does anyone miss the virtual trackballs on the user interface?

[Kim Krause]

easier said than done i’m afraid. as i mentioned in some earlier posts, the cost of equipment in south africa is quite high over here and the budgets are quite low. for instance the same mac pro you would pay $3000 for in the states costs us over $4500…the tangent wave is over $3500 here and that thousand dollar software can coast up to 2000 bucks because of import duties and who knows what else. we get really screwed for imported goods over here. add to that the fact that the average post production budget is around 1/6 of a similar budget in the states and you can see how important it is for us to improvise. i recently found out that a colorist in london was charging 250 pounds per hour for grading in his color suite. i’m extremely lucky if i can make that much in a day!!! thats why i was asking about the virtual trackballs in the first place. i wasnt interested in people’s replies who are using a control surface as that’s out of the question for me. i recently got an iphone 4 from the local phone shop here. it was nearly twice the price of the same one in america. and dont even get me started on cars…that crappy chevy that you guys get for $12,000 interest free will cost over 20 grand here and the interest rate is over 10% with a 15% deposit!
so count your blessing all my fat cat american comrades. you definitely should appreciate how easy you have it over there….oh and i almost for to mention the minimum wage over in good old south africa…around $2.50/ hour..if anyone is throwing out a used tangent wave please let me know…will pay for delivery! hahaha

[Jonathon Lee]

Totally agree with you. I use scratch too and they have a great UI. I really wish there was better support for on-screen adjustments for color AND formatting. Need much better framing controls on the UI.

– Jonathon

[Robin Erard]

It is a very good idea to have color wheels. We could choose in settings what kind of GUI we would like, with Color Wheels or with color bars.

Robin

réalisateur, scénariste, monteur
http://www.robinerard.ch

[Michael Stirling]

the sliders in da vinci are pretty useless – IF the numerical values below them were to 3 decimal places i might look at them. I really ‘missed’ the track ball GUI in my early da vinci days (many of us came over from color at V7 so we can miss features of the old software – like i can miss having garage in my new house even though this house has never had a garage – i have and i miss it).

Now I don’t miss the track ball GUI and don’t look at the Da Vinci sliders (i have a control surface) and as Kevin Shaw told me when I was moaning about this very thing – Grade the picture not the GUI

M

[Mikhail Puzyrev]

There is a simple decision. Do not buy iPhone. Buy used wave instead. Do not buy Mac pro – build hackintosh for half the price of Mac pro. Do not buy Davinci at local reseller – buy it from b&h and get it by post in a month but for normal price. And stop crying, the are many places on earth which you would call hell being put there.

[Mikhail Puzyrev]

For me virtual trackballs are useless and even bad – I’ve noticed that as I used virtual trackballs I stare at the distance between point and center more than at picture itself and can not properly control the effect

[Sean Kapleton]

I always look for used Wave Panels online but have never actually seen one…might just have to save up.

[Kim Krause]

i’m not crying…actually i enjoy my work and love to face the challenges. i was only stating that sometimes certain people seem to think that we all have access to the same tools and that their way is the only way. i am privileged to be working in the industry in a country i love. i just want people to know that it is not so easy for some of us to just go out and spend money we dont have on tools we dont really need.if i could i would have a huge plasma screen and a big office with free internet and cappuccino machine. i wold love to be able to charge more for my services as well but budgets here don’t allow that luxury. same goes for a tangent wave. i just dont have the money to buy it and after trying one out i discovered that most of the functions i use arent supported directly. trying drawing curves or user shapes with a tangent and you’ll soon go back to your wacom tablet. i’ve had to make many compromises in my setup in order to be able to provide what i think is a great service for a modest fee. my clients would agree as i am constantly booked on jobs. i would love to drive a ferrari but i am happy with my little hyundai! and i wouldnt buy a hackintosh because thats like building a mercedes from cheap chines car parts. if i want a mac i buy a mac not some frankenstein monster of a fake machine……oh and i decided to spoil myself and buy an iphone anyway from a local supplier. i also believe in supporting my local economy even if it si sometimes more expensive!

[Christopher Adams]

Yes I know what you mean. I have been trying to ween myself off of the tablet pen/mouse using the Tangent panel only for node functions and windows etc. Taking a bit to get used to but its coming along.