3D-Pangel

Honestly, I think you need to be a long time modo user to appreciate what those upgrades are all about. It took almost as long to read the title of the feature than it did to watch the demonstration. The video went by them too fast to fully appreciate what they were about. But the titles were cool. I half-expected to see "Subliminal Poly Melting" or "Cognitive Mesh Dissonance" pop up. 🙂 I do get the sense thought that modo really is pushing boolean modeling as a key technique. What I don't fully appreciate is how that technique supports quads, polygonal flow or proper UV's. Dave

Don't forget that for GPU render engines, the clock speed of the CPU and the number of PCIe lanes between the CPU, GPU and the drives are all equally important (eg. you want a fast and wide highway to move data to and from the GPU). I am not that familiar with what is possible with graphics laptops as power consumption and heat dissipation work against fast processing power for the GPU and CPU -- so I would imagine that there are some careful tradeoffs that need to be made. Dave

Cinemagic magazine was stuffed with cheap ideas to get neat shots on a shoe string budget. Or how about using a beam splitter and a chalk board to create volumetric light rays in your miniature shots! Or building a miniature camera dolly system using model railroad tracks - which was a better idea than mounting the camera platform to a wooden U-shaped channel built by two 2x4's and a 2x8 which then fit over a 4x4 beam --- all greased by Vaseline so it would slide --- though I think that method was used by Sam Raimi when making The Evil Dead. I even purchased rear screen projection material to do stop motion animation and a two-way glass beam splitter for any in-camera tricks -- all using my 8mm camera that had single frame capability. Edmunds Scientific Catalogue was a treasured resource at the time - though I could not afford any of it. I wished for linear or angular translation slides to precisely animate a camera dolly or camera pan the way CG artists wish for nVidia GPU's today. Playing with all that stuff with little to no money also juiced your innovative thinking skills -- if only because that is all you had. For example, one innovation involved a Christmas bulb. It was a nice flat, big white Christmas bulb. It never made the Christmas decorations that year because I grabbed it, hung it against black velvet and then set up a slide projector off to the side and projected nature slides onto it (or anything that had greens and blues). Instant planet complete with terminator. I then made a scrim out of see-through dark pantyhose stretched over black coat-hangers, placed that in front of the Christmas bulb and shined a bit of blue light on that scrim to wash out the planet a bit. I then double exposed that image into an outdoor day time photo and you have a planet appearing in your daytime sky. You really need to play with these real world techniques as they do help inform you of what looks right real time in a very physical way. All of which (I believe IMHO) makes you a better CG artist. Case in point: Dennis Muren. 9 time VFX Oscar winner (the 4th highest of all time) came from the school of in-camera old time effects. You can even read about him re-making the effects of Rocket Ship X-M in Cinemagic Issue #1. Now he ushered in the CG revolution in filmmaking with both Young Sherlock Holmes, The Abyss and Jurassic Park but what got him the Oscar's for those films was understanding how to make CG look real and I am sure that only came from his experience shooting and lighting real miniatures. Other films with CG at the time (like Lawnmower Man or Johnny Mnemonic) look exactly like a computer made them. Dave

Awesome! Thank you for those links! We share a common history. Cinemagic was a great magazine. I think I have the majority of their issues and remember articles on how to capture computer generated images off the PC monitor that was in this issue. For those who never lived in an age without desktop CGI, it was a really painful process --- involving three separate red, blue and green exposure passes because color monitors did not exist back then (just your old "Matrix" green monitors). Not sure how that worked on a non pin registered 8mm camera. There were also articles on the works of some of today's VFX professionals back when they were teens. One of those films (also found in the same issue as scanning images off of a monitor) was by Mark Sullivan called "Highrise". Be sure to watch it on YouTube. When you think of the talent and ingenuity required for a teenager to pull off that short film with 1980 film technology, you can only be impressed. Mark went on to work at ILM as a matte painter. Did you get the spinoff books on Stop Motion Animation? I still have a ball-and-socket armature I built more than 30 years ago sitting on my desk....great to play with during boring conference calls and better than a fidget spinner! 🙂 Dave Speaking of matte painters....here is another great resource on their work over the years

One of the first magazines on fantastic filmmaking (eg. horror, fantasy and special effects) out there was Cinefantastique. That magazine existed from 1970 to around 2006. I never subscribed as there are some genres that don't interest me (like horror or zombies) but anything relating to science fiction, stop motion animation, and/or Ray Harryhausen ended up on my bookshelf. In fact, it was the double issue on the Making of Star Wars that got me hooked on visual effects at a young age. Well...the loss of Cinefex (the journal of cinematic illusions) earlier this year when they announced that they have gone out of business has left a big hole in my reading list so I started searching the web for something on-line (who does print anymore?). This brought me back to my old favorite Cinefantastique: Cinefantastique Magazine: 1970-2002 : Cinefantastique : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Now, not every issue is found here for free, but 182 of them should keep me busy. I have always felt that knowing the old methods when people actually got their hands dirty to make something look real is a great way to inform your CGI skills on how to make something look real in the computer. Dave

Fair enough....and I did say "on occasion" to point out the fact that you do listen at times. I just encourage you to always listen given your position within Maxon. In some cases (emphasis on "some cases") in the discussion on nodes, you do pivot to defense with statements along the lines of "too late to change now" or "very difficult to implement", etc. Better to just say "I understand and will consider it again". Simple as that. Dave

This post really hit home for me. I think Maxon has a two serious problems: A communication problem and a listening problem. Most companies have a ELT (executive leadership team) position that embraces the concept of "customer listening" but so far, I am not seeing proof that listening is leading to any action. You may in fact be listening, but you could also be just ignoring us. Now, I do give high praise to Rick Barrett. He is an effective communicator and his communications do show that he is listening. He internalize the heart of the issue from a user perspective in all of his responses. Maxon would be in a worse place should he leave and we would be in a worse place should he no longer visit this forum. Srek - sorry but I am going to call you out for your own benefit - you could learn a great deal from Rick Barrett on communication that shows more listening. You tend to (on occasion) launch into defending (which is understandable), but as a Maxon employee please try to ALWAYS internalize the issue from the user perspective first before you give us your perspective. You are dealing with customers after all as a Maxon representative so understand that purely defensive arguments always come across to those customers as not being heard and not being heard always creates customer frustration which in turn leads to more attacks. Try to ask a few questions first -- seek first to really understand and you may find an easier go of it as I do recall the forum got so vicious against you at one time in the past you separated yourself from it. No one wants that to happen again. Customer goodwill is also something that Maxon needs to work on. It is a real asset and should be treated as such. That asset is the positive word of mouth that customer goodwill creates - which is a very powerful marketing tool. Maxon's goodwill bank account is showing a rather serious deficit right now (another symptom of not listening). Had that goodwill been preserved, then it could have arrested the negative trending created by R25. If you don't think there is negative trending on R25, then please ask yourselves why this thread is 55 pages long. Finally, I have to ask: What is the overall development strategy at Maxon with the new core. After 5+ years, I think I see it but then again it is not plainly evident. Now, I am not asking for your development timeline but rather a discussion about strategy. For example, we don't see any improvements to aging modules -- so you have to ask why. We don't see very useful plugins being implemented as fast as they should be. Again, why? This all points to strategy as only adhering to a strategy can these questions be answered. So think it would be more productive if we ALL knew what that strategy was as then we would all be level set and on the same page as to what to expect. For example, it could be either one or all of: Program integration with other applications as opposed to developing those capabilities internally. Don't improve Bodypaint but rather make the integration with Substance Painter tighter. The strategy therefore is: we can't make everything best-of-breed but we can make C4D work with best-of-breed applications. Grow capsules so the user can more easily create their own tools. The strategy there is: user needs are constantly evolving and to just add specific tools that meet those changing needs creates and unwieldy software base that becomes harder to manage over time. Didn't we just clean-up that code base with the new core? Focus on workflow more than new tools. Strategy: If C4D becomes more tightly integrated with other applications, than its value in the pipeline is making it easier and faster to get things done and easier for the user to extend its capabilities. So again, what is the strategy? Every business has an "elevator pitch" strategy statement. That is, a strategy/vision that can be quickly communicated in 90 seconds or less (the average time to ride an elevator). High level, not to detailed, but impactful. Therefore, I would love to hear Maxon's elevator pitch. Dave

Like Mike A, I did issue a support request to gain access to ePortfolio over 6 days ago with no response. The request ticket I issued in reference to ePortfolio goes through the same system as all other support requests. I could issue another support ticket relating purely to R19 permanent SN's...but again, not to confident of getting a response as I suspect that support for old releases is just not a priority for Maxon....otherwise why shut down ePortfolio? Dave

Same here...so as the deadline is today and I hold no hope for any action after over a week of inactivity, I guess we are both left out. A little disappointed with Maxon....but that has become the norm I guess. Dave

The one thing that I picked up on immediately was also the one thing you were most disappointed about - the shadows. But there is an issue with the ship passing behind the leaves of the first tree. That is a tough one to fix. You could drop the ship lower so there is less to roto. What makes the issue pop out is that there is one whole branch at the front that disappears when it goes behind the ship and then pops back as the ship passes. That "pop" is what draws my eye to it.....but to be fair I had to view it frame by frame to really understand what was going on. I do have a suggestion shown below: Maybe do layers of different masks generated from frames where things are easier to isolate then parent them all together and track them to the shot Just a thought. Nevertheless, really outstanding as always. The dog is tracked really well (I did not know it was from another shot). This is a real "backyard adventure" in the making. I keep expected James Horner music in the background and a Steven Spielberg voice over. Dave

Welcome Victor. So what do you want to accomplish in the world of VFX? Fluids? Fracturing? Camera Tracking? Environment creation? It is a wide open field because it is now so mainstream. Be sure to check out the work of Macmangan in this forum and his progress videos on a UFO VFX short (found here). His work combines CG but with the aesthetics and ingenuity of the old VFX movies from the 1980's when they did everything with models and motion control camera systems. IMHO --- it is a real master class of VFX techniques from the past and present. Dave

Holger Biebrach has just released an update for his HB Modeling Bundle. The latest version is V2.34 which includes both S24 and R25 compatibility fixes and incorporation of his libraries into the R25 asset browser. The changelog for V2.34 is shown below: v2.34 10/2021 [Fixed] S24 Compatibility Fixes [Fixed] R25 Compatibility Fixes [New] R25 Asset Browser integration (Content Browser is Obsolete with R25) [Improved] HB_OverwriteMaterial now with Asset Browser support [New] Shortcut Delete without Children : (shift + BS) [Fixed] HB_PipeIt: Caps option works again (Shift-Modifier) [Removed] ColorSchemes (obsolete) In a rare move these days, it appears that this update is free to all current license holders. This places Holger right up there with Jascha Wetzel (Turbulence FD) as one of the most customer-centric developers out there. The 3D world needs more people like Holger. For those who have not purchased the HB Modeling Bundle, then find out more here Dave

Well...the right thing to do given that it appears ePortfolio is not up-to-date with its users (given how many people cannot log in) is to extend the 11/1 deadline until every last support case for a new password has been addressed. As their Help team is backlogged, this is the only fair thing to do. I used to always think Maxon would do the right thing for all its customers...but that confidence has been shaken as of late. Dave

Have you heard back yet on your support case? I issued mine for the same reason 3 days ago but have not heard back yet. Usually Maxon is pretty good about returning a response within 24 hours. ...maybe I am being blacklisted by the powers-that-be!! 😱 Dave

Thank you for that clarification. I just initiated a case as well. Dave

Okay I think I am all set because I do have full installers and permanent SN's for R20. I just opened up an old R13 file in R20 and it worked fine. I then saved it in R20 and opened it up again in R23 with no issues. I guess R20 and not R19 is when then they made the move to no longer support old file formats. So I have a path for my old WIPs to the new versions. Dave

Okay....after going through my office, I did find my R19 installer on a back-up disc. But I only have the temporary SN that comes with the download. Does ePortfolio provide the permanent serial numbers as well? Dave

Is ePortfolio a regional service? I ask because the site will not accept my current Maxon logins nor recognize my email address for a password reset. That email address has not changed for as long as I have used C4D. So I am left to wonder if ePortfolio is restricted to certain regions and not something for US based users. I would very much like to have an installer of R19 as that is the easiest way to get old files into the new core (eg. Load an R10 file into R19, save as R19 and then load that saved file into R25). Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Dave

I have nothing but praise for TFD and Jascha (if only all developers were like him...sigh) but from a feature perspective it was getting over-shadowed by XP so I started to use XP. This brings me back to Jawset -- especially the improvements on volume shading and the ability to directly control the glows and the "crusty" nature of an explosion. That was always the toughest part of TFD (for me at least). Now, what I find interesting is that while particles are being used, there is no mention of fluids? Nor could I discern any fluid "looking" icons in that screen shot of the interface. Is fluids part of "Reactions"? Finally, can "Reactions" work with fields? Very happy to see this development work. It was "hinted" about in the distant pass so eager to give it a download. Dave

Okay....30 seconds into the launch reveal and here is one outstanding conclusion. It is professionally done. It is in crisp focus and with clear sound. It is NOT a zoom call with the camera staring up the CEO's nose at some bizarre angle with muddled sound and frame rates that drop out. It is shot on a professional stage that is professionally lit and NOT shot in someone's garage, kitchen or hotel room. Amazing that Side Effects can afford this from the revenue of really only one core product and with Indie licensing to boot. Glad to see that SideFX takes pride in their software and treats their users with respect by taking the time prepare a clear and enticing launch video. When I watch a video such as this, one thing is clear: They are working to "earn" your business. You just don't get that same vibe from poorly produced and unprofessional launch videos as those we have seen in the recent past. Dave ....do I need to be more clear about the contrast of this launch video and those we have seen in the past from "other" programs ? If you haven't made the connection yet....think back to September.

Does R25 still support Houdini Engine. C4D is no longer listed on the Houdini Engine plugin page. Was support for Houdini engine removed as the implementation of nodes and capsules takes shape? If so, that is short sighted (IMHO) as I think inter-operability between two platforms only increases user acceptance of both platforms. I also don't think R25 is going to be a "go to" application for those who want the benefits that a procedural workflow gives you. Learning Houdini while keeping C4D could have been a good strategy had Houdini engine for C4D still existed. Removing it does NOT change my desire to learn Houdini but it does change my desire to keep C4D. Just another case where Maxon takes something away. Dave

Amazing talent...just amazing. Please tell me that Mr. Bubalo is actively employed as his work history ends in 2018. If his talent does not keep him employed doing what he loves, then I will be seriously depressed. Dave

I subscribed to your YouTube channel and activated the notifications button. I love the logo...it has spunk! It also rocks a really strong Marvel's vibe (as intended) without bringing itself to the attention of the Disney IP protection police. It flirts with it, but does not cross the line (they may have an issue with the outline of Thor's hammer, but honestly I don't think they would bother). Kudo's to the artist who created it! So do we call the hero "Houdini Man"? And is he launching lightening at the primitive or the other way around? Maybe he is in a battle with the primitive because it is only made up of triangles. When Houdini Man defeats it that primitive becomes all Quad's --- at which point the Eternals (Cerbera, Vector, Contrafibulatories) appear in a blaze of glory and invite you to the alternate universe in which only quads exist. ...yeah....I could go on but that is enough for today. Dave

Agreed...very helpful. I would love to get your thoughts on v19 when it is released relative to usability. Also, how does the fluid solver compare in complexity to XP? I did notice that there are a number of ready made presets in the menu bar but do the nodes follow an internal logical consistency whether it be smoke, liquids or grains? Or is a different workflow required for each different type of effect? Thanks, Dave

Can you help me unpack these two sentences. "It does not renew (yet), you have to purchase a new license after it expires". I would assume you mean that with the Indie license, there is no automatic renewal and you can continue to purchase Indie licenses year after year. At first read, it almost sounds like you can ONLY get the indie license for 1 year afterward you need to upgrade to either FX or Core. Ridiculous conclusion I know, but please humor me. The Indie license details are as follows: Note that you can use Indie on two computers (one artist -- or one activation at a time). That is good! Interesting that you cannot use Indie files in FX but can use FX files in Indie. That does not make sense in that you would think that the motivation would be for you to upgrade to FX - so why not take your work with you from the Indie version when you upgrade. That works to the advantage of the Indie user so please confirm as there was nothing I could find on this at the SideFX web-site. Also can anyone explain the difference between: .hiplc .hipnc .hdalc .hdanc Are these file formats unique to each version of Houdini? Understanding these file formats may help explain the inter-operability between versions. Honestly, the main attraction for me with Houdini Indie is the fluid FX so Indie is the only way to go. Houdini FX annual upgrade costs are a bit extreme at $2500/year (and I thought Maxon was bad). Dave