How did you first learn about Atmosphere?

[jbezorg]

If first ran into Atmosphere about a year ago when looking for updates on the Adobe site.

[Unknown]

I heard about it somewhere and tried it about the time the beta went public, but gave up and only actually took the time to learn it when a friend started playing with the program and needed some help. When was build 45 the new one?

[Stuart Forbes]

November 2001 - came across via email shot from Curious Labs re AvLabs - couldn't believe such realistic VP animations could be run on line - hope they will again soon:)

[Shelley Faust]

The old storey my mum showed me active worlds and I went searching for something better. I think it was about a year and a half ago. Cracked open the help files and started reading. Loved it :)

[Francesca Crolley]

June 2001 - I was looking around on Adobe's site and saw it. Checked it out, and thought it was awesome. :)

[Stewart Bocking]

T'was a dark and stormy night....

I read an article in VRNews, downloaded it and ran it..

for those interested :

<http://www.vrnews.com/issuearchive/vrn1003/vrn1003front.html>

Nuff said.

Tweex

[Heart]

Can't exactly remember when it was, but an old friend from another chat program posted a message on a forum about Atmos. So I checked it out.

Thanks ThoughtKnox :)

[Rolu]

March 1999 - believe it was a link someone posted in the AW newsgroups. It
led to a site of a company called Attitude Software, about a program called
3D Anarchy:

--
3D Anarchy is the web-wide world. It is an explorable, three-dimensional
universe born entirely from people's imaginations... ever changing, and ever
growing. It is an evolving maze of interlinked microcosms, inhabited by
travelers and homebodies alike. It is yours to build, and yours to explore.

3D Anarchy gives you the tools. You define the rules. The world builder is
your paintbrush, and space is your canvas. Lay your stones, paint your
walls, and turn on the lights to welcome in your guests--expect visitors
once you open your doors to the worlds of anarchy!

3D Anarchy is an online universe. You can talk to the avatars you see,
through standard IRC. And your world can be served through ftp or http.
Which means: if your ISP can host an ordinary web page, you can put your 3D
Anarchy world on the web. Everything you need is ready for you to download.
And did we mention this version is free?
--

I downloaded it and started playing with it. There was no scripting, no
viewpoint, no havok, no sounds (apart from the bug zapper), only low quality
textures and lighting, no 3D hardware support (hey! we still don't have
that!), no binary or compression support for worlds, etc - but there was a
3D world system with a lot more freedom than AW would ever give, and I liked
it, so I staid around. And I'm still here :-)

Rolu

[Stewart Bocking]

"(apart from the bug zapper)"

I miss that :(

Tweex

[Parksy]

I think I came in around build 45 too (the first world I visited was "Solo" by Brandyn Webb). I saw it on the evening edition of CTV's Webmania, and came to check it out.

Parksy

[Scented Nectar]

I think I started a day or two after Rolu. I got an email saying they were lookimg for beta testers. When it was called 3D Anarchy, we had strange eyes that sat attached to the windows like gargoyles. They blinked occassionally, if I remember correctly. I liked them, but they creeped a lot of people out!

[Aero]

I believe I started just after Gemfox did, which is either 2000 or 2001 in the summer time.
I was looking around on adobes site for some strange reason, maybe I was bored. But I was excited to find Atmos because I always wanted to build Virtual worlds/games, and this enabled me to start my way :-)

-==Knight

[Angela McCartney]

I originally found it just by chance while looking at Adobe's website, sometime around mid August 2001. Don't remember which version it was, but I do remember that they came out with an update about a week after I downloaded it, which made me think... "Wow, these guys must release updates all the time!" :)

Angela

[Rolu]

"Scented Nectar" <scente...@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:1de77...@WebX.la2eafNXanI...

The eyes were cool! Yes, they blinked at you :-) The whole thing looked a
bit organic. The eye avatar, that thing with the red circles around it, is
made with the same pictures as the builder back then.

Rolu

[Jim Coe]

Think I started in July or September 2001, when Build 46 was new - but it might have been Build 45.

Saw it on the Adobe site while checking for Photoshop extras. Got an instant feeling of pent up creativity let loose.

[LadyBunny]

I came in March 2001.
Louie, DaveR, Mexicantou and lightfoot were in HW , came with light from AW over to check it out.
I had an older computer and would freeze up so they would throw me ropes to hang on :)
AH I miss the first HW days and the zilly avs , hehe ..........
We would hide under the stairs alot too , drifter , duddles , peen , roach , monk, knight , otis , CS, psycho, philc, many more
and of course moe :)... rolu the star ...oh and i can't forget Sinatra!!!!Great memories !!

[Dale Beach]

Learned about Atmosphere right here on this web site, just a couple months ago. I was looking at Adobe's various web production tools, and came across Atmosphere.
So I'm playing "catch-up," and stop by this area of Adobe's site at all the time.
Can hardly wait for the next build, where more precise measurements are possible!

[Apkalus]

The Evil speak to me and told me this system is the best for conquer the world and take all the control over the weak minds.

Apkalus

PD: be afraid.......

[thoughtfox]

Autumn 2001 - don't remember how i stumbled across it, could be reading on sites like <http://www.web3d.org>

tFox

[jbezorg]

When I first downloaded it, it was build 54 about a year and a half ago. But it sat on my harddrive for a few months before I started using it, so that doesn't count :-).

I did keep the first world I made as an example of what not to do when building. 4.5 MB compressed without lightmaps! It was last modified 11/21/2001.

I kinda miss the bug zapper as well. You could sit in a world and minimize it to do something else while waiting for someone else to show.

[Softbabe]

here comes the newbie....

I have only been introduced to Atmo pretty exactly one year ago.
but i think i made up for coming late by being here 24/7 *wink*

;-)

[erik champion]

I guess the sound/script is just sitting on an empty pc somewhere Mr Presado?
Oh I have lurked for 1.5 years or so.

[Softbabe]

...and by the way...
where do i sign the petition 'we want our bug zapper back!!!' ...?
LOL

[Aero]

Cant forget Spanky, and Pennywise LB :-D~

[Satterfield]

I came into Atmosphere via email I got from Adobe. Don't know how they got my email address since I didn't have any Adobe products.

My 1st build was 27... so how long ago was that?

Long live Atmosphere!

[Atmospherics]

TV programmes about the world of computer animation and virtual reality fascinated me so that I bought my first computer and got online in 97. Soon too hooked on Bryce to know what day it was but a 'realtime' 3D app is what I wanted.

Years pass! Plugins come and plugins go, plenty of virtual, not much reality...

By the time I discovered the 3D anarchy site the download had become unavailable, kept checking but there appeared to be no changes there for some time. Later I read on some 3D site's gossip page about Atmosphere appearing soon in beta, and from Adobe! That sounded promising so I was waiting for the day the first build became available to grab it.

Eddie

[Jodec]

I'm not sure... its been a while build 43 if there was a 43 or 44?? definitly I was here for build 45, and have been enjoying it ever since.

[Challagar]

I first heard about 3D Anarchy from an email from Vincent CiCarlo when he
was the PR man for Attitude Software (before Adobe bought it). I miss
Vincent because he really went out of the way to mingle with the users and
be the go between for feature requests and bug reports and stuff.

When I first downloaded the program, I got stuck in the floor. There was no
feature for elevating your avatar up to floor level, then. After getting
help on getting out of the floor, the first thing I noticed was the awesome
lighting. That is what appealed to me the most about atmosphere, which is
why I am dissappointed many times by worlds that are too dark.

I thought the project had died, because we had to wait so long for Adobe to
make it available again. I was also afraid, as many others were, that Adobe
would decide to give it a hefty price tag like most of their other products.
Also, I was very dissappointed with the name change (I liked the name "3D
Anarchy"), but "Atmosphere" has kinda grown on me. And, I was dissappointed
when they came out with javascript to add interactivity, rather than making
it an in-built function of the builder. I still am lost by all the code
mumbo jumbo.

Anyways, I am looking forward to awesome things from Atmosphere in the
future.

"jbezorg" <jbe...@atmoworlds.com> wrote in message
news:1de77...@WebX.la2eafNXanI...
> If first ran into Atmosphere about a year ago when looking for updates on
the Adobe site.

[Rolu]

"Challagar" <chal...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:6E5C6CAF83B6BCAC...@in.WebX.la2eafNXanI...

> And, I was dissappointed
> when they came out with javascript to add interactivity, rather than
making
> it an in-built function of the builder. I still am lost by all the code
> mumbo jumbo.
>

Builtin stuff is always limited. Javascript is much more powerful than
anything builtin can ever be. That also means it's more complex. If you
don't want to code you can always use prebuilt scripts.

Rolu

[karen jacobs]

I found Atmosphere browsing Adobe site in March 01. Thoroughly enjoyed visiting worlds and the forum up until the plugin only/.hml version. It was fun just clicking .aer and being there. . . I miss meeting people at the various new worlds. --kj

[Andrew Harvey]

Snap - March 2001.

Was looking at the Adobe main page for info on Acrobat and saw the link. Was positively evangelic about the product for about (oh 23 months). One way of getting back at my son who when discovered Magic - The Gathering would talk about NOTHING ELSE for about 6 months. I mean, I liked the game, but there were other things in life...

Then discovered Atmosphere. I'd read Snow Crash so was waiting for something like this to come along (and wasn't aware of 3D alternative until Atmosphere). Its made me learn Javascript (badly), get my own domain name (and I'm still not sure how my other son feels about me now owning his nickname - konomex), and develop a whole new circle of friends.

Dalek

[Dennis Lightfoot]

I found out the same way Rolu did. I checked it out briefly and lurked the 3d anarchy newsgroup for awhile, but that was about it since I had an active worlds world server running at the time keeping me preoccupied.

A couple years later about the time I was fed up with AW's managment, I heard Through the grapvine Adobe had just put the anarchy software back online. I think I got here within the first 2 days and been lurking around ever since.

BTW those eyes scared the hell out of me :)

[Donza]

Wow what a great thread!! I found Atmosphere totally by accident on the 13th of September 2002. Found its install file lurking in my downloads folder one day (still don't know how it got there) and being familiar with Adobe figured it was just another graphics proggy. Boy was I shocked when I fired up the SA and found someone talking to me!! The community here is the most awesome part - all of you are the best!!

Oh BTW - I still have that log of my first time here - what a hoot!!

[Peen]

hmm...my initial visit to Atmos, was around March 2001, I was also looking for some updates...someone said "Hi", I freaked and ran...LOL
I didn't come back until some time in July 2001, and I'm not leavin'..hehehee..

>:p

(omg..we used to have sooooo many laughs back then...lmao)

[Richard Kop]

I ran into Atmosphere a couple of months ago. Again the old story: Was using AW for more than 6 years, then the AW management screwed things up big time and raised contribution by a tenfold. At that point i was fed up with them and decided to quit AW. Bummer, because i really liked the way users can build in AW, despite the limitations. Then i started looking around for a replacement. Using good old Google i came across Adobe Atmosphere and i was hooked immediately.
I really hope Adobe doesn't screw things up like AW did, and i also hope that Adobe incorporates some of AW's interfacing in the Atmo builder, because the boys at AW have that part really thought out well during the years.

[RayR]

I'm actually a real newbie. Found Atmo when searching the web for a 3d program that I could work. been about 4 or 5 months. build 69? I think it was.

[dghartling]

Late October/Early November 2001. I first heard about it, by accident, cruising through a 3D chat room. Funny thing, I was already looking for something like Atmo before I knew it existed; something to build on online classroom and software programs. Once I worked with it a little, I knew it was special -- more than just another piece of software. It's the future; in one form or another, we've all been lucky enough to be given this glimpse into what the Internet of the future is going to be like.

Been online (with a world) since Jan 2002.

Danny from The Chocolate Factory

[Aero]

Richard- I dont see how Atmos can go down the path AW did, speaking, this is a world building, webbased program, that will be able to perform many tasks.
And which Adobe's goal is not even *Chat.
So its basicaly impossiable for Atmosphere to go down the path AW did.
No worry's :-)

[win98]

I did a search for "free 3D" and as it turned out, Atmosphere had just been released like a month before. It was really really hard for me to learn atmoscript, and when they changed it I quit. When they release a final, no kidding this is it beta, I might get around to making some worlds, but then again I might wait until the whole world has the plug-in, like flash player. Then again, since I've stopped using it, I really don't use this second monitor much. Sure was handy putting the tool boxes off to the side...

[Unknown]

win98, nice to see you're still around.

[Americo Damasceno]

Win98 was the creator of the first panel that remains in front of the player (something that can be used, by example, for a 1st person car race game). Today it's easy to do this, but, in "the old days" was not. Welcome back!

[karen jacobs]

Hi win98!

sure miss your mesa world. That was really slick! and the mountain climb was your's, too?

I understand you not bothering with building anymore -- the plugin is soooo messed up that the builders are creating work arounds for the plugin instead of building worlds. . .

Remember the good ole days when you could click a world & go there? & open a web page AND a world? no more . . . ;o( --kj

[superted]

great idea for a thread!

Atmosphere was recommended to me by a professor friend of mine as a tool to be used in building a virtual society for this university research of ours. Prior to Atmo, i was in the process of constructing a primitive virtual world software of my own using java3d (having been disenchanted by the 'other mobs'). A couple of months into it, i looked at Atmo and it blew my mind!!! Haven't looked back since :)

Converted Atmo-an since August 2002.

st.

[TJ Rogers]

It was in September of 2001. I had just arrived at Purdue (from Seattle, via burning man) and was looking for people on campus with similar interests: web design, street (and experimental) theatre, and puppetry...you can probably imagine there was a bit of culture shock I had to deal with...

Eventually I ran into a young professor in the computer graphics department with a degree in theatre and a master’s in computer graphics. He was teaching advanced 3D animation and lighting.

I paid him a visit and began to tell him about my wacky idea to develop a technique for writing skits for street puppet performances based in object-oriented design principles: Bozotronic Object-Oriented Street Theatre.

I also told him about an experience I had when I first played Crash Bandicoot. I discovered that if you leave Crash alone long enough, he gets impatient and starts clowning around without you. But as soon as you touch the controller, his clowning disappears. Well, I wanted to be able to play with Crash's clowning more than the game... What about having a character that stands on a stage, or in a game that just clowns around? I would call the technique "Digital Interactive Marionettes"

Instantly he showed me shockwave3D and adobe atmosphere. He told me Atmosphere was a beta and a good place to start for learning how to design on-line 3D worlds and avatars.

When the SP opened up in HW (the one with the big columns and rotating cube in the center) I saw a huge hand crawling across the floor and a big red thing with a huge eyeball in it, and a peculiar blue fellow made of boxes (default)...and these objects were chatting and the peculiar blue fellow said hello to me! It was my first experience of social co-presence, very cool.

I thanked him, let him get back to work, rushed home, downloaded the beta, and began teaching myself how to build worlds without the convenience of "undo" amidst crashes every 5-40 minutes. Soon I realized the similarities between chicken-wire & 3D meshes, papier mache & textures, human skeleton’s and IK bone systems, play scripts and java scripts, set design and world design, lighting design and atmos lighting, well, you know where I’m going with this! I knew I was on the right road.

The general experience of building my own worlds and having friends visit me there (since I had just moved away from Seattle and was a little homesick) was so intense that the crashing and the "no going back" didn't bother me that much. And the friendly support on this list as well as nice, helpful people in HW made it all the more pleasant. (Thanks rolu, moe, ladyBunny, etc.)

Eventually scripting, viewpoint, avatarlab, poser, and terragen, made their way into my psychology and I've been dancing slowly with them ever since, learning new jigs here and there, developing a custom pipeline, and loving it...though I had to take a large break when grad school began, very busy.

Fortunately my studies are leading me back to atmosphere and we'll see how things go, once the player is running better and a fancy new builder is released.

Did I miss anything? Just kidding. That was a very long post, but now you know my Atmosphere journey, which has significantly improved my life by leading me into the promising world of online 3D.

tj

[Jim Coe]

Nice post, TJR!

[Bill Mount]

Once Upon A Time,...A Long Time Ago,
I Used To Hang Around The Art Site Deviantart.com.
There Used To Be Annoying Banner Ads.
There Still Are Annoying Banner Ads.
One O' Those Stinkin' Banner Ads Was For Adobe Atmosphere.
Build Yer' Own Stinkin' 3D World It Said.
So I Clicked On It, Like A Good Lil' Sheep, And Here I Is.
Member Since July 2001.
Hehe..I Said Member.
Yes...We Used To Laugh A Lot.
Where The Hell Is Everybody These Days Yo'?
The Laughing Is No More.
RoachoRama

[LadyBunny]

roach!!
ya gotta use the stats page ,
to find us of course !
just keep checking it and use the url or plugin.
not many around much but we usualy get try to get together in a world
that will show up on the stats page :)
here is the url
<http://atmosphere.adobe.com/stats/statsp.pl>

seeya soon
bunny

[Minh Nguyen (]

Oh, I remember now...

About a year ago, I was at Adobe's download page, looking for an update to Acrobat Reader. Yes, you've heard this story before. I saw the little button for Atmosphere, clicked it, downloaded it, and opened up HW - the Italian-looking one.

I went around, sat on the couch for awhile, looked down some alley for awhile, and then, someone started chasing me! My mom came in. She gave me the obligatory warning against getting into "bad things", and then I invited my friend, "Trilofossil", over. And I invited another one over, too, although he couldn't ever keep the same nickname twice.

I remember going into Lost Night and getting stuck. I remember going to Digital Space World and getting lost in some maze. And I remember going to Creative World - that was strange. (Btw, Creative World doesn't exist anymore, but it's still on the Sample Worlds page.)

A little while after, the New HW and Community were created. I spent a lot of time there in its first couple weeks of existence. I remember bringing up the idea of owning storefronts. It'd already come up in some meeting, but my mention of the idea started some kind of frenzy. All of a sudden, most of the storefronts were claimed - except my building 7.

By then, I was hooked.

I miss those days. Now, I've got lots of schoolwork, so I can't explore Atmo like I used to do. My brother took over, so you might sometimes see him roaming around, refusing to chat, constantly changing avatars and nicknames.

What a long post. Shows you how bored I am, reminiscing like this.

- minger <http://mxn.netifrms.com/>

[luis yoda]

Hello All,Well I got my first PC and was just looking for some program to use for drawing when I fell in old home world.I was drunk, and Grayson was the only one there,so he started telling me how to put a hole in a wall and about atmos,at first,I thought he was nut's and told him so.I kept telling him,I want to talk to the Wizard,well it was a longgg time ago,and also a long story,but the main thing,Thanks Grayson,I know how now..LOL.LOUIE

[Michaelcov]

Well, let me see, yes, it was in around September 2001, I wanted to do a 3D web site and had a search on Google for 3d world building software. I decided to download Atmosphere and have a look at the player first. It was the old 2001 homeworld. There were about 5 people in there and I was the only tester. I just stood there at the entrance looking at the controls, then started to move around. I remember thinking, "what funny avatars" and after going through all the portals, "is that it? there must be more worlds out there", so I put my trust in Google again and searched.

I will never forget my first thoughts about the builder. I added a floor, seen it was just a red box, and thought "this is s***" shut the builder off and promptly started searching for other software but after just two pages of Google gave in :-)

The next day, I opened the builder again, and soon realized I could have 5 rooms and a few corridors done within an hour. I started adding the textures...

and I've never looked back.