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That was the original intent of the first post on this thread. Can anyone point out where the core is in action on past releases up to and including R18. I was hoping Fritz would be able to elaborate more on that because you are right: the tendency is to talk up new capabilities and tools rather than performance improvements to existing tools (other than rendering), so we hear very little. You would have to read them to be bothered by them....which I don't as I know where they are going. Kind of like watching Fox News or CNN....you know where their biases are and therefore you have a tendency not to watch them unless you tend to agree with those biases. Same with reading Cutman's posts. His bias is very evident. Personally, I don't know what made him hold a grudge for so long against MAXON (its been like 3 years since he last upgraded), but I think it is time to move on. Even Nigel has nice things to say about MAXON from time to time. One thing which we fail to recognize is that some companies can implode when they start to work on a new core. Here is the worst case scenario: There is a drop in new sales once the word gets out that a new core is coming...why buy the old core...wait for the new core. Of course, nothing goes according to schedule and things take longer than expected. As the delays mount, no updates are being released because all the focus is on the new core - so again, the revenue stream tightens further. The market continues to move forward and users are leaving the platform because their patience has run out. To compensate, there is a constant feature creep to what goes into the new core...which in-turn delays the release of the new core. What should have taken 2 years now takes 5. With a hit to revenue, the company is subsisting longer than expected on current cash reserves. They take out a loan which on paper looks good if they release the new core per the latest revision to the timeline. Of course that doesn't happen so now cash is really tight as they have to pay off the loan. No pay raises, no perks. Developers get tired of working for a company that is living on a tight budget and seek greater fortunes elsewhere. With a loss of developers, the new core takes longer than anyone every anticipated. Everything just spirals out of control. If you look at Lightwave and a number of smaller players that have since closed shop you may realize that there is some truth to this worst case scenario.. This is what can happen if you don't manage the shift to a new core effectively. But MAXON has actually navigated these waters quite well (if anything, they are awesome business managers). Yes, we were all unhappy with R17, but the "Takes" system really does not get the credit it deserves. Are things going as fast as we would like....well....they never do. But the company has not imploded. You are still getting regular updates every year without fail and MAXON is still generating cash and using that cash to grow their software development team. This is a good sign folks. I have put a ton on money into C4D and its eco-system of tutorial developers, scripts and plugin developers, texture/shader developers and modelers. I want them around for the long haul and I am pretty confident that they will be there well into R100...which as Cerbera has accurately predicted will involve a fiber to the brain interface and the realization of the "do what I am thinking" button next to the "make great art" button! Dave

In the interests of general levity, I'd like to talk about R100. I'm expecting a neural net that interfaces directly with my brain, and just does whatever I think of. All this would be displayed via some sort of quantum holography, with a new tactile / sensory feedback loop system that allows me to sculpt polygons by wishing them into the right places. I hope at this point Cinema will be self-repairing, self-improving, self-aware and engaged in perpetual cyber-war with Maya. Oh the joy of speculation... CBR

Even I'm more optimistic about R20 than Cutman. Faster object handling is coming as is updated UV tools. It just won't be R19 however. R20 I'm picking. A lot of the stuff holding C4D back has been down to the old core. With the new core fully integrated (and it won't be in R19) then you'll start seeing better annual upgrades over the next few years. My prediction for R19 is AMD Prorender, updated import / exporters, some modest MoGraph enhancements, some viewport enhancements, no UV tool enhancements apart from a token gesture couple of minor tweaks, no significant modelling enhancements but one tool has probably had some love then from some under the hood stuff to make modelling / polygon construction work with the new core that's coming. Plus a handful of other enhancements e.g. team render, minor character tools and dynamic system enhancements. No material node system in R19. The faster 3D painting may or may not come in R19 following the public beta preview. If you wanted GPU rendering then you'll be happy with R19. If not then you may be disappointed. Look out for MAXON making a big deal of it as there likely won't be much else to get excited about. We'll all know soon as Siggraph is in a few weeks time.

Folks, unfortunately neither Fritz or me can't disclose information apart from what is known already, regardless of our enthusiasm and passion. It has been like that for years and we must respect company policy. What I can assure you that we are not crazy (at least Fritz isn't :P) and along with a lot of other people in MAXON is that we are not delusional and know what is needed to stay competitive on highest level.