Modo 801 Release

[MauricioPC]

Depending on your need for fluids, there's also RealFlow, which is cheaper now ($2500) and it's years ahead of BiFrost.

[Greg]

Totally hear you on that, I'm 43 with 2 kids. I've had NukeX and Softimage sitting on hard drives for over a year and haven't had time to touch them. I have software that I buy (Realflow, Elemenet3D, zbrush, substance) that I never use or even install (facepalm). Back in the day (before kids) I would have attacked NukeX and mastered it in a couple of months. I was originally a LW guy (probably before some people here were born, lol) and 'had' to move to Maya when the writing was on the wall that the industry was moving to Maya. It took me a year (pre-kids) to feel comfortable doing a project in it and it was a force of will not to go back to what I knew. So I understand how it feels, if The Foundry were to kill Modo for some reason I would be beside myself.

Modo definitely would not be the right software for your project, maybe in a year (retargeting was implemented in 801, but an NLA and more robust keyframe management tools aren't in yet). Good luck with everything - animation is a weird business where people in their early 40's are basically the 'old timers'. I always said I would slow down after I hit 40, no more all nighters or 7 days in a row in front of a computer. I'm 43 and it hasn't happened yet. I have a feeling you won't be seeing a lot of animators in their 60's - because we'll all be dead. : )

-Greg

[/quote]
Hi Greg,
I will give you this, Modo has potential. But, i am in my early 40's so whatever
C[/quote]

[angus_davidson]

Well I am 43 with 2 kids and moving my personal stuff to Modo ;)

We have to teach maya for the next 2 years at least , and even though I open it each day I just cant bear to spend more then 15 minutes in it.

[MauricioPC]

Well I am 43 with 2 kids and moving my personal stuff to Modo ;)
We have to teach maya for the next 2 years at least , and even though I open it each day I just cant bear to spend more then 15 minutes in it.

I don't hate Maya that much, but I think Modo is more enjoyable to look at.

[grendizer]

Let's teach our kids Houdini and Modo, no more free time problems! ;)

[angus_davidson]

Let's teach our kids Houdini and Modo, no more free time problems! ;)

Well in about 8 years time or so (they are stil only 4 and 6) I have two in house minions for production work ;)

[pcd]

Totally hear you on that, I'm 43 with 2 kids. I've had NukeX and Softimage sitting on hard drives for over a year and haven't had time to touch them. I have software that I buy (Realflow, Elemenet3D, zbrush, substance) that I never use or even install (facepalm). Back in the day (before kids) I would have attacked NukeX and mastered it in a couple of months. I was originally a LW guy (probably before some people here were born, lol) and 'had' to move to Maya when the writing was on the wall that the industry was moving to Maya. It took me a year (pre-kids) to feel comfortable doing a project in it and it was a force of will not to go back to what I knew. So I understand how it feels, if The Foundry were to kill Modo for some reason I would be beside myself.

Modo definitely would not be the right software for your project, maybe in a year (retargeting was implemented in 801, but an NLA and more robust keyframe management tools aren't in yet). Good luck with everything - animation is a weird business where people in their early 40's are basically the 'old timers'. I always said I would slow down after I hit 40, no more all nighters or 7 days in a row in front of a computer. I'm 43 and it hasn't happened yet. I have a feeling you won't be seeing a lot of animators in their 60's - because we'll all be dead. : )
-Greg

Well, not sure about you but i plan to go offline after i hit 50. Old timer or not i still can put some cats out of my hat and win projects against youngsters. ;) Not sure about you but i want to go past 60 , so i am eliminated all nighters, not so much 7 days in a row or lack of vacation. Well, last year i done a lot of over night work and 7 days in a row. So far, this year i avoided too much all night working and got Sundays off. It feels very good to go to church and not think of anything...
C

[angus_davidson]

Become an educator ;) The hours are better , the pay is most likely worse. Its very good for the soul though.

[pcd]

Well I am 43 with 2 kids and moving my personal stuff to Modo ;)

We have to teach maya for the next 2 years at least , and even though I open it each day I just cant bear to spend more then 15 minutes in it.

I tried, oh boy i tried to work on that software but it's a nightmare. Not sure how it got to be 'industry standard', i guess too much proprietary tools of the big studios. If there is any software that i hate without even try to do so, then it has to be Maya. I used it on Macintosh, on Windows and with each release i say 'let's check again, maybe it's improved'. Nope, same old crap witch only provides a base for big players to use their proprietary tools. For me, average Joe who want a simple to use yet powerful software, at a decent price it's a no go. Out of the box it's a crap. I don't have any 'love' towards any software, i'm a professional who needs the best tools for the job. But i do hate that Maya crap.

Word of advice for Foundry guys: if you want Modo to grow you need tutorials and tools from community. I mean, if you want people to use Modo, tutorials needs to be free, not 25$ each, ok? So you better start add FREE tutorials and support/promote plugins developed by the community. And add a free learning edition(Houdini has Apprentice, Maya once had personal learning edition) asap for single peoples and schools. If you're not in the schools you're not in the business either. Start to incorporate that plugins from outside into the main soft. ACS, CAD, NPR and so on are still on extra payment, really? Then why i pay for the software? For two features you include with every release? How do you support plugin developers if you don't buy they products and include them into the main software? Greed is path to destruction.... Until you have this things you will always be a niche product. If you start to look like autodicks people will run from you as fast as they can. Don't you think for a minute, like autodesk, that there is no alternative. So put your s...t together and start act like a proper company and we will adopt you.

p.s. Did i mentioned i hate Maya so much that i will learn any other combo of software and pay any amount of money just not to use it? ;)

[angus_davidson]

Well I am 43 with 2 kids and moving my personal stuff to Modo ;)

We have to teach maya for the next 2 years at least , and even though I open it each day I just cant bear to spend more then 15 minutes in it.

I tried, oh boy i tried to work on that software but it's a nightmare. Not sure how it got to be 'industry standard', i guess too much proprietary tools of the big studios. If there is any software that i hate without even try to do so, then it has to be Maya. I used it on Macintosh, on Windows and with each release i say 'let's check again, maybe it's improved'. Nope, same old crap witch only provides a base for big players to use their proprietary tools. For me, average Joe who want a simple to use yet powerful software, at a decent price it's a no go. Out of the box it's a crap. I don't have any 'love' towards any software, i'm a professional who needs the best tools for the job. But i do hate that Maya crap.

Word of advice for Foundry guys: if you want Modo to grow you need tutorials and tools from community. I mean, if you want people to use Modo, tutorials needs to be free, not 25$ each, ok? So you better start add FREE tutorials and support/promote plugins developed by the community. And add a free learning edition(Houdini has Apprentice, Maya once had personal learning edition) asap for single peoples and schools. If you're not in the schools you're not in the business either. Start to incorporate that plugins from outside into the main soft. ACS, CAD, NPR and so on are still on extra payment, really? Then why i pay for the software? For two features you include with every release? How do you support plugin developers if you don't buy they products and include them into the main software? Greed is path to destruction.... Until you have this things you will always be a niche product. If you start to look like autodicks people will run from you as fast as they can. Don't you think for a minute, like autodesk, that there is no alternative. So put your s...t together and start act like a proper company and we will adopt you.

p.s. Did i mentioned i hate Maya so much that i will learn any other combo of software and pay any amount of money just not to use it? ;)

Dont worry we are busy working on them with regards to exactly that.

[Hirazi Blue]

Do you really expect the Foundry/Luxology to significantly change their roadmap and/or implement too many wishes from a group of former Softimage users they already lured in as customers? Call me cynical (and you'd be correct), but I think the novelty of trying to please those poor homeless Softimage users will wear off rather quickly (but I do hope I'm wrong). They're primarily in the business of "making money" too...

[pcd]

Do you really expect the Foundry/Luxology to significantly change their roadmap and/or implement too many wishes from a group of former Softimage users they already lured in as customers? Call me cynical (and you'd be correct), but I think the novelty of trying to please those poor homeless Softimage users will wear off rather quickly (but I do hope I'm wrong). They're primarily in the business of "making money" too...

In my naivety i think that Foundry guys will want to go after the full market, not just us homeless guys. And i'm not sure we are quite homeless either, there is always that little thing called 'pact with the devil' Maya. ;) Not to count Cinema4d and Houdini. So at least there still is some form of alternative. I did not count 3dsMax(i like it very much) because when i'm looking at latest 2-3 releases i keep hearing 'dead man walking'.

[MauricioPC]

Do you really expect the Foundry/Luxology to significantly change their roadmap and/or implement too many wishes from a group of former Softimage users they already lured in as customers? Call me cynical (and you'd be correct), but I think the novelty of trying to please those poor homeless Softimage users will wear off rather quickly (but I do hope I'm wrong). They're primarily in the business of "making money" too...

In that sense, I liked the SideFX approach the most. They invited the good Softimage users to help out on the forums with advice, tips, etc. I bet they are taking that stuff into consideration to improve the software. If not, they will still be a niche for FX TD's, something Softimage isn't.

As for Modo, I need to try 801 before and some things look interesting, but I do agree with the 3rd party message. Look at C4D ... there's a LOT of great 3rd Party stuff coming out. You have TurbulenceFD (which is great), Krakatoa now, X-Particles, the Nitro4D stuff, V-Ray, Arnold is coming, I mean ... now it needs Cebas to release Thinking Particles 6 to C4D and I can see lots of remaining Max FX users switching to C4D.

In my naivety i think that Foundry guys will want to go after the full market, not just us homeless guys. And i'm not sure we are quite homeless either, there is always that little thing called 'pact with the devil' Maya. ;) Not to count Cinema4d and Houdini. So at least there still is some form of alternative. I did not count 3dsMax(i like it very much) because when i'm looking at latest 2-3 releases i keep hearing 'dead man walking'.

As for 3ds Max, Gary M Davis (senior product specialist) said this yesterday on facebook.

Gary M Davis
15 hrs · Orlando, FL, United States · Edited ·
On this day, Eddie fully unleashed the 3ds Max crystal ball to me and I wept tears of joy like a little schoolgirl.

Now ... this is similar to Bellsey posting something like this about Softimage. I don't think he would lie and of course things can change. But you have lots of great Max artists feeling very confident about what has been talked to/shown to them.

And animation aside, I prefer using 3ds Max than Maya anytime ... even with it's slowness and buggy things.

[grendizer]

What does this cryptic message mean?

To answer Hirazi. I don't think Softimage is just a bunch of niche users. People in the 3d industry know that Softimage had a very nice workflow. Why would editors of next gen apps ignore the good ideas of the XSI way of working?
I still beleive XSI had a chance to compete with Max and Maya if it wasn't engulfed into Autodesk. XSI's main assets were its way of thinking, working, its great Tools like ICE. Modo, Houdini, C4D, they still have a chance, and they're independant from Autodesk. Like XSI, their main assets are their Tools and perhaps a new way to work more efficiently for 3d artists.

Personaly I favor Houdini because it has a non linear and non destructive way of working, just like XSI. But it seems more complicated to use than Soft. I'll keep using XSI but I'll watch current and future versions of Houdini. It is said SideFX want to make modellers and animators at home with houdini so that means great improvement on its interface and usability.

There 's one proof the "XSI way" won't be forgotten. Take a look at pixar's presto. It looks just like Softimage. And I don't think it's only because there's an ex-SI developper in Presto's team. He's not the only one taking decisions at Pixar I beleive.

[luchifer]

What does this cryptic message mean?

To answer Hirazi. I don't think Softimage is just a bunch of niche users. People in the 3d industry know that Softimage had a very nice workflow. Why would editors of next gen apps ignore the good ideas of the XSI way of working?
I still beleive XSI had a chance to compete with Max and Maya if it wasn't engulfed into Autodesk. XSI's main assets were its way of thinking, working, its great Tools like ICE. Modo, Houdini, C4D, they still have a chance, and they're independant from Autodesk. Like XSI, their main assets are their Tools and perhaps a new way to work more efficiently for 3d artists.

Personaly I favor Houdini because it has a non linear and non destructive way of working, just like XSI. But it seems more complicated to use than Soft. I'll keep using XSI but I'll watch current and future versions of Houdini. It is said SideFX want to make modellers and animators at home with houdini so that means great improvement on its interface and usability.

There 's one proof the "XSI way" won't be forgotten. Take a look at pixar's presto. It looks just like Softimage. And I don't think it's only because there's an ex-SI developper in Presto's team. He's not the only one taking decisions at Pixar I beleive.

I always thought that the problem with XSI was with the way it was marketed... ICE is supposed to be easy, artist friendly, but it is not, at least not if you dont know anything about programming or mathemathics, while on the other hand, Houdini is advertised correctly as it is, a great, hard to master software. In houdini you know you need to learn a lot... but in XSI the marketing guys keep telling you "ICE is easy!" and they dont even know what ICE is supposed to be.

Many people believed that ICE was just for particles, and if you see houdini, they have solutions out of the box for doing volcanos, smoke, sea, and I think also tornados... while in XSI you need to start from scratch almost every time because it lacks presets (just compare the vast ammount of presets in Houdini with.. ahem...the ICE Model Library)

edit.. to further elaborate.. was it really too hard to organize the ICE Model Library in tabs like fire effects / atmospheric effects / lightning effects / topology / etc and add different models as out of the box solutions?

example in houdini of an out of the box solution http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option= ... Itemid=132

[grendizer]

I think the problem here is lack of development.
Ice is not that complicated, following some tutorials in the doc and on the web, you can get started pretty easily