Senior Generalist position
Hey folks, We are looking for a senior generalist with an emphasis on lighting and shading. We do most of our lighting and rendering in Softimage currently but will be looking to transition this to Houdini over the next two years or so. Our rigging and animation is done in Maya for the most part, ideally you would have experience in all the above packages but a good attitude and the ability to pick stuff up fast trumps some of that... The position is in Brisbane, Australia a mid sized, family friendly city in a sub tropical climate. We are a small (but growing fast) VFX post production company that is artist owned and managed. The job is permanent, a rare thing in our industry these days, so please send me your reels and expressions of interest. Cheers, Nick www.altvfx.com
RE: SI and Houdini
into rendering guides. 1 2 now online http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forumItemid=172page=viewtopicp=151456#151456 Enjoy Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 8 Jun 2014, at 21:07, Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com wrote: A bit slower than I wanted but finally found a bit of time to wrap the animation chapter. Moving now into procedural texturing. http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forumItemid=172page=viewtopicp=148644#148644 Please let me know if you guys miss something and I will do my best to add it. Enjoy Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 29 May 2014, at 01:56, David Barosin dbaro...@gmail.commailto:dbaro...@gmail.com wrote: Jordi thank you! I've been checking out the first few chapters and thoroughly appreciating all the time and effort you put into these. A truly kind act. Cheers, -Dave On Wed, May 28, 2014 at 7:40 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Thank you Mr Bares! From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Jordi Bares [jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com] Sent: 29 May 2014 08:34 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: SI and Houdini Well, seems finally found a gap to add another guide Houdini procedural animation introduciton aka CHOPs ready to download http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forumItemid=172page=viewtopicp=148076#148076 Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 21 May 2014, at 22:49, Sebastian Kowalski l...@sekow.commailto:l...@sekow.com wrote: I am experiencing the same. Amazed by it actually. And all the sexy things one can do in a ROP Network.. Never would thought of XSI pass system being too rigid. Am 21.05.2014 um 20:33 schrieb Andy Goehler lists.andy.goeh...@gmail.commailto:lists.andy.goeh...@gmail.com: On 21.05.2014, at 19:35, Ciaran Moloney moloney.cia...@gmail.commailto:moloney.cia...@gmail.com wrote: Mantra aint too shabby... I'm running a test scene and surprisingly Mantra keeps pace with Arnold speed/quality wise (brute force). I really like all the options that Mantra brings along. There's is an unmatched flexibility with lights, objects and shaders with Mantra all inside Houdini without having to resort to external C++ IDEs. Andy
RE: Softimage to Modo
I am starting to get the feeling that most Softimage guys will eventually be Houdini guys. ; ) Sent from my Windows Phone From: Eric Mootzmailto:e...@mootzoid.com Sent: 8/08/2014 5:43 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Softimage to Modo He, he, if I had to do production work and had to switch to another package then Houdini would be my first choice. Regarding its SDK: haven't looked at it yet, but I'm pretty sure it has everything one needs. I will probably be meeting some Houdini guys at the Softimage Ubertage this year, pretty sure that will be very interesting. Am 08.08.2014 09:28, schrieb Simon van de Lagemaat: Would be neat to see Houdini get some loving. How do you find it for development? We've been using it for fx work for years now and have a small but capable team of guys. Looks like we'll be moving lighting over there as well. Losing ICE will suck and Houdini is really the only thing that comes close to being able to replicate what it did IMO.
RE: Rendering Fuzz on farm flicker problem
Hi Ivan, I got it working after some mucking around by using a cached version of the strands and using the 'cage deform' node from Paul's tools. Works like a charm as long as you aren't doing dynamics! Let me know if you need a scene file or a diagram etc... Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ivan Vasiljevic [klebed...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 July 2014 01:52 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rendering Fuzz on farm flicker problem So after testing various options I can say that my Fuzz setup always flickers inside view-port too, so nothing to do with rendering stuff. I've seen tests on vimeo with fuzz animation(https://vimeo.com/91257776). Did anyone had luck setting it up for animation without any flicker here? Thanks. Ivan On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 3:06 PM, Ivan Vasiljevic klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com wrote: I've cached the stuff. 100 frames took 8h to cache. ~800Mb file size per frame. Still flickering!!! I'll investigate further... With smaller strand count but the problem seems not to be consistent with smaller strand count if I remember correctly. Ivan On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 12:32 PM, Ivan Vasiljevic klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com wrote: Yeah caching will definitely help, and is a proper way to go, it's just that it goes real slow with 4mil strands and I am not sure if caching on multiple machines would 'cause flicker, I'll go through that process on Monday, and keep updates here. Thanks for suggestions everyone. Ivan On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 5:43 PM, Busty kelp p...@bustykelp.commailto:p...@bustykelp.com wrote: Cache out the strands and it should work. Sent from my iPad On 25 Jul 2014, at 15:53, Ivan Vasiljevic klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com wrote: Hello list, Did anyone had problems rendering Fuzz on the farm in terms of flickering strands? Rendering in local goes fine. Cheers. Ivan -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com
RE: Rendering Fuzz on farm flicker problem
Yes that is exactly the advice I followed and it worked every time after that! Thanks Paul From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Busty kelp [p...@bustykelp.com] Sent: 31 July 2014 08:44 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rendering Fuzz on farm flicker problem If you cache, (strandsize, strand position, strand colour) then apply the cache before the cage, getting rid of the fuzz compound entirely as you won't need it once styling is done, Then it will won't flicker and should be generally faster too. Sent from my iPad On 30 Jul 2014, at 14:13, Ivan Vasiljevic klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Nick, Thanks for reply. When setting up fuzz for animation it automatically set's up cage strands(if that's what you were thinking of under cage deform?) compound. So yes it's in my setup. I am also caching strands and not simulating them. It is so not predictable for me. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, so if you have anything that might help I would really appreciate it! Thanks. Ivan On Wed, Jul 30, 2014 at 2:59 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi Ivan, I got it working after some mucking around by using a cached version of the strands and using the 'cage deform' node from Paul's tools. Works like a charm as long as you aren't doing dynamics! Let me know if you need a scene file or a diagram etc... Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ivan Vasiljevic [klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 July 2014 01:52 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rendering Fuzz on farm flicker problem So after testing various options I can say that my Fuzz setup always flickers inside view-port too, so nothing to do with rendering stuff. I've seen tests on vimeo with fuzz animation(https://vimeo.com/91257776). Did anyone had luck setting it up for animation without any flicker here? Thanks. Ivan On Mon, Jul 28, 2014 at 3:06 PM, Ivan Vasiljevic klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com wrote: I've cached the stuff. 100 frames took 8h to cache. ~800Mb file size per frame. Still flickering!!! I'll investigate further... With smaller strand count but the problem seems not to be consistent with smaller strand count if I remember correctly. Ivan On Sun, Jul 27, 2014 at 12:32 PM, Ivan Vasiljevic klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com wrote: Yeah caching will definitely help, and is a proper way to go, it's just that it goes real slow with 4mil strands and I am not sure if caching on multiple machines would 'cause flicker, I'll go through that process on Monday, and keep updates here. Thanks for suggestions everyone. Ivan On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 5:43 PM, Busty kelp p...@bustykelp.commailto:p...@bustykelp.com wrote: Cache out the strands and it should work. Sent from my iPad On 25 Jul 2014, at 15:53, Ivan Vasiljevic klebed...@gmail.commailto:klebed...@gmail.com wrote: Hello list, Did anyone had problems rendering Fuzz on the farm in terms of flickering strands? Rendering in local goes fine. Cheers. Ivan -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com -- Ivan Vasiljevic - Lighting TD Founder, Digital Asset Tailors - reel:https://vimeo.com/72183649 web:www.ivasiljevic.comhttp://ivasiljevic.com email: i...@digitalassettailors.commailto:i...@digitalassettailors.com ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.commailto:ivan_vasilje...@hotmail.com
RE: Maya 2015 Node Editor
Exactly the same here Simon, I think Mantra has come a long way in the last couple of years. In fact it would be my next choice behind Arnold right now. The beauty is you can have both!, the Alembic workflow in Houdini is also brilliant. It really is a no brainer for us at this stage... From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon van de Lagemaat [si...@theembassyvfx.com] Sent: 16 July 2014 06:28 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Maya 2015 Node Editor I agree Eric, 100% As of now we're probably shifting lighting, shading and scene setup in Houdini instead of Maya now that HtoA is in play. It's much closer to Soft in terms of usability and UI maturity. We primarily use Arnold but Mantra is a fantastic sidekick and when you combine them you end up with an amazingly powerful triumvirate. Frankly I was shocked and disappointed at how bad Maya's shading workflow was after taking some quick looks, everything takes an extra 2 or three or more steps for every single one of Softs or Houdini's. The simple task of connecting nodes isn't even straightforward!! Compile a days worth of extra steps and I've lost a solid hour to clicking. Anyone who has even looked any other package should know this, it's immediately apparent that there will be a measurable reduction in productivity. On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 10:22 AM, Eric Mootz e...@mootzoid.commailto:e...@mootzoid.com wrote: He, he, the owner of a restaurant that serves healthy food containing everything the body needs (calories, vitamines etc.) but that looks, tastes and smeels bad, must not be surprised if people complain :) Seriously, the problem is not the functionality, it is the usability, the look and feel. I am aware that making a pretty UI is - at least from a programmer's stand point, not a cool challenge, but having nice and meaningful colors, good drag and drop functionality, text instead of ugly icons and all the other nice little things as one finds in the ICE Tree or Modo's schematic view make a huge difference for the paying (!) customer, i.e. the gals and guys that spend hours and hours using the app. That's what makes Softimage so special: it just feels right and it actually is a real pleasure to do things, even complicated things. One truly has the feeling that somebody sat down and thought about how to implement something and - most importantly - how to make the user interaction as pleasant and intuitive as possible. Not saying that XSI is perfect, but it definitely is a software made by people who actually cared about it and wanted to make something good. Isn't the Softimage crew working on Maya now??? C'mon, guys, you did such an outstanding job on Softimage, do the same for Maya: make it a software one loves and likes! Am 15.07.2014 17:07, schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau: Define make it better? On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Eric Mootze...@mootzoid.commailto:e...@mootzoid.com wrote: Thanks, guys. I had already used the node editor in Maya 2014 and yes, it is far better than the hypergraph, but still... it's not good at all. Had hoped that they would make that better, but no.
RE: SI and Houdini
Thank you Mr Bares! From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Jordi Bares [jordiba...@gmail.com] Sent: 29 May 2014 08:34 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: SI and Houdini Well, seems finally found a gap to add another guide Houdini procedural animation introduciton aka CHOPs ready to download http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forumItemid=172page=viewtopicp=148076#148076 Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.com On 21 May 2014, at 22:49, Sebastian Kowalski l...@sekow.com wrote: I am experiencing the same. Amazed by it actually. And all the sexy things one can do in a ROP Network.. Never would thought of XSI pass system being too rigid. Am 21.05.2014 um 20:33 schrieb Andy Goehler lists.andy.goeh...@gmail.com: On 21.05.2014, at 19:35, Ciaran Moloney moloney.cia...@gmail.com wrote: Mantra aint too shabby... I'm running a test scene and surprisingly Mantra keeps pace with Arnold speed/quality wise (brute force). I really like all the options that Mantra brings along. There's is an unmatched flexibility with lights, objects and shaders with Mantra all inside Houdini without having to resort to external C++ IDEs. Andy
Re: Houdini Weaknesses
A very wise person advised me quite a while ago when I was at a crossroads and Soft was still very much alive. I sent an email to Andy Nicholas asking his opinion as I knew The Mill were using Soft and Houdini. Andy described Houdini to me as not so much a 3d application as an operating system for a 3d environment. After spending some serious time with Houdini recently I couldn't think of a more apt description. As far as I am concerned the animation/rigging war is over and Maya won, not on merit of course…. But that doesn't make much difference when you are looking for a freelance rigger or animator to hit the ground running. So we find ourselves using Soft as an asset assembly tool for lighting/shading/fur/rendering, with effects and lots more from ICE. It has worked brilliantly thanks to Alembic and a few tools we have built on the fly. But more and more I am finding the need for things that Soft cannot do such as fluids, Smoke and destruction or a nasty combination of all of that! When I say Alembic I mean pointcache only, the asset is shaded/fur-groomed/look developed entirely in Soft. We import the assets into a shot and then import animation onto them that is published from Maya. It is a pretty sweet way to work, and lets us turn around commercial jobs in amazing time. It allows us to (once basic rigging has started) parallelise your production and no one sits around waiting for handover. I agree particles are at the moment probably better in ICE, but more from a motion graphics perspective than anything else. So it has effects covered, shading is pretty good too, especially with the addition of the new workflow in HtoA. The way it handles Alembic out of the box is brilliant also. Mantra would probably be my next choice behind Arnold as a renderer also. The tests for me will be instancing compared to the ICE workflow, particularly with Milan Vaseks awesome scatter tools that I depend on so much! And fur, fur looks pretty hard and slow to me right now, when even Softs old fur tools are still pretty amazing. The other biggie for me is Houdini Digital Assets, a really nice way to publish out tools or assets with lots of control. It really is the only App other than Soft that I would trust with referencing in complex assets. I have lots to learn, but I think I am going to put Houdini up as the backbone of the company over the next 18 months or so. Soft will still be there and many jobs will probably still go through that pipe depending what they are. But I am sure I will end up crossing over completely at some point down the track. Cheers, Nick
RE: SI and Houdini
Just finished my first ever shot in Houdini. Many thanks Jordi, I couldn't have done it without you ;) Sent from my Windows Phone From: Jordi Baresmailto:jordiba...@gmail.com Sent: 20/04/2014 3:35 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: SI and Houdini Data Management chapter finished… you can now find the last guide and the whole chapter as a single PDF in. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y0ti6tyf7o3435u/thsQH1Kf2o To follow the discussions visit http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forumItemid=172page=viewtopict=31012start=200 Next stop.. RIGGING! now this is going to be fun! enjoy!! Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 17 Apr 2014, at 10:51, Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com wrote: Welcome Data packaging ready!!! https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y0ti6tyf7o3435u/thsQH1Kf2o Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 16 Apr 2014, at 08:08, javier mansilla jmansill...@gmail.commailto:jmansill...@gmail.com wrote: Thankss! 2014-04-15 23:55 GMT+02:00 Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com: Hi everybody… Data management is almost finished, one more guide to go and I will move into rigging… check out the latest update just 30 minutes ago. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y0ti6tyf7o3435u/thsQH1Kf2o And yes, it is a huge task… but I have found the rhythm so it is a matter of sustaining it. ;-) Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 9 Apr 2014, at 02:52, Chris Johnson chr...@topixfx.commailto:chr...@topixfx.com wrote: Wow Jordi...where was this a year ago? A huge task you've taken on...I'll have to revisit Houdini again and go through all this documentation accordingly. Figure out what I was doing wrong the first couple projects I did with Houdini. Thanks very much! On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 8:13 PM, Martin Contel martin3d...@gmail.commailto:martin3d...@gmail.com wrote: Data management makes sense to me. Thanks Jordi! -- Martin Contel Square Enix (Visual Works) On Wed, Apr 9, 2014 at 2:20 AM, Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com wrote: I got that feeling… will do that first then. thx BTW, for all of you following this thread AND living in London or nearby, I will ask you to please email me privately as I want to test something I have been working on… nothing weird, don't worry. ;-) I simply don't want to add noise for those that don't live in London. thx Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 8 Apr 2014, at 17:59, Oscar Juarez tridi.animei...@gmail.commailto:tridi.animei...@gmail.com wrote: I would say Data management since is a bigger scope, which has repercusions on everything else. On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 6:43 PM, Cristobal Infante cgc...@gmail.commailto:cgc...@gmail.com wrote: what ever feels more natural for you Jordi... On Tuesday, 8 April 2014, Peter Agg peter@googlemail.commailto:peter@googlemail.com wrote: Rigging before data management? I think the phrase cart before horse comes to mind! :) On 8 April 2014 17:26, Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.com wrote: My aim with Data Management was to discuss the benefits of approaching the workflow given all the files are external to the scene, from models, textures, animation caches, motion, etc… Referencing is great but brings some major organisation and infrastructure problems too… for example, we have just finished a job with fluids and has taken 14 Tb of data! This was a ver small 80 shots movie done but a couple of guy only so you can imagine the implications… Because some of these are not obvious may be Rigging would be a good start given that you will see the face of caching things out so later when I talk about that it will make sense... :-P On the other hand it may be a good thing to go through that before so the concepts make sense when rigging... Difficult decision... Still up for rigging then? Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.com On 8 Apr 2014, at 16:08, wavo w...@fiftyeight.com wrote: RIGGING...RIGGING...RIGGING Am 4/8/2014 11:07 AM, schrieb Jordi Bares: And another one!!! Please let me know if you prefer me to jump to Data management for the next one or Rigging... http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forumItemid=172page=viewtopict=31012start=200 Cheers Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.com On 4 Apr 2014, at 23:26, Christian Lattuada christian.lattu...@gmail.com wrote: Cheers mate! Have a beer, we owe you. .:. Christian Lattuada tel +39 3331277475 ... On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 11:40 PM, Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.com wrote: :-))) In the meantime check the
RE: What use is ICE really?
Johnnie Walker: Ice scattering of objects, spice particle sims, tree leaves/fruit. https://vimeo.com/album/2447847/video/50901027 Qantas: Water droplets and rain sims https://vimeo.com/album/2447847/video/50901027 Abbotts: Grass, Oat particles stuck to bread, oat sims https://vimeo.com/album/2447847/video/61127819 Ubank: Debris/paper, luggage, falling branches, snow impacts https://vimeo.com/album/2447847/video/37924795 Nissin Polar Bears: All fur done with ICE, plus snow footprints displaced at rendertime using ICE data https://vimeo.com/83473492 Cadbury: chocolate swirl, balloons https://vimeo.com/65947988 And heaps more I can't even remember Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Alastair Hearsum Sent: Friday, 21 March 2014 9:12 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: What use is ICE really? Folks We had a chat with a senior chap at Autodesk. There was hint of surprise at one use of ICE that I mentioned in passing. I think we over estimate the understanding of what ICE gets used for and its all pervading usefulness. I'd like to invite people to share their ice work especially if its more obscure (without giving away your trade secrets obviously). Here are some starters for us. Please keep the explanations as short as possible to attract Autodesk to read them. http://www.glassworks.co.uk/video/love 1) Fine feathers created totally with ice strands 2) Feather system created in ice 3) Cats fur : ice strands http://www.glassworks.co.uk/video/tadpoles-master 1) Totally ice strand vegetation 2) Ice driven water surface 3) Render tadpoles have ice compound which auomatically detects the shot number and selects the correct cache http://www.glassworks.co.uk/node/3266search-type=brandterm=g-star 1) Ice creating the cotton balls unravelling http://www.glassworks.co.uk/node/549 1) Ice crowd http://www.glassworks.co.uk/video/transformationsearch-type=brandterm=lg 1) Object IDs picked up in ice and use to assign materials of supermarket aisle items https://vimeo.com/87096859 Some holes aesthetically 1) ice rigid body pens transferring their attributes to lagoa ice fluid melted pens 2)Ice fracturing bottle http://www.glassworks.co.uk/video/strewthsearch-type=brandterm=o 1) Intervened in Momentum ice plugin to extract vectors and modulate them http://www.glassworks.co.uk/video/excess-baggagesearch-type=brandterm=benylin 1) Hair created from scratch in ice strands including clumping http://www.glassworks.co.uk/video/summer-sport-0search-type=brandterm=freeview 1) Ice rigid bodies combine with ice syflex and custom hand cooked verlet for the strings And many many more. -- Alastair Hearsum Head of 3d [GLASSWORKS] 33/34 Great Pulteney Street London W1F 9NP +44 (0)20 7434 1182 glassworks.co.ukhttp://www.glassworks.co.uk/ Glassworks Terms and Conditions of Sale can be found at glassworks.co.uk (Company registered in England with number 04759979. Registered office 25 Harley Street, London, W1G 9BR. VAT registration number: 86729) Please consider the environment before you print this email. DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and attachments are strictly privileged, private and confidential and are intended solely for the stated recipient(s). Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Company. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If this transmission is received in error please kindly return it to the sender and delete this message from your system.
RE: A confession
First rule of Maya: forget ergonomics, the engine is powerful but the cockpit is a giant birds nest constructed from thousands of tiny birds nests. Sent from my Windows Phone From: Alastair Hearsummailto:hear...@glassworks.co.uk Sent: 19/03/2014 7:33 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: A confession Folks Here is a confession. I've never used Maya! Not really. I've had a little poke every now and again but no more than make a sphere and spin round it. Now, the lack of Maya knowledge may diminish the value of my comments in some eyes but I think that , on the contrary, it puts me in quite a good position to appraise the software at a certain level. Here is an example of the trouble I'm having that may bring a smile to people's faces. But first just a couple of more sentences before I reveal my difficulty. I like to bill myself as the sensitive artist/animator who is technically all fingers and thumbs, like the woman by the side of her broken down car waiting on a big strong man to help her out. The truth is that its not true. I do have a degree in Fine Art but I also studied maths and physics at university and programmed extensively in Lisp in my first job. So I'm not stupid BUT: I'm on my third night trying to adjust the resolution of a sphere after I have applied n-cloth to it! Isn't that incredible? Its one example plucked from many experienced by people I work with who can and have used Maya. Its symptomatic of the all encompassing interface workflow issues that Maya has that I think are really fundamental problems and more important in some ways than headline large features. Admittedly I had had a couple of glasses of wine by that point and it was a casual , before bedtime attempt to try something out but I had already twice asked my colleague at work to explain what the procedure was and I followed what he was doing at the time. So there you have it. Is it me.? Alastair -- Alastair Hearsum Head of 3d [GLASSWORKS] 33/34 Great Pulteney Street London W1F 9NP +44 (0)20 7434 1182 glassworks.co.ukhttp://www.glassworks.co.uk/ Glassworks Terms and Conditions of Sale can be found at glassworks.co.uk (Company registered in England with number 04759979. Registered office 25 Harley Street, London, W1G 9BR. VAT registration number: 86729) Please consider the environment before you print this email. DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and attachments are strictly privileged, private and confidential and are intended solely for the stated recipient(s). Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Company. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If this transmission is received in error please kindly return it to the sender and delete this message from your system.
RE: Listening
My favourite email so far, you absolutely nailed it Emilio. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Emilio Hernandez Sent: Saturday, 8 March 2014 6:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Listening Autodesk tried to kill Softimage right from the beggining. Since the very first time Softimage never showed up in the front page of their website. All they showed up was Maya and MAX. Never gave the deserved attention and right branding/marketing. You never put enough attention and effort on really growing up the sales. The main dev team was ripped off and plugged into Maya, and delivered only lame upgrades year after year. Even with this, Softimage delivered amazing work created by amazing artists. Not only in the big studios, but from the independent freelancers to mid size studios. You want to listen, ok. listen well. You are blind with your Maya paradigm. Maya artists that trully went to start using Softimage, and not overwhelmed by such a pristine UI, that at first view from a Maya user, seems that it lacks of a lot of stuff, without stupid icons everywhere. Never went back to Maya. I personally know several of them. Here in my country, there were two studios that went into the endeavour of starting a full 3D animated feature film. Right from the beggining they chose Softimage. At my former small studio, the artists that I hired were Maya guys, after I trainned them in Softimage, they said in a meeting that Softimage opened them a new door. Recently one of them freelanced for the Eugenio Derbez latest movie doing some character animation for this film, and he used Softimage not Maya. At first he was asigned only one shot as he entered late. He deliver faster than other freelance guys using Maya, and he got two more shots. Softimage The suite plugin, each time it is used in production is sorrounded by success. But each time such stories hit the media, you take care of diminishing the use of Softimage. Before Eric Mootz ported his addons to Maya, he was never in your spotlight, the same with Arnold and others. Now you present proudly Eric Mootz, and his tools in a Maya environment. If it is Softimage, you bury the name, but if it is Maya you don't hesitate to put into all the frontpages you can, and fill your mouth with it. Your statement of we tried it is nothing else but a big lie. You never tried. The PETA commercial. When did you featured that in the Area and in your front page and filled your mouth that it was made with Softimage? NEVER. Three awards given by the VES society and did you care to write even a few lines about being proud that Softimage was used for that amazing work? And you are saying that you tried? You kept us all these years with rumors, rumors, and finally you ended these rumors. Meanwhile you were saying that Softimage was to stay with Autodesk, and in good hands... If Softimage has a name it is because of the Softimage community, not because of you. Do you really believe that Maya is the future? I call it going back to the past. If Maya was really a better choice for us, you wouldn't be now in this position. I suggest you take a look to a video I made to compare the workflow to achieve the same effect in Maya vs Softimage. This is just a small example of the general workflow. https://vimeo.com/87722342 Being unbiased you tell me which one, is the one that should be killed, and which one deserves your attention. You say you can't afford to put more money into Softimage? Well don't do it. Just keep fixing the bugs and deliver SP, but open the SDK to allow further development from 3rd party developers. You will still earn money from the subscriptions, and tech support, while you allow others to invest their money to develop new tools for Softimage. Since the time you acquired Softimage the real improvemnts are from 3rd pary devs. Not from you. You don't put to sale Softimage because you know that if another company acquires it, in a year or two Softimage will start kicking Maya's ass with the right branding and marketing. You also know that if you start to give Softimage the place it deserves, artists that never used Softimage before, will start using it. Maya sales will start to drop while more Softimage seats start to appear, and you don't want to look bad in front of your stock holders of the big amounts of money you have put in the wrong place. So what is the best you can do? Kill Softimage to cover your incompetence and your waste of money in Maya. As you know in deep that Softimage is better than Maya, and you don't want to look bad at your stock holders with the waste of resources that you made all of this years. You are loosing money not because of Softimage, it is because others like Houdini and The Foundry are taking over you. And they eventually will. You want to know why, because you chose to go
RE: SI and Houdini
There was an issue with memory allocation with windows on Houdini 13 from memory, it only effected large flip sims. It has most probably been fixed by now though. You can always grab the memalloc.dll from 12.5 if this is a problem anyway. If you haven't tried Houdini for a while (like I hadn't from v9 until 12.5) prepare to be blown away! I even figured out how to unpack and apply materials to single noded (multi part) Alembic cache without even reading the manual... And shattering stuff has never been simpler in any app! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Jordi Bares Sent: Thursday, 6 March 2014 7:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: SI and Houdini It works very well under windows, in fact, it makes quite a lot of sense for small studios to use it under windows instead of linux. Running it on Mac is an option although there are a few glitches regarding the viewport that will soon be fixed (SideFX are working on it as we speak) so I would imagine it will be more or less the same experience on all 3 environments. It is funny because SideFX have been compiling versions of Houdini for platforms you would not imagine, have a look at the download page to see what I mean... these guys are machines! hope it helps Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com
RE: SI and Houdini
Thanks Halfdan, you will certainly see me there ; ) Hello there It's been a while. I thought I'd post here and let you know, since there's been a lot of interest in Houdini, that we've created a dedicated forum for SI users on the SideFX site. (http://goo.gl/cixz4s). Feel free to swing by and ask any questions you'd like about Houdini and SideFX. I know this is a pretty tough time for everyone, but I just wanted to let you know that you're all welcome in our community. Hope to see you there! All the best, - ½
RE: Luxology Modo 50% off for this mailing list
Exactly Raff! that IS the point, in the long run I think this company will have to learn the lesson many others have. People will pay good money for good service and products, Apple know this and have reaped the rewards. N Personally I find the offer monetary value itself barely relevant. Let me explain: It's more the fact a person as highly positioned as him keeps in touch with people who have hardly anything to do with his products and is wiling to jump a whole chain of decision makers and bureaucracy to make something happen in a few hours that matters to me.
RE: Luxology Modo 50% off for this mailing list
Preconceptions are always a problem, Houdini probably suffers from this the most (and has done so the longest). Houdini is generally regarded as a boffins effects tool where it can actually quite often handle a non effects task more elegantly and simply than any of its contemporaries. A huge amount of people go through life with these preconceptions and it makes it very limiting. It is human nature of course, but if you can push through them and make judgements based on your own real world experience life does get a whole lot better! N Point of clarification... I've been using Softimage for 5 years now, and Modo for 6, and am also on the beta for Modo. I can guarantee you that while Modo is NOT a full DCC now, it hasn't been 'a modeling app' for years now. It grew out of that a long time ago. Still, it's not what you want to switch to for full production on everything, but that point has been well-established. Not playing favorites here (I actually prefer to model in Soft!), I just think it's fair to properly assess a tool's capabilities, and Modo really has a problem, IMHO, of having this modeler-only mantra hanging over it.
RE: ICE migration thread. no tears here )))
Houdini Vop stuff would seem the closest to Ice, although it really uses all the low level nodes so you really need to know what you are doing! I vote Houdini, SideFx are a great company, and the community is strong. I would love to stay with Ice, and I will while people like Eric Mootz are around. But I am also going to be looking down the Houdini road as I think it has some pretty amazing tools to offer. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nika Ragua Sent: Friday, 28 February 2014 8:29 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: ICE migration thread. no tears here ))) yo raps !!! this thread is for people who love ICE boys, where will you go now ? maybe we should move not separately, but as a team ? fabric engine? houdini ? or they will make some kind of ICE in maya? http://safakoner.webfactional.com/rnd/tool/2/ this looks awesome, but it is not selling yet
RE: ICE migration thread. no tears here )))
Houdini, no question. From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nika Ragua Sent: Saturday, 1 March 2014 9:50 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE migration thread. no tears here ))) and yeah, guys i really respect you all, and i fully understand your emotions, but this thread is about programming with blocks and arrows - where will YOU personally put your feet next ))) keep it simple, direct, head cool - no emotions, no dust 2014-03-01 3:36 GMT+04:00 Nika Ragua nikaragu...@gmail.commailto:nikaragu...@gmail.com: Just to get the thread on track a bit (sort of) - would people share what it is they like/dislike about ICE (or any other visual programming system)? My experience is there are often two camps: one group that are not programmers (not even python), so ICE gives them a level of customization previously closed to them. The other group like the emergent/tinkering behaviour that node systems provide. I'm just wondering if the 'where do we go next?' question is going to vary between those two sets. Hi, Paul, thanks for looking to the thread - i can give you a fundamental feedback on this topic, if you would like to read it, because its very important to me, i don`t know about the other guys exactly, how they feel and where they were stuck, but in ICE there are some flaws - cryptic parts, where people were stuck, and it took a lot of efforts to go through them 2014-03-01 2:38 GMT+04:00 Eric Thivierge ethivie...@hybride.commailto:ethivie...@hybride.com: Haha, it's actually a bit interesting to see how much people are getting bent out of shape from my comment. You all know I'm a super huge fan of Softimage I hope. I've been around long enough contributing to the community enough to know that I think Softimage IS the best software to be doing rigging. I know Animal Logic is serious, erm, I worked there I should know. :P I'll try to clear it up a bit... Sorry I didn't understand it was for the pure ICE users here. For pure ICE related stuff, I'm not sure what to tell you. Probably Houdini? Maya's node graph isn't great by far. Not sure what the new versions are going to bring but it is clunky. I don't use ICE for rigging. I only use it for custom deformers and other tools. If I need to do some of that in the future Fabric is probably going to be the choice, but within Maya. Softimage is my preferred software and I'm going to be using it still within the next few years. However, during the same time I'm going to be working in Maya (I've been in both the past 9 months) and starting the transition over to Maya. Why switch? Well, you can't wait until Softimage no longer runs / isn't getting bug fixes that are crucial to getting your work done. If you're serious about working in this business, it's my opinion that you have to be pushing your tools and use of technology as much as you can or else you're going to stagnate and won't be able to pull in the work. It's nice to hear everyone that is going to continue to use and develop on Softimage once it's canned, but there have been many instances where there is a bug that needs to get fixed to get a project or plug-in done. If there is no one to fix it, how are you going to finish your tool? You're not. Animation wise, what other tool has the same level of animation editing tools with the level of rigging tools that we have in Softimage, other than Softimage? My classification of serious film work was meant that you need the full breadth of features that you find in Softimage and Maya to get the same work done that you're doing in Softimage. Do you have those tools currently in Modo? Houdini? I'm sorry but I can't take those apps seriously for rigging at this moment. I apologize for tossing in the film part in that statement. There are some insane work coming out of the commercial space as well. I know full well as I've done my fair share of freelance at some of those studios. Please trust me when I say I'd rather not use Maya. It's clunky, not a lot of essential small tools out of the box, full of bugs itself, but honestly it's the only valid app I see that anim and rigging can move to. Eric T.
RE: new upgrade policy
100% with you Jordi! The new modo modeling tech is jaw dropping. And Houdini is a whole 3d operating system! Sent from my Windows Phone From: Jordi Baresmailto:jordiba...@gmail.com Sent: 27/02/2014 7:44 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: new upgrade policy would you give more money to Autodesk after what they are doing to pretty much *every package* ? Let's recap Image Modeller = dead Stitcher = dead Matchmover = dead Combustion = dead Toxik = dead Naiad = dead until further notice Softimage = still developed but tiny tiny increments Motion builder = still developed but tiny tiny increments Motion builder for mac = stopped development FBX converter for mac = stopped development Mudbox = still developed but tiny tiny increments The only good news is that Flame v2014 has been a major effort on their side and gave me the confidence to give Autodesk one more year, lots of people angry with the changes but at least there was some vision although my fear is that they will enter now a marketing stage to help boost sales and engage again and push sales after the debacle of their change in the library which made pretty much every flame artist angry. Now, what are the alternatives? Well, I leant something last year when Apple decision regarding Final Cut Pro (I am sure nobody needs reminding)… and what I learnt is that Apple's core market is not pro software, its market is hardware, specially mobile hardware (laptops, phones, tablets…) If you apply the same thinking with Autodesk everything becomes clear… Autodesk core market is not entertainment, it's architecture and engineering and they don't really give a $@^$£% about us as the list above demonstrates clearly. The new version of Softimage, Mudbox and Motion Builder will tell exactly where they stand for third year in a row so eyes open… in the meantime I chose to focus on those companies that pro software is their core business and have market share to gain, and these are the ones SideEffects (via Houdini) Foundry (via Modo) MassiveSoftware (via Massive) So my approach is simple, force myself to transition in an abrupt way (nothing better than full inversion) and help these companies to polish their software as much as possible by being in the beta process, report all bugs, new ideas, pass them information of which things work from other packages… Exactly what I did with XSI. And one more thing, after diving in Houdini I consider it *impossible* for any software manufacturer to put the necessary resources to compete with them (I will repeat it… IMPOSSIBLE), the architecture is so advanced and so well designed it is a marvel of software engineering (and expensive to build of course)… this is here to stay my friends. and its getting easier by the day. Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 27 Feb 2014, at 08:42, Nicolas Esposito 3dv...@gmail.comhttp://gmail.com wrote: Quick question regadring the switch to another software: I saw that quite few people are considering Modo or Houdini as an alternative to Softimage. This is due to the fact that you want to completely leave Autodesk for good, or because an alternative like Maya wont suite your needs? I'm asking because I'm not familiar nor with Maya or Modo, so I was just wondering what is the main reason 2014-02-27 9:21 GMT+01:00 Sebastien Sterling sebastien.sterl...@gmail.commailto:sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com: It's a system that seems to favour massive company's that can afford to routinely upgrade their packages, and screws the individual user for any sort of brand fidelity they may attempt to maintain; if you know you are going to get a discount (where it even 10%) on your next upgrade as a token to your brand loyalty, you would feel incentivised to perches upgrades, its marketing 101 no different then a loyalty card at your supermarket. The only reason for doing this is to intentionally loose a demographic. In the short term maybe this will allow AD to save money, freelancers are infrequent in their purchases. They actually require a stable and competent package out of the box, something big companies usually pays their own Devs and TDs to sort out. Unlike big companies they also have the gall to voice their contempt of an inferior service. So yea this kinda makes sense for them in the short term to stabilise their key demographic, to the detriment of others probably makes the share holders smile as well. of course this also kills any form of growth within the potential market, but only time will tell what kind of impact that could have. On 27 February 2014 08:16, Angus Davidson angus.david...@wits.ac.zamailto:angus.david...@wits.ac.za wrote: On Modo I am really impressed with it. Some tools are not 100% where I want them yet but overall finding it very powerful. Mesh fusion is awesome and saving my pennies to buy myself a
RE: Softimage Renderpass/Partition alike workflow question for Maya?
You want render layers Rob, there should be some good tutorials about. There are some things about them that are actually easier to do. They have been a little unstable in the past but are probably ok now. Once you add something to a renderlayer you can generally right click on most parameters and add the override there. They are actually one of the more logical things in Maya. Which I usually find to be an unstable pile of legacy garbage. N Sent from my Windows Phone From: Rob Wuijstermailto:r...@casema.nl Sent: 6/02/2014 8:29 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Softimage Renderpass/Partition alike workflow question for Maya? Hi all, Are there any people here that use Maya for rendering too, and can point me to some Renderpass/Partition alike workflows in Maya. I haven't touched Maya in quite a while now, but have to tweak an already excisting project for rendering purposes. I'm looking for the equivalent workflow for pass setup and partition stuff for shader overrides, hiding objects etc., but I'm not sure on the Maya terminology. Thanks a lot for any tips, links etc. -- Rob \/-\/\/
RE: Set Dressing Tool Ideas
Milan Vasek's Scatter Tools are my best friend when it comes to this sort of stuff. https://vimeo.com/36612233 He has created some pretty astounding imagery with them also http://www.milanvasek.com/?p=355 More advanced stuff that uses libraries of assets would have been used by the folks at Whiskytree, Steve Caron might be able to elaborate. But if you combine Scatter tools with Arnold instancing you pretty much have the best solution out of the box in my opinion. Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Enrique Caballero Sent: Saturday, 1 February 2014 3:50 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Set Dressing Tool Ideas Hey everyone, I was hoping to pick your brains. I am currently doing some research on how to simplify, and make cheaper our set dressing process over at this small shop that I work at. In the old days, when we did small simple shows, set dressing wasn't very difficult for us as there were limited amounts of props and environment pieces. We would just import referenced models and place them by hand/ But now that we do full forests and large amounts of rocks and plant life, we need to upgrade our techniques. As our original techniques are no longer sufficient. I am looking at how ICE can help us with the initial set dressing. Maybe by painting weight maps we can spawn different types of mushrooms and trees etc. I am currently experimenting with Dart Throw, and it looks very promising. Thanks Julian! Although I need to figure out how to get it to switch between different geo types, IE. Trees, mushrooms, etc. Currently I can only get it to spawn one geo type at a time. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how we could simplify this stuff, as I said before, currently I am looking at Dart throw and ABScatter to see if they can help us out, but I am open minded. Has anyone tried Vue Studio or anything similar that they can recommend? best, Enrique
RE: Set Dressing Tool Ideas
Jordi is of course correct, I think this is an example of what can be done when all the disciplines come together nicely... http://www.whiskytree.com/public/portfolio/ely/ N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Enrique Caballero Sent: Sunday, 2 February 2014 1:41 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Set Dressing Tool Ideas Thanks Nick and Jordi, I will check out scatter tools now. Jordi I agree completely with what you say, and at One Animation I usually only get about 1 to 2 weeks to develop anything. So I am very willing to try an out of box solution. I started playing with Vue Extreme today, it seems pretty powerful, but wow its not enjoyable at all to use, I will keep experimenting with it until i understand it better. I will also try world builder now thanks to your recommendation. -E On Sat, Feb 1, 2014 at 10:55 PM, Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com wrote: Very impressive tools.. :-) Sill amazed by what people produce with ICE Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.commailto:jordiba...@gmail.com On 1 Feb 2014, at 11:58, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Milan Vasek's Scatter Tools are my best friend when it comes to this sort of stuff. https://vimeo.com/36612233 He has created some pretty astounding imagery with them also http://www.milanvasek.com/?p=355 More advanced stuff that uses libraries of assets would have been used by the folks at Whiskytree, Steve Caron might be able to elaborate. But if you combine Scatter tools with Arnold instancing you pretty much have the best solution out of the box in my opinion. Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Enrique Caballero Sent: Saturday, 1 February 2014 3:50 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Set Dressing Tool Ideas Hey everyone, I was hoping to pick your brains. I am currently doing some research on how to simplify, and make cheaper our set dressing process over at this small shop that I work at. In the old days, when we did small simple shows, set dressing wasn't very difficult for us as there were limited amounts of props and environment pieces. We would just import referenced models and place them by hand/ But now that we do full forests and large amounts of rocks and plant life, we need to upgrade our techniques. As our original techniques are no longer sufficient. I am looking at how ICE can help us with the initial set dressing. Maybe by painting weight maps we can spawn different types of mushrooms and trees etc. I am currently experimenting with Dart Throw, and it looks very promising. Thanks Julian! Although I need to figure out how to get it to switch between different geo types, IE. Trees, mushrooms, etc. Currently I can only get it to spawn one geo type at a time. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how we could simplify this stuff, as I said before, currently I am looking at Dart throw and ABScatter to see if they can help us out, but I am open minded. Has anyone tried Vue Studio or anything similar that they can recommend? best, Enrique
RE: A correct peeling effect
Awesome Oli!, please explain it to us mortals ; ) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Oliver Weingarten Sent: Tuesday, 14 January 2014 9:57 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: A correct peeling effect Hi ! Here is a test I did mixing different things together...I can explain a little more if you like.. https://vimeo.com/84118026/settings cheers, oli Am 14.01.2014 09:53, schrieb olivier jeannel: Hi gang, I'm looking for doing a convincing peeling effect in Softimage Scenario is :peeling of a thin aluminium sheet from a chocolate plate, the tiny pieces of sheet then fly away, like are gently blown away by the wind I'm running after this : https://vimeo.com/77579764 or https://vimeo.com/69646311 quality. (those are Max Mcloth) The shot should be very close up. I'm not sure, for example, that the Topolizer trick https://vimeo.com/80829002 would be enough. What do guys think ? Another Method ? Syflex à la Mario-Domingo ? https://vimeo.com/73933574 Any thoughts to share ? Would be great :)
RE: rumor, Soft dead within the next year
In my humble opinion the secret to getting Soft into studios is the suites, it’s how I got Soft into the building. We needed Maya as that’s what we were all using before we started our new company and we really needed to hit the ground running, and we also needed Mudbox. The nice thing was that the combined price of these two was slightly less than the suite price, which comes with Soft! So I managed to get Soft in the door at no perceived cost, then over the next year as I familiarised myself with it (and learned ICE also) Vray was released and we had a good renderer too. Then I discovered Exocortex Crate and hopped on board as an early adopter, now we had a reliable way to get all the cached animation from Maya. Then we finally invested in Arnold and things started to get really good, now with a bit of clever scripting from the great Chris Gardner and some nice in house scene management tools we have a button to export Alembic to Soft. We use the initial Alembic export as the asset and package it into an .emdl file, we then do the shading/fur/look dev/whatever to the asset and when it is imported into a shot we can right click on the model node and apply the animation cache from Maya. It is that simple!, also now with open VDB we will be able to bring all the cool volumetric smoke/fire from Houdini or Maya plus fluid sims etc in at rendertime. I have resigned myself to the fact it would be hard for Soft to make a major comeback into the rigging/animation realm as there are just so many people using Maya now. Soft was in development/marketing limbo while Maya got a foothold, the fact Soft came out the other side as by far the better app was sadly of little consequence in the end. I too have been considering the Houdini route, just to future proof us a bit more, but I am keeping a close eye on Fabric Engine too as that just blows me away with possibilities. I am enjoying doing large projects without any major hitches where with Maya as the backbone I was a quivering mess at the end of every job. Right now my relationship with Softimage has never been better! Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Mootz Sent: Monday, 6 January 2014 7:45 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: rumor, Soft dead within the next year [..] working with Maya…HOW THE F@CK THIS PROGRAM IS USED IN PRODUCTION?? [..] He, he, I can only agree. It is the most buggy and unusable application I have ever had the displeasure to use. How anybody can seriously work with Maya is frankly beyond me. Hats off to all those pour souls who have to use it on a daily basis ;) Cheers, Eric PS: for the sake of fairness it must be mentioned that the Maya SDK is really quite good. It is easy to understand, well documented, has tons of examples, etc.
RE: rumor, Soft dead within the next year
We have been using it here for two years without a single issue, sounds like a problem between chair and keyboard ; ) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron Sent: Saturday, 4 January 2014 4:43 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: rumor, Soft dead within the next year hmm, well... if they had questions about installation they didn't ask. On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 3:59 AM, Angus Davidson angus.david...@wits.ac.zamailto:angus.david...@wits.ac.za wrote: Hi Steve I have heard from a multitude of people who have battled to get it working, so there is definitely a need. Kind regards Angus
RE: Krakatoa and Partio Softimage plugins open sourced
Nice one James, much appreciated! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of James Vecore Sent: Wednesday, 1 January 2014 4:21 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Krakatoa and Partio Softimage plugins open sourced Hello Everyone, I've open sourced two plugins that I have written for Softimage: KrakatoaForSoftimage (requires a Krakatoa render license) https://github.com/jamesvecore/KrakatoaForSoftimage https://vimeo.com/62377510 https://vimeo.com/82989087 PartioExportForSoftimage A PartIO based particle exporter (bgeo,geo,bin,prt,pda,pdb,pdc supported) https://github.com/jamesvecore/PartioExportForSoftimage https://vimeo.com/82982792 I hope some of you will find this helpful and maybe even contribute back to the projects. Thank you to everyone on this list that has ever helped me directly or indirectly. -James James Vecore | Pluto | A Creative Content Place | hellopluto.comhttp://hellopluto.com/ | 248.723. | 586.295.9473 mobile
RE: Closeup frames super long to render.
I would immediately suspect motion blur, especially if it is Mental Ray... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Antonin Messier Sent: Saturday, 14 December 2013 2:00 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Closeup frames super long to render. I have a shot of a character covered in vegetation, that starts from a closeup of his hand and ends in a full body shot. The last frames, where we see the whole character (including the hand), are very fast to render. Hoever the closer we are to the hand, the longer the render is, up to a point where the first frames take ages before they even start rendering. There is no displacement or anything distance-based in the scene. Anybody has a clue what could be causing this? Antonin Messier Turcotte
RE: emPolygonizer4 v.4.250
Apart from being incredibly powerful it is unnervingly fast! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Jens Lindgren Sent: Friday, 6 December 2013 9:28 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: emPolygonizer4 v.4.250 Just bought Topolizer, can't wait to play with it :) /Jens On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 10:06 AM, Jens Lindgren jens.lindgren@gmail.commailto:jens.lindgren@gmail.com wrote: That sounds great Eric! Thanks for the comparison numbers. /Jens On Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 12:53 PM, Eric Mootz e...@mootzoid.commailto:e...@mootzoid.com wrote: The memory consumption of emPolygonizer4 can grow quite fast. The more input particles and the higher the level of detail the more memory it will consume. emTopolizer2 however meshes things bit by bit which results in neglectable memory consumption no matter how your level of detail might look. So with heavy setups emPolygonizer4 can easily go up to 10 Gig and more of RAM whereas emTopolizer2 will only use a couple of hundred megabytes. Speed wise it depends a little on how the input looks like (amount of particles, spacial distribution, ..), but on average emTopolizer2 is at least twice as fast. In most cases it will be even 2-10 times faster. But in my opinion the speed is not as important as the memory consumption. Fact is that with emPolygonizer4 you will eventually have memory problems and with emTopolizer2 you won't. Here a concrete example that I just tested. Note the memory consumption. Hardware: Sony Vaio Laptop, Intel i7m, 8 Gig Ram. OS: Windows 7 64 bit. Software: SI 2012 SAP A.) The input was a small liquid simulation with roughly 2000 particles. The level of detail was set to 50, which resulted in a mesh with about 2.4 million polygons. emPolygonizer4: time: 30 seconds. max. RAM: 2.6 Gig. emTopolizer2: time: 10 seconds. max. RAM: about 0.15 gig. B.) Same input, but this time with liquid filaments enabled which results in roughly 27 particles. The level of detail was set to 50, which resulted in a mesh with about 1.5 million polygons. emPolygonizer4: time: 55 seconds. max. RAM: 2.7 Gig. emTopolizer2: time: 26 seconds. max. RAM: about 0.2 gig. -- Jens Lindgren -- Lead Technical Director Magoo 3D Studioshttp://www.magoo3dstudios.com/ -- Jens Lindgren -- Lead Technical Director Magoo 3D Studioshttp://www.magoo3dstudios.com/
RE: emPolygonizer4 v.4.250
And Eric said unto them, go forth and Polygonize... ; ) From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Eric Mootz [e...@mootzoid.com] Sent: 03 December 2013 19:03 To: Softimage List Subject: emPolygonizer4 v.4.250 Hey XSI list, There is an update of emPolygonizer4 available. It is version 4.250 and it has a new feature called Create ICE Data from internal Representation. If you belong to that group of people who like ICE and enjoy screwing around with ICE data then you might like this new feature ;) There is a 12 minutes long video tutorial on Vimeo in which I explain what this is all about: http://vimeo.com/80782236https://vimeo.com/80782236 Cheers! Eric
open/save override
Is anyone successfully overriding the open/save dialog with something custom? We want to tie in our asset management to this as we do in Maya and Nuke, currently we have to use a custom open/save as we cannot figure out how to tie this in to the built ins... Cheers, Nick
hair split operator
My hair split doesn't seem to be killing interpolation on the render hairs. I can view the interpolation id's on the guides and they are correct, but the hairs in between the two split groups (although not smoothly interpolating anymore) seem to randomly go 100% one way or the other. Am I missing something here? Cheers, Nick
hair
Has anyone else noticed when you use a gradient on hair with no UV's it runs along the length of the strand as expected (which is great for mapping opacity) but when you transfer UV's to the hair whenever you re-open the scene the strands default to using the UV's for the gradient. Does anyone know of a workaround for this? Cheers, Nick
RE: hair
Thanks Peter! Nailed it... From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.be] Sent: 28 October 2013 20:22 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: hair yes – use scalar_state, set to “barycentric B / lengthwise hair” to drive hairgradients. works a charm. From: Nick Angusmailto:n...@altvfx.com Sent: Monday, October 28, 2013 7:40 AM To: mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: hair Has anyone else noticed when you use a gradient on hair with no UV's it runs along the length of the strand as expected (which is great for mapping opacity) but when you transfer UV's to the hair whenever you re-open the scene the strands default to using the UV's for the gradient. Does anyone know of a workaround for this? Cheers, Nick
RE: 2014
Thanks Chris, good advice as always! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Chris Chia [softimage...@gmail.com] Sent: 18 September 2013 15:44 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Cc: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: 2014 If u have incompatibility issue with your plugins in 2014SP2, then use 2014SP1. But make sure u test the rendering if you are using 2014 or 2014SP1. Arnold guys found certain issues in them and that's the reason why there's a 2014SP2. I would advise you to test your workflow on 2014SP1 to see if you like it. If happy, spend some time to check thoroughly on your plugins if using 2014SP2. Chris On 18 Sep, 2013, at 1:18 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Such as Mootzoid? or Momentum? Would you advise not to upgrade to 2014 at all or just not sp2? Thanks Chris From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 18 September 2013 15:11 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: 2014 About to take the plunge and update from 2013 (not sp1) to 2014 (latest build). Are there any caveats I should be wary of? Appreciate any advice either way! Cheers, Nick -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email. -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email.
RE: 2014
Thanks Eric, we had huge troubles with nested references in 2013, in fact we gave up on it. So that is definitely a tick in the pro box! Cheers, Nick Sent from my Windows Phone From: Eric Coskymailto:e...@cosky.com Sent: 19/09/2013 9:18 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: 2014 I’ve been successfully using referenced models that contain other reference models with SI2014. This used to cause stability problems in earlier versions, but it’s been a while since I checked.. it might have been 2012 or earlier that I last checked. I’m pretty happy to see it working these days, regardless. My usage is generally limited to game export related stuff without referenced material libs, so YMMV. There’s been enough problems with refmodels over the years I’m not about to say it’s problem free but being able to nest referenced models is pretty useful for my workflow and I’m glad it is working for me. From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nick Angus Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 10:12 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: 2014 About to take the plunge and update from 2013 (not sp1) to 2014 (latest build). Are there any caveats I should be wary of? Appreciate any advice either way! Cheers, Nick -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email.
RE: 2014
Such as Mootzoid? or Momentum? Would you advise not to upgrade to 2014 at all or just not sp2? Thanks Chris From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 18 September 2013 15:11 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: 2014 About to take the plunge and update from 2013 (not sp1) to 2014 (latest build). Are there any caveats I should be wary of? Appreciate any advice either way! Cheers, Nick -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email.
RE: Article on Bifrost
I think it is a great addition to Maya, and was sorely needed. But it is just that, another 'addition' they never seem to be prepared to deprecate anything which makes for a very bloated system in my books. Ergonomically it is pretty awful, it is a step in the right direction but when there are so many nicely done node based gui's out there it does feel very 'legacy'. Node trees can become messy very fast when you are dealing with many objects and connections, which is why in my opinion most ports should be hidden until required. Visually the node editor is very messy with just a few connections, so it only gets worse the more you add. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Octavian Ureche [okt...@gmail.com] Sent: 12 September 2013 08:52 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Article on Bifrost For me the problem is not in what it does. (which is everything that the hypergraph/hypershade did and more). When i first heard they were going to create a node editor i said hallelujah...because everyone got fed up using the connection editor for linking stuff. But whenever i stare at it (which is almost daily), it just screams ugly to me. Which is not something that i get with ice or vex for that matter. But it might just be my perception. I am completely aware of what it is and what it does, and i've been using it since it was introduced...i just never felt so at ease with it as i feel with ice. Like having a really powerful yet ugly looking car. I know it's meant to be used by td's and all that, and it doesn't need to look in any way. But when i look at ice, i see something that is both functional and easy on the eyes. Really well thought out visually. That's not something i can say about the current node editor. But i completely understand that for some it might not matter. Octavian On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 12:59 AM, boeingh...@s-farm.demailto:boeingh...@s-farm.de boeingh...@s-farm.demailto:boeingh...@s-farm.de wrote: Hey, I'm just doing the advanced rigging course here at anomalia (all in maya) and have learned how great the node editor is. If you want to make connections between objects it's (like you said eric) for the entire scene. So you can build all kind of expressions who live in the scene but not in an ice-operator on an object. Especially for all kind of rigging targets, is really cool to use this editor in place of the outdated SI expression editor or ICE-Kinematics, where you never now what drives what. I would love to see something similar in SI. Andreas Eric Thivierge ethivie...@hybride.commailto:ethivie...@hybride.com hat am 11. September 2013 um 19:24 geschrieben: I think it's an incorrect observation as the Node Editor (different than Hypershade and the Hypergraph) allows you to pull in a lot if not all of the nodes in the scene. Grab a polygon cube and plug it's Y value into this other shader type stuff. It's a node editor for the entire scene not just operators. Much more than ICE is now. On September-11-13 12:23:46 PM, Ponthieux, Joseph G. (LARC-E1A)[LITES] wrote: Or is that an incorrect observation? -- Octavian Ureche +40 732 774 313 (GMT+2) Animation Visual Effects www.okto.rohttp://www.okto.ro
RE: Article on Bifrost
Simple things like putting the shape node inside the transform node (a la Houdini) would be a help, the fact the transform and shape node of an object don't even have a visible connection is downright bizarre! Simple exercise, make a poly sphere, open the node editor, duplicate sphere n times. It gets very messy very fast, plus all the stuff Raf pointed out and then some... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 12 September 2013 09:31 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Article on Bifrost It still looks absolute arse Luc-Eric, even if a lot less so than it did before, and it generally handles arsedly too :p The only thing it has in common with ICE (looks wise) is it has coloured circles for ports, but handling population, context, connections, port expansion and so on is still bad, it still doesn't edge scroll, text kerns horribly, the distance/readability ratio and the ridiculous zooming don't work, and dynamic attributes and aggregate ports handle like a cow on a frozen lake. It's leaps and bounds better than HS + CE though and I'm looking forward to it looking and handling better again soon :) It also has some nifty things missing in ICE. On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 9:12 AM, Luc-Eric Rousseau luceri...@gmail.commailto:luceri...@gmail.com wrote: which version of Maya? it looks a lot like ICE in a dark theme in 2014 Le 2013-09-11 18:53, Octavian Ureche okt...@gmail.commailto:okt...@gmail.com a écrit : For me the problem is not in what it does. (which is everything that the hypergraph/hypershade did and more). When i first heard they were going to create a node editor i said hallelujah...because everyone got fed up using the connection editor for linking stuff. But whenever i stare at it (which is almost daily), it just screams ugly to me. Which is not something that i get with ice or vex for that matter. But it might just be my perception. I am completely aware of what it is and what it does, and i've been using it since it was introduced...i just never felt so at ease with it as i feel with ice. Like having a really powerful yet ugly looking car. I know it's meant to be used by td's and all that, and it doesn't need to look in any way. But when i look at ice, i see something that is both functional and easy on the eyes. Really well thought out visually. That's not something i can say about the current node editor. But i completely understand that for some it might not matter. Octavian On Thu, Sep 12, 2013 at 12:59 AM, boeingh...@s-farm.demailto:boeingh...@s-farm.de boeingh...@s-farm.demailto:boeingh...@s-farm.de wrote: Hey, I'm just doing the advanced rigging course here at anomalia (all in maya) and have learned how great the node editor is. If you want to make connections between objects it's (like you said eric) for the entire scene. So you can build all kind of expressions who live in the scene but not in an ice-operator on an object. Especially for all kind of rigging targets, is really cool to use this editor in place of the outdated SI expression editor or ICE-Kinematics, where you never now what drives what. I would love to see something similar in SI. Andreas Eric Thivierge ethivie...@hybride.commailto:ethivie...@hybride.com hat am 11. September 2013 um 19:24 geschrieben: I think it's an incorrect observation as the Node Editor (different than Hypershade and the Hypergraph) allows you to pull in a lot if not all of the nodes in the scene. Grab a polygon cube and plug it's Y value into this other shader type stuff. It's a node editor for the entire scene not just operators. Much more than ICE is now. On September-11-13 12:23:46 PM, Ponthieux, Joseph G. (LARC-E1A)[LITES] wrote: Or is that an incorrect observation? -- Octavian Ureche +40 732 774 313tel:%2B40%20732%20774%20313 (GMT+2) Animation Visual Effects www.okto.rohttp://www.okto.ro -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
Naiad the Ice team
Perhaps not something that will put any Softimage rumours to rest, but interesting nonetheless. The FX guide articles are always very in-depth and well thought out and this one is no different. Interesting seeing the awful Maya node graph being tunneled into with a very ICE-like interface. http://www.fxguide.com/featured/bifrost-the-return-of-the-naiad-team-with-a-bridge-to-ice/ N
RE: softimage.tv - Hello World!
Great idea Cris, Stand by for content! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Cristobal Infante [cgc...@gmail.com] Sent: 04 September 2013 22:18 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: softimage.tv - Hello World! Hi All, Would like to announce the launch of softimage.tvhttp://softimage.tv created to showcase the best softimage work out there. It's meant to be mainly a video depository but hoping it will also function as a hub for the community. The idea sparked from Andy Moorer's Nike Evolution write up on that Nike job, I thought amazing effort but how do we showcase it a bit more? The list and si-community are great place to discuss soft, but I think a lot users are not on it, not to mention producers, agencies and decision makers. It is still early days so this is a work in progress, we will be adjusting the layout based on the predominant content we receive. This is where eveyone can help us a bit, If you ever created a tutorial for soft, uploaded a test, done an amazing tool, have a showreel to show off, finished a good looking job help us by submitting it. You can directly submit your videos via very simple form in the website (Submit video). All you need to send is a title, vimeo/youtube url, and description. The wordpress will look after the thumbnails, then all we have to do is approve it. Ideally you will be logged in when submitting, so the system will put all videos under your profile. The website was created by myself with the help of Cesar Saez . Would love to know what you guys think about it, and how we can move things foward. Best, Cris
RE: Sci-tech 2014 Oscars shortlist announced
For other peoples cars ; ) From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Andy Moorer Sent: Thursday, 22 August 2013 2:02 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Sci-tech 2014 Oscars shortlist announced Myself I'm cheering for the pneumatic car flipper. I've always wanted one.
RE: [OT] Flux
You can get a 3 month eval license, I am taking a look at it now, it's pretty sweet. Not in love with the node graph section, it's a bit reminiscent of Maya's new node editor which is pretty horrific ergonomically. It seems pretty fast, but also a bit unfinished at this stage, the good news is (although greyed out) there are send to buttons for Soft, Maya, Max, Houdini C4d!! Results wise I think it probably sits somewhere between Naiad and Realflow, Naiad being the holy grail and Realflow (hybrido) only just cutting it in my book. It has the feel of a very advanced in-house app that has been released into the wild. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of adrian wyer Sent: Tuesday, 20 August 2013 12:14 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: [OT] Flux speed if FluX really is scalable across machines, then Realflow just lost out big time a From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Cristobal Infante Sent: 19 August 2013 15:12 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: [OT] Flux I am not a fluid expert but I had a go at Realflow 2013 and I was pleasantly suprised.. Whats the beef with RF that makes people look any further? Price? On 19 August 2013 15:07, adrian wyer adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.commailto:adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com wrote: no pricing for pro versions yet, wonder if it will license per core, or per box, or site? maybe they'll do processing licenses in batches for the farm? a From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Angus Davidson Sent: 19 August 2013 14:24 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: [OT] Flux At $20 for a student licence for a year (same for their other products) that's a great deal. From: Dan Yargici danyarg...@gmail.commailto:danyarg...@gmail.com Reply-To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Date: Monday 19 August 2013 1:55 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: [OT] Flux For those mourning Autodesk's takeover of Naiad, it seems Flux is finally close to release (September if the FXGear store is to be believed). Looks pretty slick. http://www.qualoth.com/home/product/flux.asp No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13 This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary. No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13
[OT] Flux
This is a good example of interface in action, interestingly they are rather cheekily using Realflows .bin format! A bit like taking potshots at Georg J Luger with an err, Luger pistol? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=272bVARlkHA N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nick Angus Sent: Tuesday, 20 August 2013 12:20 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: [OT] Flux You can get a 3 month eval license, I am taking a look at it now, it's pretty sweet. Not in love with the node graph section, it's a bit reminiscent of Maya's new node editor which is pretty horrific ergonomically. It seems pretty fast, but also a bit unfinished at this stage, the good news is (although greyed out) there are send to buttons for Soft, Maya, Max, Houdini C4d!! Results wise I think it probably sits somewhere between Naiad and Realflow, Naiad being the holy grail and Realflow (hybrido) only just cutting it in my book. It has the feel of a very advanced in-house app that has been released into the wild. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of adrian wyer Sent: Tuesday, 20 August 2013 12:14 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: [OT] Flux speed if FluX really is scalable across machines, then Realflow just lost out big time a From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Cristobal Infante Sent: 19 August 2013 15:12 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: [OT] Flux I am not a fluid expert but I had a go at Realflow 2013 and I was pleasantly suprised.. Whats the beef with RF that makes people look any further? Price? On 19 August 2013 15:07, adrian wyer adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.commailto:adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com wrote: no pricing for pro versions yet, wonder if it will license per core, or per box, or site? maybe they'll do processing licenses in batches for the farm? a From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Angus Davidson Sent: 19 August 2013 14:24 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: [OT] Flux At $20 for a student licence for a year (same for their other products) that's a great deal. From: Dan Yargici danyarg...@gmail.commailto:danyarg...@gmail.com Reply-To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Date: Monday 19 August 2013 1:55 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: [OT] Flux For those mourning Autodesk's takeover of Naiad, it seems Flux is finally close to release (September if the FXGear store is to be believed). Looks pretty slick. http://www.qualoth.com/home/product/flux.asp No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13 This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary. No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13
RE: [OT] Flux
I am just testing it on my laptop, admin is not too keen on me installing all the intel framework + python 2.7.3 on my workstation ; ) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of adrian wyer [adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com] Sent: 20 August 2013 00:28 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: [OT] Flux how about the distributed solver? are you getting notable increase in performance? a From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nick Angus Sent: 19 August 2013 15:20 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: [OT] Flux You can get a 3 month eval license, I am taking a look at it now, it’s pretty sweet. Not in love with the node graph section, it’s a bit reminiscent of Maya’s new node editor which is pretty horrific ergonomically. It seems pretty fast, but also a bit unfinished at this stage, the good news is (although greyed out) there are send to buttons for Soft, Maya, Max, Houdini C4d!! Results wise I think it probably sits somewhere between Naiad and Realflow, Naiad being the holy grail and Realflow (hybrido) only just cutting it in my book. It has the feel of a very advanced in-house app that has been released into the wild. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of adrian wyer Sent: Tuesday, 20 August 2013 12:14 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: [OT] Flux speed if FluX really is scalable across machines, then Realflow just lost out big time a From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Cristobal Infante Sent: 19 August 2013 15:12 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: [OT] Flux I am not a fluid expert but I had a go at Realflow 2013 and I was pleasantly suprised.. Whats the beef with RF that makes people look any further? Price? On 19 August 2013 15:07, adrian wyer adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.commailto:adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com wrote: no pricing for pro versions yet, wonder if it will license per core, or per box, or site? maybe they'll do processing licenses in batches for the farm? a From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Angus Davidson Sent: 19 August 2013 14:24 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: [OT] Flux At $20 for a student licence for a year (same for their other products) that’s a great deal. From: Dan Yargici danyarg...@gmail.commailto:danyarg...@gmail.com Reply-To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Date: Monday 19 August 2013 1:55 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: [OT] Flux For those mourning Autodesk's takeover of Naiad, it seems Flux is finally close to release (September if the FXGear store is to be believed). Looks pretty slick. http://www.qualoth.com/home/product/flux.asp No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13 This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary. No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13 No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3392 / Virus Database: 3211/6588 - Release Date: 08/18/13
bin format from soft to maya
Hi folks, this is a strange one, I need to get particles from ICE to maya via the realflow bin format. This is because this seems to be the only format that the Naiad emp converter works with from ICE. All works fine but I don't seem to be able to get point velocity into Maya, which is the whole purpose of the exercise... I have tried adding velocity in the tree, even using names that Maya would recognise (like WorldVelocity and AngularVelocityPP) Any help greatly appreciated. N
RE: bin format from soft to maya
Never mind gang, Exocortex crate seems to be the answer! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 16 August 2013 16:16 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: bin format from soft to maya Hi folks, this is a strange one, I need to get particles from ICE to maya via the realflow bin format. This is because this seems to be the only format that the Naiad emp converter works with from ICE. All works fine but I don't seem to be able to get point velocity into Maya, which is the whole purpose of the exercise... I have tried adding velocity in the tree, even using names that Maya would recognise (like WorldVelocity and AngularVelocityPP) Any help greatly appreciated. N
RE: bin format from soft to maya
Oh dear, seems it isn't the answer, looks like .bin is my only hope... anyone, anyone, bueller... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nick Angus Sent: Friday, 16 August 2013 5:35 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: bin format from soft to maya Never mind gang, Exocortex crate seems to be the answer! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 16 August 2013 16:16 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: bin format from soft to maya Hi folks, this is a strange one, I need to get particles from ICE to maya via the realflow bin format. This is because this seems to be the only format that the Naiad emp converter works with from ICE. All works fine but I don't seem to be able to get point velocity into Maya, which is the whole purpose of the exercise... I have tried adding velocity in the tree, even using names that Maya would recognise (like WorldVelocity and AngularVelocityPP) Any help greatly appreciated. N
RE: RE: bin format from soft to maya
Thanks Leo, but I am using the attributes already in Maya, point velocity should be a pretty standard one. I am now considering using Steve Caron skies PRT exporter if I can just figure out how to use the export function (I can’t find the dang thing in the menus now I have installed it ; ) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Leo Quensel Sent: Saturday, 17 August 2013 12:13 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Aw: RE: bin format from soft to maya Just a guess: Did you try creating a custom per particle attribute in Maya BEFORE (!) assigning your cache? I had no trouble getting my custom attributes over this way. Gesendet: Freitag, 16. August 2013 um 15:51 Uhr Von: Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Betreff: RE: bin format from soft to maya Oh dear, seems it isn’t the answer, looks like .bin is my only hope… anyone, anyone, bueller… N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nick Angus Sent: Friday, 16 August 2013 5:35 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: bin format from soft to maya Never mind gang, Exocortex crate seems to be the answer! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 16 August 2013 16:16 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: bin format from soft to maya Hi folks, this is a strange one, I need to get particles from ICE to maya via the realflow bin format. This is because this seems to be the only format that the Naiad emp converter works with from ICE. All works fine but I don't seem to be able to get point velocity into Maya, which is the whole purpose of the exercise... I have tried adding velocity in the tree, even using names that Maya would recognise (like WorldVelocity and AngularVelocityPP) Any help greatly appreciated. N
RE: bin format from soft to maya
Thanks guys I will give some of those a try, prt ended up not working despite it supposedly being supported by Naiad. Ah the joy of working with unsupported technology... N Sent from my Windows Phone From: Eric Turmanmailto:i.anima...@gmail.com Sent: 17/08/2013 7:22 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: bin format from soft to maya Would Eric Mootz's empolygonizer work? http://www.mootzoid.com/wb/pages/softimagexsi/emtopolizer.php (it says it exports realflow .bin format) -=T=- On Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 4:12 PM, Pingo van der Brinkloev xsil...@comxnet.dkmailto:xsil...@comxnet.dk wrote: Hey check this out. Someone recently helped me with exporting ice particles to cinema4d. He wrote this: i used the exchange-plugin from realflow. unfortunately alembic does not support any particle-attributes except position as far as i know. but it works quite well with the realflow-plugin. for transferring the rotation/orientation-information to cinema i use the Reallfow-vorticitychanel in the icetree . than you have the ability to transfer this attribute with the Realflow-iterator to your clones in xpresso. And he sent me this screendump http://saved.im/mtg5mta3d2p6/softimage05.jpg Dunno if that'll get you anywhere P On 16/08/2013, at 08.16, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi folks, this is a strange one, I need to get particles from ICE to maya via the realflow bin format. This is because this seems to be the only format that the Naiad emp converter works with from ICE. All works fine but I don't seem to be able to get point velocity into Maya, which is the whole purpose of the exercise... I have tried adding velocity in the tree, even using names that Maya would recognise (like WorldVelocity and AngularVelocityPP) Any help greatly appreciated. N -- -=T=-
RE: Future of Naiad
Interesting, thanks Luc-Eric, it certainly looks very tied in to Maya at this stage, although I am sure it is mostly a front end. Much in the way Pixomondo integrated Naiad into Max, although deeper by the looks of all the adaptive stuff. I imagine this level of integration would be a bit trickier in Soft due to the older school nature of the IO. I must admit at this point I am pretty tempted to start looking into Houdini, even just for fluids it could be good value, particularly with Arnold integration. I don't want to bash on Maya any more than necessary, but if I am going to pick a partner for Soft to extend it into areas of simulation that it struggles in I don't think I will we going down the Maya path... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau Sent: Thursday, 15 August 2013 5:34 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Future of Naiad The siggraph user group meeting videos were posted. The one with bifrost is called Behind the curtain of RD http://area.autodesk.com/Anaheim2013https://connect.autodesk.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=bK-GRTdfLUiXi2n0RgTMcYqHgi28bNAIpkHDsL63ZwuMDdYAFdDXoVTVWcZLNdA1fgkawqvC1gw.URL=http%3a%2f%2farea.autodesk.com%2fAnaheim2013
RE: Future of Naiad
Very well put as always Raf! I just get the feeling for the simulation/assembly/final integration scenario I am sitting around waiting for things while many people have simply moved on... A good example is probably found in some of the top Naiad users, who simply walked away and within weeks were posting test videos of equal quality from Houdini. They are maybe not the best example of the broader population as they are already very technical minded individuals who are used to working in the 'undocumented zone'. I don't harbour any particular resentment to Autodesk over this matter, as Naiad was not a very well supported product and I think Marcus found himself swamped with admin and other tasks which probably kept him away from his core strengths. I guess I do fear somewhat for Softs future as more of this tech gets pushed toward Maya, and even with Fabric Engine making the whole thing portable to my mind starts to pull the rug from under Soft. Combine that with ageing IO and it really is not a pretty picture past the next year or so. The fact that Soft makes no appearance in any of the RD videos probably shouldn't be read into to much, but you would have to have your head buried pretty deeply to not let your mind wander onto the subject a little... I don't intend to push this thread into another Autodesk bashing exercise so please anyone refrain from going down that well trodden path. I guess I am trying to get my own roadmap sorted for the future as many of us do from time to time, it seems it is an amazing time for a divergence and abundance of technology but also somewhat confusing as to where some older technology fits (or more precisely will fit) into the grander scheme. Sorry for the long winded post, very much thinking out loud at this point ; ) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 15 August 2013 10:40 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Future of Naiad It might be worth figuring out what you want out of your choices. If you want a mature solution with well integrated production tested solvers, a rendering engine with inifnite licenses that is very highly tailored to scale massively with those simulations, you won't beat Houdini, no matter what rendering engine you tack on in another package. Bifrost is an interesting departure from shoving things into the host and obscuring them for Autodesk, and it relies on relatively fresh or refreshed (but not untested or immature) libraries/frameworks, and it seems to be wanting to attempt a certain degree of generically approaching some problems, plus it's likely, when it will be out, to have some very good solvers. You are betting on months to a year or more away though (assuming it will even be available and viable in 2015 and patched in an eventual 2015.5). If you can wait for that long, wait, but if you want things sooner than that Houdini already has some great solvers, now has solid OpenVDB integration, and it's impossible to beat Mantra's scaling economically, and hard to beat it in other regards too. You only need one license of Houdini to begin with, and whether Naiad will blow it out of the water or not, it's unlikely to be a waste of money. On Thu, Aug 15, 2013 at 8:43 AM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Interesting, thanks Luc-Eric, it certainly looks very tied in to Maya at this stage, although I am sure it is mostly a front end. Much in the way Pixomondo integrated Naiad into Max, although deeper by the looks of all the adaptive stuff. I imagine this level of integration would be a bit trickier in Soft due to the older school nature of the IO. I must admit at this point I am pretty tempted to start looking into Houdini, even just for fluids it could be good value, particularly with Arnold integration. I don’t want to bash on Maya any more than necessary, but if I am going to pick a partner for Soft to extend it into areas of simulation that it struggles in I don’t think I will we going down the Maya path… N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau Sent: Thursday, 15 August 2013 5:34 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Future of Naiad The siggraph user group meeting videos were posted. The one with bifrost is called Behind the curtain of RD http://area.autodesk.com/Anaheim2013https://connect.autodesk.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=bK-GRTdfLUiXi2n0RgTMcYqHgi28bNAIpkHDsL63ZwuMDdYAFdDXoVTVWcZLNdA1fgkawqvC1gw.URL=http%3a%2f%2farea.autodesk.com%2fAnaheim2013 -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
RE: Latest work from Whiskytree -- Elysium
Mind blowing Votch!, please pass my congratulations on to the whole team. I would love a bit of a rundown on your workflow for this one... Ice based? N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Votch Sent: Wednesday, 14 August 2013 7:12 AM To: softimage Subject: Latest work from Whiskytree -- Elysium Now that Elysium is out I can mention the project publicly! Here is an article on some of the work we did for Elysium. http://library.creativecow.net/kaufman_debra/VFX_Elysium-Whiskytree/1 When I was a kid I wanted to work in VFX so that I could build space ships and work on SCI-FI films. Elysium is my first SCI-FI project and personally it was totally worth the wait. Votch Levi Whiskytree
RE: Maya Xgen
From memory, Soft hair is Shave and a Haircut, I am pretty sure they bought the rights to use it from Joe (or at least pay a royalty for the rights) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sebastien Sterling Sent: Sunday, 11 August 2013 10:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Maya Xgen A character fx td once told me that SH looks a lot like softimages old hair solution, he also sells a plugin that seems to do the same thing as the secondary shape modelling mode, only you can actually sculpt correctives using a brush. Poor Peregrine, i guess this kinda screws Yeti, any innovation that might stand them compared to xGen is countered by the fact that Xgen is shipped with maya and they still are not allowed to sell in America or risk the wrath of Joe Alter... On 11 August 2013 13:38, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: Oh and if you're ever curious: http://gametimeip.com/2011/10/07/inventor-of-patented-cgi-technique-runs-to-court-after-a-walt-disney-runaround/ Read the comments, not the article, they are a borderline unprecedented mix of disclosure and quiet, indignant rage. On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 5:42 PM, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: Of course he does, particularly with xGen going commercial. He sued Disney over it and won an undisclosed settlement (it's not on record whether it's royalties or a flat payment). http://patentexaminer.org/2011/10/disney-sued-for-infringing-virtual-hair-raising-patent/ On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 4:29 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: I am sure he still makes money from it with that obscure little patent he holds... -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Chris Gardner Sent: Saturday, 10 August 2013 7:04 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Maya Xgen It beats having to pay Joe Alter for the privilege of having decent grooming tools... the xgen demo looks to be *ahem* a cut above shave's tools. (sorry) cheers, chrisg On 10 August 2013 15:22, Eric Lampi ericla...@gmail.commailto:ericla...@gmail.com wrote: This just came across my feed on Facebook. It's so damned annoying to see them make a huge deal out of this kind of pedestrian crap. OK the hair stuff was nice, but is anyone really that impressed with a hair styling tool? Exactly how often do you say to yourself Oh no!! How am I ever going to style the hair on these ALL of these characters!!?? -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are! -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
RE: SP2
Thanks Luc-Eric, the build number link is really useful! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Luc-Eric Rousseau [luceri...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 July 2013 08:41 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: SP2 looks alright to me. the build number change tell me SP2 is indistinguishable from SP1 except it's got some code change that caused 5 builds but dont affect API or scene file. However, if SP1 is indeed a 11.1 instead of 11.0, then there must have been API change or something that affects the version of the scene file. you can see other examples of build numbers here.. http://xsisupport.com/2012/07/18/softimage-build-versions 2011 SP2 changed persistence. goddamn shader persistance bug and the only time we've done a SP2 at ADSK On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 4:37 PM, Hans Payer hanspa...@gmail.com wrote: 0.0.05 rather On Mon, Jul 29, 2013 at 4:36 PM, Hans Payer hanspa...@gmail.com wrote: Please someone explain, How does naming a release SP2 compare to SP1 has a version number increment of 0.0.03? 2014 SP1 = 12.1.94 2014 SP2 = 12.1.99 Should itnot have been at least 12.2.xx? You can blame my code but I always have relied on point version to differenciate versions.In this case they both return 12.1. It has always been consistent at least since 2010. Why different now?
RE: OT rayfire voxels
The ICE-ist movement of the early 21st Century? From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Andy Moorer [andymoo...@gmail.com] Sent: 07 July 2013 05:57 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: OT rayfire voxels I should follow that up by saying that I love it when clients show me tim and Eric's stuff as their inspiration - because that means what they are inspired by is proceduralism itself, and that's what ICE is all about. Tim and Eric - and a good number of other ICE artists and studios - are at the front of an undeclared and spontaneous design movement which is very exciting. We should all affect wearing berets or something, give the art historians something to latch onto...
RE: color4passthrough
All good, I did a bit of research and it turns out the old 'color_share' preset is still buried in the install. That has a bunch of channels that are hard wired in and don't get wiped out on export of the compound. Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nick Angus Sent: Monday, 10 June 2013 1:57 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: color4passthrough Making a shader compound does not work with the channels of a color4 passthrough node, in 2013 anyway... Does anyone have a workaround for this one? It just dumps my added channels on export of the compound N
RE: Enveloping a referenced mesh
Thanks Jordi, We are in the process of setting that up, we have a pretty good shot management database/toolset here, we are currently publishing a single 'live' cache from Maya until we get the animation cache asset system sorted. All fun and games though ; ) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Jordi Bares [jordiba...@gmail.com] Sent: 28 May 2013 16:48 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Cc: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Enveloping a referenced mesh If you go the cache route (which I also recommend) the thing to remember is that you will put yourself on a new problem as suddenly cache versions, automated naming and various other tools will be vital. Plus disk space will be increasing as you won't be able to delete old caches given you won't know who is using them. If this takes you to asset management you better be ready to spend some serious money on RnD. (I rather buy hard drives than add more complexity but if course developers love it Si careful there) My 2 cents Jb Sent from my iPhone On 28 May 2013, at 06:35, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: You are of course right Alan, that will always be my preferred workflow. We normally do that as we animate in Maya generally, ironically Soft Soft is the one giving us the trouble ; ) All sorted for now though, but yes, Alembic pointcache will eventually be our weapon of choice... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 28 May 2013 00:30 To: XSI Mailing List Subject: Re: Enveloping a referenced mesh Or you know, more simply, you could... have a rig model + a shaded model for rendering... and apply pointcaches exported from the animated rig, into the rendering model. New shading? export new rendering model. New rig? export new rig model. As long as your topology and naming is consistent across the two, it's win-win. On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 1:18 AM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Thanks Orlando, as it turns out (courtesy of Chris Gardner) you need to build a model node node to contain the two other model nodes then reference in the 'container' node and it works perfectly! Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Orlando Esponda [orlando.espo...@gmail.commailto:orlando.espo...@gmail.com] Sent: 27 May 2013 15:16 To: softimage Subject: Re: Enveloping a referenced mesh You could use this technique http://www.softimageblog.com/archives/169, it's very stable. This way you can load just the mesh model in your rendering scenes and load caches on it to avoid evaluation problems on the rig at render time. On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 9:45 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Is this advisable or even possible?, this is the first time I am encountering this problem as we usually animate in Maya and go into Soft via Alembic. We need to keep the rig and mesh seperate so we can work on shading/look dev and rigging simultaneously. The idea was to double reference, ie ref the base mesh into the rig file, skin it then ref that into shots. Any avice greatly appreciated! N -- IMPRESSUM: PiXABLE STUDIOS GmbH Co.KG, Sitz: Dresden, Amtsgericht: Dresden, HRA 6857, Komplementärin: Lenhard Barth Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Sitz: Dresden, Amtsgericht: Dresden, HRB 26501, Geschäftsführer: Frank Lenhard, Tino Barth IMPRINT: PiXABLE STUDIOS GmbH Co.KG, Domicile: Dresden, Court of Registery: Dresden, Company Registration Number: HRA 6857, General Partner: Lenhard Barth Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Domicile: Dresden, Court of Registery: Dresden, Company Registration Number: HRB 26501, Chief Executive Officers: Frank Lenhard, Tino Barth -- Diese E-Mail enthält vertrauliche und/oder rechtlich geschützte Informationen. Wenn Sie nicht der richtige Adressat sind oder diese E-Mail irrtümlich erhalten haben, informieren Sie bitte sofort den Absender und vernichten Sie diese Mail. Das unerlaubte Kopieren sowie die unbefugte Weitergabe dieser Mail ist nicht gestattet. This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden.
RE: Enveloping a referenced mesh
You are of course right Alan, that will always be my preferred workflow. We normally do that as we animate in Maya generally, ironically Soft Soft is the one giving us the trouble ; ) All sorted for now though, but yes, Alembic pointcache will eventually be our weapon of choice... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 28 May 2013 00:30 To: XSI Mailing List Subject: Re: Enveloping a referenced mesh Or you know, more simply, you could... have a rig model + a shaded model for rendering... and apply pointcaches exported from the animated rig, into the rendering model. New shading? export new rendering model. New rig? export new rig model. As long as your topology and naming is consistent across the two, it's win-win. On Mon, May 27, 2013 at 1:18 AM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Thanks Orlando, as it turns out (courtesy of Chris Gardner) you need to build a model node node to contain the two other model nodes then reference in the 'container' node and it works perfectly! Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Orlando Esponda [orlando.espo...@gmail.commailto:orlando.espo...@gmail.com] Sent: 27 May 2013 15:16 To: softimage Subject: Re: Enveloping a referenced mesh You could use this technique http://www.softimageblog.com/archives/169, it's very stable. This way you can load just the mesh model in your rendering scenes and load caches on it to avoid evaluation problems on the rig at render time. On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 9:45 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Is this advisable or even possible?, this is the first time I am encountering this problem as we usually animate in Maya and go into Soft via Alembic. We need to keep the rig and mesh seperate so we can work on shading/look dev and rigging simultaneously. The idea was to double reference, ie ref the base mesh into the rig file, skin it then ref that into shots. Any avice greatly appreciated! N -- IMPRESSUM: PiXABLE STUDIOS GmbH Co.KG, Sitz: Dresden, Amtsgericht: Dresden, HRA 6857, Komplementärin: Lenhard Barth Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Sitz: Dresden, Amtsgericht: Dresden, HRB 26501, Geschäftsführer: Frank Lenhard, Tino Barth IMPRINT: PiXABLE STUDIOS GmbH Co.KG, Domicile: Dresden, Court of Registery: Dresden, Company Registration Number: HRA 6857, General Partner: Lenhard Barth Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Domicile: Dresden, Court of Registery: Dresden, Company Registration Number: HRB 26501, Chief Executive Officers: Frank Lenhard, Tino Barth -- Diese E-Mail enthält vertrauliche und/oder rechtlich geschützte Informationen. Wenn Sie nicht der richtige Adressat sind oder diese E-Mail irrtümlich erhalten haben, informieren Sie bitte sofort den Absender und vernichten Sie diese Mail. Das unerlaubte Kopieren sowie die unbefugte Weitergabe dieser Mail ist nicht gestattet. This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden.
Enveloping a referenced mesh
Is this advisable or even possible?, this is the first time I am encountering this problem as we usually animate in Maya and go into Soft via Alembic. We need to keep the rig and mesh seperate so we can work on shading/look dev and rigging simultaneously. The idea was to double reference, ie ref the base mesh into the rig file, skin it then ref that into shots. Any avice greatly appreciated! N
RE: Enveloping a referenced mesh
Thanks Orlando, as it turns out (courtesy of Chris Gardner) you need to build a model node node to contain the two other model nodes then reference in the 'container' node and it works perfectly! Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Orlando Esponda [orlando.espo...@gmail.com] Sent: 27 May 2013 15:16 To: softimage Subject: Re: Enveloping a referenced mesh You could use this technique http://www.softimageblog.com/archives/169, it's very stable. This way you can load just the mesh model in your rendering scenes and load caches on it to avoid evaluation problems on the rig at render time. On Sun, May 26, 2013 at 9:45 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Is this advisable or even possible?, this is the first time I am encountering this problem as we usually animate in Maya and go into Soft via Alembic. We need to keep the rig and mesh seperate so we can work on shading/look dev and rigging simultaneously. The idea was to double reference, ie ref the base mesh into the rig file, skin it then ref that into shots. Any avice greatly appreciated! N -- IMPRESSUM: PiXABLE STUDIOS GmbH Co.KG, Sitz: Dresden, Amtsgericht: Dresden, HRA 6857, Komplementärin: Lenhard Barth Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Sitz: Dresden, Amtsgericht: Dresden, HRB 26501, Geschäftsführer: Frank Lenhard, Tino Barth IMPRINT: PiXABLE STUDIOS GmbH Co.KG, Domicile: Dresden, Court of Registery: Dresden, Company Registration Number: HRA 6857, General Partner: Lenhard Barth Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Domicile: Dresden, Court of Registery: Dresden, Company Registration Number: HRB 26501, Chief Executive Officers: Frank Lenhard, Tino Barth -- Diese E-Mail enthält vertrauliche und/oder rechtlich geschützte Informationen. Wenn Sie nicht der richtige Adressat sind oder diese E-Mail irrtümlich erhalten haben, informieren Sie bitte sofort den Absender und vernichten Sie diese Mail. Das unerlaubte Kopieren sowie die unbefugte Weitergabe dieser Mail ist nicht gestattet. This e-mail may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient (or have received this e-mail in error) please notify the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail. Any unauthorized copying, disclosure or distribution of the material in this e-mail is strictly forbidden.
RE: Mill 98% Human
Thanks for such a detailed reply Vince, this is the sort of stuff that puts the wind back in the sails of our little community! Inspirational. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Vince Baertsoen Sent: Saturday, 25 May 2013 9:32 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Mill 98% Human Hi everyone, Thank you so much on the great comments. It feels good to hear all this. It was such a pleasure working with the whole team and supervising this project. It's not every day you get a project with great script for a good cause, with good schedule and have time to RnD so much stuff. It was roughly 3 to 4 months of work, to get tools done and spot out of the door. Seriously we couldn't have done it without ICE in the time we had. I am always looking at any software for commercial, to get things done to a really high quality level, in a short amount of time, and i still can't find anything which can beat the combination XSi, ICE and Arnold. Everything on this project used ICE, from rig, muscle, skin, hair, rendering. I started early test on skin with syflex and handover to Jimmy with Verlet which was much faster while I was carrying on and finishing the muscle system and leading the project. Jimmy was working on the grooming of the hair and did a lot of super awesome compounds and scripts (yes he is being very modest). Dave did an amazing work on the hair interaction in a couple of weeks... like proper Siggraph paper staff... to get the stiffness and collision of the hairs right. On the muscle, it was one very simple and generic muscle which had a lot of control to expend to more complex shapes and dynamic. It was extremely fast, and could control stiffness, handles, tangeant, jiggle and more, through few parameters and weight maps. The main strength was the speed to setup the whole body. I just needed to place each muscles close to the skeleton geometry and they would stick to it automatically: zero rigging involved. Anyway XSi and ICE are awesome, i know i don't need to convince you guys. It's not just about the software it's a lot about the talents and people, but seriously...XSi/ICE help a lot! Thanks again for the feedback everyone. Best, Vince Baertsoen co-head of CG The Mill NY Ext.: 2311 www.themill.comhttp://www.themill.com From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of César Sáez [cesa...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2013 1:50 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Mill 98% Human Awesome work guys! Thanks for sharing :)
RE: Mill 98% Human
Stunning work, congratulations to all who worked on this spot. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Kris Rivel Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2013 4:27 AM To: Softimage List Subject: Mill 98% Human Just wanted to say congrats to anyone at the Mill for the 98% human spot. An amazing piece of CG and probably one of the most impressive examples of Softimage that I've ever seen. Here's links to the spot and a brief making of for anyone who hasn't seen it: Spot: http://youtu.be/McD0dKuj5mA Making of: http://youtu.be/wLmVm0nc5Gg Kris
RE: Creation: Horde - new Softimage integration
Sold... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Helge Mathee Sent: Thursday, 2 May 2013 6:48 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Creation: Horde - new Softimage integration Hey Ben, Creation:Horde will be an end user tool. Even though it is still open code and there for you to modify, you can just use Creation:Horde out of the box. For quadrupeds and bipeds all of the standard rig solvers are supplied, but for custom character solvers you might have to dive into the code a little bit. For using it with ICE and bipeds all is there already, so no coding required. -H On 02.05.2013 00:05, Ben Beckett wrote: It looks birll, but now much coding do you need to know to make it work On 1 May 2013 22:21, Jeremie Passerin gerem@gmail.commailto:gerem@gmail.com wrote: Woow, this is very impressive. The integration of the real-time render in amazing. On 1 May 2013 08:02, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frmailto:olivier.jean...@noos.fr wrote: Not at all, SI is just the best software ever ^^ Le 01/05/2013 15:30, Alan Fregtman a écrit : Almost unavoidable when the majority of your staff worked at Softimage in the past. hehe :p http://fabricengine.com/company/team/ Outstanding work yet again. Kudos, Fabric Team! :D On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 9:11 AM, Enrique Caballero enriquecaball...@gmail.commailto:enriquecaball...@gmail.com wrote: yep amazing. I love how they actually care about integrating into Softimage as well. On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 8:55 PM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frmailto:olivier.jean...@noos.fr wrote: Wow ! Super innovative ! Makes me hyper enthousiastic (the hysteric way) each time I watch your demos guys :D Le 01/05/2013 03:42, Paul Doyle a écrit : Hi guys - I've held off posting any updates on Horde as I knew we had a sweet Softimage/ICE integration in the pipe. The nice thing with our locomotion system is that it lends itself well to closer shots when you're working with a few characters - and combined with ICE that makes for some really interesting options. Helge has only scratched the surface with this, but already you can see just how awesome the combination is. 1) Reel: https://vimeo.com/61358674 2) Maya integration info: http://fabricengine.com/creation-modules/inside-maya/ (there's more of a breakdown here that we don't duplicate in the Softimage section, so I recommend looking here first). 3) Softimage integration: http://fabricengine.com/creation-modules/inside-softimage/ 4) Main page: http://fabricengine.com/creation-modules/horde/ We're currently in closed alpha/beta - if you're a commercial studio and you'd like to help with the testing program, please drop me a line. Cheers, Paul
RE: Yeti for Softimage
Have you had a look at fabric engines vimeo page? They have started a fur package probably more as a tech demo at this stage, but they may be planning to complete it as a full package. It would of course be maya/soft compatible, and you know its good if Helge Mathee had anything to do with it! N Sent from my Windows Phone From: Sebastien Sterlingmailto:sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com Sent: 19/04/2013 7:26 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Yeti for Softimage Hello List. I just wanted to perform a quick survey of what solutions people are using for hair/fur/feathers in softimage these days. recently a new tool has become available on the market, its a production ready all in one hair/feather solution. it's called Yeti http://peregrinelabs.com/yeti/ The hair module in softimage doesn't seem to have aged well, and i know what a lot of you are thinking, ice already gives us a multitude of ways to develop hair solutions... However, there doesn't seem to be any universal go to hair solution for softimage. this can be a problem for numerous reasons. and as good as ice is, it's short comings can't be ignored (ex: styling tools?) I wrote an email to Peregrine asking if there where any plans for a port to XSI, they responded as follows: Hi Sebastien, Thank you for the great feedback - we have investigated Yeti integration for rendering preview which may be available in a later version but at this time we're not planning an XSI version of the editing tools. Adding in support for a whole new 3D application is a large task and we haven't had enough demand for an XSI version at this stage. If at some point that changes and it looks like a studio may commit to a large number of licenses we could afford to do this. So yes, i guess I'm asking who would like Yeti to come to softimage, and if Not, why? good day :)
RE: subframe particles to Maya
Thanks Rob, seems to work fine when I go out via Alembic, maybe the ‘send to’ function ignores subframes? Or it could just be something I am doing wrong, which is just as likely…. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob Chapman Sent: Thursday, 4 April 2013 4:21 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: subframe particles to Maya is there not a tick box in the cache manager options somewhere to cache subframes also..? On 4 April 2013 02:27, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Does anyone know if this is possible, I know Soft doesn’t support subframes, but ICE does. When I cache out particles to Maya to drive a fluid sim I want to get subframes for a smoother emission. But I seem to only get hard frames, no inbetween sub samples. Any techniques or workarounds greatly appreciated! N
RE: subframe particles to Maya
Sucked but it worked... The Maya Story. -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Chris Gardner Sent: Thursday, 4 April 2013 5:45 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: subframe particles to Maya only way that i've been able to do it is to increase the framerate of my scene in soft (don't worry about subframe on the ice cloud), cache out an overlength nCache and then scale the cache in maya. sucked, but it worked. yours, IM On 4 April 2013 18:40, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.com wrote: maybe the 'send to' function ignores subframes? quel surprise? - sorry learning my french :) On 4 April 2013 08:31, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.com wrote: Thanks Rob, seems to work fine when I go out via Alembic, maybe the 'send to' function ignores subframes? Or it could just be something I am doing wrong, which is just as likely N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob Chapman Sent: Thursday, 4 April 2013 4:21 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: subframe particles to Maya is there not a tick box in the cache manager options somewhere to cache subframes also..? On 4 April 2013 02:27, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.com wrote: Does anyone know if this is possible, I know Soft doesn't support subframes, but ICE does. When I cache out particles to Maya to drive a fluid sim I want to get subframes for a smoother emission. But I seem to only get hard frames, no inbetween sub samples. Any techniques or workarounds greatly appreciated! N
subframe particles to Maya
Does anyone know if this is possible, I know Soft doesn't support subframes, but ICE does. When I cache out particles to Maya to drive a fluid sim I want to get subframes for a smoother emission. But I seem to only get hard frames, no inbetween sub samples. Any techniques or workarounds greatly appreciated! N
RE: Last day
Good luck Sandy, I am sure this is the beginning of something even bigger and better, please send me a CV and if nothing else I can perhaps set you up with some remote work from time to time. Best of luck, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sandy Sutherland Sent: Thursday, 28 February 2013 7:06 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Last day Hi All, Just letting you all know today is d-day for us at Triggerfish - end of day today the entire staff has been set loose. I will be in London as from 5th March - so would absolutley love to meet up with fellow softies when there, maybe have a beer or two and plot the downfall of the 'dark side', or something like that.. I will still be on this list and will check mail when in the UK so please do all let me know if you would like to say hello! Hoping for bigger and better things - and all the TF boys on this list, it has been a real pleasure finding such talent still in SA that could create two features way way way above the financial level they should have been, that have done so well and still will - Khumba just rocks, wish we could show more online! Cheers S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png]http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png]http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png]http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza
RE: Krakatoa for ICE
Fury is Krakatoa for ICE, quite a bit cheaper too! http://www.exocortex.com/plugins/fury2 N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of John Richard Sanchez Sent: Saturday, 23 February 2013 10:14 AM To: XSI List to post Subject: Krakatoa for ICE Krakatoa for ICE ! Well almost. Just Send to Maya :) http://www.thinkboxsoftware.com/news/2013/2/21/thinkbox-software-releases-krakatoa-my-for-autodesk-maya.html www.johnrichardsanchez.comhttp://www.johnrichardsanchez.com
RE: Interest/Opinions on a (possible) rigging workshop
I will send our riggers for sure Raf! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Raffaele Fragapane Sent: Wednesday, 13 February 2013 4:30 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Interest/Opinions on a (possible) rigging workshop Heya all, I'm currently fishing around for interest and feedback on a potential rigging (for animation) workshop. The format and venue would be the same of my technical direction one, CGSociety, Videos+Literature+Forums Feedback for eight weeks. The costs, media access, infrastructure etc. are the usual they provide these days. I'm basically interested in knowing how many people would be genuinely interested, and to get a rough idea of what level would be the most popular. Currently I have a couple curriculum sketched out, and am inclined to do something that ranges from basics (familiarity with the software the pre-req but not aimed to veteran character TDs) to intermediate techniques for the animation end of things, so deformation, other than the basics, and layered proceduralism absent, but definitely touch on design, dev, modularity and maths/tech fundamentals on building user facing rigs. If interest seems to be skewed away from that though, I could consider offsetting towards something of a more advanced level, but I have a hunch it'd get a lot of lip service but less pull. Timeframe would be a start some time between May and August, depending on several factors. Anyway, any expressions of interest, public or private, and feedback would be sincerely appreciated. Cheers, Raff
RE: Introducing Creation: Flora (and a business model shift)
Genius... From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Doyle Sent: Wednesday, 30 January 2013 4:09 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Introducing Creation: Flora (and a business model shift) Hi everyone - I'm pleased to share some news with you. Creation: Flora We've been working on a new vegetation system that we think you'll like - we call it Creation: Flora. The system covers procedural generation of vegetation (trees, grass, ferns, bushes, flowers etc), editing once generated, simulation/animation, is integrated to Maya and Softimage, and is integrated with Arnold for rendering. Demo trailer: https://vimeo.com/groups/fabric/videos/58470126 More information: http://fabricengine.com/creation/flora/ This system will be made available as a separate module, which brings me onto the second part of this - business model changes. Creation and Creation Modules The short version: we're selling the core platform at $250 per seat, per year ($750 to purchase outright). We're selling modules separately for things like vegetation, crowds, hair and other 'niche' systems. Long version that explains why we're doing it: http://fabricengine.com/2013/01/creation-and-creation-modules/ Thanks, Paul CEO at Fabric Engine Inc
RE: Rigging resources
That would be great thanks Chris, we are also going to buy species I think! Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Chris Covelli Sent: Saturday, 26 January 2013 10:23 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging resources Nick, I'd be happy to send you a copy of the animation rig Eric built for Species. Your new rigger could try to pick it apart and see how its built if you think it'll help. On Jan 22, 2013 5:53 PM, Tim Bolland tim_boll...@hotmail.co.ukmailto:tim_boll...@hotmail.co.uk wrote: Thank you Manny, great stuff. Regards, Tim On 22 Jan 2013, at 16:56, Manny Papamanos wrote: Ah yes Jason... Those were the days ;) Whatever happened to Maude? The 3dmastermind training is still quite useful since the rigging tools and techniques haven't changed much and also shows some good animation tricks. Couple that knowledge with modern toolkits like Gear or Species and you can get by just any character rigging/animation/lip-synch project with ease. If you know someone who's trying to get initiated to rigging in Softimage let me know and I'll give you a complimentary copy if you're a member on the list. Send a message to 3dmasterm...@live.commailto:3dmasterm...@live.commailto:3dmasterm...@live.commailto:3dmasterm...@live.com Ciao. Manny Papamanos Autodesk 3D Graphics Specialist : Softimage | MotionBuilder | Mudbox From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Jason S Sent: Monday, January 21, 2013 4:22 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging resources Known Manny for a long while, even before the SI years, at a small comany called PRH Showed me a number of tricks, and even then he was da' man :) On 21/01/2013 3:09 PM, Luca wrote: Yeah, me too bought the DVD from Manny, about 4 or 5 years ago. I'd like to see something more. His tricks were nice... 2013/1/21 Adrian Lopez vfxw...@gmail.commailto:vfxw...@gmail.commailto:vfxw...@gmail.commailto:vfxw...@gmail.com Manny Papamanos released a rigging DVD for Soft a few years ago, We purchased and enjoyed it, but it may be getting a bit dated by now.. Still, alot of useful techniques from someone very close to the software. Unfortunately a second edition was not forthcoming... On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 12:40 PM, Jeremie Passerin gerem@gmail.commailto:gerem@gmail.commailto:gerem@gmail.commailto:gerem@gmail.com wrote: A child cannot drive it's parent in Softimage. That might be a big problem for May riggers sometimes. I would love it to be possible actually. Another thing is the scaling hierarchy that is different in Softimage. Though, you can have it behaving like Maya in XSI. I'm actually frustrated that you an't have it behaving like Softimage in Maya :) -- Adrian Lopez CEO.Producer.Director Liquid Light Digital www.liquidlightdigital.comhttp://www.liquidlightdigital.comhttp://www.liquidlightdigital.com -- [Image removed by sender.]...superpositiviii...qualunque cosa accada!... winmail.dat
RE: Rigging resources
Thanks Brad!, I need some selling points... From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Bradley Gabe Sent: Monday, 21 January 2013 6:11 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging resources Funny, I had the opposite experience not long ago when I convinced a Maya rigger who was transitioning into Soft that he could build his hierarchy branches based on whatever made the most sense as opposed to building them around all or nothing visibility or branch selection. He found it quite liberating. On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 1:48 AM, Chris Gardner chrisg.dot@gmail.commailto:chrisg.dot@gmail.com wrote: i had an otherwise very chilled and genteel friend of mine nearly hurl a chair through the wall because she couldn't understand why soft didn't *just work like maya*. scary, yet amusing. an open mind is essential if you're transitioning software packages... cheers, chrisg On 21 January 2013 17:30, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: BUT it is likely to be a different method and if they get stuck in the 'I would do it THIS way in Maya' rut, then they start to blame and hate the Software
RE: Rigging resources
Thanks for the quick reply Raf, suspicion confimed! I had a good look myself and the selection was woeful at best... N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Raffaele Fragapane Sent: Monday, 21 January 2013 2:50 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging resources Our experience when training new staff that had no previous experience in Soft is that you should get a paddle as soon as possible, because you're up the proverbial creek. Maybe Dave G. has something more insightful to contribute, but personally I can't say I have, to date, seen a single piece of literature or video that wasn't mostly a waste of time for someone already competent and transitioning over. Adam Sale had some stuff out that was well received (which I haven't personally seen), but unless he did something again recently it might be getting quite long in the tooth. On Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 3:10 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: I have successfully convinced an excellent Maya rigger to take a look at rigging in Softimage. I am trying to point her to some good resources to learn such skills... Not being an animator/rigger myself I was hoping some of you good folk might have some suggestions. Cheers, Nick -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
RE: Rigging resources
I totally agree, I am hoping that they will get the same sense of joy I found when migrating and all those long term Maya issues I was having just dissolved into a distant bad memory. The point I keep emphasising with people is that Maya is great if you are a big enough studio to support it, but being a small studio we have so many needs 'out of the box'... No software covers it all without some customisation, but soft falls far less short than all the others in my opinion. I always preface this with the fact I stuck with Maya for 10 years to at least lend some credibility to my argument! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sandy Sutherland Sent: Monday, 21 January 2013 4:30 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Rigging resources The BIGGEST Challange I have found is to persuade them to try and stop thinking in Maya if you get what I mean - they know what they want to do, BUT it is likely to be a different method and if they get stuck in the 'I would do it THIS way in Maya' rut, then they start to blame and hate the Software - which is why it would be best to toss a few questions here on what they are trying to achieve and see what methods and tricks come up so they can start to wrap their thinking on a Softimage workflow. S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png]http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png]http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png]http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 21 January 2013 08:20 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Rigging resources Good call Raf and Sandy, given the talent on this list it makes absolute sense to ask the questions here! I will get her to sign up. I always find trying to maintain someone's interest in learning to do a task in a new app when they already have mastered in another is probably the greatest challenge. Probably her brick wall may be the fact she uses so much mel script that she will no doubt want to re-task with Python. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Raffaele Fragapane Sent: Monday, 21 January 2013 4:00 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging resources In my experience rigging is largely about recruiting people with a high pain threshold and whipping them the right amount for them to live in the gray area between motivational pain, without quite pushing them into rebellion. It's a fine art that one can only cultivate when being in too many meetings to do anything producting oneself. If that's not available as a method though the right question on the right list can go a long way :)
RE: Rigging resources
Time to tether some furniture to the floor methinks... From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Chris Gardner Sent: Monday, 21 January 2013 4:48 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging resources i had an otherwise very chilled and genteel friend of mine nearly hurl a chair through the wall because she couldn't understand why soft didn't *just work like maya*. scary, yet amusing. an open mind is essential if you're transitioning software packages... cheers, chrisg On 21 January 2013 17:30, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: BUT it is likely to be a different method and if they get stuck in the 'I would do it THIS way in Maya' rut, then they start to blame and hate the Software
ICE rigid bodies
Hi folks, I have a simple simulation of particles emitting and colliding with an object, I am using the 'simulate rigid bodies' node to do this. I want to spawn more particles on collision but cannot quite get my head around how. The old method of 'spawn on collision' works fine for non rbd's but I want it to be a bit more accurate and realistic than that Cheers for any thoughts N
RE: Pointcache workflow
Thanks for the great responses everyone, I will keep you informed of the direction we go, there will no doubt be lots of custom scripts and workflow. I will be only to happy to make all this open source once we get it up and running… N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob Chapman Sent: Thursday, 29 November 2012 7:35 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Pointcache workflow Hi Nick, sod the interop, instruct the Maya animators that they are to be animating in Softimage. am positive that if the rig is up to scratch they would not mind, the majority of the freelance animators at AKA have come straight from a Maya gig and they just request have the dilemma of having to switch on the Maya keyboard layout or not best, Rob On 29 November 2012 02:51, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi folks, I am after a bit of advice on a pointcache pipeline, as we seem to be only able to regularly secure the services of Maya animators and riggers we have decided for now to keep that side of things Maya oriented. I am thinking of building a basic publishing system that takes a model and exports it to FBX on completion, the fbx is then split into Softimage for Shading/Fur/look dev. The FBX is also imported into maya for rigging. The Asset would then appear as one in our publishing system, but the animation team would be importing a Maya file to work with and the Lighters would be referencing an emdl into Softimage. This is just where my head is at right now anyway, my goal then would be to geo cache out of Maya. The problem I am striking is the workflow to then apply the cache, I am sure it is scriptable but it it seems that manually you must apply it to one object at a time. I would be really keen to hear from how other people (if any) are doing this, it seems the simplest way in my mind as you are never transferring geo or shaders. Of course this workflow requires every object to be animated via bones or clusters so there is animation data getting to the points… Sorry for the long winded post, but this is the best place I can think of to ask these questions… Cheers, Nick
Pointcache workflow
Hi folks, I am after a bit of advice on a pointcache pipeline, as we seem to be only able to regularly secure the services of Maya animators and riggers we have decided for now to keep that side of things Maya oriented. I am thinking of building a basic publishing system that takes a model and exports it to FBX on completion, the fbx is then split into Softimage for Shading/Fur/look dev. The FBX is also imported into maya for rigging. The Asset would then appear as one in our publishing system, but the animation team would be importing a Maya file to work with and the Lighters would be referencing an emdl into Softimage. This is just where my head is at right now anyway, my goal then would be to geo cache out of Maya. The problem I am striking is the workflow to then apply the cache, I am sure it is scriptable but it it seems that manually you must apply it to one object at a time. I would be really keen to hear from how other people (if any) are doing this, it seems the simplest way in my mind as you are never transferring geo or shaders. Of course this workflow requires every object to be animated via bones or clusters so there is animation data getting to the points... Sorry for the long winded post, but this is the best place I can think of to ask these questions... Cheers, Nick
RE: ICE particles to Houdini
Ok, embarrassment time, turns out I was a little behind in my Houdini 12 updates... Works fine most of the time now, occasionally a restart of Houdini is needed to bring in a new cache. Thanks for all the advice everyone N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Gene Crucean Sent: Friday, 23 November 2012 5:23 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE particles to Houdini Hmm... that's how I usually do it. I'll take a look after the holiday's. On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 11:31 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi Gene, I get an object in the obj viewer, but no particles, I am simply using the 'import alembic scene' in the file menu, maybe it is not that simple? Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Gene Crucean Sent: Thursday, 22 November 2012 5:00 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE particles to Houdini What didn't work with Alembic? Seems to work on my end. On Wednesday, November 21, 2012, Nick Angus wrote: Does anyone have a good way to do this?, I have been trying Alembic, but failing, I am not a Houdini user as such but I am trying to work out at least getting a basic particle sim over. Nothing fancy, just points. Cheers, Nick -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** Freelance for hire ** www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com/ for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~ -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** Freelance for hire ** www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com/ for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~
ICE particles to Houdini
Does anyone have a good way to do this?, I have been trying Alembic, but failing, I am not a Houdini user as such but I am trying to work out at least getting a basic particle sim over. Nothing fancy, just points. Cheers, Nick
RE: ICE particles to Houdini
Ah yes, I had thought of that, that could be the way also! Thanks mate... From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Chris Gardner Sent: Thursday, 22 November 2012 1:16 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE particles to Houdini stoopid suggestion: soft - polygonizer .bin cache - houdini realflow plugin? cheers, IM On 22 November 2012 13:54, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Does anyone have a good way to do this?, I have been trying Alembic, but failing, I am not a Houdini user as such but I am trying to work out at least getting a basic particle sim over. Nothing fancy, just points. Cheers, Nick
RE: ICE particles to Houdini
Hi Gene, I get an object in the obj viewer, but no particles, I am simply using the 'import alembic scene' in the file menu, maybe it is not that simple? Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Gene Crucean Sent: Thursday, 22 November 2012 5:00 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE particles to Houdini What didn't work with Alembic? Seems to work on my end. On Wednesday, November 21, 2012, Nick Angus wrote: Does anyone have a good way to do this?, I have been trying Alembic, but failing, I am not a Houdini user as such but I am trying to work out at least getting a basic particle sim over. Nothing fancy, just points. Cheers, Nick -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** Freelance for hire ** www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com/ for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~
RE: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013
Thanks Simon, I will double check that, I am pretty sure we cleared everyone off though.. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Simon Anderson Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 3:33 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 I have run into a problem once when installing the plugin in a work group, when we where doing an update, there were still users accessin the work group and even though it registered that the Qt plugin was installed and all the files where there, we only got it working when we disconnected every one from the workgroup and did a manual delete of the Qt files and then a reinstall. I found that cleared my headache at the time. Not sure if you have tried this yet. Cheers Si On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 4:21 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: None that I can find From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 3:16 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 Are there QT dlls in the 2013 install directory? Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: No, we keep nothing local, I am starting to suspect it is the latest build on our machines as it is a new rollout, it works fine from my laptop running all the same software. May be one of those strange glitchy windows things... Thanks for your reply Eric. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 2:18 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 Are there any local plugins referencing that plugin in the user plugins? Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 2:23 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: It doesn't appear to be workgroup related, it fails to load even when it is the sole workgroup. It is a strange one, as it certainly finds the dll when you manually hit 'reload' (without having to trace back the path) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 1:10 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 nearest i can figure is something isn't getting loaded in time when Qt asks for it. how many workgroups do you have and what position is it in the list of workgroups? On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:06 PM, Steven Caron car...@gmail.commailto:car...@gmail.com wrote: i haven't seen this yet, so it works locally? btw, its the jo and steven edition. dont forget jo! On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi Folks, I am having an issue with PYQT (the awesome Steve Caron edition) in Soft 2013, it fails to load the plugin from our network workgroup, if we go to the plugin manager and reload it then works fine. Has anyone had this happen as yet? [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/ inline: image001.gif
PYQT dll fails to load in 2013
Hi Folks, I am having an issue with PYQT (the awesome Steve Caron edition) in Soft 2013, it fails to load the plugin from our network workgroup, if we go to the plugin manager and reload it then works fine. Has anyone had this happen as yet? [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] inline: image001.gif
RE: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013
My apologies to Jo! I think you are probably onto it with workgroup load order, I will look into this and report back. Many thanks Steve N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 1:10 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 nearest i can figure is something isn't getting loaded in time when Qt asks for it. how many workgroups do you have and what position is it in the list of workgroups? On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:06 PM, Steven Caron car...@gmail.commailto:car...@gmail.com wrote: i haven't seen this yet, so it works locally? btw, its the jo and steven edition. dont forget jo! On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi Folks, I am having an issue with PYQT (the awesome Steve Caron edition) in Soft 2013, it fails to load the plugin from our network workgroup, if we go to the plugin manager and reload it then works fine. Has anyone had this happen as yet? [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] inline: image001.gif
RE: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013
No, we keep nothing local, I am starting to suspect it is the latest build on our machines as it is a new rollout, it works fine from my laptop running all the same software. May be one of those strange glitchy windows things... Thanks for your reply Eric. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 2:18 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 Are there any local plugins referencing that plugin in the user plugins? Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 2:23 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: It doesn't appear to be workgroup related, it fails to load even when it is the sole workgroup. It is a strange one, as it certainly finds the dll when you manually hit 'reload' (without having to trace back the path) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 1:10 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 nearest i can figure is something isn't getting loaded in time when Qt asks for it. how many workgroups do you have and what position is it in the list of workgroups? On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:06 PM, Steven Caron car...@gmail.commailto:car...@gmail.com wrote: i haven't seen this yet, so it works locally? btw, its the jo and steven edition. dont forget jo! On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi Folks, I am having an issue with PYQT (the awesome Steve Caron edition) in Soft 2013, it fails to load the plugin from our network workgroup, if we go to the plugin manager and reload it then works fine. Has anyone had this happen as yet? [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] inline: image001.gif
RE: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013
None that I can find From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 3:16 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 Are there QT dlls in the 2013 install directory? Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 4:09 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: No, we keep nothing local, I am starting to suspect it is the latest build on our machines as it is a new rollout, it works fine from my laptop running all the same software. May be one of those strange glitchy windows things... Thanks for your reply Eric. N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 2:18 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 Are there any local plugins referencing that plugin in the user plugins? Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 2:23 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: It doesn't appear to be workgroup related, it fails to load even when it is the sole workgroup. It is a strange one, as it certainly finds the dll when you manually hit 'reload' (without having to trace back the path) N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron Sent: Tuesday, 20 November 2012 1:10 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: PYQT dll fails to load in 2013 nearest i can figure is something isn't getting loaded in time when Qt asks for it. how many workgroups do you have and what position is it in the list of workgroups? On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:06 PM, Steven Caron car...@gmail.commailto:car...@gmail.com wrote: i haven't seen this yet, so it works locally? btw, its the jo and steven edition. dont forget jo! On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 7:02 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Hi Folks, I am having an issue with PYQT (the awesome Steve Caron edition) in Soft 2013, it fails to load the plugin from our network workgroup, if we go to the plugin manager and reload it then works fine. Has anyone had this happen as yet? [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] inline: image001.gif
RE: Multiple Deltas
It always starts platonic... From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Raffaele Fragapane Sent: Thursday, 8 November 2012 3:54 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Multiple Deltas In a sexual way, or in a more platonic fashion? On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 4:47 PM, Enrique Caballero enriquecaball...@gmail.commailto:enriquecaball...@gmail.com wrote: i love this list
momentum users
Do we have any Exocortex Momentum users on the list that might be able to offer me some advice on a little simulation problem? Cheers, Nick
RE: momentum users
Thanks Ciaran, I don't seem to be getting much action on that list : ( I am trying to figure out if this is possible https://vimeo.com/44093200 this is done in Maya with DMM, but I want to constrain pre shattered object to deforming obects as in this example. Also I cannot figure out how to make nice deforming girders that are constrained in places such as these. Maybe I am asking a bit much of momentum, I am only just getting into it, but mostly I am finding it absolutely brilliant! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Ciaran Moloney Sent: Wednesday, 7 November 2012 3:48 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: momentum users Yes. There's also the momentum users google group mailing list. Ciaran On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Do we have any Exocortex Momentum users on the list that might be able to offer me some advice on a little simulation problem? Cheers, Nick
RE: compound locks
Thanks Stephen, nice to still have you around! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Blair Sent: Friday, 2 November 2012 7:59 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: compound locks I've seen that come up from time to time on this list, and in support. usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS14206145 On 02/11/2012 1:08 AM, Nick Angus wrote: Has anyone encountered compounds generating lock files when rendering on a renderfarm connected to a workgroup? It seems to be the same four compounds, although they are all unrelated and from different places. This has never happened before and has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works! Just thought I would check if anyone has had this happened before. Cheers,Nick
RE: compound locks
Thanks Martin, for taking the time to answer so thoroughly, an obvious sign of your frustration too! I am surprised it has never come up before for us, I get the errors in the renderlogs, but have never had it create and actual lock file before! I will keep you informed of my progress and of any findings... Cheers, Nick From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee Sent: Friday, 2 November 2012 8:29 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: compound locks Hey Nick, yeah we've had our share of fun with them... Short story: We've analyzed and reported the issue, it's sort of explainable and reproducible to a certain extent. But I wouldn't hold my breath for getting a fast fix for this as it... So we adapted our renderfarm manager to find the offending blades and restart the renderjob on these ones automatically. Typically the lock files disappear when the corresponding offending xsibatch process is not alive anymore. So bottom line this issue costs us only roughly 3-5 minutes of downtime on a handful of blades which is a non-issue in relation to our overall render times. But it still feels a bit dodgy and of course I'd rather have it resolved. Long story: This is what happens as far as I understand it: 1.) On startup the contents of every linked workgroup get parsed by every machine in order to correctly identify and register all plugins/shaders/compounds/... 2.) For .xsicompound and .xsirtcompound files (and only for those, God knows why) the parsing machine will use a locking mechanism: - for foo.xsicompound create a lock file named foo.xsicompound.lock (after first making sure that this file does not already exist) - parse foo.xsicompound - delete the lock file 3.) When loads of machines do this at pretty much the same time the chance rises for collisions. Also if your file server is not very good with handling a lot of requests for interaction with lots of TINY files this will also dramatically rise the chance for collisions Also I'd love to hear the reason for this whole lock-file thingy. I just don't get it - this should just be text-file read access, just the way ALL other non-compiled workgroup items are alreay handled... Hope that helps a bit... Cheers, Martin -- Martin Chatterjee [ Freelance Technical Director ] [ http://www.chatterjee.dehttp://www.chatterjee.de/ ] [ https://vimeo.com/chatterjee ] On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Stephen Blair stephenrbl...@gmail.commailto:stephenrbl...@gmail.com wrote: I've seen that come up from time to time on this list, and in support. usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS14206145http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS14206145 On 02/11/2012 1:08 AM, Nick Angus wrote: Has anyone encountered compounds generating lock files when rendering on a renderfarm connected to a workgroup? It seems to be the same four compounds, although they are all unrelated and from different places. This has never happened before and has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works! Just thought I would check if anyone has had this happened before. Cheers,Nick
compound locks
Has anyone encountered compounds generating lock files when rendering on a renderfarm connected to a workgroup? It seems to be the same four compounds, although they are all unrelated and from different places. This has never happened before and has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works! Just thought I would check if anyone has had this happened before. Cheers,Nick
Re: paper coming unstuck
Thanks Olivier, that is probably exactly what I am looking for! Very much appreciated as always. N Nick Angus | 3d Supervisor Alt Vfx www.altvfx.comhttp://www.altvfx.com On 29/10/2012, at 7:19 PM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frmailto:olivier.jean...@noos.fr wrote: Just in case, this tut mixes Syflex+Ice for feather like effect : http://feathertools.michael-buettner.com/tutorials/tutorial_cloth.html http://feathertools.michael-buettner.com/tutorials/tutorial_cloth.html Le 29/10/2012 10:10, olivier jeannel a écrit : I had not so bad results emitting some instanced grid (flat). Then I used Momentum Instancer to get one polymesh big of the whole Pointcloud and used whatever deformer in ice (but you can use classic operators)_I think the latest Momentum can replicate UVs Le 29/10/2012 05:53, Nick Angus a écrit : worth a look at, probably an area where Lagoa is quite fast too I suspect! I have the whole thing working a treat in Syflex now, with cluster pinning, and each grid set on a timer to release from its cluster. The only problem is as far as I know there is no way to attract to an object in Syflex!
paper coming unstuck
Just thought I would throw this one out to the list, I want to simulate some paper that is pinned to an object and after a period of flapping around a bit blows off in a pre-determined direction. I have had a play with Syflex in ice for this and it works a treat with pinning by null. The problem is I need to do hundreds of these happening at once, I have looked at flocking but it looks too much like a school of fish of course. Just thought someone might have some ideas, it's almost like I need an instanced pointcloud but with cloth properties! Cheers, N
RE: paper coming unstuck
Thanks Raf, well worth a look at, probably an area where Lagoa is quite fast too I suspect! I have the whole thing working a treat in Syflex now, with cluster pinning, and each grid set on a timer to release from its cluster. The only problem is as far as I know there is no way to attract to an object in Syflex! Cheers, N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Raffaele Fragapane Sent: Monday, 29 October 2012 2:13 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: paper coming unstuck It might be a bit of a long shot, but you should be able to get it to work: You could beat Lagoa into submission to get you many (pre-sized) grids with a behavious like the one you're describing for each, randomized enough to create variation, and at that point a modulo of your cloud by the point count of each grid would get you a set of transforms to go into deforming an adequately placed geometry. You could also generate the geo via ICE if you only need simple grids, but you might end up having to plot away to then shade it. Lagoa can actually be made to behave in a cloth like fashion if the particles aren't easily parted, and you have surface interaction control that can get pretty refined and organic. On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 3:01 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Just thought I would throw this one out to the list, I want to simulate some paper that is pinned to an object and after a period of flapping around a bit blows off in a pre-determined direction. I have had a play with Syflex in ice for this and it works a treat with pinning by null. The problem is I need to do hundreds of these happening at once, I have looked at flocking but it looks too much like a school of fish of course. Just thought someone might have some ideas, it's almost like I need an instanced pointcloud but with cloth properties! Cheers, N -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
Re: ICE cacheing
Agreed Christian, it does keep it cleaner and gives you a fallback if it all goes wrong! Cheers, Nick Nick Angus | 3d Supervisor Alt Vfx www.altvfx.comhttp://www.altvfx.com On 25/10/2012, at 5:33 PM, Christian Keller chris3...@me.commailto:chris3...@me.com wrote: I'd always use a separate new cloud for reading , this way everything stays clean. I often have even one scene for simulating/caching, and another one for reading/rendering both open at the same time .. -- christian keller visual effects|direction m +49 179 69 36 248 f +49 40 386 835 33 mailto:chris3...@me.comchris3...@me.commailto:chris3...@me.com gesendet von meinem iDing Am 24.10.2012 um 03:42 schrieb Nick Angus mailto:n...@altvfx.comn...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com: Good advice Steve!, works like a charm… Thanks N From: mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron Sent: Wednesday, 24 October 2012 11:34 AM To: mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE cacheing delete the simulation marker... just ran into some more headaches myself in regards to caching. On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 6:22 PM, Nick Angus mailto:n...@altvfx.comn...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: It would seem that my ICE tree is still evaluating after I have cached it and disconnected all nodes apart from the cache on file node. A workaround I am using is to make a new empty pointcloud and use that to play back my cache. I am wondering if anyone has any other workflows for this, and am I correct in assuming things generally get evaluated in the tree even if they are not directly executed. Cheers, Nick image001.gif
RE: ICE cacheing
Good call Arvid, I love this list! N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Arvid Björn Sent: Friday, 26 October 2012 1:40 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE cacheing I also use a second cloud, and I use the [Scene] tag in the path to the icecache on the target cloud, speeds up my workflow a lot! Once you save a cache and load it to an empty cloud, replace the name of the scene in the path with the tag, and you can have it update with new scene versions, without the need to re-browse for cache files. So after that, just 'save cache on selection' and hide the source cloud, unhide the cached cloud and you're good to go. On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 1:02 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Agreed Christian, it does keep it cleaner and gives you a fallback if it all goes wrong! Cheers, Nick Nick Angus | 3d Supervisor Alt Vfx www.altvfx.comhttp://www.altvfx.com On 25/10/2012, at 5:33 PM, Christian Keller chris3...@me.commailto:chris3...@me.com wrote: I'd always use a separate new cloud for reading , this way everything stays clean. I often have even one scene for simulating/caching, and another one for reading/rendering both open at the same time .. -- christian keller visual effects|direction m +49 179 69 36 248tel:%2B49%20179%2069%2036%20248 f +49 40 386 835 33tel:%2B49%2040%20386%20835%2033 chris3...@me.commailto:chris3...@me.com gesendet von meinem iDing Am 24.10.2012 um 03:42 schrieb Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com: Good advice Steve!, works like a charm... Thanks N From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron Sent: Wednesday, 24 October 2012 11:34 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE cacheing delete the simulation marker... just ran into some more headaches myself in regards to caching. On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 6:22 PM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: It would seem that my ICE tree is still evaluating after I have cached it and disconnected all nodes apart from the cache on file node. A workaround I am using is to make a new empty pointcloud and use that to play back my cache. I am wondering if anyone has any other workflows for this, and am I correct in assuming things generally get evaluated in the tree even if they are not directly executed. Cheers, Nick image001.gif
ICE cacheing
It would seem that my ICE tree is still evaluating after I have cached it and disconnected all nodes apart from the cache on file node. A workaround I am using is to make a new empty pointcloud and use that to play back my cache. I am wondering if anyone has any other workflows for this, and am I correct in assuming things generally get evaluated in the tree even if they are not directly executed. Cheers, Nick [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] inline: image001.gif
