3D-Pangel

Good...hopefully it is all positive which is the sense I am getting from Srek and Hrvoje posting about how they are looking forward to today's presentation. As MAXON employee's, that is a good sign (I don't recall them making similar posts last year.....I am sure that they saw the storm clouds in 2019 when subscriptions were announced). You must also be happy to finally have the NDA lifted as well. So let's speculate: fluids in R22. I think it will happen. You can see the ground work being laid by the introduction of fluid fields in R21, the support for openVDB and the volume builder in R20, and the ability to port over some good volumetric shading techniques from Redshift into AR. That's the extent of my speculation. Dave

Oh...oh. That sounds ominous. Do you know something we don't? It sounds like you are predicting that something will be said at today's presentation that will either raise a lot of questions/debates or be met with a lot of resistance. I am starting to have a PTSD flashback to 2019. Will today's presentation give me another reason to hate 2020? Dave

Will Mr McGavrans presentation be available for streaming immediately after the presentation? I have a conflict at that hour.

I mean, one look at my Avatar and you can tell where I stand on that topic. ...but... I am still here but we are coming up to an interesting decision point. Again, the beauty of the old MSA was that if you did not sign-up again when the MSA expired you were out of the program. So MSA holders all had firm dates (the date when their maintenance plans expired) to make a decision on whether or not to continue with C4D. My MSA expiration date was always September 1st which was well timed because by then you knew what was going to be in the next release. But now that I use permanent licenses only, the decision to upgrade to R22 or not shifts to when "I think" they are going to announce R23 or S23. That gives me more time to decide...and more time MAXON has to wait to get my money. Hopefully, all other permanent license holders take advantage of time being on their side and don't jump in right away with their permanent license upgrades. They offered a 30% off sale on pretty much everything BUT perpetual license upgrades a few weeks ago. Maybe time will change that position. I will admit that with the two programs and numbering schemes - S22 and R21 - it is hard to predict what rules they apply on upgrading perpetual licenses one revision until the next release is announced. Was S22 the next release? Will there be an R22 in September or do they go right to R23? Paying a two revision upgrade cost for my perpetual license from R21 to R23 in September will put me out of the game...so let's hope they don't do that. Tomorrow will be interesting. Let us hope they do not forget that Blender gives us options. Dave

So.....tomorrow is the "MAXON 3D & Motion Design Show: The Siggraph Edition" with the Mr. McGavran kicking off the show with: "some exciting announcements and a few sneak peeks at the future of MAXON products" and not one thread about what to expect in the next release in the Cafe? Did I miss something? If I did not miss something and there really is complete silence, then could it be due to one or more of the following? We don't expect anything different than what has already been announced in S22. We finally got an update to the UV editing system in S22!!! Anything after that is anti-climatic. We have no further expectations so there is no point in speculating. We realize that speculation is pointless...so why bother. We will get what we get....so just wait for it. Mr. McGavran's R21 Siggraph presentation spun the room with the announcement of subscriptions which was the bulk of his presentation. As such, we don't remember that presentation for its feature discussion because we were all in denial. Based on that experience, which was a shock to everyone's system, we are fearful of what he has to say this year and therefore don't want to talk about it. In short, we still have PTSD. Usually by now we would have a 3 page thread going with everyone pitching in their hopes and dreams. In that discussion, which can switch from civil to nasty with one post, there would be: The usual list of features covering the same areas of the program in need of an update. Some really valid points being made about features we never knew we needed. Arguments raging over why do we have to wait so long for much needed features - including those we never knew we needed until they were mentioned in the thread. A well timed post from 3D-Kiwi about life after MAXON. Predictions over MAXON's future which only generates more controversy. At least two threats from the moderators threatening to shut the thread down if tempers continue to escalate. A few posts from brave MAXON employee's trying to be the voice of reason. ....hmmm.....maybe the silence is better. Dave

Not sure what shader engine you are using (C4D, Redshift, Cycles 4D)....but the ambient level of the smoke is too high and that is what makes it look cartoony. The actual fluidity looks great and I do love the lens flare. Also, if you feel that the motion is too light, there is a setting under the xpExplosia ---> Simulation tab called gravity. Gravity controls the overall strength of heat, smoke and fuel buoyancy so if you want to DECREASE their buoyancy then you also DECREASE the gravity setting....which is a bit counter-intuitive (normally, things should get more buoyant if gravity decreases). Personally, I have found that creating the fluid motion is easy...but the real effort goes into shading and getting the density, temperature and fuel settings just right. Working with actual liquids (for me at least) always takes less effort than creating that "perfect" explosion where hot fire turns to smoke as it cools. That takes a lot of fiddling through the entire process (simulation --> rendering --> post processing). Dave

Okay....here it is 9:30 PM and I have just finished work for the day and will now indulge in a bit of mindless TV. So as you can see, I don't watch a lot of TV. Maybe an hour during the weekdays and two hours on the weekends. So I go to YouTube. The videos are short, and I can usually get through 3 to 4 short clips before I fall asleep (hey....it has been a long day that started at 5:00 AM...so no judging). My guilty pleasure on YouTube is Corridor Digital. Yep...I am a fan. Their "VFX Artists" react segments is what drew me in (Niko Pueringer gives some really good critiques which are very educational by themselves), but their short films are hysterical and side projects (like playing Jenga with cinder blocks) just keep my hooked. Also, the things Wren Wiechman does with a drone are pretty insane. He is also a mechanical engineer (like me - I would love to find out where he went to college) and so I enjoy it when he tackles engineering problems with a good CAD tool and a 3D printer. Very clever stuff going on there. They also use C4D at their studio: Corridor Digital. Well, actually Clinton Jones uses C4D at their studio. You can sometimes spot him wearing a MAXON T-shirt during their pod-cast. So I am really looking forward to seeing Clinton Jones present at MAXON's 3D Motion and Design Show on July 21st. Based on the work done on the Bosstown robot videos, I am sure it will be a good talk on photo real visual effects. But if not, he can always set himself on fire again....yes...they did that too. Good wholesome mindless entertainment for the work-weary. Dave

Well...you folks are doing a great job. So far, from where I sit, this seems to be going smoothly. Dave

Loaded fast on both Chrome and Edge. Overall, I am enjoying the new Edge better than Chrome right now so glad to see it working on Edge. Chrome is a little bit slower but I got tired of Google tracking everything I do across multiple apps so I loaded the Duck-Duck Go app to be spared the spam advertising on Chrome without having to log out. That may explain the speed difference in load times....not sure. Dave

Hmmmm....both humble and very good. I hate him. 😀 Without even seeing the wire frames, just looking at the tire and tire rim and I have an appreciation for your talent. Plus the lighting is well done. The car paint could have a bit more gloss but otherwise the renders are nicely executed. Again, very good. Dave

Just wanted to post a few free things that I have come across in my travels 1) Free HDRI Timelapse file from Evermotion: https://hdrmaps.com/free-hdri-sky-timelapse/. A 300 frame timelapse of a rolling sky. Be warned...as with all things Evermotion, the file size is pretty big. Over 17 Gb. 2) A pretty good library of high resolution leaves with associated maps: http://www.treesdesigner.com/materials-library/ 3) Good site of Blender models (mostly sci fi...which is always a plus): https://www.blendswap.com/profile/1915/blends 4) As I also have a love for hard surface modeling techniques: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyowChgs-7b38q2Bi0cKXOA/videos Dave

Interesting series and the design aesthetic you have is perfect for getting new users comfortable with the program while having some success actually creating something they could be proud of. ....but if I may make a suggestion. Do NOT use Skillshare's auto sub-title capability. While you speak clear English (and quite well), if you are going to have Skillshare turn it into sub-titles, I think you need to talk a bit slower. To put it bluntly, the sub-title translations are pretty funny: Who is Cinema Freddie and why do we care what he learned? A little confused here. Are you saying this course will improve my credit in New Jersey or "Cinema Freddies" credit in New Jersey? We do not want to be racially insensitive during training, so why you are singling out 6 Jews from Missouri? So if I lie, you are going to mark what????? Please leave those alone...but I can understand why they are being covered.😄 Good luck with the course!!! Dave

Awesome tool! I love it because sometimes you set a selection on one object, then move to another object to work on it a bit and when you move back to your original object, you forget that you had left it with a selection that is already active. Therefore, I am always falling into this trap. Brilliant! Dave

Are we talking about the hand and the wrist coming together in the top video? Honestly, I don't think that the hand and the wrist are joined as one piece of geometry. I still see creases indicating that both models are unique.

So what renderer is being used in that Insydium video? Is it AR or Cycles? My key question is this: at the start of the video (around 0:40) they show these VERY simple controls for adjusting smoke and fire. Does that level of control work with C4D's native Advanced Render or were they using Cycles 4D? Just wondering if you still need to export VDB data to Redshift to get that level of real time adjustment. Hopefully, you lucky beta testers will be able to provide some insight. Thanks, Dave

Welcome back and thank you for making your plugin free to the community. Just wondering if you have used R21 (either in demo mode or via a license). I ask because I would be interested to know if the corner cases handled better by your plugin were resolved with the bevel improvements made in R21. Learn more here: Now...don't get me wrong..this is NOT a criticism of any sort. Anyone who can develop a bevel plugin deserves my immediate respect as the math is incredibly complex. So kudos to you. Recognizing that level of complexity, I would NOT be surprised that even the work they did in R21 sufficiently captures "every" situation. Therefore, just wondering what holes your plugin fills. Thanks, Dave

I love it. They just keep get better and better..... You are like the "Beeple" of animation/compositing/VFX work... What a neat legacy of memories you are creating, especially if you keep going as she get's older. Just imagine 20+ years from now when you have all those animations playing on a continuous loop (via holographic projection of course) during some major event in your daughters life (graduation, wedding, etc). Dave

Okay....if you are NOT yet convinced to stick with XP, this should do it: Honestly....this just blows my mind. It looks WAY more easier to use than TFD with far better results! Again, Insydium just kills it! Unbelievable. Dave

If MAXON ever offered a sale such as 30% off the next 5 successive perpetual license upgrades (from R22 through R26) ....I would take out a loan. ...yep...I keep dreaming. Dave

Wow....amazing. I do appreciate the amount of work you put into those 6 seconds and can therefore understand your first comment: "Now I know why just 1 person does not make shorts" Not sure what you have planned, but I hope that the lighting, modeling, texturing and rigging (which you did to an outstanding level of perfection) were the lions share of the work that needed to be done. Hopefully, the rest of the work (animating?) goes quicker and therefore keeps your interest and energy level high so that we benefit from seeing more. So please don't be discouraged! I personally can't wait to see what comes next! Dave

Good question that requires Jawset to answer. Jawset should allow you to link to a new machine within an existing license. People do upgrade their hardware and hard drives do fail (I would assume that the MAC address of your hard drive is how your machine is identified to Jawset). So they have to allow changes. Question is though....how often. Usually there is a set number of times you are allowed to link an existing license to a different machine or a set period of time between when you can change that hardware link within an existing license. Usually, the limit is on the number of times you can change your hardware within an existing license as that is easier to control. Whatever the control is, Jawset needs to protect themselves against users using a volume license like a floating license...and protect themselves from all the annoying user requests to make those changes. If you do get an answer, please let us know. Dave

You are welcome. Now...let me confuse you some more. Do not be intimidated by X-Particles. I can understand your reluctance to get X-Particles because it is just a massively huge program only because it does so much: particles, fluids, smoke, cloth, volume breaking, volume rendering, grains, dynamics and multi-physics where one physical simulation affects another simulation (like a stream of water hitting a blanket and the cloth simulation on the blanket reacts to the fluid simulation and the fluid simulation in turn reacts to the cloth simulation). On the plus side, XP is very modular. You don't need to learn EVERY part of the program and can easily get amazing smoke effects with just as much ease as you could get from TFD. The only advantage of TFD is that it has its own build in renderer whereas XP really works best with Cycles 4D if you are looking for volumetric rendering. BUT....you have Redshift which is a much better and faster render engine than Cycles 4D and it can do volume rendering as well. Now, XP is almost twice the cost of TFD ($769 USD vs $469 USD) but that additional $300 gets you about 5 more simulation packages (fluids, grains, cloth, volume breaking, and particles) which all work together! Now, you do have to pay an annual maintenance, but XP just keeps growing! I would be hard pressed to find any current XP user who does not feel that they are getting their money's worth from their maintenance plan. Now let's talk about XP training. Bob Walmsley is a tremendous teacher. He is the Hrvoje of Insydium. Clear, concise and he takes you through all the traps and pitfalls that you may encounter when using the program ("So why did nothing happen?") and then explains how to get the program to do what you wanted it to do, why it didn't work the first time and the logic behind it all (which is the most important part). His teaching just sticks. Hear it once and you get it immediately. In fact, I do most of my learning watching one of his tutorials while on the exercise bike. I don't have C4D open...I just listen and it all sticks! He's that good! I have and love TFD....but I got it long before XP ever came out. I am glad I have both as TFD is great to use if you need to add something quick without too much fuss. Now if you want to do something truly amazing, you need to get XP. Almost as powerful as Houdini and infinitely easier and more fun to use. Dave

TFD is a great program but in all the years that I have been using that program (since 2012) I have never seen a sale. BUT..... That program is faithfully supported with a constant set of updates all free of charge. In short, you pay once and then never pay again for maintenance contracts or new licenses for future C4D versions. To me, that is a deal. Here is a quick snapshot of all there updates over the years (not sure why I save them...it must be the process engineer in me - we tend to be pack rats and document everything): So in the long run, TFD is a pretty good deal. Pay for it once and never pay again. Not sure how Jawset stays in business over all these years unless their user base just keeps growing, but with that model you can clearly understand why they never have a sale. With that said, there is a rumor that a MAJOR release is coming from Jawset. Not sure what, but it sounds like a stand alone simulation program (which most likely still supports C4D). No idea of dates but it does make sense as TFD has been at Version 1 status as long as I have used it with no significantly NEW features (like liquids, flow field visualizations, built in particle systems, etc) other than refinements, speed increases and the ability to work with other plugins as they get updated (eg. X-Particles). I mention that ONLY because I have no idea how Jawset will handle the release of that new program/version with their existing customer base -- especially considering (as you noticed) they never offer a sale. But then again, no guidance either on whether you should wait or not. Hey, it has been over 8 years after all. Final point being....better to know now than not know. Dave

Absolutely agree! Very hard to walk away from all the fluid/VFX awesomeness. Yes. TFD is also easier to use but it really slows down when it has to work with XP...which is a big pain point for me. But then again, shading XP fire simulations is not as straight forward as TFD and you only get really good results with Cycles 4D.....again another pain point. Probably the best path for both speed and quality is to cache the VDB file from XP and use Redshift. But I agree...they should really improve their fire shading such that there is NO reliance on more plugins. Dave

Okay....is this from the XP 2021 release program? Seriously....there is just so much packed into this update it is amazing. Personally, I felt that the original FLIP solver was a little clunky (slow, poor collisions, particles leaking out all over the place). Putting it side by side with the APIC solver in the speed test at 4:47 really drives home the point. I am thinking that the redone fluid solver is also what is behind all the other advancements like flowfields and the ocean solver. I would love to see how this works with grains (more speed improvements?). My excitement level is growing. After each video I need a cigarette (wink...wink...nod...nod...you know what I mean). 😄 Again, just amazed at Insydium. With each new release I keep thinking "Wow...look at all they have added! There is no way they can top this release". But they do...every time. As they keep topping themselves, maybe I need to raise my expectations. So here goes: Is large scale fluid simulations finally within reach? Do we dare hope for something similar to this in our future? Dave