".combustion2 really the high-quality thoroughbred showhorse/workhorse it is being promoted as.
As for Mac-pros: The demo-guy answered my OSX-specific questions having just performed with combustion2.OSX at MacWorld SanFran 2002 and CombustionOSX is DP-enabled by default by being OSX-ported AND is also Altivec-enhanced, thus taking advantage of this feature of the G4 chip, and will have all of those advantages for production & rendering speed. The production performances from the narrow choices of the GeForce3 or 4 or the new ATI 8500's remains to be seen and review "from the trenches" , but openGL is what openGL does.
At this point I'm still conflicted because of available working $capital after all of the studio relocation & setup costs and Christmas credit card bills along with this still shakey economy. Well I've got another 24 hrs before Combustion2.OSX jumps to a flat $5k.
Any responses may help definitively tilt me to a final decision either way though I'm leaning on the more prudent side and hold off till more contracts appear that would directly apply the truly sweet performance of this artisan's instrument for compositing/motion grafx composing/editing.
Meanwhile I'm enthralled by the *discreet demo video published for Siggraph that was given to all of the demo attendees in the promo-packet.
Later