Well, although we don’t need to engage in ballot stuffing, I see no problem with encouraging users to express their honest opinions about Panda on a rating site such as devmaster.net.
It’s true that Panda3D existed before there was a community, and it would continue to exist and continue to be developed should the community evaporate. But, like any open source project, it does benefit from a community as well–that’s why we decided to release its as open source in the first place.
CMU, in particular, is interested in building awareness of Panda3D, since that in turn increases the awareness of CMU–which tends to attract more top students to the school. Universities thrive on name recognition.
Disney benefits in more subtle ways, but it does help to have a community of users that actively use Panda, to help push its development in useful directions. We also benefit by hiring new employees, and contracting with other companies, who are already familiar with Panda; and even our more experienced programmers come here from time to time to consult the manual. And the occasional user contribution to the codebase is a plus, too.
As to being overwhelmed with questions from new users drawn to our site, well, many new-user type questions can be easily answered by the Panda users already here. Some of our more experienced community members (you know who you are, and thanks, btw) are also stepping up to answer some of the more challenging questions; I’m just filling in the gaps on the really obscure questions. The nice thing about a community is that it’s self-sustaining–I imagine a world one day where my presence on the forum is hardly needed at all. (But I wouldn’t be able to stay away. )
Finally, and let’s be honest here, I like seeing Panda get recognition. If a lot of people appreciate it and find it has some advantages over other 3-D engines, it speaks well to our design and to our efforts.
I agree we shouldn’t pad the ratings though Of course I don’t think anyone is doing that though.
My statements above were not meant to say that our community doesn’t matter, just saying that if we outside of Disney VR and ETC weren’t around, you two organizations would still be using it for your own purposes.
And you should be proud of your accomplishments with Panda3d.
I know I’m thankful to have it and your support in using it!
okay, Knightly… It’s good you posted in this thread again, to remind everyone and to get the attention of all those who came after the last post in this thread…
Anyway, I just rated Panda on Devmaster.net
Panda has my voice!
mine too. and i mailed to devmaster that they should correct a few things in the panda-features list like (IK-chains which are not really supported, and adding network/terrain stuff). but more than a month passed and no response from them
We’re back to #4!!! Panda3D is better than jME!
I should really encourage all to vote. I’ve tried #3, CrystalSpace, before panda but it sucks compared to Panda3D.
May I ask, who is the maintainer of this page at devmaster? Because a lot of the information out there is outdated and urgently needs to be updated. For example, the page doesn’t even list Mac support.
It’s weird, when I mailed them about putting movie texture there, they did it in 2 days. I guess you should mail them by yourselves. Perhaps if they’re overwhelmed by your mails, they would change it.
DMOZ is the place to get listed for major projects and sites… All hand edited with maintainers for certain sections.
Also, the wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panda3D should really be updated with some nice screenshots and more info about the 1.5.x releases and roadmap also the links are not quite up to date with projects I am aware of or related projects.
panda is by far the best publicly available, non-specific solution to the nightmare of programming and rendering, i have come across.
I don’t enjoy the internal workings of a computer or filing system, so i’ve always found c and its related languages to be too complex. whereas python, though far from a perfect language is simple, neat, and logically laid out when in its higher forms.
combining the two together and making it available (for free!!!) was by far a stroke of pure genius that has provided the gaming community with something it’s never had before.
an engine with potential if used carefully and artistically, and a programming framework that is able to be adapted and constructed into almost any game idea you could have with a few simple keystrokes.
I have never liked any companies’ ideas of what a ‘type of game’ constitutes or indeed what the ‘gaming industry’ constitutes, and since panda offers a nice box with which to put YOUR own ideas into, i felt i’d experienced a miracle when i came across it.
I’m a musician, not a programmer, so you guys offered the least patronising and least restrictive solution available, and you did it all for free, so i laid my hands on it as soon as i could.
heck, disney uses it for crying out loud folks. it’s worth every joyous or hair-pulling hour, you spend with it.
The best game engine from an artist’s view. Great for making simple games quickly even by artist alone. Dont know about making complex games but i am confident it will be far easier then other game engines too.
Some experience in how games work technically, how it handles things, will help you a lot.
I voted ‘no’ only because I am a newbie par excellence. New to Panda3D to say the least, haven’t coded a single line outside excel games. What I see and read looks very good, though. I have a very specific interest: creating an interactive, engaging 3D educational environment. I’m looking into Panda to do that (well, not me myself and I, but eventually us). That’s why I said ‘no.’
That was 15 minutes ago, though. I might change my mind in another 15.
Ok, I like Panda, but would it work to create a MUVE? I think it would.
Panda3D is better than jME!
