Jeff H1

at the same time other apps will be updating as well. H20 is around the corner. Blender 4 sometime this year. Maya 2024 and so on. Luckily for the artist, none of these companies can afford to rest anymore and rely on continued subs. Also, a few of these apps have Indie versions (Maya, Houdini) which are getting it into the hands of artists who can't afford the "full" version. I wonder if WetaM and WetaH are still being developed as well.

XP can do it. I used this a couple of times. https://3deoskill.com/shop/freebies-2/ (ivy maker python generator). a video on him making the script;

would be interesting if it worked with fields and effectors.

sounds like a plan then!! These days it seems like shorter videos are more easier to consume maybe broken up based on topic or a logical point in building the asset or scene.

It would be nice to add a smidge of cloner/effectors/fields in the SOP section. Maybe use it to show how to make "cloner" rivets w/copytopoints and such for the barrels or something else? the mograph part of C4D is what's very nice and easy to use. As a C4D artist trying to learn Houdini, I think understanding how to replicate functionality would be nice.

some of it deals with the export end of things. I found this out years ago with Max. During export you would need to do things like deselect "Triangulate" option, collapse modifiers by making editable(?). I think ABC has the same thing. Once you export as triangulated, you can't import it as quads elsewhere. Do as HappyPolygon mentioned or run it through Remesher but think about creating guide splines from the imported FBX to help the remesher

very nice work!!!!!!!

pie menus are one of those features that Maxon couldn't be bothered with. hotkey sets and other user functionality being another. I shouldn't have to go to a panel to add more divisions to a bevel or loop cut.. let me use the dame mouse wheel. There's just a lot of things I've realized over the years that Maxon has seemingly been inflexible about as they know better than the user. Shit, I'm surprised they updated icons and moved stuff around. I bet that dev meeting was a bloodbath. 😛 Addon devs in Blender have embraced PM quite enthusiastically. One of the problems I've run into is these addon devs are running over each other with their pie menus, hotkeys and like functionality. It's nice to see so many options but sucks to troubleshoot, especially with as often as blender updates and the addons have to be updated often too.

Some trainers on youtube are showing how to use Geometry Nodes (ones that work easily) in Blender to replicate fields, cloners and other C4D procedural mograph features. Also, there are a couple addons which help to simplify even further. Motion Animate addon uses geo nodes, with its own additional motion nodes, to give you some of the C4D functionality. https://blendermarket.com/products/motion-animate---speed-up-motion-graphics j-mograph is another one too. https://blendermarket.com/products/mograph Both of those are a low cost of entry for adding mograph functionality. As for asset libraries, I'm finding a crap ton of them with addons like BlenderKit, Bagapie, Polyhaven and more. Many are free without making you feel dirty for not being upsold to "One". Once I take a break from some of the training I'm going to install BlenderFarm which is a small footprint render farm manager for Blender. https://github.com/LogicReinc/LogicReinc.BlendFarm My sub is up at the end of next month. I'm giving Blender a go for now to see what I can come up with. Edit: Then I'll tackle Houdini..... 😛

It will take a few years before the trend starts to swing the other way. The comfort factor of just using the same app will always be appealing. Studios and freelancers with legacy projects will need a way to get back into them. There's also pipelines built around certain apps that will make it hard to change. That being said, it is happening slowly but surely. That's why I say it will take a few years before we start to see a trend shifting away from legacy apps like Maya and C4D. Based on social media responses about lots of people leaving specific apps, I can see the trend beginning. Based on job postings, I can see the trend beginning. I'm not one of those people who says "Blender will soon be the industry standard", but we'll continue to see people shift away to other apps like Blender and Houdini provided both companies keep developing at their current paces, listening to customers, having great customer outreach and building tools for various sectors.

Well I already have some Blender addons (eg MeshMachine, MachineTools, BC/HOPS and so on). I think I was leaning towards that because it's easier for me to get up to speed again as I was using it for a few months last year. It may be easier for me to find a job sooner w/B and then continue to delve into Houdini on the side. I know on your YT you show how to tackle modeling in Houdini. I've also looked at stuff from Tim Van H. a while ago via his Patreon which focuses on a variety of freelance style tasks in YT. Some of the others I'm subscribed to are Adrien Lambert, cgside, houdini element, and ale barbosa. Lots to think about this weekend!!! 😛

Yeah I'll check the usual hangouts... thanks!! 🙂

What are some network rendering options with Blender? I'm thinking both on current frame as well as distributing a render job on my network? I know Deadline as we used that w/Maya and C4D at my last job and I had set up a test node for Blender. the only other thing I've used with Blender was Sheep-It to work on some Blender nebula shots for a film about 3 years ago. Thanks.

most of his plugins are a bit overpriced for what they do.

Sorry to hear about that Igor! I just re-signed with a company I resigned from last year just to do some ad hoc work for some money. While I'm not financially strapped yet, I've had to cut costs. I stopped Nuke maintenance last year but have kept up with Redshift, Octane, C4D and XP for now. My XP and C4D are up next month. It's close to $1K total. That's a good chunk of change to help me float a bit longer. The hard part is relearning Blender and getting good enough to the point to freelance with it. Houdini as well. I just subscribed to your channel. 🙂 Good luck!

maybe it's time for us to start being greedy with our money. H20 is coming out this year (indie is still under $300) and Blender is free.. Blender plugins are under $20 for the most part with C4D's developers opting for $90 and higher to sell their plugins. I know there's an update coming next month for C4D but I don't think they'll downgrade the greed factor. Lots to think about before my sub ends next month. Looks like I may start digging into alternatives tomorrow after this project is over.

Here's the other video at the point where he mentions it too.

I don't think there was an official announcement about a premium vs low end C4D. Here's the stream today where Chris mentions these nodes are only for Maxon One subscribers>

I know.. they've decided it's a good idea to make "premium" nodes and assets I guess. basically it won't let you download them, which is confusing to people that may not know about this two tier C4D approach they've got now. You just see a cloud with a strike through it.

Seriously, what kind of crap is this? Maxon and RL are creating node operators and specific scenes which are only for Maxon One users? I just saw the live stream and someone commented on it as I wasn't aware. Why is Maxon making it so we have 2 different versions of C4D again? One with extra working capsules and expanded Scene Nodes and one with just the basics. How does this work when someone with Maxon One passes a file to someone who doesn't have Maxon one? Do those nodes/capsules get disabled? "Sorry bro.. you need the ONE in order to work on this project with us...it's a capsule thing." Sorry Maxon, but this shit is just petty. You said content would be updated constantly in the Asset Library. Not once did you mention you get MORE assets and robust nodes if you buy extra crap you don't need with Maxon One. Why should I buy Red Giant stuff just to get extra node operators in C4D? My sub is up in a month. Maxon is making it hard for me to keep going with continued tactics like this.

Cloth only worked ok for 1m and then it fell apart at that right angle. . You can also try the Solidify capsule (make sure all the polys are selected as you only had some top ones selected initially. Sometimes the Solidify works and other times it is bad. Proper shell would be great.

I think he solved the problem for you, but typically Apple wants you to use .mov. It's simple enough to rename.

that's the beauty of working with primatives. you can keyframe their properties directly. There's no need to do any point level work. It really depends on the animation if you can use simple primatives like this.

They are just simple shapes. In this case, use a rectangle object, throw it under an extrude then keyframe the width and height of the rectange. to animate the thickness, you could keframe the extrude > offset.