Re: May 30th, 2010: 20th Anniversary of XSI 1.0

[Tim Leydecker]

Hey Luc-Eric,

if you are looking for a puzzle worth tinkering with during eventual
retirement, you might want
to look into the implementation of a consistent workflow for Color
Management using
OpenColorIO, ACES profiles and the likes across multiple applications
and levels of user proficiency.

The above is easily enough just as challenging as the early 2000s dark
times of using mental ray
with just a limited documentation and a cryptic "gamma" slider
defaulting to a 0-1 range to start with...

I´m exaggerating a bit but only to not spoil your joys in finding all
those caveats yourself!

--

That said, DaVinci Resolve is suprisingly easy enough to get into and
play with, do simple comps,
add glow, colorgrade a shot and render to a youtube/vimeo preset of
personal choice.

Loading a typical rendered *.exr sequence and seeing it mapped to the
expected colorspace can take a moment
of fiddling but eventually works. Even consolidating footage dragged in
from the user´s desktop and all over the place
into a user specified folder structure using "Media Managment" is
already there.

The world has come a long way in supporting artsy types...

--

Thanks to you and the whole Softimage/XSI team for giving me a few years
of joy working in 3D, especially using easy peasy custom pivot orientations.

--

Cheers,

tim






Am 09.06.2020 um 22:10 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:

I think I saw that too...  just download Blender or Natron, or Toxik :P
Even Digital Fusion is free now I think, somewhere in Da Vinci Resolve.
What a great time to be frugal!

On Tue, 9 Jun 2020 at 15:34, Sven Constable mailto:sixsi_l...@imagefront.de>> wrote:

Hey Luc-Eric,

just because the FXTree was mentioned…  when it was introduced and
for some years after that, it cached frames on playback correctly.
I remember because I used it succesfully on several projects).
Years later for some reason, caching of frames didn't work anymore
on my side. No matter what I tried adjusting the "ImageMemory
Size" or "Maximum For Caches" in Preferences, it never cached
anything. The memory consumption by the xsi.exe also stayed the
sameinside the windows task manager.

I tried it right now with version 2015 SP2 on Win10 and it is
still that way. Just wondering.  :)

Out of curiosity, was there any incompatibility with the windows
memory management or something like that?

Sven



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Re: The Maya Chronicles - or how retarded that software is...

[Tim Leydecker]

http://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2018/ENU/?caas=caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Restore-the-Legacy-Viewport-in-Maya-2018.html



Issue:
By default, the Legacy Viewport is not available in Maya 2018.

Solution:
Activate the Legacy Viewport in the Maya.env for Maya 2018:

1. Documents > Maya > 2018
2. Open the Maya.env file in Notepad (it will be empty)
3. Paste the following Environment Variable into the document:
 *


   MAYA_ENABLE_LEGACY_VIEWPORT=1



Cheers,


tim




Am 11.06.2018 um 10:47 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:
What idiot figured that it is great idea to have only VP2.0 and then 
loading scenes takes minutes longer stuck at retarded VP2.0 processing 
and processing and processing... I hate maya.. so deeply, so much


On Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 3:40 PM Ponthieux, Joseph G. (LARC-E1A)[LITES 
II] mailto:j.ponthi...@nasa.gov>> wrote:


Normally I'd say try deleting history on the object, or to try
freezing/resetting the transforms. But if it is occurring to a new
poly grid in the scene with your FBX import it would seem there is
something else much more complex going on.

Joey



-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com

[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
] On Behalf Of
David Saber
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2018 5:11 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

Subject: Re: The Maya Chronicles - or how retarded that software is...

Okay I re did it again on a new blank scene. New polygon plane,
then I translated half of the points in the Y axis again like last
time. The smooth was working well, the wavy shape was very nice
and CTRL+Z gave me back the geo I had before the smooth. So I must
partly apologize to Mr Maya!

On the other scene I had a FBX import that perhaps change the
properties of the whole scene? Anyway I believe what I'm trying to
do should work also on a scene with an FBX import.

David


On 2018-04-17 17:28, Ponthieux, Joseph G. (LARC-E1A)[LITES II] wrote:
> Replicating this as described I got the results I think you were
expecting. I've been unable to repeat the anomoly.
>
> And did the "wave" occur on the Z & X axis or just Z or X? I'd
also be curious if you had any kind of parenting relationship that
might have affected the smooth direction. But I can't imagine what.
>
> Did you perform this in a clean scene? What version of maya?
>
> Joey
>
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com

> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
] On Behalf Of David
> Saber
> Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2018 9:55 AM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

> Subject: Re: The Maya Chronicles - or how retarded that software
is...
>
> Maya is full of surprises. Here's my story today:
> I wanted to create a wavy surface so I got a polygon grid and
selected every second points and translated in Y.
> Then I applied a smooth. The result was bizarre: only the edges
were wavy shaped, the rest was flat. I was not happy so I undid
the smooth with CTRL+Z.
> I should have recovered my grid with half of its points
translated in Y... But no. Some border vertices were translated in
Y, all the rest of the grid was flat... And of course my selection
was lost.
> I tried this a second time to be sure I didn't lose my mind and
I got the same result.
> Great job Maya.
> So I did in in XSI and exported an obj.
> David
>
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--
Mirko Jankovic

Re: this is the end......

[Tim Leydecker]

I´m doing a lot pf poly modeling work in Maya 2016 atm and am
happy to benefit from the adaption/porting/inspiration taken from
Softimage and it´s developers for ways of improving Maya´s modeling.

The Maya 2016 release (latest SP) can be modeled with reasonably well.

I still miss niceties from Softimage in terms of tweak mode or surface 
sliding

implementation details or even more ways of working with pivots but already,
the stuff that has been brought from Softimage (including the guys) is 
well appreciated!


Thanks. It really helps.

tim

Am 04.02.2016 um 19:31 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:
in short Maya will never be logical workflow user friendly app but 
continue to be Frankenstein of misc apps slaps together in most 
messeedup way ;)


On Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 6:09 PM, Luc-Eric Rousseau > wrote:


If it makes anyone feel better, I harass my colleagues here about how
we did things in Softimage to the point of turning it into a running
joke where I preface meetings by saying "as you know, I must legally
mention Softimage twice a day..."  And although I meant that as an
annoying self-deprecating joke people wish I would quit doing, there
is statistical evidence that suggest that I do indeed mention it twice
a day on average. (There is further statistical evidence that nobody
thinks that joke is funny) This has to do with the fact that that
desktop UI work is all very similar between apps and we dtid
everything XSI, and I'm working next to my XSI UI colleague Sean.
That said, the XSI UI will forever be unique and the result of an
architecture and UI working together in a way that can't be replicated
anywhere.

On 4 February 2016 at 08:47, Graham Bell > wrote:
> Yeah, well, not wanting to go over old ground, but there was
alot of effort.
> Though I accept it might not have seemed like it.
> Have to factor in different things like target audience,
perception of
> product, adoption, etc, etc.




--
Mirko Jankovic
skype: mirko-jankovic
https://vimeo.com/mirkoj

Need some help with rendering an Redshift project?
http://www.gpuoven.com/

Re: photoscan on peaople

[Tim Leydecker]

An alternative to using Photoscan might be a multi-Kinect setup using 
something like KScan
or Skanect or Microsoft´s SDK (as a start, I´m not sure multi-inputs are 
supported as sample

code in the SDK).

That will seriously limit the achievable mesh detail due to the Kinext´s 
sensor resolution
but the advantage is realtime capture since there is no need to 
calculate depth.


Snapshots in realtime are possible. Not clean scans but fragmented pose 
snapshots.

No shutter control thought...

I haven´t had the time to check out the Kinect One with any of the 
above, which would
have a higher sensor resolution but also a different way of capturing 
depth data that may

or may not work with your subjects.

I´ve read comments suggesting to add infrared light illumination to 
improve quality off

depth capture but sofar haven´t tried that either.

For Photoscan, make sure to compare the Pro Version with the Standard 
version.
You may need the Pro Version for the alignment features and Marker setup 
it offers.


In any way, it can take minutes to hours to see a result of a capture, 
which may add up

to too much time during a shoot.

Alternatives for photogrammetry based stuff are Nuke and PFTrack to 
generate pointcloud data,
especially PFTrack can give great set data to work with if no LIDARs are 
available.


I´ve seen collegues rebuild a location using multiple shots (scenes, 
sequences) e.g. plates covering weeks
of shooting and then extending that set to taste, with all camera 
positions tracked and aligned in worldspace
and real-world scale. Sounds tedious and overkill but actually saves 
endeless amounts of guesswork, gives
great sense of scale and helps people work out lighting situations or 
asset placements.


Related to capturing moving people the benefit is, you can have footage 
made to align based on the environment,

even if it´s not in the captured set.

One problem I have with the standard version of Photoscan is that it´s 
hard to force alignment to world and

generally real-world scales. That´s where the Pro version has more options.

Cheers,

tim

Am 29.01.2016 um 17:17 schrieb Chris Marshall:
I guessed that might be the case. I suppose I'm thinking realistically 
double that for a full 360. Though we might only need to do 1 side. 
Will try a few tests and make contact with fbfx to check out the costs 
involved.


Thanks again



On 29 January 2016 at 16:10, > wrote:


you’d need more than 12 for a *good* 360 scan.. you could probably
just about achieve a 360 with 12 , but it would probably be quite
blobby and patchy.
We captured one side of a moving horse, with an array of 12,
genlocked 4k video cameras, and it wasn’t really enough, just for
doing one side. I know you’ll be shooting higher res than that,
but there are a lot of occlusions that 12 likely wont cover.
*From:* Chris Marshall 
*Sent:* Friday, January 29, 2016 3:41 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

*Subject:* Re: photoscan on peaople
Thanks Adrian / Paul
It's that kind of stuff. A bit of action captured. I was thinking
we'd use about a dozen cameras, but I have a feeling it might need
to be many more. All synced, fast shutter, no motion blur etc.

We'd have a lot to do which is why I'm thinking of setting it up
ourselves. Just depends on the number of cameras that have the
right capabilities.

Cheers

On 29 January 2016 at 15:31, adrian wyer
> wrote:

we did some stuff a couple of years ago with fbfx at
shepperton studios, they were very friendly, and we got great
results... with people jumping around as if they'd been shot
(WWII stuff)

a



*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com

[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
] *On Behalf
Of *Rob Wuijster
*Sent:* 29 January 2016 15:27
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

*Subject:* Re: photoscan on peaople

If I'm correct, the guys at infinite realities
(http://ir-ltd.net/) use Agisoft for their full body scans.

Shooting for 3D models id a bit tedious at some points, but
there's a lot of examples to be found on Youtube and Vimeo.
To get really good 3D models, you need a LOT of photos from a
LOT of angles.

I'm not sure if moving people will work out for this stuff,
but am happily corrected if this is easily possible though.

Rob

\/-\/\/

On 

Re: Installing ECSU2016 Softimage on renderfarm?

[Tim Leydecker]

https://manage.autodesk.com/cep/#products-services/products

that´s where you should sign in at with your registered subscription 
account (autodesk account).


It should show you something like Entertainment Creation "Suite 
Ultimate" and a Download Button.



From that a window should pop up and let you click Download (Browser 
Download) or find

the "Serial numbers" and Updates& Add-ons" buttons tabs.

I´m using Firefox on windows, the page is a bit slow atm but that could 
be my connection.


Cheers,

tim







Am 29.01.2016 um 13:42 schrieb Morten Bartholdy:


I take it Autodesk_Softimage_2015_R2_SP2_ blabla is the one I need for 
ECSU2016?



MB




Den 29. januar 2016 kl. 13:28 skrev Thomas Volkmann 
<li...@thomasvolkmann.com>:


Here you go:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/softimage/downloads/caas/downloads/content/autodesk-C2-AE-softimage-C2-AE-2015-service-pack-2.html

cheers,
Thomas

Morten Bartholdy <x...@colorshopvfx.dk> hat am 29. Januar 2016
um 11:09 geschrieben:

Thanks for the info Tim.


I didn't see this in the list - as always the Autodesk site is
an awful mess and almost impossible to get a clear overview
from. It is ridiculous how their efforts to make it
userfriendly has done almost the opposite. I will go have a
closer look.


Morten



        Den 29. januar 2016 kl. 00:13 skrev Tim Leydecker
<bauero...@gmx.de>:

In your subscription account, somewhere there, there´s a list
of applications and updates available (to the account
manager).

You can download installers from there, no need for
internet connections
from the farm to the autodesk server (if you use network
licensing, that is).

It´s a bit tricky to find those installers and always
worth to also check the
downloads section of the autodesk site, too.

I had several instances where updates didn´t show up in my
subscription account
but only the initial release(s), e.g. Maya 2016 but not
the service pack or extensions.

The subscription account management and layout changes
sometimes, there is
a chance things are simpler now or more convoluted.

Logging in with your subscription account on the autodesk
website is in any way recommended...

Welcome to the ESCU2016. No way to downgrade offered...
btw...

Cheers,

tim

Am 28.01.2016 um 13:06 schrieb Morten Bartholdy:

We have finally purchased ESCU2016 so I could lay my
hands on Softimage 2015 SP2, so last minute yay for that.

I have been stuck on 2013 SP1 for ages, and this new
web installer crap is bugging me. Is there no way to
create some form of renderfarm deployment so I
download an installer once and deploy to the farm from
there? Currently it looks like I have to use the
webinstaller which does work btw, but require me to
wait for downloading the required installers on every
single client.


How do you guys handle this?


And I too am sad that our good old friend can no
longer be purchased :(



Morten

Re: Installing ECSU2016 Softimage on renderfarm?

[Tim Leydecker]

In your subscription account, somewhere there, there´s a list
of applications and updates available (to the account manager).

You can download installers from there, no need for internet connections
from the farm to the autodesk server (if you use network licensing, that 
is).


It´s a bit tricky to find those installers and always worth to also 
check the

downloads section of the autodesk site, too.

I had several instances where updates didn´t show up in my subscription 
account
but only the initial release(s), e.g. Maya 2016 but not the service pack 
or extensions.


The subscription account management and layout changes sometimes, there is
a chance things are simpler now or more convoluted.

Logging in with your subscription account on the autodesk website is in 
any way recommended...


Welcome to the ESCU2016. No way to downgrade offered... btw...

Cheers,

tim

Am 28.01.2016 um 13:06 schrieb Morten Bartholdy:


We have finally purchased ESCU2016 so I could lay my hands on 
Softimage 2015 SP2, so last minute yay for that.


I have been stuck on 2013 SP1 for ages, and this new web installer 
crap is bugging me. Is there no way to create some form of renderfarm 
deployment so I download an installer once and deploy to the farm from 
there? Currently it looks like I have to use the webinstaller which 
does work btw, but require me to wait for downloading the required 
installers on every single client.



How do you guys handle this?


And I too am sad that our good old friend can no longer be purchased :(



Morten

Re: AD licensing letter - no longer applicable for 'benefits'???

[Tim Leydecker]

It´s the first time I realize there is a catch that means when I´m on 
subscription support,
I get to upgrade existing my perpetual license but then am supposed to 
stop using
any of my previously existing (or upgraded) licenses once I decide to 
stop subscription.


By paying more money for updated I take away my right to use software 
that I was led

to believe comes with a perpetual license to start with?

Sofar, I was under the impression ANY perpetual license I purchased or 
upgraded to sofar

would be perpetual and stay perpetual.

I´m pretty sure there´s a german law forbidding to force a customer to 
wave away his right

to an existing perpetual license the moment he buys support...

Doesn´t make sense and is a pretty sick stunt to try to pull off to 
begin with.


I just paid my subscription.

If that really means you guys think I shouldn´t be allowed to use Maya 
4.5 if I need to, think again.


If that´s what you guys want to pull, we´ll most likely have to part in 
February 2017.


Cheers,

tim




Am 20.01.2016 um 15:50 schrieb Morten Bartholdy:


Amen to that!

Morten


Den 20. januar 2016 kl. 15:34 skrev Oliver Weingarten 
:


> Hey there!
>
> You guys at Autodesk really rock! I also heard about this almost 
rude AD
> letter form a couple of friends. First killing off our beloved 
Softimage

> without ANY appropriate replacement. Secondly having the brass to ask
> for, or better, demand further money from your customers, without any
> further support for the product they bought (Softimage in this cas..),
> but the only "benefit" to open up old projects? You guys at AD really
> know what caring about customers really means. But, right, you are so
> busy with "delivering better software, faster".. I know ;)
>
> Sorry, don´t take it personal ;)
>
> cheers,
> oliver
>
> Am 19.01.2016 um 22:36 schrieb Maurice Patel:
> > Hi Rob,
> > Sorry about that letter. It actually has been escalated internally 
here (after feedback from other customers) and Autodesk is in the 
process of revising how local marketing communications get approved – 
although it is too late in the game for this initiative.

> > Maurice
> >
> > Maurice Patel
> > Tél:  514 954-7134
> > Cell: 514 242-6549
> >
> > From: Rob Wuijster [mailto:r...@casema.nl]
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 4:26 PM
> > To: Maurice Patel
> > Cc:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Subject: Re: AD licensing letter - no longer applicable for 
'benefits'???

> >
> > Hi Maurice,
> >
> > Yes, probably a auto-generated letter, but the tone and 
information in that letter was not very user friendly imho.

> >
> > Thanks for the quick reply and existing/perpetual license info.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Rob
> >
> >
> >
> > \/-\/\/
> > On 19-1-2016 21:43, Maurice Patel wrote:
> > Also, I suspect these letters are being auto-generated by the EMEA 
office as part of a general campaign sent to all Autodesk customers 
(irrespective of product owned) that have expired Subscription 
contracts and so is generic and not specific to Softimage. This is 
because come Feb 1st you will no longer be able to renew maintenance 
subscription if you let it expire and either need to stay on the same 
version as you have when the contract expired perpetually or purchase 
a new desktop subscription contract with no perpetual rights – so it 
is kind of your last chance to do so. Also if you were on 2015 when 
subs expired you technically do not have the right to access versions 
prior to that.

> > maurice
> >
> > Maurice Patel
> > Tél:  514 954-7134
> > Cell: 514 242-6549
> >
> > From: Maurice Patel
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 3:32 PM
> > To: 
'r...@casema.nl';softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 

> > Subject: RE: AD licensing letter - no longer applicable for 
'benefits'???

> >
> > One of the benefits of Subscription is access to previous versions 
not just the version you have licensed, which is always is always 
latest available version of the software. This access goes away once 
you stop subscription though you can continue to use the last version 
you licensed perpetually.

> >
> > Maurice
> >
> > Maurice Patel
> > Tél:  514 954-7134
> > Cell: 514 242-6549
> >
> > 
From:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob 
Wuijster

> > Sent: Tuesday, January 19, 2016 3:06 PM
> > 
To:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 


> > Subject: AD licensing letter - no longer applicable for 'benefits'???
> >
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > Out of the blue, like a long forgotten relative, I get a letter 
from AD's Munich Licence Management about my (not renewed) Subscription.
> > As I stopped maintenance on SI quite a while ago, I'm a bit 
surprised by this letter.

> >
> > The 

Re: Redshift users?

[Tim Leydecker]

I have one RS license but am not up to date with it atm because of other 
stuff taking priority.


That said, I´m looking forward to having more time with Redshift again.

In an ideal world, sidefx would allow to run Redshift with the Indie 
Houdini license.


For me, tools Redshift3D, Substance Painter, UE4, Houdini have brought 
back a lot of  fun

to things that started to just feel like work.

I like the "Indie" approach most of them share and combined, it´s 
awesome what is possible.


Cheers,

tim









Am 05.01.2016 um 19:13 schrieb Derek Jenson:
RS here as well! RS team supporting SI will keep Softimage relevant 
for years to come. I look forward to the new features planned for the 
2.X cycle of development.



Subject: Re: Redshift users?
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
From: digim...@digimata.com
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 11:03:56 -0500

We  have switched to RS and haven't look back since.

On 05/01/2016 7:32 AM, Morten Bartholdy wrote:

Out of curiosity - how many of you have started using or
completely switched to Redshift?


Regards

Morten

Re: Very OT: for the love of your career.. try houdini

[Tim Leydecker]

Regarding rendering in Houdini.

Currently, in H15 (15.0303) I´m finding UDIM support a bit limited, f.e. 
for all those cases where one
would want to do adjustment stuff to a texture put inside a Cop2net and 
then pointing to that in a map slot.


op:obj/cop2net/OUT

The limitiation is that the file import available inside a cop2net 
dosn´t provide UDIM extension resolving,
the workaround would be to do the adjustments to the UDIMS as if it was 
a sequence (e.g. 1001, 1002, etc)

and then write the results out to file and link those as maps instead.

That´s an extra step that could be seen desireable anyway, depending on 
where the hand-off line for assets is
drawn between people/pipeline but still, I would prefer to be able to 
keep the adjustments live and quickly
accessible directly from a map input slot, understood at a glance. A 
personal preference I guess and not yet

checked against caveats in dependencies for a packaged/exported asset.

All that´s obviously inspired by one of Rohan Dahlvi´s Houdini tutorials 
(he´s using that for editing an Hdr for lighting).


--

For general rendering, Mantra really feels like a brother from a 
different mother compared to Arnold.


Same quirks when it comes to finding out how Normalmaps are interpreted, 
colorspace/tonemapping guesswork needed when
driving stuff like the roughness and even similar types of rendering 
artifacts. Indirect bounce noise, gloss/reflect firelies, etc.


One example is driving a roughness in a material with a texture that 
hasn´t been clamped a little bit. It´s easy enough to create
fireflies with (ultra)blacks in that texture and end up trying to sample 
that away in rendering. Couple that with DOF and you
find yourself using insane levels of pixel samples and noise threshold 
to get rid of those fireflies. Won´t work, check your roughness
values, clamp to 0-1 (or 0.1-0.8) and find that you can save hours of 
render time...


Like I said, it feels just like Arnold, the same user, the same problems :-)

Cheers,


tim







Am 03.01.2016 um 20:07 schrieb Gerbrand Nel:

Yeah,, not to indie :(
On 03/01/2016 20:27, Jordi Bares wrote:

Ha ha ha….

It is true, we are all getting spoiled by Redshift… but hey! that is 
coming to Houdini too!!!


;-)
jb



On 3 Jan 2016, at 19:22, Gerbrand Nel <nagv...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wow.. forgot about this rant :)
It's been about 9 months since I wrote that, and I'm still pretty 
happy with houdini.

Only thing I don't like much as a freelancer is Mantra.
Like Jordi said, its probably comparable to Arnold. (I did a fur job 
a few months ago, and it was allot faster than Arnold for what we 
wanted to do)
Also like Jordi said, you can do some amazing things with mantra, 
like distorting uvs with fractals at shader level (this has been 
blowing my mind for the last few months)


BUT... I get the feeling Mantra is designed for large productions, 
where there is a farm to take the hits.
If you were spoiled by redshift, or octane, be prepared to pull some 
hair out.
I render most of my simple jobs through blender (cycles is bloody 
awesome!!!), and heavy things with volumes I do in mantra.


This just happened while I was replying to this mail..
https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum=172=viewtopic=42678 


Might be worth looking into :)
G

On 02/01/2016 19:27, Tim Leydecker wrote:
Now, to keep that thread alive and because Autodesk is about to 
gently push people more

and more into the rental this but don´t own that corner.

I´m currently dabbling with the "Apprentice" Houdini 15 version.

Mostly at the single click level of things. Doubleclicking on a 
node still often drives sweat into my hands...


It´s nice that using Physically based rendering and shaders as well 
as pretty much anything related
to a first testrendering seems well enough balanced to give a 
pleasing result to start with. No gamma issues.


Hit render, it´ll probably look not too shabby with the defaults 
already. That helps a lot in the first steps.


But then really getting rid of indirect illumination noise is uhmm, 
something different thought.
That´s where Houdini eats CPU power more than I would have expected 
actually, indirect bounce cleaning is expensive.
Same for getting volumetric stuff noise free. That stuff sure is 
heavy to calculate and indirect bounce noise seems
not too easy to get rid off even with the added controls available 
in Houdini 15.


Or maybe my threshold for noise is too low. My personal noise 
threshold I mean.


Coming from Arnold, playing with Houdini´s render settings feels 
familiar enough, thought.


I like Mantra, even if I find it slow to what I am spoiled with 
from Redshift3D.


--

In terms of modeling and doing things inside Houdini, I wouldn´t 
want to miss an external asset creation package
to go along with Houdini. Doesn´t matter what, Blender, Modo, Maya, 
Softimage, Max, etc.


Just something more focused on asset creation or *.abc cache 
generation t

Re: Very OT: for the love of your career.. try houdini

[Tim Leydecker]

Now, to keep that thread alive and because Autodesk is about to gently 
push people more

and more into the rental this but don´t own that corner.

I´m currently dabbling with the "Apprentice" Houdini 15 version.

Mostly at the single click level of things. Doubleclicking on a node 
still often drives sweat into my hands...


It´s nice that using Physically based rendering and shaders as well as 
pretty much anything related
to a first testrendering seems well enough balanced to give a pleasing 
result to start with. No gamma issues.


Hit render, it´ll probably look not too shabby with the defaults 
already. That helps a lot in the first steps.


But then really getting rid of indirect illumination noise is uhmm, 
something different thought.
That´s where Houdini eats CPU power more than I would have expected 
actually, indirect bounce cleaning is expensive.
Same for getting volumetric stuff noise free. That stuff sure is heavy 
to calculate and indirect bounce noise seems
not too easy to get rid off even with the added controls available in 
Houdini 15.


Or maybe my threshold for noise is too low. My personal noise threshold 
I mean.


Coming from Arnold, playing with Houdini´s render settings feels 
familiar enough, thought.


I like Mantra, even if I find it slow to what I am spoiled with from 
Redshift3D.


--

In terms of modeling and doing things inside Houdini, I wouldn´t want to 
miss an external asset creation package
to go along with Houdini. Doesn´t matter what, Blender, Modo, Maya, 
Softimage, Max, etc.


Just something more focused on asset creation or *.abc cache generation 
to be then pulled into Houdini.


I can see myself using Houdini more and more for both first steps in FX 
and actual rendering shots.


I like Houdini and the free entry ticket is great, I´ll be upgrading to 
the Indie soon. Just for playing.


Cheers,

tim








Am 17.03.2015 um 11:11 schrieb Gerbrand Nel:
I'm not getting anything out of posting this, except knowing I might 
save the life of a fellow artist.


So I spent the last year learning Maya, and got to a point where I can 
compete against people straight out of collage.
This got me a bit down, as I'm one of the more experienced softimage 
artists here in South Africa.
At the end of 2014 I realized that 3D is no longer fun if it all has 
to happen in maya for me.

My brain doesn't work the way maya works.
I'm also not much of a clairvoyant, so predicting what I have to do 
now, just in case the director asks for something in 2 weeks from now, 
lead to allot of back tracking.


At first I decided to learn Maya over houdini because of the price tag 
of Houdini FX.
It also seemed like I would exclude myself from bigger projects if I 
was one, of only a few houdini artists around.

Houdini indie, and indie engine has completely nullified these concerns.

The perceived learning curve of houdini was also a bit of a concern to 
me.


I started learning houdini 2 months ago, and I can do more with it, 
than I can with Maya after a year.
The first few days in houdini is pretty hard, but the whole package 
works as one. Once you get your head around its fundamentals, doing 
something new is fun and pretty easy.


This might not be true for everyone here, but some of us needs a non 
destructive open work flow.
So if you guys haven't tried it yet, and if you are fed up with the 
whole "there is a script for that" mentality... there is a sop for that


G

Re: OT:Houdini indie render solution

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Gerbrand,

for curves, e.g. fur, the latest versions of redshift are supposed to 
support Maya´s Xgen
for fur descriptions, I think there´s one or two guys here on the list 
who render fur with redshift.


Also version 2.10 of yeti was announced to support redshift, which would 
mean rendering

yeti data using redshift.

Both I haven´t gotten around to try yet (i have no yeti license at home 
and no redshift at work...)
but would love to get some info. The difficult bit would be how to get 
such data from Houdini Indie into Maya?


For volumes, I have no news from redshift but it´s on their list afaik.

Cheers,

tim

Am 26.10.2015 um 08:11 schrieb Gerbrand Nel:

Hi guys.
I have been doing most of my jobs in houdini since the start of 2015, 
and I'm loving the work flow.
Most things just work, and although I have to re-learn allot of 
skills, I feel like this is an upgrade to my skill set.

There is one huge problem though.
Everything needs to get rendered at the end of the day.
Mantra is beautiful, and amazingly powerful, and can get the job done, 
but its kinda slow.

Well slow in my incapable hands.
I've done a few tutorials on rendering, but no matter how much I 
tweak, a render still takes around 15 to 20 min per frame.
As far as cpu renders go, this is not so bad, but I'm a freelancer, 
and most of the other freelancers around me have switched to redshift.
I've done a few comparisons, and most of the times redshift will give 
you the same results in 1/5 of the time.
Rendering normal geometry via alembic in soft or maya is not the end 
of the world, but how would I render fur or volumes?
I'm using houdini indie, so 3rd party renders in houdini are out of 
the question for me.
Do you guys know of a way to get fur or volumes from houdini into 
maya/softimage?
I would like to give Blender/Cycles a go, but I have never used 
blender for anything other than camera tracking.
Cycles seems like it is up for the task, but without alembic, how 
would this work?

Any input on this matter would rock!!
Thanks guys
Gerbrand

Re: OT:Houdini indie render solution

[Tim Leydecker]

I am pretty sure I got that info from the redshift forums but searching 
the whole forum for "yeti"

doesn´t return a hit. Can´t find it.

The reason I have that omnious "yeti 2.10" in my head is that 
a day after I had asked
a pipeline to be upgraded to the latest yeti plug-in version (2.09 then) 
I had found that info on

2.10 supposedly introducing redshift support.

I´m digging. Can´t really actually just quickly test things thought, atm.

Without yeti at home, I mean.

Cheers,

tim


Am 26.10.2015 um 11:44 schrieb Matt Morris:

Hi Tim,
that's good news about yeti 2.10 and redshift - is there a link 
somewhere to read up on this?

Cheers,
Matt


On 26 October 2015 at 08:02, Tim Leydecker <bauero...@gmx.de 
<mailto:bauero...@gmx.de>> wrote:


Hi Gerbrand,

for curves, e.g. fur, the latest versions of redshift are supposed
to support Maya´s Xgen
for fur descriptions, I think there´s one or two guys here on the
list who render fur with redshift.

Also version 2.10 of yeti was announced to support redshift, which
would mean rendering
yeti data using redshift.

Both I haven´t gotten around to try yet (i have no yeti license at
home and no redshift at work...)
but would love to get some info. The difficult bit would be how to
get such data from Houdini Indie into Maya?

For volumes, I have no news from redshift but it´s on their list
afaik.

Cheers,

tim

Re: OT:Houdini indie render solution

[Tim Leydecker]

This is a follow up on my post regarding yeti:

I couldn´t find where I had my info gotten from, so I dared ask Colin 
Doncaster (peregrine*labs)


Here´s Colin´s reply (with permission to post here):

--

Hi Tim,

There will be a beta implementation in Yeti 2.1 when released - not 2.0.10.

Thank you

--

Colin asks to stress that there isn´t a release date for Yeti 2.1 at this time.







Hope this clears up any confusion I may have created and is found to be 
good news instead!


Cheers,

tim




Am 26.10.2015 um 14:22 schrieb Tim Leydecker:
I am pretty sure I got that info from the redshift forums but 
searching the whole forum for "yeti"

doesn´t return a hit. Can´t find it.

The reason I have that omnious "yeti 2.10" in my head is 
that a day after I had asked
a pipeline to be upgraded to the latest yeti plug-in version (2.09 
then) I had found that info on

2.10 supposedly introducing redshift support.

I´m digging. Can´t really actually just quickly test things thought, atm.

Without yeti at home, I mean.

Cheers,

tim


Am 26.10.2015 um 11:44 schrieb Matt Morris:

Hi Tim,
that's good news about yeti 2.10 and redshift - is there a link 
somewhere to read up on this?

Cheers,
Matt


On 26 October 2015 at 08:02, Tim Leydecker <bauero...@gmx.de 
<mailto:bauero...@gmx.de>> wrote:


Hi Gerbrand,

for curves, e.g. fur, the latest versions of redshift are
supposed to support Maya´s Xgen
for fur descriptions, I think there´s one or two guys here on the
list who render fur with redshift.

Also version 2.10 of yeti was announced to support redshift,
which would mean rendering
yeti data using redshift.

Both I haven´t gotten around to try yet (i have no yeti license
at home and no redshift at work...)
but would love to get some info. The difficult bit would be how
to get such data from Houdini Indie into Maya?

For volumes, I have no news from redshift but it´s on their list
afaik.

Cheers,

tim

Re: 34 inch monitor

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Phil,

I would advise against consolidating screenspace from 2 displays into 
just one display.


It´s nice to have a 4kish main display if the distance to the screen 
fits comfortably
to the sitting position in front of it and there´s enough depth to the 
desk but still,
having a second monitor in something of the 24"-27" inch range is a very 
pleasant
way to have floating windows, other programs and references in view but 
out of the way.


Personally, I like having a 27" as my main, centered display and at 
least some 24" to my left.


Other´s swear on centering their displays around their viewing axis but 
I don´t like looking

at that gap between screens all day, I prefer things wheighted to one side.

Anything much bigger than 30", I found annoying in the past because I 
would either end up
constantly craning my neck around while looking across the screen or I 
would squint my eyes
to read small fonts after having pushed the display farther away to 
reduce that initial headswinging.


In a nutshell, i found it really depends on the available desk´s depth 
for a comfortable viewing distance.


It should be deep enough to allow to push the display as far back as 
needed to see the whole image at a glance,
fit a Wacom and keyboard inbetween and still let you rest your forearms 
comfortably on the desk.


Cheers,

tim







Am 23.09.2015 um 22:21 schrieb Phil Harbath:
Has anyone used a 34 inch monitor for mostly 3D work, any comments 
appreciated.


From: pete...@skynet.be 
Sent: ‎9/‎23/‎2015 4:11 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 


Subject: Re: 3Delight (free) - 8 core restriction and toon renders

but did you check in task manager to see if there are actually 8 cores 
active?
in my tests with the 8-core restricted version, there were only 4 
cores active as before – and I’ve seen it mentioned here as well. (not 
saying that what you got out of those 4 cores wasn’t cool)

Re: Soft licenses still available for purchase?

[Tim Leydecker]

Oh,

I forgot to mention:

The Foundry offers an educational license for Nuke Studio which has a 
few restrictions
but is a great start to get into Nuke compositing without watermarks in 
HD1920,
no student ID required just a bit of honesty in terms of not trying to 
use it on commercial jobs.


Alternatively, similar, Blackmagic Fusion. Both are wonderful options to 
get started.


I have both installed at home, it´s awesome to have when re-comping 
shots for your reel imho.
(I don´t do finishing of commercial jobs at home but i spent a lot of 
time in front of that screen...)


Houdini can be accessed at a reasonable price for learning (around 
200$?), that´s
actually a very tempting deal because Houdini artists are very, very 
sought after and
a good Houdini artist can ask significantly more than the average 3d 
artist.
Learning Houdini is actually a very good career choice. Until everybody 
does it :-)


The Adobe Photoshop accessibility options are general knowledge now, 
monthly subscription stuff.
Nagging cloud log-in. Not a permanent license, just a subscription to 
temporary access...


Blender. I`d go with Blender nowadays if i were a kid. Had a teen intern 
show me what "old guy"

feels like just recently. Never managed to shake the feeling since...

Cheers,

tim













Am 17.09.2015 um 07:47 schrieb Tim Leydecker:
When I was in university, offerings for educational licenses were just 
starting

to become available. Not free but almost at a student´s budget price tag.

Today, Autodesk offers a great many (if not all?) of it´s applications as
a free download for educational use.

I know two people that have access to these licenses, one is/was 
teaching 3D classes part-time,
the other got elligible when losing his job and getting a state funded 
job orientation kind of class.


It might be worth checking out if you are eligible by enrolling into 
something like an online course?


I do remember watching a promo/intro video for one of the 3D 
Tutorial/online class providers
and they were saying exactly that, they are accredited with Autodesk 
which grants their students

educational access to Autodesk or Foundry software.

That´s as good as it can get?

Cheers,

tim






Am 17.09.2015 um 05:33 schrieb Tenshi .:
If i only have that money which people in general DON'T... so, this 
is a bad move again by AD. They can do so much better. :)



On Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 5:26 PM, Stefan Kubicek <s...@tidbit-images.com 
<mailto:s...@tidbit-images.com>> wrote:


That's exactly how I got my license too.

And: I don't remember the original price of Softimage standalone,
but $3700.- for Maya/Max + Softimage is the same as for Maya/Max
only?
At least in the EU I don't think it has ever been much cheaper?

Not that it's incredibly cheap to begin with, but 2 packages for
the price of one doesn't sound like that bad a deal to me.




I don´t know about latest developments or newly introduced
intricacies
but I can report a successful transfer of a Softimage license
ownership to me.

The process involved a signed document of the previous owner,
basically
transfering ownership to me, my adress, my signature and a
helpful reseller
making that transfer happen with Autodesk.

If I recall correctly, the transfer process involved a fee
but that was dropped
in favour of me directly buying subscription support to
"help" the transfer process.

It´s a while back and it took a while to sort out the
Autodesk database to merge
multiple stray entries in my customer account listings but in
the end, it all worked out.

The moment the license ownership was transfered, I never had
to get back to the
original owner. I saw the document once, signed once and that
was it.

--

Personally, I don´t see the disturbing problem in getting a
Maya+Softimage bundle
instead of insisting on just the Softimage license. Or a 3DS
Max+Softimage bundle.

There is a good chance things change in the future and it
seems wise to brace for
that by having alternatives ready or to make sure an upgrade
or crossgrade option
is readily available?

4 grand is steep but that´s in line to the prices rising
across the board a while back.
I can still remember my first Maya rental license, a month´s
usage cost me roughly $2000 then.

That is not to say it wouldn´t be desireable to have someone
look into the general pricing scheme
of things. Of course, something like 2-2500 dollars would
feel better to have to shell out
as an unexpected expense that may or may not bring venues.

It´s obviously not the same to keep 4 grands in the bank or
burried in a license eventually

Re: Soft licenses still available for purchase?

[Tim Leydecker]

I don´t know about latest developments or newly introduced intricacies
but I can report a successful transfer of a Softimage license ownership 
to me.


The process involved a signed document of the previous owner, basically
transfering ownership to me, my adress, my signature and a helpful reseller
making that transfer happen with Autodesk.

If I recall correctly, the transfer process involved a fee but that was 
dropped
in favour of me directly buying subscription support to "help" the 
transfer process.


It´s a while back and it took a while to sort out the Autodesk database 
to merge
multiple stray entries in my customer account listings but in the end, 
it all worked out.


The moment the license ownership was transfered, I never had to get back 
to the

original owner. I saw the document once, signed once and that was it.

--

Personally, I don´t see the disturbing problem in getting a 
Maya+Softimage bundle
instead of insisting on just the Softimage license. Or a 3DS 
Max+Softimage bundle.


There is a good chance things change in the future and it seems wise to 
brace for
that by having alternatives ready or to make sure an upgrade or 
crossgrade option

is readily available?

4 grand is steep but that´s in line to the prices rising across the 
board a while back.
I can still remember my first Maya rental license, a month´s usage cost 
me roughly $2000 then.


That is not to say it wouldn´t be desireable to have someone look into 
the general pricing scheme
of things. Of course, something like 2-2500 dollars would feel 
better to have to shell out

as an unexpected expense that may or may not bring venues.

It´s obviously not the same to keep 4 grands in the bank or burried in a 
license eventually needed.


Myself, I wish I could "return" my 3DS Max snippet of my ultimate bundle 
with the next upgrade

and just go with a Maya centric subscription supported box.

I never really opened 3DS Max since I went for the ultimate bundle. Just 
bought it to open

a potential client market by being able to say yes to 3DS Max files...


--

Cheers,

tim






Am 15.09.2015 um 23:37 schrieb Graham Bell:
I'm not sure its that simple. I looked into this EU ruling in my AD 
time and l was told at the time by one of the legal guys that its is 
Autodesk's belief that their license transfer policy is compatible 
with the EU ruling.
I would advise checking with Autodesk and/or one of their partners on 
this though, if you wanted to take things further.
On Tue, 15 Sep 2015 at 22:29, Tom Kleinenberg > wrote:


I believe in the EU second-hand trading of software licenses are
legal.

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240214493/Second-hand-software-legal-or-illegal


Of course, finding somebody prepared to sell is possibly problematic.

On 15 September 2015 at 22:49, Tenshi . > wrote:

I was saving for a Softimage license only, i thought i could
get one from a reseller but now it's clear that we need to
spend 4k for a)software i don't want. b)software that is
already dead. This is real?
I want my machine to have at least one softimage license, not
student or something like that.

Really i don't see what is the trouble selling a dead
software, what is the cost to that if they're saying those
licenses are perpetual, so they don't need any servers to keep
checking online? .. I find this whole situation absurd, really.
If we have money, we can't buy;, and if they gave us an option
the only one is spending too much for something i will not use.



On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 3:23 PM, Patrick Neese
> wrote:

As a hobbyist with a single license...I fear the day I
create something worth while that I have to figure out how
to render with more than one machine...since I only have
one Mental Ray license for softimage.  I'm  trying to
learn Maya...  It is unfortunate I can't have a
softimage/mental ray license (or 20)  transferred to me
from someone who just isn't using the software
anymore...or...is that possible? It appears the LSA could
allow for a transfer via written approval by Autodesk
(2.1.1 of the 2014 LSA) :) It's worth a shot :)

Re: Soft licenses still available for purchase?

[Tim Leydecker]

When I was in university, offerings for educational licenses were just 
starting

to become available. Not free but almost at a student´s budget price tag.

Today, Autodesk offers a great many (if not all?) of it´s applications as
a free download for educational use.

I know two people that have access to these licenses, one is/was 
teaching 3D classes part-time,
the other got elligible when losing his job and getting a state funded 
job orientation kind of class.


It might be worth checking out if you are eligible by enrolling into 
something like an online course?


I do remember watching a promo/intro video for one of the 3D 
Tutorial/online class providers
and they were saying exactly that, they are accredited with Autodesk 
which grants their students

educational access to Autodesk or Foundry software.

That´s as good as it can get?

Cheers,

tim






Am 17.09.2015 um 05:33 schrieb Tenshi .:
If i only have that money which people in general DON'T... so, this is 
a bad move again by AD. They can do so much better. :)



On Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 5:26 PM, Stefan Kubicek > wrote:


That's exactly how I got my license too.

And: I don't remember the original price of Softimage standalone,
but $3700.- for Maya/Max + Softimage is the same as for Maya/Max only?
At least in the EU I don't think it has ever been much cheaper?

Not that it's incredibly cheap to begin with, but  2 packages for
the price of one doesn't sound like that bad a deal to me.




I don´t know about latest developments or newly introduced
intricacies
but I can report a successful transfer of a Softimage license
ownership to me.

The process involved a signed document of the previous owner,
basically
transfering ownership to me, my adress, my signature and a
helpful reseller
making that transfer happen with Autodesk.

If I recall correctly, the transfer process involved a fee but
that was dropped
in favour of me directly buying subscription support to "help"
the transfer process.

It´s a while back and it took a while to sort out the Autodesk
database to merge
multiple stray entries in my customer account listings but in
the end, it all worked out.

The moment the license ownership was transfered, I never had
to get back to the
original owner. I saw the document once, signed once and that
was it.

--

Personally, I don´t see the disturbing problem in getting a
Maya+Softimage bundle
instead of insisting on just the Softimage license. Or a 3DS
Max+Softimage bundle.

There is a good chance things change in the future and it
seems wise to brace for
that by having alternatives ready or to make sure an upgrade
or crossgrade option
is readily available?

4 grand is steep but that´s in line to the prices rising
across the board a while back.
I can still remember my first Maya rental license, a month´s
usage cost me roughly $2000 then.

That is not to say it wouldn´t be desireable to have someone
look into the general pricing scheme
of things. Of course, something like 2-2500 dollars would
feel better to have to shell out
as an unexpected expense that may or may not bring venues.

It´s obviously not the same to keep 4 grands in the bank or
burried in a license eventually needed.

Myself, I wish I could "return" my 3DS Max snippet of my
ultimate bundle with the next upgrade
and just go with a Maya centric subscription supported box.

I never really opened 3DS Max since I went for the ultimate
bundle. Just bought it to open
a potential client market by being able to say yes to 3DS Max
files...


--

Cheers,

tim






Am 15.09.2015 um 23:37 schrieb Graham Bell:

I'm not sure its that simple. I looked into this EU ruling in
my AD time and l was told at the time by one of the legal
guys that its is Autodesk's belief that their license
transfer policy is compatible with the EU ruling.
I would advise checking with Autodesk and/or one of their
partners on this though, if you wanted to take things further.
On Tue, 15 Sep 2015 at 22:29, Tom Kleinenberg
> wrote:

I believe in the EU second-hand trading of software
licenses are legal.

http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240214493/Second-hand-software-legal-or-illegal


Of course, finding somebody prepared to sell is possibly
problematic.

On 15 September 2015 at 22:49, Tenshi .

ping

[Tim Leydecker]

1,2,3

Re: Continued use of Softimage question

[Tim Leydecker]

I´ve pretty much phased out using Softimage towards the end of last year.

I still do have latest version(s) installed and make sure whenever I 
update the Redshift3D builds
the Softimage plug-in(s) will be updated as well but my primary tool has 
become Maya.


It took me roughly six months to come to terms with the transition, 
using mostly the Maya 2015sp6Ext1
on projects plus some dabbling with Maya2016+Maya2016sp1. For rendering, 
on projects usually Arnold

and at home for my doodling and learning Redshift3D.

I´ve still an active subscription contract for many AD 3D applications 
and will probably extend subscription
for another year (not jumping to desktop subscription, I mean I will 
probably just get myself the updates to my packages)

until around beginning of 2017.

That´s the limit I have given myself to finally start looking into 
Cinema4D or Houdini. Or Modo.
All that is not really based on personal preferences but on available 
jobs and requirements for those jobs.


For fun, I do a bit of 3D scanning and am starting to like 3D Coat 4.5.x 
for merging my crappy partial 3D scan data

into a starting point for a complete mesh using voxel tools.


Cheers,

tim

Re: So this is where the MeshMixer dev has been hiding? Nice presentation.

[Tim Leydecker]

That video gave some very thrilling insights and the presentation style 
by Andrew was

very enjoyable, too.

The handling of self-intersections and fusing of surfaces into a unified 
shell is really desireable,
especially if it doesn´t inflict a modification of the entire surface 
topology but is a more localized
effect, compared to a dynamesh workflow that can easily destroy surface 
details when resurfacing

elements into a combined result.

The entire modeling process shown, even in this early stage, seemed very 
fluid, intuitive and desireable.


Like clay.

I can very well understand the frustration about the realities of 
working with many of the tools implemented
in Maya and am finding myself with the general impression that more 
often than not, a tool or workflow will
be developed only so far, then ressources seem to be drained and focus 
is put on something else, leaving
the user with a toolset that can cost a lot of time to realize it won´t 
solve the problem given as understood.


Like needing to clean up the house. You get a Broom and even a Dustpan 
but the Dustpan has been knotted
to the Broomstick using a nice cord but that cord is to short. Cutting 
that cord breaks the stick but not cutting it breaks
the desired workflow of sweeping the dust with the broom into the pan. 
The suggested workaround is to use two
sets of BroomPan, one to sweep up and one to catch the dust with the 
pan. Four hands required or performance may suffer...


This kind of development result is not unique to Maya.

We have an airport in progress here in Berlin that suffers from the same 
21st century approach to problem solving.


Breaking up things into seemingly simple tasks, making a bullet point 
list and then just checking off each of those tasks when completed
doesn´t automatically result in a working result at the end. That´s just 
21st century pencil pushing and leads to depreciated results,
completely ingoring any higher levels of task dependencies for a 
successful completion.


That´s not the fault of the worker bee.

It´s the fault of the guy signing off the budget based on a bullet 
points simply omitting:


-quality control
- test
- additional rd
- test
- v 2.0
- test
- ...

from that bulletpoint list.

That´s the cost intensive, tedious and boring part of creating  a 
BroomPan that may actually work as needed,
even if all that has changed in the end is that finally, the cord is 
longer. It can be very tempting to instead go ahead,

ignore the Pan problem completely and just sweep things under the rug...


Cheers,

tim
















Am 17.08.2015 um 03:10 schrieb Perry Harovas:

I agree Martin,

I actually really respected the presentation and thought it looked good.
I don't know what all the anger is about with regards to this 
presentation...


For God sake Andrew is a modeler. He is one of us.
He makes really great points here, and the tech looks interesting.



On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 8:27 PM, Martin furik...@gmail.com 
mailto:furik...@gmail.com wrote:


I'm not happy with their decisions, prices and now rental services
but is it really necessary to bash Autodesk for every single thing
they do?

This time I don't see what they are doing wrong. They are
developing something and showing a preview video.

Martin
Sent from my iPhone

On 2015/08/16, at 20:59, Mirko Jankovic mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com wrote:


Cesar, development is nothing without completing full working
usable product.
Nice PR video is nothing if you cannot use the tool in daily
production without pulling your hair. If it isn't polished tool
that you can relay on in production then it is just nice PR
video. nothing else.

On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 12:39 PM, mikael.petter...@gmail.com
mailto:mikael.petter...@gmail.com wrote:

Looks very cool, actually!

Skickat från min iPhone

16 aug 2015 kl. 11:07 skrev Cesar Saez cesa...@gmail.com
mailto:cesa...@gmail.com:


I think you guys are missing the point, the talk is not
necessarily about maya but the evolution of modeling tools
and where new developments are going to.

On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 5:49 PM, Mirko Jankovic
mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com wrote:

Frankenstein with bunch of parts that doesn't work
really well on e with another and falling apart
vision off Maya

Just keep slapping items to fill PR announcements how
cool things are being made, but in reality they are good
for nothing

On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 8:16 AM, Tenshi .
tenshu...@gmail.com mailto:tenshu...@gmail.com wrote:

So you're waiting for the Maya 2017 to have this? or
this comes in the 2016?

Anyway i don't think Autodesk will go the for the
'real 

Re: OT'ish: Redshift renderfarm with Softimage setup?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Morton,


now that information is trickling in about Redshift3D would you mind 
sharing how you are rating
Arnold and Vray in comparison? How about Clarisse as the new kid on the 
block?


In my understanding, Arnold has an edge when it comes to supported 3d 
application plattforms
and the user choice of OS, with one license useable in all scenarios and 
combinations.
There is SitoA, MtoA, C4DtoA, HtoA, support for OpenVDB and solid 
support for rendering haircurves.


The caveats one may run into is best tried in an interior scene, a hero 
tree element with lot´s of
overlapping, opacity mapped leaves, a few glass objects with lot´s of 
reflectionrefraction and

and actual test with a OpenVDB volume and light scattering through it.

For VRay, I´m not up to date currently so I would welcome any findings, 
I always liked working with VRay
and would love to hear how other´s run VRay 3.x and how they like it, 
maybe even comparing scenenarios

as I listed above for Arnold. Plus SSS.

Clarisse info would be generally nice to get.

All those of the above run on the CPU with one way or another of having 
more than one CPU contribute
to a local rendering or a rendering in general, all of the above use the 
CPU, some easily use all available CPUs in a network.


In comparison to that, a GPU based solution is a very specific solution 
to a problem simply because GPU solutions aren´t

as widely supported as the general basis of computing to turn to (yet).

Cheers,

tim

P.S: Another thing you may want to test is how dependent you are on 
raytraced SSS, Redshift doesn´t have that yet
and is using a pre-pass instead currently, which is worth checking in 
your workflow expectations, comparing the
IPR preview with a final render and how you get there in something like 
Maya IPR vs. Maya Rendering into Renderview.






Am 05.08.2015 um 12:05 schrieb Morten Bartholdy:


I know several of you are using Redshift extensively or only now. We 
are looking in to expanding our permanent render license pool and are 
considering the pros and cons of Arnold, Vray and Redshift. I believe 
Redshift will provide the most bang for the buck, but at a cost of 
some production functionality we are used to with Arnold and Vray. 
Also, it will likely require an initial investment in new hardware as 
Redshift will not run on our Pizzabox render units, so that cost has 
to be counted in as well.


It looks like the most priceefficient Redshift setup would be to make 
a few machines with as many GPUs in them as physically possible, but 
how have you guys set up your Redshift renderfarms?



I am thinking a large cabinet with a huge PSU, lots of cooling, as 
much memory as possible on the motherboard and perhaps 8 GPUs in each. 
GTX 970 is probably the most power per pricepoint while Titans would 
make sense if more memory for rendering is required.



Any thoughts and pointers will be much appreciated.



Morten

Re: OT'ish: Redshift renderfarm with Softimage setup?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hey Matt,

it´s good to know that the island´s power supply lines have been tuned 
to successfully survive short 3000W kettle power drains,
imagine a world without just a quick cup of tea. That´s like the 
Commonwealth never existed. I see why you want to have an UPS.


Seriously, having an unrealiable power supply can ruin your day. It´s 
commonly forgotten to check a computer´s power supply from
where on the wall it´s plugging when looking for problems with a machine 
crashing sporadically. Often, just a sudden drop or a surge is enough,
which can easily happen when multiple users on one fuse kick in or drop 
out. That will be hard to detect because power installation fuses
are dimensioned quite bigger than needed (to support the odd, sudden 3kW 
kettle bursting in) and don´t blow easily to make it more obvious.


Regardless of high-end gaming PC, workstation or server, they may tend 
to go beyong a 1kW power supply and may actually happen to use it and that
is something often forgotten when laying out power cables and plugging 
things. Power supply and electricity costs need to be factored in, too.


Electricity becomes so expensive, it can be regarded an important factor 
when consolidating multiple machines into one or generally budgeting
for a specific scenario. Just as maintaining multiple machines vs. one 
on a day to day basis should be looked at against having the need to run

multiple render jobs simultaneously or not.

Here´s a nice link for EU types, might be a cost efficient step into 
playing with building dedicated hardware http://www.bargainhardware.co.uk/



Cheers,

tim







Am 06.08.2015 um 12:49 schrieb Matt Morris:
The conversation was aimed towards renderfarms rather than 
workstations though, and I imagine running a render job per gpu rather 
than per node, so that the scaling per gpu is much better (ie 100% 
minus maybe a small hit on the cpu usage being shared). Could be run 
headless so no need for a display card.


In terms of power at the wall, in the uk a kettle will routinely use 
3000w (albeit only for a short time) so a 4 gpu pc should be within 
acceptable limits - between 1000 - 1500 w when rendering. The biggest 
problem I've had is finding a suitable UPS which is silent as most at 
that rating need fans, and are designed to sit in a server room 
instead of a studio space.


There was an interesting post on the RS forums recently from a guy 
setting up a gpu renderfarm using these: 
http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/2U/2028/SYS-2028GR-TRH.cfm


dual xeon, 6 gpu solutions mmm. Sounds like quite a bit of work to get 
it all working smoothly though, including modifying 980ti card power 
outlet from top to back to match tesla cards.



On 6 August 2015 at 10:16, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


Would you guys find the 980Ti hitting the sweetspot between price
and performance?

How about connectors and power supply?

The 970 is running on 2x6pin, e.g. a maximum of 150 Watts plus the
75 Watts from the slot, a 225 Watts total.

The 980ti is mostly 1x6pin and 1x8pin, the 1x8pin offering
150Watts compared to a 1x6pin offering 75 Watts.

In my case, I find it already hard to provide more than one 1x8pin
and 1x6pin via connectors.
How do you guys provide reliable power to more than 1 or 2
graphics cards without melting your power lines?

Here in Germany, it is rare to have more than around 1 kW
sustained drain per average wall plug supported by a great many
home installations.
There is always loads of headroom of course but technically,
constantly draining a lot more from  such a wall plug can get,
uhmmm, hot.

That´s a few of the reasons I suggested to start out with just 1
card, like a Titan X (or a GTX980ti), case power supply
connection, wall plugs, electrical limits.

Cheers,

tim








Am 05.08.2015 um 16:10 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:

agree. 980ti is just a bit above 2 970s price wise, performance
wise it realyl dpends on scenes you are working on. but I plan to
upgrade my 4x970 with 980ti as soon as possible, even if it means
replacing 1 by  1

On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 3:36 PM, Matt Morris matt...@gmail.com
mailto:matt...@gmail.com wrote:

The 970 is the most cost efficient only with scenes that fit
into its memory - which using redshift is limited to 3.5Gb
because of the internal memory architecture. I'd recommend
looking at gpus with 6Gb or higher. The 980ti is a great card
for the money, and the extra vram will help performance even
on small scenes as you can utilise memory optimisation
settings. Because you're limited to 4 gpus (risers don't work
too well and limited by number and speed of pci-e lanes as
mirko said) you want to make the most of that space. Per card
electricity usage and heat output isn't that much more

Re: OT'ish: Redshift renderfarm with Softimage setup?

[Tim Leydecker]

Would you guys find the 980Ti hitting the sweetspot between price and 
performance?


How about connectors and power supply?

The 970 is running on 2x6pin, e.g. a maximum of 150 Watts plus the 75 
Watts from the slot, a 225 Watts total.


The 980ti is mostly 1x6pin and 1x8pin, the 1x8pin offering 150Watts 
compared to a 1x6pin offering 75 Watts.


In my case, I find it already hard to provide more than one 1x8pin and 
1x6pin via connectors.
How do you guys provide reliable power to more than 1 or 2 graphics 
cards without melting your power lines?


Here in Germany, it is rare to have more than around 1 kW sustained 
drain per average wall plug supported by a great many home installations.
There is always loads of headroom of course but technically, constantly 
draining a lot more from  such a wall plug can get, uhmmm, hot.


That´s a few of the reasons I suggested to start out with just 1 card, 
like a Titan X (or a GTX980ti), case power supply connection, wall 
plugs, electrical limits.


Cheers,

tim







Am 05.08.2015 um 16:10 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:
agree. 980ti is just a bit above 2 970s price wise, performance wise 
it realyl dpends on scenes you are working on. but I plan to upgrade 
my 4x970 with 980ti as soon as possible, even if it means replacing 1 
by  1


On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 3:36 PM, Matt Morris matt...@gmail.com 
mailto:matt...@gmail.com wrote:


The 970 is the most cost efficient only with scenes that fit into
its memory - which using redshift is limited to 3.5Gb because of
the internal memory architecture. I'd recommend looking at gpus
with 6Gb or higher. The 980ti is a great card for the money, and
the extra vram will help performance even on small scenes as you
can utilise memory optimisation settings. Because you're limited
to 4 gpus (risers don't work too well and limited by number and
speed of pci-e lanes as mirko said) you want to make the most of
that space. Per card electricity usage and heat output isn't that
much more for the 980ti.

On 5 August 2015 at 14:04, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

Thanks for the clarification, Dan.

I think I mixed this up with the download section of the forum
for customers?

Whatever, good that the registered user forum is accessible to
interested parties.

Cheers,

tim

P.S: For Hair, ShaveHaircut is supported (I don´t have
personal experience with it).


Am 05.08.2015 um 14:17 schrieb Dan Yargici:

you may find it helpful to register in the Redshift3D.com
forums, afaik you´ll need to have
at least one registered license to get access to the
Registered users only forum area.

Just to clear this up.  I'm pretty sure you don't need to
have a license to access the Registered Users section of the
Redshift forums.

DAN


On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 2:58 PM, Rob Chapman
tekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.com wrote:

A lot of good and informed points by all, just wanted to
add, this guy here, Sven, at
http://www.render4you.de/renderfarm.html recently became
the first official Redshift GPU render farm and have used
him already on a few jobs with very tight deadlines.
Essentially he has a rack of 7x Tesla K40st - so 1 node
is the equivalent of a 6x single 980gtx which I find is
pretty cost effective solution of adding a decent online
GPU render node, that works with hardly any setup if you
have a redshift scene ready to go

best

Rob

On 5 August 2015 at 11:56, Tim Leydecker
bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

Hi Morten,

you may find it helpful to register in the
Redshift3D.com forums, afaik you´ll need to have
at least one registered license to get access to the
Registered users only forum area.

There´s a few threads there about Hardware, multiple
GPU systems and some user cases
of testing single gpu vs. multi gpu rendering plus
some Developer info about roadmaps and such.

Personally, I´m a big fan of Redshift 3D.

Still, here´s a few things to consider you may find
useful:

- Compared to Arnold, there is no HtoA or C4DtoA
equivalent, e.g. no direct C4D or Houdini support
- Compared to Arnold, rendering Yeti is not yet
supported in Redshift3D - it´s looked at, no ETA.
- Maya Fluids, Volumerendering, FumeFX e.g.
FireSmokeDustsuch isn´t in Redshift3D sofar

- Multitasking, compared to CPU based multitasking
and task

Re: OT'ish: Redshift renderfarm with Softimage setup?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Morten,

you may find it helpful to register in the Redshift3D.com forums, afaik 
you´ll need to have
at least one registered license to get access to the Registered users 
only forum area.


There´s a few threads there about Hardware, multiple GPU systems and 
some user cases
of testing single gpu vs. multi gpu rendering plus some Developer info 
about roadmaps and such.


Personally, I´m a big fan of Redshift 3D.

Still, here´s a few things to consider you may find useful:

- Compared to Arnold, there is no HtoA or C4DtoA equivalent, e.g. no 
direct C4D or Houdini support
- Compared to Arnold, rendering Yeti is not yet supported in Redshift3D 
- it´s looked at, no ETA.
- Maya Fluids, Volumerendering, FumeFX e.g. FireSmokeDustsuch isn´t 
in Redshift3D sofar


- Multitasking, compared to CPU based multitasking and task switching 
(e.g. switching between
  rendering in Maya, Softimage while simultaneously comping in Nuke and 
painting Textures in Photoshop
  or Mari) may pose GPU specific limitations with multiple applications 
fighting for a very limited GPU VRAM.
 Redshift3D can utilize system RAM for VRAM but there can be headache 
when other, dumber apps go ahead
 and just block VRAM for their caching. It´s well worth running a good 
few hard tests in typical workflow scenarios.
 Maya, Substance Painter/Designer, Nuke, Photoshop, they all offer one 
type or another of GPU caching or GPU
 acceleration option. My personal feeling is, such stuff never gets 
tested in real-world, multiple-applications-running scenarios.


At a glance, it would sound easy enough to have separate, dedicated GPUs 
run headless for rendering and reserving one GPU
for viewport display and other apps but to be honest, all this stuff is 
so new, even thought it´s great, it´s still pushing grown

legacy workflows and boundaries and in doing so, it may sometimes hurt.

My very personal suggestion is:

- a starter kit is just one GPU, optimally a Titan X with 12GB VRAM.
- step 2, adding a second GPU, running headless, reserved for rendering
- step 3, adding a third GPU, comparing speed to step 2
- step 4, price/performance balancing, comparing a 1-2-3 GPU GTX970 
render rig with the above


Could be you find out you like to run 1 Titan X for viewport display and 
multi-apps, and 2 GTX970 for a render job.



Another thing.

Multi-socket CPU boards and PCIe slots. It seems easier to get solid 
single socket CPU boards with lot´s of PCIe slots.


Again, from my personal experience running a current generation dual 
socket Xeon rig, it is annoying how many CPU
cycles I see wasted away in idle in most of my daily chores, except for 
pure rendering with Arnold or the likes, I find
myself mostly having one CPU and even most of the other CPU´s cores just 
not used properly by software.


I think a good sweetspot would have been to just go for one fast, solid 
6-core(budget) or 8core (current) CPU, unless of course for a dedicated 
render slave...



Cheers,

tim










Am 05.08.2015 um 12:05 schrieb Morten Bartholdy:


I know several of you are using Redshift extensively or only now. We 
are looking in to expanding our permanent render license pool and are 
considering the pros and cons of Arnold, Vray and Redshift. I believe 
Redshift will provide the most bang for the buck, but at a cost of 
some production functionality we are used to with Arnold and Vray. 
Also, it will likely require an initial investment in new hardware as 
Redshift will not run on our Pizzabox render units, so that cost has 
to be counted in as well.


It looks like the most priceefficient Redshift setup would be to make 
a few machines with as many GPUs in them as physically possible, but 
how have you guys set up your Redshift renderfarms?



I am thinking a large cabinet with a huge PSU, lots of cooling, as 
much memory as possible on the motherboard and perhaps 8 GPUs in each. 
GTX 970 is probably the most power per pricepoint while Titans would 
make sense if more memory for rendering is required.



Any thoughts and pointers will be much appreciated.



Morten

Re: OT'ish: Redshift renderfarm with Softimage setup?

[Tim Leydecker]

Thanks for the clarification, Dan.

I think I mixed this up with the download section of the forum for 
customers?


Whatever, good that the registered user forum is accessible to 
interested parties.


Cheers,

tim

P.S: For Hair, ShaveHaircut is supported (I don´t have personal 
experience with it).


Am 05.08.2015 um 14:17 schrieb Dan Yargici:
you may find it helpful to register in the Redshift3D.com forums, 
afaik you´ll need to have
at least one registered license to get access to the Registered users 
only forum area.


Just to clear this up.  I'm pretty sure you don't need to have a 
license to access the Registered Users section of the Redshift forums.


DAN


On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 2:58 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.com 
mailto:tekano@gmail.com wrote:


A lot of good and informed points by all, just wanted to add, this
guy here, Sven, at http://www.render4you.de/renderfarm.html
recently became the first official Redshift GPU render farm and
have used him already on a few jobs with very tight deadlines. 
Essentially he has a rack of 7x Tesla K40st - so 1 node is the

equivalent of a 6x single 980gtx which I find is pretty cost
effective solution of adding a decent online GPU render node, that
works with hardly any setup if you have a redshift scene ready to go

best

Rob

On 5 August 2015 at 11:56, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

Hi Morten,

you may find it helpful to register in the Redshift3D.com
forums, afaik you´ll need to have
at least one registered license to get access to the
Registered users only forum area.

There´s a few threads there about Hardware, multiple GPU
systems and some user cases
of testing single gpu vs. multi gpu rendering plus some
Developer info about roadmaps and such.

Personally, I´m a big fan of Redshift 3D.

Still, here´s a few things to consider you may find useful:

- Compared to Arnold, there is no HtoA or C4DtoA equivalent,
e.g. no direct C4D or Houdini support
- Compared to Arnold, rendering Yeti is not yet supported in
Redshift3D - it´s looked at, no ETA.
- Maya Fluids, Volumerendering, FumeFX e.g.
FireSmokeDustsuch isn´t in Redshift3D sofar

- Multitasking, compared to CPU based multitasking and task
switching (e.g. switching between
  rendering in Maya, Softimage while simultaneously comping in
Nuke and painting Textures in Photoshop
  or Mari) may pose GPU specific limitations with multiple
applications fighting for a very limited GPU VRAM.
 Redshift3D can utilize system RAM for VRAM but there can be
headache when other, dumber apps go ahead
 and just block VRAM for their caching. It´s well worth
running a good few hard tests in typical workflow scenarios.
 Maya, Substance Painter/Designer, Nuke, Photoshop, they all
offer one type or another of GPU caching or GPU
 acceleration option. My personal feeling is, such stuff never
gets tested in real-world, multiple-applications-running
scenarios.

At a glance, it would sound easy enough to have separate,
dedicated GPUs run headless for rendering and reserving one GPU
for viewport display and other apps but to be honest, all this
stuff is so new, even thought it´s great, it´s still pushing grown
legacy workflows and boundaries and in doing so, it may
sometimes hurt.

My very personal suggestion is:

- a starter kit is just one GPU, optimally a Titan X with 12GB
VRAM.
- step 2, adding a second GPU, running headless, reserved for
rendering
- step 3, adding a third GPU, comparing speed to step 2
- step 4, price/performance balancing, comparing a 1-2-3 GPU
GTX970 render rig with the above

Could be you find out you like to run 1 Titan X for viewport
display and multi-apps, and 2 GTX970 for a render job.


Another thing.

Multi-socket CPU boards and PCIe slots. It seems easier to get
solid single socket CPU boards with lot´s of PCIe slots.

Again, from my personal experience running a current
generation dual socket Xeon rig, it is annoying how many CPU
cycles I see wasted away in idle in most of my daily chores,
except for pure rendering with Arnold or the likes, I find
myself mostly having one CPU and even most of the other CPU´s
cores just not used properly by software.

I think a good sweetspot would have been to just go for one
fast, solid 6-core(budget) or 8core (current) CPU, unless of
course for a dedicated render slave...


Cheers,

tim











Am 05.08.2015 um 12:05 schrieb Morten Bartholdy:


I know several of you

Re: FBX Problems: Image Clips don't appear on Tex.Editor after FBX exporting

[Tim Leydecker]

Thanks for sharing that info! Good to know in a pinch...

Cheers,

tim

Am 30.07.2015 um 13:06 schrieb Martin Yara:

Hi Tim,

We are still in 2014 and not doing animation in this project and we 
don't have a TD either but I can handle simple custom exporters and 
things like that in SI and Maya.


I was looking for a patch solution to get back to my work as soon as 
possible, but I started to look into the parameters and I found the 
problem. It was quite simple.


For some reason I don't know, FBX exporter change the Image Clip crop 
parameters from :

XMin 0 XMax 1, YMin 0 YMax 1
to:
XMin 0 XMax 0, YMin 1 YMax 1

Effects are still enabled and can't be disabled, but since we are not 
using effects I guess it should be good enough to just change XMax, 
YMin parameters.


Thanks!

Martin



On Thu, Jul 30, 2015 at 7:54 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


There´s loads of differences between FBX 2014 and FBX2016, also
there´s the send to Maya option
and the location of your folder for embedded media that could do
things unwanted.

All that said, you might have a look at your File FormatEmbed
Textures settings, maybe there is something
you wouldn´t want to happen?


http://docs.autodesk.com/SI/2015/ENU/#!/url=./files/dataman_xwalk_props_ExportFBXOptionsDialogBox.htm

http://docs.autodesk.com/SI/2015/ENU/#%21/url=./files/dataman_xwalk_props_ExportFBXOptionsDialogBox.htm

Another thing could be the fbx check for bad polygons that would
modify data exported.

http://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2015/ENU/?guid=Data_Exchange


And there´s always the chance you set the wrong type of Euler vs
Quaternion interpretation/conversion
worth double checking the help files for.

In case you are using HIK, the Skeleton Definition export seems to
be broken on export in FBX 2015+ or at least
it doesn´t come enabled with the default Autodesk ME preset,
might be worth checking if the Motionbuilder
Preset gives you a better starting point to bounce data back and
forth, depending on FBX plug-in version, task, etc.

It may sound anal to do but imho it´s best to have a TD set up a
custom preset for the *.fbx dialog in both Softimage
and Maya and force the artists to use that from then on. It´s even
possible to make it a button and suppress any dialog.
If that would make you feel cornered, imagine yourself debugging
10 different files with different settings...

Better have a TD read through things and run a test to make sure
things are solid.

I would suggest to also export and re-import to check for what
actually happens to animation data. Can be a surprise, too...

The *.fbx container format has grown so big, it´s almost
impossible to hit the correct setting by luck and constantly
mixing and changing settings doesn´t really help verifying that
this or that *.fbx is what it is supposed to be.

Cheers,

tim







Am 30.07.2015 um 12:16 schrieb Martin Yara:

Hi list,

I'm using SI - FBX - Maya more than ever and I'm having some
problems.

Everytime I export a scene to FBX, it seems to change my
current Softimage data which is weird because it shouldn't
change your data !

My image clips stop appearing on Texture Editor and the
preview when you double click a image clip. The Texture Editor
is just gray, and becomes very slow.
I though it would be a problem with the real time shaders we
were using but it happens with 1 texture simple Phong
materials too.

I'm not sure if it's related but for some reason, effects are
enabled and can't be disabled.

I haven't noticed it before because I didn't use to keep
working on my scene after exporting, but now we are sharing
WIP data with Maya users back and forward.

Reloading and not saving after an FBX export with a custom FBX
exporter could work, but I would still have to deal with
already messed up data. I'd like a fix to the FBX broken scene
instead of prevent the problem.

The only solution I've found is to create my Image clips again
and connect them to their respective shaders. I'm thinking in
automatize this through scripting but I'm still not sure how
to find the shaders they are connected to, not other way than
get the material with the owner property and walk through all
the shaders in the Material Tree until I find the image clip.

Does anyone have found any solution to this?

The other problem are weights and Symmetry Templates. I
haven't found the source of the problem but it usually happens
when I'm importing an FBX from Maya to SI. You just can't
create a Sym.Template. This is easily solved by saving the
weights and loading them again

Re: FBX Problems: Image Clips don't appear on Tex.Editor after FBX exporting

[Tim Leydecker]

There´s loads of differences between FBX 2014 and FBX2016, also there´s 
the send to Maya option
and the location of your folder for embedded media that could do things 
unwanted.


All that said, you might have a look at your File FormatEmbed Textures 
settings, maybe there is something

you wouldn´t want to happen?

http://docs.autodesk.com/SI/2015/ENU/#!/url=./files/dataman_xwalk_props_ExportFBXOptionsDialogBox.htm

Another thing could be the fbx check for bad polygons that would modify 
data exported.


http://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2015/ENU/?guid=Data_Exchange


And there´s always the chance you set the wrong type of Euler vs 
Quaternion interpretation/conversion

worth double checking the help files for.

In case you are using HIK, the Skeleton Definition export seems to be 
broken on export in FBX 2015+ or at least
it doesn´t come enabled with the default Autodesk ME preset, might be 
worth checking if the Motionbuilder
Preset gives you a better starting point to bounce data back and forth, 
depending on FBX plug-in version, task, etc.


It may sound anal to do but imho it´s best to have a TD set up a custom 
preset for the *.fbx dialog in both Softimage
and Maya and force the artists to use that from then on. It´s even 
possible to make it a button and suppress any dialog.
If that would make you feel cornered, imagine yourself debugging 10 
different files with different settings...


Better have a TD read through things and run a test to make sure things 
are solid.


I would suggest to also export and re-import to check for what actually 
happens to animation data. Can be a surprise, too...


The *.fbx container format has grown so big, it´s almost impossible to 
hit the correct setting by luck and constantly
mixing and changing settings doesn´t really help verifying that this or 
that *.fbx is what it is supposed to be.


Cheers,

tim






Am 30.07.2015 um 12:16 schrieb Martin Yara:

Hi list,

I'm using SI - FBX - Maya more than ever and I'm having some problems.

Everytime I export a scene to FBX, it seems to change my current 
Softimage data which is weird because it shouldn't change your data !


My image clips stop appearing on Texture Editor and the preview when 
you double click a image clip. The Texture Editor is just gray, and 
becomes very slow.
I though it would be a problem with the real time shaders we were 
using but it happens with 1 texture simple Phong materials too.


I'm not sure if it's related but for some reason, effects are enabled 
and can't be disabled.


I haven't noticed it before because I didn't use to keep working on my 
scene after exporting, but now we are sharing WIP data with Maya users 
back and forward.


Reloading and not saving after an FBX export with a custom FBX 
exporter could work, but I would still have to deal with already 
messed up data. I'd like a fix to the FBX broken scene instead of 
prevent the problem.


The only solution I've found is to create my Image clips again and 
connect them to their respective shaders. I'm thinking in automatize 
this through scripting but I'm still not sure how to find the shaders 
they are connected to, not other way than get the material with the 
owner property and walk through all the shaders in the Material Tree 
until I find the image clip.


Does anyone have found any solution to this?

The other problem are weights and Symmetry Templates. I haven't found 
the source of the problem but it usually happens when I'm importing an 
FBX from Maya to SI. You just can't create a Sym.Template. This is 
easily solved by saving the weights and loading them again. Sometimes 
re-envelope is also needed. I had this problem since ever so I'm used 
to it, just adding the info in case someone is having the same problem.


Thanks,

Martin

Re: OT: Jurassic World, Mad Max, Avengers Ultron ... money over story?

[Tim Leydecker]

I think it is a good thing to get an educated critique and honest 
feedback, even if it is going to be biased.


I´d actually hope to see more critics point out that a good story, 
regardless of it´s tonality goes a long way
in creating an experience and just because it´s meant to entertain 
doesn´t mean one can dumb it down
and ignore the need to first of all get the basics of telling a 
compelling story to an audience right.


Growing up with 80s/90s sci-fi and action movies, Star Wars, Aliens, 
Jurrassic Park, Men in Black,
Blade, Terminator, True Lies, Indiana Jones, The Thing, Rambo, Universal 
Soldier, Timecop, 48hrs,
Beverly Hills Cop, Escape from New York, etc, etc. did have an effect on 
me, too. I´m loving it.


It took me a few years to also appreciate that there´s this or that odd, 
old Woody Allen movie and pick it up myself
and another few years to find out that both directions can have a common 
factor, the dedication to their craft.


It´s a lot easier to spend millions and waste all the people involved 
than spending one dollar wisely.


The ever growing trend of trivialising the actual craft required in 
doing something properly just shows...



Cheers,

tim


P.S: As a personal pick, here´s a documentary that has great practial 
effects, an Inception style corridor scene,
absolutely gorgeous wires work, wonderful art direction and a cast and 
crew that got it right. If you don´t believe me,

believe imdb. Also note, the Rotten Tomatoes Rating vs. the IMDB Rating.

What we do in the Shadows  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3416742/


















Am 25.07.2015 um 01:37 schrieb Mathieu Leclaire:

Oh boy... are you sure you want to open that can of worms?

There is this lets blame the CGI for ruining my experience trend 
going on right now and as a technical artist working so hard on these 
movies, I must admit, it's hard not to get offended. But let's face 
it, most people love to complain. They thrive on finding reasons to 
complain about, and with social medias all over the place, there are 
easy ways of verbalizing our feelings without fully digesting our 
emotions or thoroughly researching all the information to help us make 
an informed statement.


The human brain tends to generalize a lot of information so we can 
easily fit our ideas into neat little boxes in our head and label 
them. Also, our survival instincts encourages us to agree with the 
masses so we can more easily fit in. I have surprised myself many 
times in changing my opinion on a movie because I heard/read a lot of 
negative critics about it. I started noticing things that initially 
didn't bother me. All these critics changed the way I reflected back 
on that experience.


I say this because people got conditioned to point the finger at CGI 
as the first reason why these movies are not as good as they had 
hoped. Everyone else is saying it, so it must be true.


I'm not sure where it started, but obviously there's been plenty of 
bad CG in the past to create this trend. It's usually due to producers 
who make bad calls that lead to bad CG. Since you can pretty much do 
what you want in CG, bad calls stand out so much more. It's even more 
frustrating when most people can't even notice what we've done when we 
do our job well. As long as there are bad calls from the clients, I 
think we are doomed to always get blamed for bad effect shots. It's 
like actors. We've seen a lot of terrible acting from really great 
actors that where simply misused. Good for you if you can find good 
clients, but most of us don't always have that luxury to chose who we 
work with.


Also, our job is to make the impossible look possible. People want to 
see new things they haven't seen before, but when you show them 
something they haven't seen yet, they have no point of reference to 
compare it too, so it tends to looks fake. It's the nature of our job 
and why we work so hard to figure out a way to make it look believable.


This might sound silly, but people who complain a lot are just people 
who want to help. They just don't know how to say it in a constructive 
helpful way. They believe old techniques are better then newer CGI 
based ones (and some times they are absolutely right). They hope that 
by complaining enough times, producers will take notice and revise the 
way they do things. Problem is, a lot of producers know as little as 
these people do and might force an approach that ain't quite the best 
way of doing such work.


I still believe that in the end, it comes down to who you are working 
for and how collaborative and flexible they are. Sadly, some of these 
decisions are made way before we are even involved. All we can do is 
give it our best effort, hope for the best, and ignore all the noise 
that comes with it.


Sorry for the long post. This has been on my mind for a while and it 
feels good to write it down. I guess it's the same reason these people 
write these type of articles and posts too.


-Math

Re: Get rid of your flip phone and get current on maya!

[Tim Leydecker]

For taking up a fight with Cinema 4D, Maya needs a serious crashcourse 
and lose some excess wheight.


I have collegues do stuff in Cinema 4D, anything from dynamics, multiple 
projections, just rendering smoke with Arnold,
painting textures in Bodypaint and playing with *.psd layers and layered 
shaders without bothering much.


Umhh, sitting close by, debugging a polygon mesh in Maya 2015sp6Ext1 
node editor that still has connections to the
initial shading group even if it shouldn´t, finding out that 
renderlayers are suddenly breaking when switching to
another render layer, loosing hair about Maya´s own layered 
texture/layered shader, constantly on the edge of
my seat for not knowing if Maya will last me through this prolonged 
session or not doesn´t feel like it´s time for flip flops.


I´ve started with Maya somewhere around Maya 1.5 / Maya 3.5 /Maya 4. At 
least 10 years of trying to keep a stiff upper lip,
wading through deep shit and hoping for the best. Years lost with 
running into stupid limitations and trying to soldier on.


I want my life back.

If I wake up on the couch, it´s because I didn´t make it to the bed 
after another exhausting Maya session fighting the program,

not solving my task.

Cheers,

tim

P.S: That´s why I don´t want to commit to Autodesk, not because I fancy 
being a spoiled, irresponsible single child brat showing off my
sneakers, mac book, blog and life style, sneering at anyone who doesn´t 
fit my style googles. Even beer googles are more human...








Am 11.07.2015 um 20:54 schrieb Jordi Bares Dominguez:
It’s clearly targeted to the Cinema4D crowd obviously, designers and 
kind of 1 man band artist/designers/directors running on a laptop and 
darting through london on a uber expensive bicycle.


The problem is that these guys have a great tool in their hands and 
its connection with After Effects is difficult to beat so I see it as 
a very uninformed marketing campaign.


But may be I am wrong and they are going to sell these to my 
mother-in-law too so she can do some dinosaurs and get rich.

jb

On 11 Jul 2015, at 18:07, Steven Caron car...@gmail.com 
mailto:car...@gmail.com wrote:


BUT carpenters do rent some tools... not their core tools but 
typically the larger more expensive tools. Maybe this campaign is not 
for us. ie. The people who use 3d tools everyday. Maybe the people 
that never have used 3d tools before are the focus of this campaign. 
My colleagues and I have discussed this a bit and this is one of the 
conclusions we came to. This is a play designed for getting new 
customers and new revenue, mostly.


I still think this is campaign is completely silly, but I can say I 
am honestly not surprised.


*written with my thumbs

On Jul 11, 2015 8:36 AM, Sebastien Sterling 
sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com mailto:sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com 
wrote:


 It would be so easy to write them off a idiots

 DCC are TOOLS in nature, they are selling them as a service, which 
is fundamentally incompatible.


 As a carpenter you don't rent a hammer or a tool belt, not if it is 
your business, that is insane.

Re: Get rid of your flip phone and get current on maya!

[Tim Leydecker]

Looking at it from the old side of subscription, permant license and 
maintenance updates
while walking down Schlesische Straße towards the Pie Shop in 
Falkensteinstraß in Berlin,

maybe times change?

Their Pie is really good. British style pie, meat, mashed potatoes, gravy.

Everybody around me looks like in that Autodesk advertisement.

O.k. we have fashion week here in BRLN atm, but really, it´s hard to 
tell a 40+ from a teensomething.


I actually like that they do help with the math, 5 bucks a day but 
asking 125 bucks/per hour is what everyone should do.


Seriously.

Next time I need a license, I will not hesitate to DEFINITELY NOT commit 
into anything as ridiculous as that Ultimate bundle
that has set me back thousands of bucks just to find out that Mudbox is 
now available for a tenner, Softimage is gone and

neither Motionbuilder or 3DSMax I have time to open.

Sketchbook Pro I like, thought. Not in the bundle...

Cheers,

tim









Am 10.07.2015 um 22:09 schrieb Juan Brockhaus:
at Siggraph someone should put up a coffee stall in front of the 
Autodesk boot:

with a big sign:

 Get a coffee, not a Maya! 

...




On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 6:50 PM, Eric Turman i.anima...@gmail.com 
mailto:i.anima...@gmail.com wrote:


This sums it up nicely:
http://pastebin.com/zRFh44Eq

-- 





-=T=-

Re: SI 2014

[Tim Leydecker]

I´ve worked quite a while on Softimage 2014Sp2 but didn´t use mental 
ray, happily ran Redshift3D with it.
Mind you, I don´t do serious animation, fx or stuff like that, only 
modeling, lighting and shading  elements.


Can´t say how well 2014SP2 would hold up for massive scenes or in terms 
of ICE functionality and such.


All in all, I liked it.

One thing to note, depending on the type of license, it may be better to 
try and sync Maya and Softimage
versions, e.g. 2014 or 2015. In that case I would suggest Maya 
2015Ext1SP6, as it brings some nice modeling
tool functionality, especially control for aligning an object pivot 
while modeling.


The reason why to sync versions (depending n license) is that one then 
can run softimage and maya simultaneously
from one license, e.g. 2015 where running a softimage 2014 and a maya 
2015 wouldn´t work simultaneously off
the same license. I may be wrong. There´s been changes there and this 
new subscribe, don´t own bs won´t make it easier---



Am 30.06.2015 um 22:41 schrieb Stefan Kubicek:
If I remember correctly, SI shipping with ECS 2016 is SI 2015 SR2 
(service release 2), which is the same as SP1 (apart from the name). 
That is: No bug fixes or feature additions.




Sorry about. 2016 apparently is listed as part of the
Entertainment Creation Suite which we have. I’m guessing it is
probably the same as 2015 like what they did to Sketchbook last
year with 2013/2014? Does anyone know?

--

Joey Ponthieux

LaRC Information Technology Enhanced Services (LITES)

MYMIC Technical Services

NASA Langley Research Center

__

Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and do not

represent the opinions of NASA or any other party.

*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of
*Mirko Jankovic
*Sent:* Tuesday, June 30, 2015 3:53 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: SI 2014

I dont think that you can update to 2016, maybe 2015 SP1? :)

On Tue, Jun 30, 2015 at 9:13 PM, Ponthieux, Joseph G.
(LARC-E1A)[LITES] j.ponthi...@nasa.gov
mailto:j.ponthi...@nasa.gov wrote:

I’m running Soft 2014. I am experiencing a lot of render
crashes where Mental Ray is being purposely disabled by the
software.

I can update to:

2014 SP1

2014 SP2

2015

2016

Whats the best choice? What is everyone having the least
issues with?

Thanks

--

Joey Ponthieux

LaRC Information Technology Enhanced Services (LITES)

MYMIC Technical Services

NASA Langley Research Center

__

Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and
do not

represent the opinions of NASA or any other party.




--
---
Stefan Kubicek
---
keyvis digital imagery
Alfred Feierfeilstraße 3
A-2380 Perchtoldsdorf bei Wien
Phone: +43/699/12614231
www.keyvis.at ste...@keyvis.at
-- This email and its attachments are --
--confidential and for the recipient only--

Re: OT: mantra problem

[Tim Leydecker]

I know nothing about Houdini.

Is there a chance that your machine had the Maya 2016SP1 update recently?

There´s some noise about Maya2016SP1 giving problems with scenes that worked
fine in Maya 2016 before. It´s always a good idea to delete the Maya 
user preferences
(or rename the  iamthisusermy documentsmaya2016 folder, then have 
fresh prefs

generated for you).

I´d check the alembic file written, for changes in the exporter or 
alembic version.
Then I´d see if I can render the scene with alembic but no fur, then 
only fur, etc.


I´d also swap the alembic in a scene that worked, just to see if it´s 
that. No fur, with fur.


Recreate the fur cache if the alembic renders in that scene.

Could be something simple like running out of disk space for fur caching 
after sim or

something OS´ish, with readwrite permissions.

Recently, I had a file directory created in Linux on an external drive 
that ran fine for me
both on Linux and Windows until I tried to open that directory on 
another machine,

with some user rights woes kicking in...

Sounds like a nice project with potentially good results.

The devil always kills you with what you love.

If you don´t care, you won´t have such problems...









Am 25.06.2015 um 23:33 schrieb Gerbrand Nel:

Hey guys
I'm in deep shit right now.
Tomorrow is deadline and my scene refuses to render.
I'm rendering fur on characters animated in maya.
All animations gets exported as alembic files for me to fur and render 
in houdini.
I've rendered 9 shots with almost no problems, but the last shot just 
keeps crashing.

Where do I start trouble shooting?
Here is what I've done so far
I've changed the sampling up and down.
Changed the tile size up and down by factors of 8
I've changed the tile order
I've even rebuilt the scene from scratch based on a scene that renders 
fine.

I've created new cameras and deleted the alembic cameras.
This is my first real job in houdini, and allot is riding on this. I 
had to convince allot of people that they can trust me to deliver this 
job in houdini.


Help my dumb-ass  please!!

G

Here is a error log from one of the crashed frames:

.
PROGRESS: 0.54/1
PROGRESS: 0.55/1
PROGRESS: 0.56/1
PROGRESS: 0.57/1
PROGRESS: 0.58/1
PROGRESS: 0.59/1
PROGRESS: 0.60/1
PROGRESS: 0.61/1
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 
14.0.361\houdini\scripts\hqueue\hq_render_from_hip.py, line 4, in 
module

hqlib.callFunctionWithHQParms(hqlib.renderFromHip)
  File C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 
14.0.361\houdini\scripts\hqueue\hqlib.py, line 1848, in 
callFunctionWithHQParms

return function(**kwargs)
  File C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 
14.0.361\houdini\scripts\hqueue\hqlib.py, line 1011, in renderFromHip

_invokeRopAndCatchErrors(rop, project_name, frame, True)
  File C:\Program Files\Side Effects Software\Houdini 
14.0.361\houdini\scripts\hqueue\hqlib.py, line 441, in 
_invokeRopAndCatchErrors

raise e
hou.OperationFailed: The attempted operation failed.
Error:   Command Exit Code: -1073741819

Re: Virtual Apps

[Tim Leydecker]

If it is any help, when I started studying graphics design/communication 
design in 1998,
the starting point for the transition had already been set way before my 
starting there...


It´s amazing how one or two people with a few forms and the budget to 
decide on can ruin your day.


At least it´s not just like that in universities.

We have an airport here in Berlin that will or will not be finish by 
2013/2014 on a week or two´s notice.


It really boils down on what did you expect?

Cheers,

tim







Am 11.06.2015 um 19:43 schrieb Sofronis Efstathiou:

Universities here in the UK are mostly going through a transition of stupidity. 
I feel your pain...

Sent from my Android phone using Symantec TouchDown (www.symantec.com)

-Original Message-
From: Angus Davidson [angus.david...@wits.ac.za]
Received: Thursday, 11 Jun 2015, 18:24
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage@listproc.autodesk.com]
Subject: RE: Virtual Apps

Most of our university  accountancy runs so totally against reality its scary. 
I was almost fired on my first day by calling someone (who later turned our 
CFO) an idiot to their face,

We can only use a cloud if its local. We had a trial of shotgun (which is a 
great piece of kit) but it was totally unusable on our internet.  So streaming 
HD to multiple computers from Europe to Africa will just not work. Which is a 
shame as it would suit us down to the ground.



From: Matt Lind [speye...@hotmail.com]
Sent: 11 June 2015 10:05 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Virtual Apps

Has a cloud service like Amazon web services, or similar, been considered?
Basically everything Peter just said applies, but you'd have the benefit of
scaling up and down as needed and not have to pay for time when school is
not in session, nor fork out for or maintain hardware sitting in a back
room.

At my last employer many applications were installed on a SAN and run in
virtual machine environments so hardware and maintenance could be
consolidated.  There was a small amount of teething getting it set up, but
once it was up and running the end user didn't know the difference.
Softimage wasn't installed on the SAN and we didn't have thin clients, so I
can't provide much feedback in that area.


Matt



Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:24:39 +0200
From: pete...@skynet.be
Subject: Re: Virtual Apps
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

that?s surreal, being forced into buying highly expensive state of the art
tech, in stead of some off the shelf computers, out of budgetary
constraints.
I?m sure that?s exactly how European administration is run.

that VCA looks like it would allow you to set up a nice 3D rendering
workflow, but it wouldn?t really help with compositing, simulations, working
with complex scenes,... or would it?
sounds a bit like getting a shiny new pickup truck, but having to load it
using chopsticks since you don?t have the budget for a shovel.
at least you?ll have the coolest toy in town .

From: Angus Davidson
Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2015 5:44 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: RE: Virtual Apps

Dear Peter

Thank you for the incredibly comprehensive response.

The crazy kindergarten accountancy at the university means that the lab
computers need to be paid for by the schools from their operating budgets
(which are not keeping up with inflation).

However things like VCA are expensive enough to be considered Major Capex
and that amazingly enough they have funds for. So its mostly about reading
the situation at the University and trying to plan around it.

Kind regards

Angus




From: pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.be]
Sent: 10 June 2015 02:41 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Virtual Apps


if you mean using a thin client on the desk, to connect to a remote
workstation (in the server room) ? then yes ? have used this at a former
studio.

overall it worked quite well.

on the thin client you would launch an app, on which you chose the
workstation to login to and then a full screen window opens on which you see
the workstations? desktop ? and you work you session.
It?s very intuitive ? apart from a few keyboard combos (ctrl-alt-del is on
the thin client, so there?s a different combination to send that to the
workstation)
You could use the thin client at any desk to log in to any equipped
workstation ? handy at times ? chaotic when your team members end up all
over the place.
The overhead on the workstation is pretty much zero. The added card handles
the compression/communication ? so you can push the workstation exactly as
before.

there was hardware compression/decompression of all signals ? so it meant
adding a dedicated card in the workstation - all data (kb, mouse, usb as
well as monitors) goes through network. afaik the screen refresh is done on
the thin client ? which reduces the amount of data to be sent (no screens

Re: Virtual Apps

[Tim Leydecker]

In terms of workstation costs, HPDell may be frustrating to get into
when on a limited budget. The entry fee is already pretty high and
any basic feature will add up quickly to a really, really hefty pricetag.

It´s not all their fault, Intel has pricetags that are pretty much 
unrivaled,

not just for Xeons.

It´s really hard to build reasonably priced Xeon based workstations 
nowadays.


My DualXeon MacPro2008 was incredibly cheap for what it could do...

The good news is, there is now less need for a Dual Socket, Dual Xeon 
12Core,
workstation machine with a quadro this or that card really when learning 
3dComp.


It´s nice to have ultra fast machines of course but a decent Quadcore or 
Sixcore or 8core
Single Socket Machine with a good Geforce 9xx and at least 32GB RAM 
(more is better)
will be a nice machine to work with and render with. Add a system ssd 
and its solid for
less than 1650 EUR. Maybe even including a reasonably good display, like 
a mid-price Dell.


Not the fastest to have but a good educational experience for learning 
to use a renderer properly, too.


How about finding an alternative vendor for a lease?

Have a reliable (local) shop build and maintain the machines, find a way 
to make the leasing
less than three years, get a batch of refurbished machines to start with 
and have those run

only 2 years, with a return contract or trade in type of deal?

You could still try to get some money/funds for a render server with 
loads of bandwdth and diskspace?


That could last 3 years?

Cheers,

tim








Am 10.06.2015 um 17:44 schrieb Angus Davidson:

Dear Peter

Thank you for the incredibly comprehensive response.

The crazy kindergarten accountancy at the university means that the 
lab computers need to be paid for by the schools from their operating 
budgets (which are not keeping up with inflation).


However things like VCA are expensive enough to be considered Major 
Capex and that amazingly enough they have funds for. So its mostly 
about reading the situation at the University and trying to plan 
around it.


Kind regards

Angus

*From:* pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.be]
*Sent:* 10 June 2015 02:41 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: Virtual Apps

if you mean using a thin client on the desk, to connect to a remote 
workstation (in the server room) – then yes – have used this at a 
former studio.

overall it worked quite well.
on the thin client you would launch an app, on which you chose the 
workstation to login to and then a full screen window opens on which 
you see the workstations’ desktop – and you work you session.
It’s very intuitive – apart from a few keyboard combos (ctrl-alt-del 
is on the thin client, so there’s a different combination to send that 
to the workstation)
You could use the thin client at any desk to log in to any equipped 
workstation – handy at times – chaotic when your team members end up 
all over the place.
The overhead on the workstation is pretty much zero. The added card 
handles the compression/communication – so you can push the 
workstation exactly as before.
there was hardware compression/decompression of all signals – so it 
meant adding a dedicated card in the workstation - all data (kb, 
mouse, usb as well as monitors) goes through network. afaik the screen 
refresh is done on the thin client – which reduces the amount of data 
to be sent (no screens full of pixels) but also makes sure that 
despite long cable length, image quality is high . (compared to all 
KVM extenders I ever saw)
To the very demanding artist there is a barely noticeable lag and some 
degradation – you can kind of make out the compression – but you do 
have to look for it. We decided on using the thin clients only for 3D 
artists, not for compositors. It would work for compositing most of 
the time, but when checking final images/shots, occasional little 
flicks or spots from the compression are disturbing. If you are the 
person who has 3 oversized monitors on his desk, and expects to have 
film quality visuals while modeling – this might not be for you.
image quality can suffer from network load – as compression adapts 
some – and at a few peak moments network was so taxed (not because of 
the thin clients) that connections between clients and stations were 
lost massively. That’s unfortunate and real disruptive – but once the 
load was balanced again you would just login and the workstation was 
right where you left off – preferable to crashes and shutdowns. But 
it’s something to be aware of - if you have a problematic network, 
thin clients will add to the frustration.
An added benefit was that there was much less heat generated and 
electricity used in the office rooms – in small cramped, badly 
ventilated and badly equipped offices that can be a tangible benefit. 
I have memories of humming workstations under desks, burning 
desklights and running ventilators 

Re: ICE team went to Maya (2011)

[Tim Leydecker]

Thanks for the 2D Pan/Zoom and camera attribute menu button.

I´m sorely missing that in 2015. (not to mention that the functionality
of the camera tools2D Pan/Zoom seems broken or erratic in my current 
2015 scene,
probably due to that scene´s size, compared to setting it in the AE´s 2D 
pan/zoom rollout).


Cheers,

tim





Am 05.06.2015 um 22:10 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:

Andre here says at least 20 dev worked on ICE, so you're going to hear
that kind of stuff a lot.

I'm not considered as one of the dev working  on bifrost, btw,  I'm
the team leader and lead architect of the Maya UI. My present
contribution to bifrost was creating the architecture that allows
bifrost graphs and other future procedural runtimes to be hosted in
the Maya node editor and scripting engine.

On 5 June 2015 at 16:02, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote:

Maya says has an ICE team (Luc-Éric, and maybe 1 other?), Houdini says has
an ICE team, Fabric says has an ICE team (putting it, and Softimage in big
in their presentations which also recently featured a familiar well known
typically Softimage voice (Mr.Mootz) talking about compounds like he does
in his in-depth EM_videos (except here basically loading and playing back a
canvas graph in Modo)
Which I'm sure it's all true to a certain extent, but the ICE team is most
likely at least greatly fragmented at best, if at all existant anywhere
enough to be identified as what can remain of a team

All this self association is probably because the original ICE team
(together) was really like a dream team, arguably making the most
interactive, far-reaching while approachable, *interactive creative
environment* to date (by what seems to remain a ridiculously overwhelming
margin).
yep

Re: Heavy scenes with the GTX 970

[Tim Leydecker]

What I´m deducing is that buswidth and amount of RAM are related and 
allow to

predict the probable amounts of video RAM for a series of cards of the same
generation.

After looking at the 6xx to 9xx range of cards, I conclude that when 
going from
256bit in the 6xx card range to 384bit in the 7xx range, there was no 
increase

to 512bit in the 9xx range for bus width.

This means, in terms of what to expect in video ram amounts from a 9xx 
series,
that there will probably not be an increase to 16 GB of RAM for 
something like
a Titan X Black edition type of card, unless this card will already use 
a next gen,

e.g. 10xx type card layout with probably a 512bit bus.

Don´t be such a bully, biting my ankles.

I give a rat´s ass about wether bus follows RAM or the other way around, 
it´s not the point,
especially when I´m deducing that bus width hasn´t been adjusted to 
allow convenient
adressing of RAM and conclude that nvidia probably found this not 
neccessary, re-using

the 7xx card layout instead.

I take bus width only as an indicator for what to expect from the 9xx 
card generation.


Probably no 16GB card version, unless a new, modified card layout is 
introduced as
part of a Titan X Black edition with a possible card layout already 
taken from a 10xx

type card generation.

Cheers,

tim


P.S: Regarding Softimage and the 970 cards, I hope it´s just a driver 
issue that´ll go away.










Am 03.06.2015 um 23:08 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:


If they need 512 they can probably do it without issue. What you're 
saying is that you would have liked to make cards with more ram, the 
bus width is irrelevant, it gets sized as needed, not the other way 
around.


On 4 Jun 2015 5:33 am, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:




Am 03.06.2015 um 08:32 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:

Huh?
The width is whatever is required for the controllers to address
the RAM.
If they have 12GB over 6 32bit controllers as that manufacturing
specs max why would they have more than 384?



I was hoping for nVidia to bring the bus width up to 512bit,
making 2,4,8,16,32,64 GB Ram likely because that
would go well together with such a bus width (or even just a
256bit width bus).

Of course, if all you have is 384bit, 12 GB is what is convenient
to connect, not 16GB (as in AMD´s current 512bit bus cards)

My point.

Looking at previous release/development cycles of nVidia, one
could now expect to see a Titan Z Black edition coming
to close off the 9xx series, with some sort of shrunk production
process, more cores or a little bit of higher clocking
but unlikely to have a wider bus to adress video RAM in the 16GB
range.

Such a thing will probably not come before the next generation of
cards, in pseudo naming, the 10xx series.

Not before next year.

This gives AMD 1 year to try and get customers looking for lot´s
of video ram for their editing, comp, etc.

tim











Also, what the architecture and the proposed manufacturing
guidelines allow in terms of addressing width isn't the same as
what's out in the current card of the month.

The 980 is the same in most regards but only has 256bit in
example because al it needs to address is 8GB.

If they need to address more It's very likely the width can be
pushed a good deal further.

The bottleneck isn't currently measured in bus width, the
throughput is an issue, and it's got little to do with the width
of addressing stacks, and it's why things like NVLink and new PCI
bus specs and so on are being looked into.

There are a lot other design issues that are being worked on by
more than just a company, the addressing width across the bus
isn't particularly symptomatic of any of those AFAIK.


On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 3:58 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

The 980ti (starting at EUR 735,-) is a good opportunity
compared to the gtx980 (starting at EUR 500,-)
but it is annoying to know that Video-RAM will soon become a
bottleneck because more and more
applications start to utilize GPU performance to their
benefit, either when caching out like in Nuke for
huge environment images or a GPU renderer like Redshift3D
having to optimize, e.g. limit it´s
cache sizes to fit into a smaller than desireable meomory
footprint.

All that on top of what a 4k display would demand for it´s
share of available video memory to start with.

I think Nvidia missed an opportunity there, not just for
quadro cards.
They are pulling an Intel in terms of price tags but they
didn´t make sure their base is safe for the future.

I had hoped for a wider than 384bit bus, e.g. something more
like a 512bit bandwidth which would
have made power of two steps

Re: Heavy scenes with the GTX 970

[Tim Leydecker]

The 980ti (starting at EUR 735,-) is a good opportunity compared to the 
gtx980 (starting at EUR 500,-)
but it is annoying to know that Video-RAM will soon become a bottleneck 
because more and more
applications start to utilize GPU performance to their benefit, either 
when caching out like in Nuke for
huge environment images or a GPU renderer like Redshift3D having to 
optimize, e.g. limit it´s

cache sizes to fit into a smaller than desireable meomory footprint.

All that on top of what a 4k display would demand for it´s share of 
available video memory to start with.


I think Nvidia missed an opportunity there, not just for quadro cards.
They are pulling an Intel in terms of price tags but they didn´t make 
sure their base is safe for the future.


I had hoped for a wider than 384bit bus, e.g. something more like a 
512bit bandwidth which would
have made power of two steps in video ram more likely, e.g. cards with 
4GB, 8GB, 12GB, 16GB, etc.


To me, it seems the gtx9xx bus width comes directly from the gtx7xx 
range, which was already starting

to show limits in buswidth back then.

All that said and taking tax laws and such for wrting off hardware into 
account, I´d probably have to go
with a Titan, using it 2-3 years and finding myself wanting more video 
ram soon anyway...


Cheers,

tim






Am 03.06.2015 um 05:29 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:
Apologies, yeag the Ti has 256 less CUDA cores, which is less than a 
9% drop, same clock and all though. Texture units are coupled, so you 
only need to look at CUDA cores when you compare. ROPs remain the same.


You'd be pretty hard pressed to notice the difference IMO. Even at 75% 
the price, instead of the 65% it seems to be here and in the USA going 
by current announcements, it's far from being a bad deal.


On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 9:30 AM, Mario Reitbauer 
cont...@marioreitbauer.at mailto:cont...@marioreitbauer.at wrote:


Sorry for spamming...
Texture Unit Cound and Core Count is different between those cards
actually.

Re: Heavy scenes with the GTX 970

[Tim Leydecker]

Another thing worth a shot is going to microsoft.com and finding the 
latest directX installer,
trying to install it won´t hurt if something newer is already installed 
but directx was something

i found was missing in machines giving sluggish performance in the past.

it sounds far fetched but it makes sense, kind of.

cheers,

tim

Am 29.05.2015 um 07:19 schrieb Sven Constable:


The standard (global) settings are different from the softimage 
settings provided by nvidia. I had selection problems on nvidia based 
workstations and after I changed to the softimage settings, problems 
are gone.  Even it not applies to that heavy geo problem, it doesn't hurt.


*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of 
*Raffaele Fragapane

*Sent:* Friday, May 29, 2015 6:33 AM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: Heavy scenes with the GTX 970

Unless you need to have separate configurations for different apps why 
would you do that?


On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 9:46 AM, Sven Constable 
sixsi_l...@imagefront.de mailto:sixsi_l...@imagefront.de wrote:


Manipulating heavy geo was a problem with ATI cards, nvidia usually 
performes well. Did you add the xsi.exe in the nvidia control panel?


sven


-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Leoung 
O'Young

Sent: Friday, May 29, 2015 1:20 AM
To: xsi
Subject: Heavy scenes with the GTX 970

We have switched some of our workstation using the GTX 970's, they 
preforms quite well rendering in Redshift.
A good bang for the buck. But we find the it is very sluggish 
manipulating heavy geometry scenes inside Softimage 2915.

What is a better option?

Thanks,
Leoung



--

Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship 
it and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Re: Is purchasing a new softimage license impossible?

[Tim Leydecker]

I would prefer a bit more openness for the future.

As much as I like working in Softimage, to make a living, I am 
(re)adopting other solutions.


Maybe that´s a special case but nevertheless, one could describe trying 
to transfer existing

knowledge to a new realm something common sense should flag desireable.

That as a given, I appreciate info on Houdini, Blender, Cinema, Zbrush, 
Maya, 3DsMax, etc
here, because generally, it´s shared in a context of comparison to 
Softimage/XSI or at least

as information that can be regarded valueable anyway.

I really appreciate people sharing their experience while transitioning 
themselves or simply

sharing workflows or tips.

The way I see it, there won´t be much news on Softimage development, be 
happy to get any news
from the community at all and grateful that the people on this list 
still share and contribute.


Cheers,

tim

I would have actually expected more posts on the latest 3DSMax stuff for 
example, as it seems
it´s something an ICE person would find easy enough to pick up and work 
with?



Am 16.05.2015 um 07:38 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:
Again no need to police or something just common sense, If there is 
need mention solution in maya nd point to right discussion or forum 
but there is absolutely no need to start lengthy discussion how to do 
1 click operation in SI with 20 scripts in maya...


On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 7:37 AM, Mirko Jankovic 
mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com wrote:


I can only agree. Move other software things to other threads, it
is one thing to mention something if it is solution to specific
problem but to dedicate next bunch of emails to maya and others it
is no place or that. There are maya and other software threads to
discus that in debt.
If someone asks for help with something in SI, and this is still
best way and great pool of talented SI ppl, he hardly wanna hear,
oh do that in maya on blender. f*** that I don;t care about crap
of the maya or blender. If I wanted or liked to work on them would
get them and go to maya and other forums.
God thing about si mailing list is that even when not looking for
some answers topics arise that are interesting to read and learn
something new from them.
But with all other software noise that is increasingly hard. And
some filtering really is in order.
Need maya, blender max help and details? Find maya and other
forums and mailing lists. With little time most ppl have in day
last thing I wanna spend it is reading about those...

On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 7:17 AM, Tenshi S. tenshu...@gmail.com
mailto:tenshu...@gmail.com wrote:

A valid point, and one that i support entirely. I enter here a
while ago, because of Softimage, not because of Maya or
Blender, if i would like to hear about those app i would go to
the proper forums/mailing list, etc.
Everytime i come to gmail and verifiy my forums section, i
encounter a few topics about other things that are not
Softimage related. What it's the meaning of this mailing list,
then?

One thing i support too it's a thread dedicated only to people
who are migrating or finding solutions, but one thread only,
not 20 of them saying Maya it's better because of this, and
Blender do amazing cycle renders and blabla.

Another thing it's threads dedicated only to
Maya/Blender/3Dmax  Softimage interaction, that's something
you really want to learn about it and deserves their own thread.

C'mon guys, we know Softimage it's EOL, but that doesn't mean
we need to keep killing it.
You know that maybe this mailing list it's the only place
aside from a few forums to talk and keep learning about
Softimage?

On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 5:45 PM, Matt Lind
speye...@hotmail.com mailto:speye...@hotmail.com wrote:

I side with Sven on the matter.

People seem to have confused the concept of forum with
mailing list.  If you want to discuss anything and
everything, go to a forum as it's designed for that sort
of thing.  people can view only what they desire to view
and easily ignore what they don't care about.  Migration,
plugins, tutorials for product X, and whatever will surely
be welcomed there.

A mailing list is intended for narrow on-topic discussion
and not much else because any content submitted is
distributed to the entire community intended or not.
Having a lot of non-topic discussion on a mailing list is
synonymous to being loud and rude in a library while
people are trying to read and study.  While some tangents
are OK to keep things interesting, let's try to keep the
balance in favor of on topic 

Re: Is purchasing a new softimage license impossible?

[Tim Leydecker]

For modeling, you may actually want to have a look at Maya 2016.

Yes, I´m saying that. I´m in the process of learning new tools and workflows
and am positively surprised about Maya 2016 and the MTK (modeling tool kit).

In my specific case, using lot´s of boxes for dimensions and snapping 
and generally
trying (and failing) to work to accurate scale, Maya´s 2016 tools prove 
good enough.


Things like sliding components around their surface are sometimes less 
convenient than
in Softimage but a lot has happened and there´s multiple ways and 
options to set to taste.


There ´s also a Maya LT version, I´m not sure about the licensing 
intricacies or other limitations
of the Maya LT version but from how it´s advertised, it sounds a bit 
like XSI Foundation:


http://www.autodesk.com/products/maya-lt/features/all/gallery-view

Starting at 30 bucks a month.

Cheers,


tim




Am 13.05.2015 um 23:44 schrieb Scott Parrish:
Asking a question for a friend, I still have a seat of Softimage from 
my 2015 bundle stuff..


I know some people who like modeling in Softimage and at least in a 
game pipeline it's still pretty easy to model in whatever package and 
then push through to the mainline pipeline in Maya or Max or whatever.
We were wondering is there NO way at all to obtain new licenses for 
Softimage now? I.e. if someone goes to a new employer and wants to 
obtain a seat of Softimage, is that impossible?


I wondered how that works since Animal Logic is still working in Soft 
and must grow their license pool as shows ramp up, right?

Or do they have a special deal with AD?

Thanks

scott

Re: Is purchasing a new softimage license impossible?

[Tim Leydecker]

Martin,

that´s true. It´s really, really nice in softimage how one can model 
topology changes into a skinned mesh

without breaking the envelope immediately.

I haven´t tried that in Maya yet. I forgot.

Cheers,

tim





Am 14.05.2015 um 08:55 schrieb Martin Yara:
AFAIK you can purchase new licenses of Softimage until next year when 
you won't be able to purchase anything, only rent. Maybe if you are 
big enough and want to buy lot of licenses Autodesk may do an 
exception, I don't know.


We purchased a few Maya and Softimage bundles last month because we 
still have some projects that are being done in Softimage and we will 
probably still have Softimage projects at least a couple of years.


About Maya 2016 modeling tools, I can't really talk about it. In 
games, we usually work in 3+ years old versions and Maya 2014 modeling 
still sucks (better than before though). MTK looked promising but 
since you can't use it with skinned objects, it isn't very useful for 
characters.


How easy you can model and edit a weighted character's polygons and 
deformers without breaking everything is something I haven't found 
anywhere yet.


Martin




On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 3:41 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


For modeling, you may actually want to have a look at Maya 2016.

Yes, I´m saying that. I´m in the process of learning new tools and
workflows
and am positively surprised about Maya 2016 and the MTK (modeling
tool kit).

In my specific case, using lot´s of boxes for dimensions and
snapping and generally
trying (and failing) to work to accurate scale, Maya´s 2016 tools
prove good enough.

Things like sliding components around their surface are sometimes
less convenient than
in Softimage but a lot has happened and there´s multiple ways and
options to set to taste.

There ´s also a Maya LT version, I´m not sure about the licensing
intricacies or other limitations
of the Maya LT version but from how it´s advertised, it sounds a
bit like XSI Foundation:

http://www.autodesk.com/products/maya-lt/features/all/gallery-view

Starting at 30 bucks a month.

Cheers,


tim





Am 13.05.2015 um 23:44 schrieb Scott Parrish:

Asking a question for a friend, I still have a seat of
Softimage from my 2015 bundle stuff..

I know some people who like modeling in Softimage and at least
in a game pipeline it's still pretty easy to model in whatever
package and then push through to the mainline pipeline in Maya
or Max or whatever.
We were wondering is there NO way at all to obtain new
licenses for Softimage now? I.e. if someone goes to a new
employer and wants to obtain a seat of Softimage, is that
impossible?

I wondered how that works since Animal Logic is still working
in Soft and must grow their license pool as shows ramp up, right?
Or do they have a special deal with AD?

Thanks

scott

Re: End of the ride

[Tim Leydecker]

Graham,

Thank you for your contribution to this list.

I felt priviledged when I got a reply from any of you guys helping me
with whatever I got stuck with while slowly advancing from novice
to senior novice during the last ten years of my subscription to this
mailing list (x...@softimage.com).

You guys have made a big difference and provided help beyond the manual.

I hope you find a nice new spot for yourself.

The others that have moved on seem to do well enough for themselves
and happy, too.

Cheers,

tim





Am 13.05.2015 um 00:59 schrieb Graham Bell:
I hadn't wanted to make any kind of announcement, but reading Stephens 
latest Flashback thread and the discussions on where peoples journey 
with Softimage first started, it's kinda made me realise that mine has 
basically ended.
And as I'm posting here, I didn't want to fly under false colours, so 
to speak.


As of the start of this month, I'm no longer at Autodesk, The 
bloodline of european Softimage AE's from Ben, Chinny, and James, to 
myself has now ended.


Perhaps it's time to start earning an honest living again. lol :-)

Re: Softimage Icon Removed from Mudbox?

[Tim Leydecker]

Relax. I don´t want to miss the new Relax  brush in Mudbox 2016.

That´s the only green bracketed (highlight what´s new option = 1) I 
found sofar.


I´m sure there´s more inovations but it´s in another package?

Am 30.04.2015 um 21:50 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:
well just stay on mudbox 2015 then as well. not like they made 
anything interesting in 2016 anyway


On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 9:07 PM, Tenshi S. tenshu...@gmail.com 
mailto:tenshu...@gmail.com wrote:


Mudbox to Softimage, It's something i'll miss a lot then, it works
really good. Maya to Softimage and viceversa, too. Damn... how the
heck they remove this thing? It's really important feature, it
saves a lot of time. If they don't want to give us a 2016 version,
at least they'll try to put those lines of codes to make it work
in the 2015SP2(i hope that's coming?) version.

On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 12:34 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

It would be a very welcome functionality, especially when
being dealt
an old Softimage 2015 along with everything else labeled 2016
as part of
a new suite package.

In the past, I found it difficult to run differently labeled
versions, e.g. Softimage 2012
with Maya 2014 or Mudbox 2014 simultaneously, due to lmtools
telling me there´s
no license available, that could well be a setup error on my
end or a misunderstanding
of the suite licensing scheme but if that´s the root of the
problem, that Softimage2015
+Mudbox2016 will not easily serve themselves in sharing a
(suite)license, then it
would be a good time to adress that, too?

Cheers,

tim






Am 30.04.2015 um 06:20 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:

Yeah, I reckon they should add it back in. AD has back
pedalled on some minor things like this before, so it might
still happen, and it would be a welcome grace to a userbase
that has, frankly speaking, already been slighted pretty hard.

It certainly won't happen though if part of that user base
takes the pessimist approach and claims it never worked, when
it did, or because they don't need it assumes other don't either.

On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 12:52 PM, Greg Punchatz
g...@janimation.com mailto:g...@janimation.com wrote:

It and goZ are huge time savers! Huge!

It does seem to me this would fall into the  AD should
do it I the SPs until the Soft support being promised
until 2016

It is just a few lines of code Luc, can you do us old
softies a favor and send the request  the send up the
ranks to send to apps back in? Did Maya and Max lose
their send to soft connections too?

I think we are in our right to ask for this small gesture
from AD

Thanks for listening Luc... I know there is nothing you
can promise, but give it a shot for those of us you used
to your clients.

g

Sent from my iPhone

Re: Softimage Icon Removed from Mudbox?

[Tim Leydecker]

a 1:1 copy of some of the best ZBrush brushes (dam standard springs to 
mind)
would have been nice, something ZBrush Dynamesh as a surprise extension, 
too.


How about some new presets, some vector tooltips/brush images, just a 
little well deserved love.


Mudbox is so nice in how easy it can be picked up and used (compared to 
ZBrush´s GUI and methodology)

it´s sad that it´s been left out like that.

Still, I took the treetrunk example, retopoed, subdivided it to some 50 
million polygons by mistake and Mudbox

kept itself responsive...



Am 01.05.2015 um 01:03 schrieb Tenshi S.:
Your right. Few updates in 2016. Less than 4 features and a few bug 
fixes. For a new version one will expect something more. At least 10 
features and 20 bug fixes. =/


On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 3:00 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


Relax. I don´t want to miss the new Relax  brush in Mudbox 2016.

That´s the only green bracketed (highlight what´s new option = 1)
I found sofar.

I´m sure there´s more inovations but it´s in another package?


Am 30.04.2015 um 21:50 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:

well just stay on mudbox 2015 then as well. not like they made
anything interesting in 2016 anyway

On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 9:07 PM, Tenshi S. tenshu...@gmail.com
mailto:tenshu...@gmail.com wrote:

Mudbox to Softimage, It's something i'll miss a lot then, it
works really good. Maya to Softimage and viceversa, too.
Damn... how the heck they remove this thing? It's really
important feature, it saves a lot of time. If they don't want
to give us a 2016 version, at least they'll try to put those
lines of codes to make it work in the 2015SP2(i hope that's
coming?) version.

On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 12:34 AM, Tim Leydecker
bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

It would be a very welcome functionality, especially when
being dealt
an old Softimage 2015 along with everything else labeled
2016 as part of
a new suite package.

In the past, I found it difficult to run differently
labeled versions, e.g. Softimage 2012
with Maya 2014 or Mudbox 2014 simultaneously, due to
lmtools telling me there´s
no license available, that could well be a setup error on
my end or a misunderstanding
of the suite licensing scheme but if that´s the root of
the problem, that Softimage2015
+Mudbox2016 will not easily serve themselves in sharing a
(suite)license, then it
would be a good time to adress that, too?

Cheers,

tim






Am 30.04.2015 um 06:20 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:

Yeah, I reckon they should add it back in. AD has back
pedalled on some minor things like this before, so it
might still happen, and it would be a welcome grace to a
userbase that has, frankly speaking, already been
slighted pretty hard.

It certainly won't happen though if part of that user
base takes the pessimist approach and claims it never
worked, when it did, or because they don't need it
assumes other don't either.

On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 12:52 PM, Greg Punchatz
g...@janimation.com mailto:g...@janimation.com wrote:

It and goZ are huge time savers! Huge!

It does seem to me this would fall into the  AD
should do it I the SPs until the Soft support being
promised until 2016

It is just a few lines of code Luc, can you do us
old softies a favor and send the request  the send
up the ranks to send to apps back in? Did Maya and
Max lose their send to soft connections too?

I think we are in our right to ask for this small
gesture from AD

Thanks for listening Luc... I know there is nothing
you can promise, but give it a shot for those of us
you used to your clients.

g

Sent from my iPhone

Re: Softimage Icon Removed from Mudbox?

[Tim Leydecker]

It would be a very welcome functionality, especially when being dealt
an old Softimage 2015 along with everything else labeled 2016 as part of
a new suite package.

In the past, I found it difficult to run differently labeled versions, 
e.g. Softimage 2012
with Maya 2014 or Mudbox 2014 simultaneously, due to lmtools telling me 
there´s
no license available, that could well be a setup error on my end or a 
misunderstanding
of the suite licensing scheme but if that´s the root of the problem, 
that Softimage2015
+Mudbox2016 will not easily serve themselves in sharing a 
(suite)license, then it

would be a good time to adress that, too?

Cheers,

tim





Am 30.04.2015 um 06:20 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:
Yeah, I reckon they should add it back in. AD has back pedalled on 
some minor things like this before, so it might still happen, and it 
would be a welcome grace to a userbase that has, frankly speaking, 
already been slighted pretty hard.


It certainly won't happen though if part of that user base takes the 
pessimist approach and claims it never worked, when it did, or because 
they don't need it assumes other don't either.


On Thu, Apr 30, 2015 at 12:52 PM, Greg Punchatz g...@janimation.com 
mailto:g...@janimation.com wrote:


It and goZ are huge time savers! Huge!

It does seem to me this would fall into the  AD should do it I
the SPs until the Soft support being promised until 2016

It is just a few lines of code Luc, can you do us old softies a
favor and send the request  the send up the ranks to send to apps
back in? Did Maya and Max lose their send to soft connections too?

I think we are in our right to ask for this small gesture from AD

Thanks for listening Luc... I know there is nothing you can
promise, but give it a shot for those of us you used to your clients.

g

Sent from my iPhone

Re: The shadow over The Foundry

[Tim Leydecker]

There is a chance good things arise from The Foundry being put to the 
market.



Personally, I´m not a fan of the recent year´s trends to put all sorts 
of flashy sugar coating on
a bundle of applications, force support subscription down the throat 
along with swallowing
the deal or now even trying to re-label everything as just a service 
instead of an ownership

over a specific piece of software.

These business models maximize milking the user, there are chances for a 
bargain but only
for throwing away any type of long-time customer relationship to a 
specific piece of tool supplier
and instead being willing to go for a shopping every time, for every 
project all over again,

if only to be able to get better cards in hands.

The looser is the artist, while a production may decide it´s cheaper to 
switch packages for a 5% gain
and even the added hassle to find new artists may result in cheaper, 
frighened artists willing to
jump at the new tools just to get that job or keep their job. Production 
not needing to commit
means artist left in the cold, on call or not. No need for a booking 
confirmation or generally any
type of manners at all when dealing with artists scratching at the door 
for a job, after being laid

off with a few days notice (if at all).

In the last twenty years, I didn´t see much change in the way production 
will budget jobs
but I´ve seen more than enough of the effect of productions getting a 
job without knowing

blip about the tools or workflows required to accomplish the task.

Now add to that on-demand software services and it´s just a very small 
step to some idiot first
calling out for on-demand artists and bitching about those unflexible 
freelancers not capable to adapt
quickly enough to the professional demands production is setting up for 
them...


You´ll end up getting to sit at a misc machine, some sort of software 
subscription package running
on it, you may have to share the license with someone, producer won´t be 
able to tell you anything
about filestructure except you should know and adhere to it and the 
deadline is tonight. Surprise.


What does that have to do with the Foundry? Or Autodesk or Adobe?

There is room for improvement and it´s going to be the artists that´ll 
jump ship first simply because
they are feed up of that whole business BS and dealing with 
short-sighted, greedy cocker spaniels.


Imho, Nuke is overpriced, Adobe´s Flash is a crashy security risk and 
Autodesk´s software as a service ideas will force me away.


Cheers,

tim









Am 28.04.2015 um 08:43 schrieb pedro santos:
Raffaele, the thing is nothing like Photoshop has risen yet, right? 
Little competition there unlike say, MAX. They certainly cemented 
their position with applications integration and the acquisition of 
Macromedia, which had some overlap with Fireworks and Freehand, even 
being web-oriented, in tune to the why of the whole acquisition. Corel 
vanished. They are also in a good spot in video due to Apple mess up. 
Avid and Final Cut where a reference and now there's... Premiere... My 
point being. Even though they are big, was it through wrong doing? I 
guess we can all point enduring pains in Photoshop, After Effects, 
etc, but the focus of their products is not VFX, but design, so I 
don't understand how you turn that in contempt. Plus of the package 
Nuke is the only VFX venue right? Modo is not quite there yet.


And your point about Maya being 3-4% tells more about the value of 
this division to AD than the value to Adobe.


Anyways, I agree with Cristobal Infante to some degree, strange piece 
of news...


Sent you an email Raffaele.

test

[Tim Leydecker]

1,2,3

Re: OT: Modeling changes in Maya 2016

[Tim Leydecker]

Thanks for sharing.

There´s so many updated features,  improved functionality
and streamlined workflows for modeling in Maya 2016, it´s
really nice.

It´s worth checking out the video and revisiting pretty much
and workflow related to modeling as so many little improvements
or simply available shortcuts can be easily missed.

tim

Am 18.04.2015 um 15:31 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:

Softimage-like Hide Polygons workflow didn't make it into Maya 2016,
but there is a 10 minute silent video slash powerpoint that goes in
excruciating detail about what has changed in Modeling and selection.
It was meant for beta tester.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv8nJp63eas


On 15 April 2015 at 06:33, Sebastien Sterling
sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com wrote:

The Bonus tools toggle faces, is just a script that does what i describe
above.

but it is buggy as hell, and still no more then just an isolate.

Re: Hard edges from Maya to Softimage

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Martin,

thanks for the info.

I had only checked for the case of getting hard edges from Maya into 
Softimage
and keeping those edges selectible and displayed blue, I didn´t check 
for what

successively setting egdes to hard would do to a mesh´s clusters.

Good to know.

Last time I had to deliver Softimage files directly, I´d manually tidy 
up (along the

lines you describe for clean final data). That´s a while ago.

Regarding Substance DesignerPainter, I use it for it´s mask generators 
mostly.
Typical scratched metal blended materials masks, a dirtdust pass over 
clean materials,
that kind of thing. It´s pretty good at that and beats having no masks 
due to time/task anyway...



Cheers,

tim

Am 14.04.2015 um 05:45 schrieb Martin Yara:
I wanted to convert normal clusters because sometimes I don't have the 
original Maya file, but that's ok. I'll just have to get the Maya file 
or make them use Smoothing Groups in the FBX export options in the 
future.


About clusters, I always freeze and delete all clusters. I work mainly 
in game assets production so I try to keep my final data as clean as 
possible to avoid any possible export problem. I never keep points or 
edge clusters (the only point cluster is the envelope one), lattice or 
any deformer besides envelope.


If you keep adding hard edges you'll end up with tons of edge 
clusters. That's why I wrote something to automatically freeze Mark 
Edges op and delete the edge cluster.


You don't really need clusters at all for hard edges. Just freeze and 
delete the cluster. The same for any other deformer that you don't 
need to be alive.


Softimage should have a clean cluster option. Any studio that I've 
been or work with uses a custom tool for that.


You can easily script something for hard edges selections with 
ICEAttributes if you need, or you can use crease filter selection 
because hard edges in Softimage are also creased by default.


I don't have much experience with Substance so I can't say anything 
about it.


cheers,

Martin


On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 8:12 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


I don´t know about converting normal clusters because I can´t really
see what you´d want to convert them to?

In general, they are useful to assing different materials or is it
because
of the clusters that you have problems using the mesh in Quixel Suite
or Substance Designer because each cluster will generate a separate
material there, even if that cluster was just meant for hard eges?

Afaik, the clusters are needed inside softimage, you´d want that
cluster
to be able to select the hardened edges inside softimage, using RMB
select components.

When facing problems with meshes generating multiple material entries
inside Substance Designer/Painter, I like to resort to exporting
an *.obj
file, making sure I have only the actual UVset I need as map1
merging
all elements into a new mesh I want to have share one texture set.

If that fails, I delete the *.mtl file that´ll be generated along
with the *.obj.

If I can, I´ll also assign the default lambert Maya material,
especially when
I want to salvage stuff from an existing Substance Tree.

In a nutshell, I´ll try to do *.obj exports from Maya, avoiding
Softimage Clusters.

tim

P.S: When I´m refering to *.fbx in a 2014 build version, it´s
because that´s what a
Unreal Engine 4 expects to get, afaik they don´t support the fbx
2015 fully officially.




Am 13.04.2015 um 11:58 schrieb Martin Yara:

It worked ! Thanks!

It was the Smoothing Groups in Maya, it wasn't checked.

I still wish there was a way to convert that normal cluster though :P

Martin

On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 6:33 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

In the Softimage FBX import options, there is a checkbox
under Include:

Hard Edges - that´s off by default, you want this on.

I´m setting this to on and then I get a MarkHardEdge/Vertex op
floating in the Modeling Stack on import of the *.fbx

Those egdes are indentical to what I selected as Hard edges
in Maya and
they show up blue as one would expect inside Softimage.

Unless you had triangulate on while exporting from Maya,
that´ll create
extra
hardened edges, due to the triangulate option doing it´s thing.

Unreal4engine would like to have Tri´s for import of *.fbx
files but in
terms
of full control, it´s not adviseable to have *.fbx decide on
triangulation.

It´s better to do that manually based on the desired result
and have *.fbx
not triangulate automatically, which can lead to unwanted
shading errors.

For best I/O between Softimage and Maya, autotriangulation
should definitely
be off

Re: Hard edges from Maya to Softimage

[Tim Leydecker]

I don´t know about converting normal clusters because I can´t really
see what you´d want to convert them to?

In general, they are useful to assing different materials or is it because
of the clusters that you have problems using the mesh in Quixel Suite
or Substance Designer because each cluster will generate a separate
material there, even if that cluster was just meant for hard eges?

Afaik, the clusters are needed inside softimage, you´d want that cluster
to be able to select the hardened edges inside softimage, using RMB
select components.

When facing problems with meshes generating multiple material entries
inside Substance Designer/Painter, I like to resort to exporting an *.obj
file, making sure I have only the actual UVset I need as map1 merging
all elements into a new mesh I want to have share one texture set.

If that fails, I delete the *.mtl file that´ll be generated along with 
the *.obj.


If I can, I´ll also assign the default lambert Maya material, especially 
when

I want to salvage stuff from an existing Substance Tree.

In a nutshell, I´ll try to do *.obj exports from Maya, avoiding 
Softimage Clusters.


tim

P.S: When I´m refering to *.fbx in a 2014 build version, it´s because 
that´s what a
Unreal Engine 4 expects to get, afaik they don´t support the fbx 2015 
fully officially.




Am 13.04.2015 um 11:58 schrieb Martin Yara:

It worked ! Thanks!

It was the Smoothing Groups in Maya, it wasn't checked.

I still wish there was a way to convert that normal cluster though :P

Martin

On Sun, Apr 12, 2015 at 6:33 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


In the Softimage FBX import options, there is a checkbox under
Include:

Hard Edges - that´s off by default, you want this on.

I´m setting this to on and then I get a MarkHardEdge/Vertex op
floating in the Modeling Stack on import of the *.fbx

Those egdes are indentical to what I selected as Hard edges in
Maya and
they show up blue as one would expect inside Softimage.

Unless you had triangulate on while exporting from Maya, that´ll
create
extra
hardened edges, due to the triangulate option doing it´s thing.

Unreal4engine would like to have Tri´s for import of *.fbx files
but in
terms
of full control, it´s not adviseable to have *.fbx decide on
triangulation.

It´s better to do that manually based on the desired result and
have *.fbx
not triangulate automatically, which can lead to unwanted shading
errors.

For best I/O between Softimage and Maya, autotriangulation should
definitely
be off.


Cheers,


tim

Am 12.04.2015 um 11:09 schrieb Martin:
 I only get a normal cluster, so visually it is the same but the
edges are not marked (no blue edges).

 I'll try different options and FBX versions just in case. Maybe
something had changed in newer versions.

 Although it is visually the same, the problem with this normal
cluster is that it is very fragile if you need to change topology
and do some other things after that. Also any script reading hard
edges won't work. Also you can't add hard edges because this
cluster overrides everything. I'm not sure how much this could
affect the output to a game data format but the biggest problem is
that my client just won't accept a normal cluster instead normal
hard edges.

 The easiest solution I found was to disconnect hard edges in
Maya, and in SI, select border edges, mark them as hard and merge.
Easily scriptable. Not quite the same but close enough.

 The problem is when I don't have the original Maya data and only
have an FBX and/or a SI data with user normal cluster. I though it
wouldn't be that hard to convert somehow that cluster to edges,
but it seems it is.

 Martin
 Sent from my iPhone

 On 2015/04/12, at 17:17, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

 Maybe I don´t get the question properly but for the following,
it seems to work:

 In Maya, create Polysphere, select some edges, go to
NormalsHarden Edge

 Export the sphere using *.fbx, in the *.fbx export options
under Geometry, make
 sure that Smoothing Groups is ticked on and Tangents and
Binormals is on, too.

 IIRC, in the *.fbx export options, those setting can sometimes
be ticked off from a preset.

 In Softimage, go to FileImportImport FBX...

 In my little test using Maya 2014/Softimage2014 and *.fbx
plug-in version 2014.1 (release 214447),
 the sphere came in fine into Softimage, showing the hard edge
rings created in Maya correctly.


 Cheers,

 tim


 Am 12.04.2015 um 00:46 schrieb Matt Lind:
 Technically speaking, hard edges is just a special case of
normal cluster where the specific normals associated with the
edges

Re: Hard edges from Maya to Softimage

[Tim Leydecker]

In the Softimage FBX import options, there is a checkbox under Include:

Hard Edges - that´s off by default, you want this on.

I´m setting this to on and then I get a MarkHardEdge/Vertex op
floating in the Modeling Stack on import of the *.fbx

Those egdes are indentical to what I selected as Hard edges in Maya and
they show up blue as one would expect inside Softimage.

Unless you had triangulate on while exporting from Maya, that´ll create
extra
hardened edges, due to the triangulate option doing it´s thing.

Unreal4engine would like to have Tri´s for import of *.fbx files but in
terms
of full control, it´s not adviseable to have *.fbx decide on triangulation.

It´s better to do that manually based on the desired result and have *.fbx
not triangulate automatically, which can lead to unwanted shading errors.

For best I/O between Softimage and Maya, autotriangulation should definitely
be off.


Cheers,


tim

Am 12.04.2015 um 11:09 schrieb Martin:
 I only get a normal cluster, so visually it is the same but the edges are not 
 marked (no blue edges).

 I'll try different options and FBX versions just in case. Maybe something had 
 changed in newer versions.

 Although it is visually the same, the problem with this normal cluster is 
 that it is very fragile if you need to change topology and do some other 
 things after that. Also any script reading hard edges won't work. Also you 
 can't add hard edges because this cluster overrides everything. I'm not sure 
 how much this could affect the output to a game data format but the biggest 
 problem is that my client just won't accept a normal cluster instead normal 
 hard edges.

 The easiest solution I found was to disconnect hard edges in Maya, and in SI, 
 select border edges, mark them as hard and merge. Easily scriptable. Not 
 quite the same but close enough.

 The problem is when I don't have the original Maya data and only have an FBX 
 and/or a SI data with user normal cluster. I though it wouldn't be that hard 
 to convert somehow that cluster to edges, but it seems it is.

 Martin
 Sent from my iPhone

 On 2015/04/12, at 17:17, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

 Maybe I don´t get the question properly but for the following, it seems to 
 work:

 In Maya, create Polysphere, select some edges, go to NormalsHarden Edge

 Export the sphere using *.fbx, in the *.fbx export options under Geometry, 
 make
 sure that Smoothing Groups is ticked on and Tangents and Binormals is on, 
 too.

 IIRC, in the *.fbx export options, those setting can sometimes be ticked off 
 from a preset.

 In Softimage, go to FileImportImport FBX...

 In my little test using Maya 2014/Softimage2014 and *.fbx plug-in version 
 2014.1 (release 214447),
 the sphere came in fine into Softimage, showing the hard edge rings created 
 in Maya correctly.


 Cheers,

 tim


 Am 12.04.2015 um 00:46 schrieb Matt Lind:
 Technically speaking, hard edges is just a special case of normal cluster 
 where the specific normals associated with the edges are not smoothed via 
 smoothing/discontinuity/etc... They are left in their original raw state 
 (perpendicular to surface).  You do not need to create hard edges to have 
 the same end result of faceted edges on the mesh.  You only need to know 
 which normals in the normal cluster should be interpolated vs. not.

 Normals live on samples (or 'polygon nodes' for the specific case of 
 polygon meshes), which are the original unshared vertices of the mesh.  If 
 you want to preserve hard edges coming from Maya, you'll need to keep track 
 of the sample indices and make sure they don't change during the 
 transition.  If the samples change order, then your backup plan is to 
 record the vertex index and polygon index together in Maya and pass that 
 along as metadata to Softimage as that'll be needed to identify which 
 sample on a vertex should be flagged for hard edges (because each vertex in 
 Softimage has multiple samples).

 If polygon indices change too, then the only brute force method available 
 is to unshared all the edges of the mesh in Maya to force the vertices to 
 be unique so when you get them over to Softimage it'll be easy to identify 
 and flag...but of course unsharing on it's own will force hard edges on all 
 the unshared edges so in some ways will defeat the purpose.

 An alternate non brute force method (if all the indices keep shifting 
 around) is to apply a vertex color property or UVW texture projection and 
 record the edge flags there, then have a plugin in Softimage read that data 
 and apply the hard edges.  A little clunky, but perfectly functional as I'm 
 pretty sure vertex colors and texture UVW coordinates are properly 
 converted.

 Matt







 Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 19:31:06 +0900
 From: Martin Yara furik...@gmail.com
 Subject: Hard edges from Maya to Softimage
 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
 softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

 Hi list,
 Is there any way to export hard edges from Maya to Softimage

Re: Hard edges from Maya to Softimage

[Tim Leydecker]

Maybe I don´t get the question properly but for the following, it seems 
to work:


In Maya, create Polysphere, select some edges, go to NormalsHarden Edge

Export the sphere using *.fbx, in the *.fbx export options under 
Geometry, make
sure that Smoothing Groups is ticked on and Tangents and Binormals is 
on, too.


IIRC, in the *.fbx export options, those setting can sometimes be ticked 
off from a preset.


In Softimage, go to FileImportImport FBX...

In my little test using Maya 2014/Softimage2014 and *.fbx plug-in 
version 2014.1 (release 214447),
the sphere came in fine into Softimage, showing the hard edge rings 
created in Maya correctly.



Cheers,

tim


Am 12.04.2015 um 00:46 schrieb Matt Lind:
Technically speaking, hard edges is just a special case of normal 
cluster where the specific normals associated with the edges are not 
smoothed via smoothing/discontinuity/etc... They are left in their 
original raw state (perpendicular to surface).  You do not need to 
create hard edges to have the same end result of faceted edges on 
the mesh.  You only need to know which normals in the normal cluster 
should be interpolated vs. not.


Normals live on samples (or 'polygon nodes' for the specific case of 
polygon meshes), which are the original unshared vertices of the 
mesh.  If you want to preserve hard edges coming from Maya, you'll 
need to keep track of the sample indices and make sure they don't 
change during the transition.  If the samples change order, then your 
backup plan is to record the vertex index and polygon index together 
in Maya and pass that along as metadata to Softimage as that'll be 
needed to identify which sample on a vertex should be flagged for hard 
edges (because each vertex in Softimage has multiple samples).


If polygon indices change too, then the only brute force method 
available is to unshared all the edges of the mesh in Maya to force 
the vertices to be unique so when you get them over to Softimage it'll 
be easy to identify and flag...but of course unsharing on it's own 
will force hard edges on all the unshared edges so in some ways will 
defeat the purpose.


An alternate non brute force method (if all the indices keep shifting 
around) is to apply a vertex color property or UVW texture projection 
and record the edge flags there, then have a plugin in Softimage read 
that data and apply the hard edges.  A little clunky, but perfectly 
functional as I'm pretty sure vertex colors and texture UVW 
coordinates are properly converted.


Matt







Date: Sat, 11 Apr 2015 19:31:06 +0900
From: Martin Yara furik...@gmail.com
Subject: Hard edges from Maya to Softimage
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

Hi list,
Is there any way to export hard edges from Maya to Softimage as hard 
edges

(not normal clusters) ?
I though about getting a list of edges from Maya, but when I import the
data in Softimage the edge numbers change and differs from Maya. Vertex
indexes are the same though.

Or better, is there any way to convert those normal clusters to hard 
edges?


I have to convert character scene files from Maya to Softimage and right
now I'm redoing all the hard edges in Softimage and it is quite time
consuming.

Thanks

Martin

Re: Linux distro ?

[Tim Leydecker]

One thing to be aware of when using standalone licenses is that while on 
windows,
the license transfer utilities, deactivation of a standalone license, 
activation of a license
and all the loggig in, out, management and such work pretty automated 
and reliable,

this does not apply to Linux.

Just recently, at a place I freelance, both Maya and Mudbox 
node-locked/aka standalone
licenses had to move from one machine to another but that required a lot 
of manual back

and forth with Autodesk support, tickets, proofs, etc.

Personally, I´d prefer a floating license model.

That doesn´t completely prevent licensing issues and is also more 
expensive compared to
standalone stuff but once set up, it´s pretty convenient to swap a 
node/workstation for

whatever reason.

The excat reason the above stand alone stuff failed so badly with Linuc, 
I can´t tell you
because I don´t know but one has to point out that one reason one would 
momentarily
not want to touch exisiting (stand-alone) licenses is because nobody can 
really tell how
Autodesk´s this year and early next year´s changes to the license system 
will affect pricing

and such.

Assuming the role of the oracle of the dark ages, it feels like the sky 
may fall on our heads any minute now.


Either the new subscription model will result in painfully higher below 
the line anual per license costs
or switching now to network licenses (which also costs money, even if it 
actually makes management easier)
will cost you now just to require yet another (forceful) switch to some 
sort subscription, cloud based BS later.


Or none of that happens and you end up seeing a license you payed a 
grand for now available for 10 bucks/month...


Whatever happens there is hard to tell now.

I have all my stuff floating now (including weeping about those several 
occassions of me throwing away money)
and reserve myself the right to refuse any changes in the subscription 
models this year/next year if I don´t like them.


Not everybody can do that, obviously but afaik my floating licenses are 
permanent while those subscription models
just provide a service for a given amount of time, not a permanent 
license, neither stand alone nor floating...


Cheers,

tim






Am 06.04.2015 um 11:32 schrieb Martin Yara:
Thanks for the link ! We are still using 2014 and older versions, but 
since we are using 2015 lic +sub I guess the license manager is the same.


We are using stand alone licenses but considering changing them to 
network lic and setup a server for that purpose. I'm still 
recollecting info.


Thanks,

Martin

On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 6:26 PM, Ivan Tay ivan@autodesk.com 
mailto:ivan@autodesk.com wrote:


CentOS 6.2 / Fedora 14 or RedHat 6.2 are certified for Softimage 2015.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/softimage/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Softimage-2015.html

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of
Martin Yara
Sent: Monday, April 06, 2015 4:38 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Linux distro ?

I though that RH was the only certified one, and I was looking for
a cheap option.

I'll try with CentOS.

Thanks.

On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 5:29 PM, Raffaele Fragapane
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com
mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com
mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote:
go for a certified system if licensing is a priority. CentOS or
RH, or FC

On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 9:02 AM, Henry Katz hk-v...@iscs-i.com
mailto:hk-v...@iscs-i.commailto:hk-v...@iscs-i.com
mailto:hk-v...@iscs-i.com wrote:
Currently serving on Centos 6.5.


On 04/05/2015 03:00 PM, Martin wrote:
I'm considering using an old machine I have, put some Linux in it
and use it as a server for my Autodesk licenses. What distro would
you recommend ? My main objective is just the licenses at first,
and using it as a rendering server and some other services later.

Thanks.

Martin
Sent from my iPhone



--
Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it!
Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Re: test again

[Tim Leydecker]

disable wrap on your textures or you´ll cover everything with each other 
over and over.


The logic is to enter the values you´d need to move the UV shell from
it´s current UV tile into the 0-1 range.

E.g. this tile needs to go -1 quadrant to the left and 0 down to end up 
in UV 0-1.


it´s a nasty little puzzle. somebody was bored?

cheers,

tim





Am 06.04.2015 um 16:41 schrieb Mirko Jankovic:
as I recall no, just need to have good coordinates sorted out when 
blending.

but again this was like couple years ago

On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 4:38 PM, Sebastien Sterling 
sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com mailto:sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com 
wrote:


does anything else need to be done in addition to this ?

On 6 April 2015 at 15:34, Sebastien Sterling
sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com
mailto:sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com wrote:

Thank you Mirko senpai !

holly shit put that is some tortured logic :P

so strange to see somthing that makes less sense in softimage
then in maya.

thank you for the map i will try this !

On 6 April 2015 at 15:27, Mirko Jankovic
mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
wrote:

Yea I;ve posted that pic a while ago when I was struggling
with that as well.
Didn't really used it much but I think this map could help
you out. Yea I made a map :)
Coordinates weren't a bit logical to me so needed a map to
help me out.
number of map represents
minimum   XY
maximum  XY

so for example if you wanna put tile 1 UV map to the rigth
you us
-1 0
0 1

Makes sense?

On Mon, Apr 6, 2015 at 4:04 PM, Sebastien Sterling
sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com
mailto:sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com wrote:

since i have you...

Does anyone know the correct method for setting up
multiple UV tiling in the render tree ?

i only ask cause there used to be an article on it,
but it was on XSIbase so gone now.

plugging loads of texture files into one shader is
easy enough in Maya, i'm sure there is a way of doing
it in softimage.


this is the pic i got from the XSIbase topic:

https://xsisupport.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/muv.png

On 6 April 2015 at 14:38, Mats Bertil Tegner
mats.bertil.teg...@gmail.com
mailto:mats.bertil.teg...@gmail.com wrote:

2015-04-06 15:34 GMT+02:00 Sebastien Sterling
sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com
mailto:sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com:

... nop not doing it :P

On 6 April 2015 at 14:30, Francisco Criado
malcriad...@gmail.com
mailto:malcriad...@gmail.com wrote:

456

2015-04-02 4:45 GMT-03:00 Alok Gandhi
alok.gandhi2...@gmail.com
mailto:alok.gandhi2...@gmail.com:

123


Come on lads, this is getting kinda silly...

Mats

Re: OT: Epic going completely crazy

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Byron,


first things first, I think having access to UE4 is awesome and the
chance to dabble with it for free is enough (for me) to invest time in it.

That said, I don´t expect to make money off it any time soon.
I would describe myself as an engine novice and C++ illiterate.

My very personal goals are:
*getting proficient with the engine up to a prototyping functional 
gamelevels skill set.
*use the engine to create realtime representations of propscharacters 
(e.g. turntables),
 feeling comfortable with UE4 specific tools as well as related PBR 
based workflows.
*explore the UE4 feature set for possible use as a 
cutscene/archviz/previz tool.

*extend my (character)animation skills and rigging skills
*feel comfortable in bringing content into the engine, making it 
worklook nice.


In a nutshell, extending my existing skillset (as a Modeler, 
LightingShading Artist)

by one more type of output, the asset working in a game.

Here´s my current favourite help ressources:

Endless Run Prototype
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS-yQfo0lc0list=PLZlv_N0_O1gbY4FN8pZuEPVC9PzQThNn1
TeslaDev Youtube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/TeslaUE4/videos

-

Here´s areas I see other people trying to make money off their skills:

Marketplace:
https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace

First off the marketplace. Please note that a marketplace listing 
requires constant updating
your advertised content to work with the latest engine version and that 
average prices asked
for content are too low for a commercial endeavour (imho). It´s even 
worse than the average
prices asked for asset in 3D databases like Turbosquid, f.e. Guns are 
around 30 bucks but a
realistic price for an artist´s commercially developed Gun Asset is at 
least 3500 bucks in time invested.


Imho, there´s no way of making fair money off assets, even when 
combining 3d databases and the marketplace.


It´s possible for enthusiasts, using free tools and enjoying their hobby 
but not for a commercially constrained business.


--

I do see a possibility in using UE4/Unity for realtime (HTML5) 
webbrowser realtime or maybe even previz.


Archviz:
https://www.youtube.com/user/klalala
Advanced Lighting Map (uses *.hdr/*.exr multibounce global illumination 
and PBR materials plus post effects)

https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/Packs/index.html

It´s actually pretty rewarding to walk around (in) your own content 
created for/inside UE4.


--

I guess that makes me an enthusiast.

Cheers,


tim







Am 11.03.2015 um 15:25 schrieb Byron Nash:
What do you all think the viability is for learning something like UE4 
and using that knowledge to earn income. I'm speaking mostly about 
opportunities other than working at a large game studio. What are the 
use cases in smaller markets or remote working situations?


On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 9:35 AM, Nicolas Esposito 3dv...@gmail.com 
mailto:3dv...@gmail.com wrote:


They're not the only one working on it ;) ...so I guess there will
be alembic stuff available in short time

2015-03-11 14:14 GMT+01:00 Francisco Criado malcriad...@gmail.com
mailto:malcriad...@gmail.com:

Hi Nicolas,

the kl 360 plugin is gonna be free via github, it would be
nice if they publish the alembic one too :)

F.


2015-03-11 10:01 GMT-03:00 Nicolas Esposito 3dv...@gmail.com
mailto:3dv...@gmail.com:

I think they used a techinque similar to this
http://www.kolor.com/livepano one, I also notice that
they made a 360 viewer inside UE4, so I guess they
combined that with 3d geometry inside UE4 and...well...its
pretty amazing!

2015-03-11 13:34 GMT+01:00 Francisco Criado
malcriad...@gmail.com mailto:malcriad...@gmail.com:

It seems this guys wrote an alembic plugin! sweet :)
http://blog.kiteandlightning.la/
By the way, their last vr demo The Insurgent is
pretty amazing, still wondering how they incorporated
the live footage into the engine with that quality.

F.


2015-03-09 10:35 GMT-03:00 Gerbrand Nel
nagv...@gmail.com mailto:nagv...@gmail.com:

I don't know about you guys, but for me the
coolest thing would be, proper alembic support.
I just want to use it as a render at first, so I
don't care if the alembic reader is slow, as long
as the render is nice and fast :)
Building interactive content will come a bit later
for me.
G

On 09/03/2015 07:18, Francisco Criado wrote:

Well, this is interesting:

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=3067Itemid=66

F.


2015-03-07 

Re: OT: Epic going completely crazy

[Tim Leydecker]

I didn´t look into Unity because of the limitations of the basic version 
compared to the pricey pro version,
didn´t follow things, so there may have been lot´s of changes on the 
unity side.


For Unreal:

I´m currently dabbling with UE4 (4.7)´s rigging tools.
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/Tools/MayaRiggingTool/RigTool_Rigging/index.html

Unfortunately, the way things are with those, you´ll want to use Z-up 
and Maya 2014 at 30fps,
I have problems with the scripts and Maya 2015, so I went back to 2014 
and try to live with Z-up,

which isn´t fun in Maya and/or going roundtrips between ZBrush/Mudbox/etc.

In an ideal world, *.fbx would help ease the Y-up/Z-up pains but there´s 
rough edges instead...


In terms of what´s possible with UE4:

https://www.youtube.com/user/klalala

In terms of C## scripting vs. Blueprint (visual) node editing:

There is a lack of advanced weapons  inventory  AI (bot) examples done 
in Blueprints only atm, which

means it´s not so easy to actually do a nice FPS.


What´s available is awesome but I´d also wish for a less complicated way 
of working with character animations,

behaviour trees, weapon attachments, etc.

It´ll be easier when more people have managed to create full projects 
and shared it.


Atm, it´s o.k. to find help or examples but it´s pretty difficult to 
learn good project structure and consistent approaches

from the snippets gathered together from all over the web.


But all in all, UE4 is totally cool.




Am 02.03.2015 um 19:05 schrieb Adam Seeley:

And I was about to start learning some Unity.

Unity users  Unreal users both seem to be happy campers.
Anybody here have any experience with them? Any pros  cons that stick 
out?

I don't really want to learn both.

Free + Houdini Engine does seem to give Unreal an edge though. (A 
great big fat gleaming edge)


Adam.

On 2 March 2015 at 17:49, Cristobal Infante cgc...@gmail.com 
mailto:cgc...@gmail.com wrote:


nice one, will be installing it for sure. Also houdini engine will
be available soon:


https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=3067Itemid=66

On 2 March 2015 at 17:31, Nicolas Esposito 3dv...@gmail.com
mailto:3dv...@gmail.com wrote:

Slightly OT, but holy cow, Unreal Engine 4 is completely free
to use ( 5% royalties upon release of a game ).

https://www.unrealengine.com/what-is-unreal-engine-4

I strongly suggest you to take a look at it now that is free,
you won't regret, especially ICE users will find it very
comfortable to use :)

Re: OT - Blueprints/dimensions 1K

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Daniel,

thanks for the link!

I had found those blueprint style drawings already but there´s more nice 
info in the thread I didn´t have.


You´re right, I´m playing around with Game assets.

Here in Germany, we don´t have Internet filtering (like in the UK, we 
have GEMA, thought) but we do of course
have laws regarding the possession of firearms. This can sometimes feel 
a bit funny, for example in case
you ever own a steak hammer that has a knuckle-duster grip, don´t bring 
it to Germany, even if it´s solid silver.


Itzee verboten, because itzze regarded a dangerous weapon. I don´t see 
why but that may just be me.


Same could apply for a coffeemug with knuckle duster grip but I´d have 
to re-check if that is currently allowed or not.
For assault rifle type weapons/pistols/rifles/etc , there´s ways to get 
stuff approved (by having certain parts welded/drilled).


We have a few dealer here specialized on deactivated stuff, sometimes 
even offering reasonable pricing.


For stuff like Tommy Guns, Stens, AK(m)s, M16´s that´s better sources 
than flimsy Airsoft models but there´s exceptions.



Cheers,

tim

P.S: Another good source is google´s us patent search...





Am 20.02.2015 um 13:50 schrieb Daniel Brassard:
You must have some serious filters in Germany for weapons. It took me 
1 Google minute to fing a blueprint of the stoner 63.

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=3f=123t=650934
Middle of the page has a full scaled blueprint.
Yes, company are very protective of their IP. You also have toconsider 
that information like weapons are controlled for safety and security 
reasons.

Look like you are working on game assets.

On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 4:30 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


Thanks guys for the links and suggestions.

I´ve checked my specs, turns out that my triangle limit for a car
should be
in the 25000 - 45 000 tri region, incl. interiors.

That means interesting silhouettes are still possible but no
specific make details.

I´ve ordered some books to cook things down into their essence and
go from there,
still trying to find representative examples of a specific area as
C-Frame masters
to pop various grills and bodies on, generalising wheelbases and
interiors.


For the guns, stuff like the Stoner 63 or any type of shotguns
like Winchester M97 or M12´s
are hard to come by in Germany and airsoft replicas are the only
option, also for stuff
like some types of tactical lights, nightvision scopes and
pistol-grip shotguns, as there
are quite some restrictions for possession of such stuff in Germany.

Not to mention thatColt for example is touchy when using their IP.
Like IKEA.

In short, I guess I´ll be able to depict a specific class but not
specific makes.

Cheers,

tim


Am 19.02.2015 um 16:29 schrieb Tom Kleinenberg:

Sorry, the complete list is a little more impressive
http://www.suurland.com/assets.php

On 19 February 2015 at 17:28, Tom Kleinenberg zagan...@gmail.com
mailto:zagan...@gmail.com wrote:

I use Suurland
(http://www.suurland.com/blueprints.php?catagory=2order=name) but
they're not 1k.

On 19 February 2015 at 16:57, Gerbrand Nel nagv...@gmail.com
mailto:nagv...@gmail.com wrote:

For weapons you could look into airsoft replicas.
The insides are airsoft, but the outsides of thesetoys
are sometimes very accurate.
Just a thought :)
G

On 19/02/2015 16:15, Tim Leydecker wrote:

Hi guys,


does anyone know of a good ressource for firearms and
vehicles:

weapons blueprints - Swedish K´s/Port Said´s, Stoner
63´s, SW K-Frames, M16/M16A1´s, M60s.
vehicle blueprints, especially 60´s cars, from sedans
to station wagons.

I´d be willing to pay handling fees for machining
level data and or reliable dimensions
depending on origin (laws applicable)
bolthead/receiver int. detail data can be excluded.

I´m finding it especially hard to find really good
vehicle data.

There´s some GMC heritage stuff and a variety of
books on amazon available
but multi view plans of 60s/70cars are rare, as is
photo data.

There are many 3D models available (like from
humster3D.com) to start with but I would appreciate
to be able to add more accuracy and detail based on
plans and references.

For weapons, here in Germany, I can resort to getting
deact´s for hands on data aquisition or check
weaponeer.net http://weaponeer.net to see
enthusiasts

Re: OT Maya: ncache hell

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Adrian,

thanks for the explanation of your approach. Yes, that sounds like a lot 
of work.


I was thinking more along the lines of asking Autodesk to implement 
additional cache editing as a feature,
e.g. be able to retime and reanimate existing cached data as if working 
with a keyframed channel.


Either using an animation curve on the time input or even messing with 
the full data with interpolation

between keyframes, knowing that motionblur will then still work nicely.

I would think this could be regarded desireable for working with alembic 
files, bifrost, volumes, particles, animation, etc.


There is a standalone app that let´s you modify particle caches after 
sim, I can´t remember the name atm...


Anyway, asking to get Trax have better interpolation for caches might be 
interesting, too.


Imho, having to decide beforehand how many subsamples/ticks/substeps to 
store in a cache is a bit of a shot in the dark
and can easily bloat files while still not solving the problem of always 
getting nice motionblur, regardless of shutter

settings and lengths that may change later.

I´d think there is room for improvement, ideally allowing to cache to 
sparse data and interpolate for best results.




Am 19.02.2015 um 01:41 schrieb Adrian Graham:

I've written scripts that do this:

- generate a null for each particle emitted
- move the null to the updated particle location on each frame
- keyframe the null after moving it
- rinse and repeat

So you end up with a big mess of nulls and keyframes, and not much else you do 
with them.

I suppose you could do the above, then kill particle emission, then do it the 
other way around; write a runtime expression to emit one particle per null, and 
move it where each null is at each frame. This would work at any sub-frame, as 
the runtime expression would query the exact position of the associated null at 
the current time.

But that's a real roundabout way of doing this, and you'd quickly bog down with 
hundreds or thousands of particles/nulls.

If you're really interested in doing this, I could try it and record a video 
showing you how I did it.

Adrian

-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Tim Leydecker
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 3:59 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: OT Maya: ncache hell

Hi Adrian,

would there be a way to plot/bake an nCache to keyframes per particle and then use the 
natural interpolation happening between keyframes to get better retiming 
results?

One could then always re-export to a new cache?

If not, that may be an idea to suggest as a feature request?

E.g. the feature request would be to allow the user to edit any cached data 
input in the fcurve editor as keyframe data with all the interpolation options 
usually found between two keyframes.

That shouldn´t be insanely complicate to be pulled off as it would just 
require to read cache data as keyframes, then interpolate instead of step, no?

Cheers,

tim




Am 18.02.2015 um 20:05 schrieb Adrian Graham:

Er, let's pretend you guys never saw that...


From: Ben Beckett nebbeck...@gmail.commailto:nebbeck...@gmail.com
Reply-To:
softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softim...@listproc.autodesk.co
m
softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softim...@listproc.autodesk.co
m
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 5:19 AM
To:
softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softim...@listproc.autodesk.co
m
softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softim...@listproc.autodesk.co
m
Subject: Re: Aw: OT Maya: ncache hell

Maya 2016!

On 18 February 2015 at 04:23, Adrian Graham 
adrian.gra...@autodesk.commailto:adrian.gra...@autodesk.com wrote:
Hey guys, the best way to retime nCaches is in the Trax editor. Select the 
cached node and open the editor. You'll see a bar representing the length of 
your cache on disk. You can expand/compress this bar to achieve the retiming 
you desire. You can't ramp-in/ramp-out the speed, unfortunately. Not without 
extremely unpredictable results, that is.

Now it gets tricky, so I recorded a couple of videos (in .swf format) to maybe 
provide a bit of insight:

nCache_retiming_01.swfhttps://autodesk.box.com/s/ves0ye66ny9sc0y78a8c
k8xi8af2zyns
nCache_retiming_02.swfhttps://autodesk.box.com/s/bxwfnuupxw11fz9tvfr9
4k72djb9fwfv

Also, as I mentioned at the end of the second video, a suggestion from one of 
our devs here is to goal 'classic' particles to your nParticles 
(post-retiming), cache those out and render them, rather than the nParticles:

You could export it as a classic particle cache (with dynExport) , and then 
create a classic particle shape with exactly the same set of  attributes as you 
exported. (which means that you either have to explicitly specify the list of 
PP attrs so that you don't end up with ramp input attrs, or you may need to add 
any extra cached attrs to the classic particle system).

Hope this helps,
Adrian

From

Re: Softimage 2 Unreal

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Francisco,

I can´t help you much further, I´ve only spent some 10-35 hrs with UE4 
sofar. Poking, mostly.


That said, you might want to check your Epic Games Launcher for the 
download of


Content Examples

It´s a bunch of very helpful levels, you may have luck finding something 
in the Blueprints of the:


Animation level

It´s a variety of examples on how to trigger/set up animations using 
different blueprintsapproaches.


Cheers,


tim




Am 16.02.2015 um 18:34 schrieb Francisco Criado:

Hi Tim and Nicolas,
thanks for responses, i had no issue exporting the animation from 
Softimage, found that i wasnt importing it in the correct way in UE. 
Also found that to make animation work on unreal it has to be loaded 
through animation blueprints. Already made the animation graph work, 
where i see my imported animation working, but still it seems i have 
something missing on the event graph cause when i hit play on editor, 
i dont see any animation happeinng  :s


Thanks in advance,
F.

Re: Softimage 2 Unreal

[Tim Leydecker]

You mean UE4, right?

That means using FBX2014.

Here´s a few general links that may help.

https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Resources/ContentExamples/Animation/index.html
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/FBX/Animations/index.html
https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/FBX/BestPractices/index.html

Cheers,

tim



Am 14.02.2015 um 22:10 schrieb Francisco Criado:

Hi guys,

 trying to export animated objects with basics transforms and an 
envelope with nulls as bones for a rope, when i check it on fbx review 
standalone, everything seems to be exported fine and working, but when 
i import it into Unreal, there is no animation there. I know the 
question is more Unreal than Softimage related, but some of you are 
fluid in Unreal, Nicolas are you there? ;)


Thanks in advance,
F.

Re: @autodesk maya request

[Tim Leydecker]

You can use the V shortcut but the object you want to snap to will have to
have it´s selection handle, rotation pivot or whatever else you want to 
snap

to enabled in it display properties.

e.g., modify your display options globally to display these kinds of 
stuff for all
objects, the selection or even on alternatively on a per object basis in 
it´s

attribute editor.


Am 04.02.2015 um 11:20 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

Snap to pivot/center in maya ?

Please ?

And no, not through some sort of menu or command. Just add another 
snapping option please which enables snapping to object pivots/centers.

Re: @autodesk maya request

[Tim Leydecker]

Ctrl-Shift-A will let you select everything in a scene.

Setting the Scripteditor to Echo All Commands

then for example reveals:

ToggleRotationPivots;

From there, it´s just a drag of this line to the shelve.

That at least let´s you switch things after creation.

If you want to get this globally, all the time, you probably would
start by trying to modify your:

userPrefs.mel

or

Maya.env

even if that may be the completely wrong place.

I can´t help with that really except for having a hunch that
things usually follow a simple kind of

RotationPivots = 1;

way of switching on (1) or off (0) in Maya.

I wouldn´t do it but that doesn´t mean it shouldn´t be done.







Am 04.02.2015 um 12:39 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

But that DisplayTransform Display is on per object context right ?
I am searching for a way to globally show the axis. For all objects in 
the scene (also newly created ones).
But because showing/hiding those axis is controlled by local object 
attributes I guess that's not possible.


2015-02-04 12:33 GMT+01:00 Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de:


Check out DisplayTransform Display..


No need to apologize for asking questions.

It´s impossible to know it all, imo.

There´s a difference in being lazy, ignorant, etc or just a
feeling of genuinly stupid.

The joys of getting answers may vary, depending on how one´s question
has been understood to fall into any of the above short list of
categories.

I had my fair share of both stupid questions and stupid replies.

The hardest part is realizing one did it wrong but insisted anyway.
Those opportunities to realize exactly that seem to grow with age.

In regards to Maya, I am glad they have this green spoiler thingy
on new/changed/improved
menue entries available as option. It helps realize there´s been
something done.

It took me actually years to realize there is a whole new Assets
menue entry...

Cheers,

tim


Am 04.02.2015 um 12:07 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

In the end I don't care too much.
It just feels embarrassing asking for stuff which is there but
which you just didn't find.
But as long as no one is annoyed by noobs like me asking for
those things, then at least I am fine with it ;)

Oh, I allways used ctrl-shift-right click to get into that menu
you described :D Your way is less painful for my fingers.

Now I got a last question. How do you enable rotation axis globally.
Under Display the Transform Display is on per object base and in
the preferences I didn't find anything to turn it on globally.

2015-02-04 11:57 GMT+01:00 Raffaele Fragapane
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com:

It is, but the problem with dexterity based workflows is that
you're unlikely to bump into the literal category for it,
wherever the stuff ends up being stashed in.
QWERTY interaction mode, X and V for quick snap
(grid/discrete and snap to point) and so on are hard to bump
into unless you watch some tutorial or someone tells you.

The same goes for several other shortcuts that every expert
knows but every noob misses (shift changing the contextual
menu on click), and some that even experts rarely seem to
know about (hold down a manipulation shortcut like W and left
click for a nice surprise, inline snapping options, swim UVs,
tweak, discrete steps and the such).

It doesn't help that, unlike XSI, Maya has no right click for
tool options on icons. XSI's snapping is infinitely more
intuitive and versatile largely on account of that.

On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 11:37 AM, Mario Reitbauer
cont...@marioreitbauer.at
mailto:cont...@marioreitbauer.at wrote:

Thanks a lot !
Is this covered in the docs anywhere ??
Feels stupid to not finding stuff like this.

2015-02-04 11:26 GMT+01:00 Tim Leydecker
bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de:

You can use the V shortcut but the object you want to
snap to will have to
have it´s selection handle, rotation pivot or
whatever else you want to snap
to enabled in it display properties.

e.g., modify your display options globally to display
these kinds of stuff for all
objects, the selection or even on alternatively on a
per object basis in it´s
attribute editor.


Am 04.02.2015 um 11:20 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

Snap to pivot/center in maya ?

Please ?

And no, not through some sort of menu or command.
Just add another snapping option please which
enables snapping to object pivots

Re: @autodesk maya request

[Tim Leydecker]

The principle of this script, changing an attribute for the current 
selection,

e.g. multiple objects should be part of the Mel help.

That´s one of the things anyone would want to start with in MayaMel,
especially with blip programming experience.

The whole point of scripting is automation and convenience, e.g. not 
repeating things by hand...


I sorely missed exactly that just the other day, searching the Maya MEL 
help.




Am 04.02.2015 um 13:23 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

Yea ty.

I am using 2 custom commands now (using a toggle isn't the best way in 
that case)


string $selection[] = `ls -selection -long`;
string $object;
for ( $object in $selection ) {
catch(eval(setAttr ($object + .displayRotatePivot, 1)));
}



2015-02-04 13:20 GMT+01:00 Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de:


Ctrl-Shift-A will let you select everything in a scene.

Setting the Scripteditor to Echo All Commands

then for example reveals:

ToggleRotationPivots;

From there, it´s just a drag of this line to the shelve.

That at least let´s you switch things after creation.

If you want to get this globally, all the time, you probably would
start by trying to modify your:

userPrefs.mel

or

Maya.env

even if that may be the completely wrong place.

I can´t help with that really except for having a hunch that
things usually follow a simple kind of

RotationPivots = 1;

way of switching on (1) or off (0) in Maya.

I wouldn´t do it but that doesn´t mean it shouldn´t be done.







Am 04.02.2015 um 12:39 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

But that DisplayTransform Display is on per object context
right ?
I am searching for a way to globally show the axis. For all
objects in the scene (also newly created ones).
But because showing/hiding those axis is controlled by local
object attributes I guess that's not possible.

2015-02-04 12:33 GMT+01:00 Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de:

Check out DisplayTransform Display..


No need to apologize for asking questions.

It´s impossible to know it all, imo.

There´s a difference in being lazy, ignorant, etc or just a
feeling of genuinly stupid.

The joys of getting answers may vary, depending on how one´s
question
has been understood to fall into any of the above short list
of categories.

I had my fair share of both stupid questions and stupid replies.

The hardest part is realizing one did it wrong but insisted
anyway.
Those opportunities to realize exactly that seem to grow with
age.

In regards to Maya, I am glad they have this green spoiler
thingy on new/changed/improved
menue entries available as option. It helps realize there´s
been something done.

It took me actually years to realize there is a whole new
Assets menue entry...

Cheers,

tim


Am 04.02.2015 um 12:07 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

In the end I don't care too much.
It just feels embarrassing asking for stuff which is there
but which you just didn't find.
But as long as no one is annoyed by noobs like me asking for
those things, then at least I am fine with it ;)

Oh, I allways used ctrl-shift-right click to get into that
menu you described :D Your way is less painful for my fingers.

Now I got a last question. How do you enable rotation axis
globally.
Under Display the Transform Display is on per object base
and in the preferences I didn't find anything to turn it on
globally.

2015-02-04 11:57 GMT+01:00 Raffaele Fragapane
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com
mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com:

It is, but the problem with dexterity based workflows is
that you're unlikely to bump into the literal category
for it, wherever the stuff ends up being stashed in.
QWERTY interaction mode, X and V for quick snap
(grid/discrete and snap to point) and so on are hard to
bump into unless you watch some tutorial or someone
tells you.

The same goes for several other shortcuts that every
expert knows but every noob misses (shift changing the
contextual menu on click), and some that even experts
rarely seem to know about (hold down a manipulation
shortcut like W and left click for a nice surprise,
inline snapping options, swim UVs, tweak, discrete steps
and the such).

It doesn't help that, unlike XSI, Maya has no right
click for tool options on icons. XSI's snapping is
infinitely more intuitive and versatile largely on
account of that.

On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 11:37 AM, Mario Reitbauer

Re: @autodesk maya request

[Tim Leydecker]

Check out DisplayTransform Display..


No need to apologize for asking questions.

It´s impossible to know it all, imo.

There´s a difference in being lazy, ignorant, etc or just a feeling of 
genuinly stupid.


The joys of getting answers may vary, depending on how one´s question
has been understood to fall into any of the above short list of categories.

I had my fair share of both stupid questions and stupid replies.

The hardest part is realizing one did it wrong but insisted anyway.
Those opportunities to realize exactly that seem to grow with age.

In regards to Maya, I am glad they have this green spoiler thingy on 
new/changed/improved
menue entries available as option. It helps realize there´s been 
something done.


It took me actually years to realize there is a whole new Assets menue 
entry...


Cheers,

tim


Am 04.02.2015 um 12:07 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

In the end I don't care too much.
It just feels embarrassing asking for stuff which is there but which 
you just didn't find.
But as long as no one is annoyed by noobs like me asking for those 
things, then at least I am fine with it ;)


Oh, I allways used ctrl-shift-right click to get into that menu you 
described :D Your way is less painful for my fingers.


Now I got a last question. How do you enable rotation axis globally.
Under Display the Transform Display is on per object base and in the 
preferences I didn't find anything to turn it on globally.


2015-02-04 11:57 GMT+01:00 Raffaele Fragapane 
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com:


It is, but the problem with dexterity based workflows is that
you're unlikely to bump into the literal category for it, wherever
the stuff ends up being stashed in.
QWERTY interaction mode, X and V for quick snap (grid/discrete and
snap to point) and so on are hard to bump into unless you watch
some tutorial or someone tells you.

The same goes for several other shortcuts that every expert knows
but every noob misses (shift changing the contextual menu on
click), and some that even experts rarely seem to know about (hold
down a manipulation shortcut like W and left click for a nice
surprise, inline snapping options, swim UVs, tweak, discrete steps
and the such).

It doesn't help that, unlike XSI, Maya has no right click for tool
options on icons. XSI's snapping is infinitely more intuitive and
versatile largely on account of that.

On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 11:37 AM, Mario Reitbauer
cont...@marioreitbauer.at mailto:cont...@marioreitbauer.at wrote:

Thanks a lot !
Is this covered in the docs anywhere ??
Feels stupid to not finding stuff like this.

2015-02-04 11:26 GMT+01:00 Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de:

You can use the V shortcut but the object you want to snap
to will have to
have it´s selection handle, rotation pivot or whatever
else you want to snap
to enabled in it display properties.

e.g., modify your display options globally to display
these kinds of stuff for all
objects, the selection or even on alternatively on a per
object basis in it´s
attribute editor.


Am 04.02.2015 um 11:20 schrieb Mario Reitbauer:

Snap to pivot/center in maya ?

Please ?

And no, not through some sort of menu or command. Just
add another snapping option please which enables
snapping to object pivots/centers.






-- 
Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it!

Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Re: Maya freelance list

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Adam,

here´s a list of websites having job listings:

http://vfxjobs.com/
http://www.creativeplanetnetwork.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?180-Jobs
http://cgpeoplenetwork.com/

There´s more, various linkedIn jobboards and similar pages to the above.

I dare post this here as it´s not limited to Maya centric jobs...

Cheers,

tim

P.S: In regards to PostProductionClientSession, I haven´t seen ecxess in 
years, unfortunately.
It seems even that part of the job is pretty much extinct. No more 
hookers, no more blow.

All that´s left is cheap tricks and cheap sells...


Am 21.01.2015 um 21:00 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:
What few flame and inferno suites are left are probably the closest 
thing. Is your friend ready to have stuff snorted off his nipples 
though? That's the real test for a client facing compositor, doing a 
split the difference while he's being snorted off.


Is this off topic? My apologies Adam, probably not the type of thread 
you intended to start.


On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 8:35 PM, Meng-Yang Lu ntmon...@gmail.com 
mailto:ntmon...@gmail.com wrote:


Which app do I use to become the expensive high-class hooker. 
Asking for a friend...



On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 11:01 AM, Raffaele Fragapane
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com
wrote:

To be fair, it's not like half of us aren't doing the DCC app
equivalent of turning tricks on a street corner these days ;)

On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 7:25 PM, Tenshi S.
tenshu...@gmail.com mailto:tenshu...@gmail.com wrote:

Asking about Maya Freelancers in a Softimage mailing list
knowing how much some hate Autodesk...   hmm.





--
Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship 
it and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Re: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files will open in 2016?

[Tim Leydecker]

Update:  Softimage 7.5 32bit on win7 x64 works.

Thanks for making me give it another try, Luc-Eric.


I re-installed Softimage 7.5 32 bit using the web installer on xin7 x64:

Autodesk_Softimage_7.5_English_Japanese_WIN_32bit.exe

I updated my License File with the new file provided by Autodesk and
restarted the license server pointing to the new license.

Restarted win7.

Running the Softimage link in the Startmenu as Administrator makes
win7 x64 swap it´s menu style to Windows 7-Basis and XSI.exe will
properly start.

I guess that step required by win7 was UAC blocked in my previous attempts.


---
I also deleted the extra adsk_port infos from the Autodesk.lic in 
Softimage´s

installpath\Softimage\Softimage_7.5\adlm\licenses

making Softimage´s Autodesk.lic identical to a compareable Maya 
LICPATH.lic file
Those are not the license files, those files tell a network licensed 
install where

to look for a license.

but that may not be neccessary, I just did it to make sure my 64bit LMTOOLS
will be found by Softimage (instead of making it listening to port 2080) 
looking

for a license on the hostname specified in that file.

--

Cheers,

tim



Am 31.12.2014 um 08:39 schrieb Tim Leydecker:

Hi Luc-Eric,

I couldn´t get Softimage 7.5 32bit to run on win 7 64bit. The install 
went through
but Softimage wouldn´t start on my machine, regardless of which 
compatibility

options I tried to run it with. Could be I missed something.

Also, the installer didn´t register with Add/Remove Programs.

I´ll give it another try to see if I missed something.

Cheers,

tim


Am 31.12.2014 um 04:36 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:


Why xp mode?  XSI 7 32 bit runs on 64 bit win7

On Dec 30, 2014 4:59 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


For opening SI|3D files using Softimage 7.5 32bit:


One way would be to use Windows 7´s XP mode and use that 32bit XP
to install Softimage 7.5 32bit (which has the SI|3D scene import
option).
Setting that VM´s RAM to ~4GB.

I just did this using the 30 days trial (Standalone mode) of
Softimage
and successfully opened scenes from the year 2000.

Also installed LMTOOLS on the Virtual PC to get an idea what
ethernet ID
that VM has and if it is possible to run a network license inside
that VM.

Autodesk is so kind to recreate/resend me my legacy network
license for
Autodesk Softimage 7.5.

I´ve opted to get the license recreated for my current server,
appending
the license file info and serving from that.

Due to valid security concerns regarding Microsoft no longer
providing
security updates to Windows XP32, some people may want to restrict
the xp mode from getting any internet/network access.

That would mean the license server would have to be set up and 
run off the

ethernet ID of the VM instead, requring a license
transfer/recreation AND
an extra Host network adapter in the host not connected to the
internet.

Even then, the VM will assign random ethernet IDs (for each
install of a VM)
so it´s best to check the internet for ways to backup the VM´s
hexcode of the adapter
in case a VM breaks or needs a reinstall without having to
recreate a new
license file because the virtual PC´s ethernet ID changed.

To avoid all this, I opted to use the VM Host as the license
server and simply disconnect
from the internet while doing SI|3D file salvages.

A simpler alternative might be to use a different Virtual Machine
Option instead of
using the XP Mode in Windows Virtual PC.

Or simply create a new XP mode + Softimage 7.5 32bit trial
install every now and then
when one just tries to get access to some files but that could be
regarded shady, to
say the least.

Cheers,

tim








Am 29.12.2014 um 10:49 schrieb Tim Leydecker:

Hi guys,

after checking through a random selection of *.scn files, I am
somewhat positive
I´ll be able to open most if not all of my files with Softimage
2012/2014/2015.

When I was refering to *.obj/*.fbx files, I didn´t mean to
suggest that should be
the prefered archive format, even thought in my case, there is a
high percentage
of *.obj/*.fbx files containing assets and easily enough
(re)connected to their textures.

Personally, I have decided to go through my projects, check for
assets I like and then make
sure I have at least an *.obj/*.fbx, ZBrush or Mudbox file,
Photoshop texture base and
finalized maps. Building a salvageable library of parts.

That´s not archiving, that´s salvaging.

Now my real problem is opening older 32bit files, from Softimage
3.9

*.dsc and *.hrc files.

Any way to get access to that?

Those scenes/files I missed to convert to *.xsi or *.scn around
Y2k...


Cheers,

tim




Am 26.12.2014 um 23:52 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau

Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

[Tim Leydecker]

I was suggesting to also look into refurbished HP Z800/Z820/Z840 
workstations

as a basis for building a multi-GPU plattform.

There is a grain of salt.

Most if not all graphics cards come expecting an additional 2x6pin power 
supply,

e.g. 75W from the PCIe slot, plus 75W from each 6pin connection, there are
Quadro cards that are spec´ed for 150W power consumption but most
gaming cards will excess that 150 W drain limit.

You´d need at least 4 6pin connections for 2 gaming cards.

The HP Z8++ series may present problems because of the way the PSU provides
these 6 pin connections in a vendor specific cable kit.

There are several cable kits available but I haven´t found a 4x6pin kit 
sofar.

This could be a dissapointment for anyone looking into get such a plattform.

Of course, there is a chance I missed something from the datasheets and 
spare parts

listings, as well as a chance the HPZ840 doesn´t have such a limitation.

Worth mentioning anyway.

Cheers,

tim
Am 12.12.2014 um 12:14 schrieb Angus Davidson:
Worthwhile noting that Octane works with the GTX 9XX cards very well. 
It also has a really good Network GPU support. Which means you dont 
need to cram 4 cards into one machine. If you dont know what you are 
doing the machine can go *Poof* very easily.






*From:* Tim Leydecker [bauero...@gmx.de]
*Sent:* 12 December 2014 12:42 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

Hi,


I would also like to recommend a nvidia gtx 9xx card, the available cards
(970980) have a lower power consumption compared to a 7xx series card.

Aside from that, I would like to point out nvidia CUDA support, which 
might
help in a couple of programs, be it redshift or 3d coat or the latest 
nvidia games

related tools (fluids, cloth, physics, etc for Maya).

If you have to invest now, e.g. immediately, I´d suggest a 970 4GB 
card and

downloading a redshift demo to see if it would benefit your workflow.

If you can wait a bit longer, I´d suggest waiting for a successor to 
the 780ti or
Titan (Black) nvidia cards, expected early next year, mostly because 
of the

more RAM expected to come with these cards, which would give you more
headroom for heavy scene handling (e.g. shitloads geometry and 
raytracing).


There is a lot of new stuff coming early next year, including Houdini 
and Nuke

versions more accessible due to licensing changes/options.

In general, I would split my money between system RAM, ssd and 
graphics unit,
expecting to work happy with a 128-256GB system OS partition, 64GB ish 
RAM,

and a gt(x) 9xx ish card with at least 4GB VRAM (6-8GB prefered).

Making sure that your system has a 800+ Watts PSU will help stability.

From there, finding redshift attractive, you could always add another 
card to
your system, devoting it to getting more out of a single render 
license or even

go fully committed and swap your mainboard to a 4x16PCIe version, adding
even more cards.

This implies a tower workstation case and enjoying building your hardware.

Alternatively, I can recommend looking into refurbished HP Z800/820 or 
Dell T7500/7600
workstations (on ebay) to get an idea about prices, performance and 
extension options.


These plattforms are well enough documented  to find a solid, not to 
loud machine
that will reliable work 24/7 with a reasonably sized PSU and at least 
a 2x16PCIe

graphics option.

There´s caveats with maximum system RAM or the PSU in some of those 
refurbished machines

but they tend to be solid machines, well designed.

If all of the above is too much information for you:

Get a gt 970 card. They are the best bang for the buck nvidia´s atm.


Cheers,


tim















Am 12.12.2014 00:09, schrieb Tim Crowson:

I have a 970 for my home system and it's fantastic.

-Tim


On 12/11/2014 3:34 PM, David Rivera wrote:

GTX 9XX it´s the way to go, packed with another $600 on Redshift.
Thanks. :)
*David Rivera*
/3D Compositor/Animator/
LinkedIN http://ec.linkedin.com/in/3dcinetv
Behance https://www.behance.net/3dcinetv
VFX Reel https://vimeo.com/70551635


*From:* Mirko Jankovic mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 
softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

*Sent:* Thursday, December 11, 2014 2:32 PM
*Subject:* Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

How long can you can your computer on with this card in it?

Sry but clarification please?

On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 2:28 PM, hk-v...@iscs-i.com 
mailto:hk-v...@iscs-i.com wrote:


How long can you can your computer on with this card in it?
On 2014-12-11 05:36, Mario Reitbauer wrote:

Got the msi gtx 970 gaming 4g.
Quite happy with it.

2014-12-11 10:03 GMT+01:00 Mirko Jankovic
mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com:

right now 970 is best bang for backs.
they do not heat too much, power

Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

[Tim Leydecker]

It´s good to write things like this, I guess.

A minute later I found the HP part number:

Hewlett Packard 6PIN TO DUAL-6PIN GRAPHICS ADAPTER
F5J05AA

This let´s you split a 6pin connection to 2x6pin.

--

Similar adapters are available from 3rd party vendors.

I can´t tell how well this would work when using hot nVidia 7xx range 
cards
but the gt 970 cards are spec´d for needing roughly 150W, drawing around 
180W in

actual test scenarios.

--

I´d guess that would allow a stable 2xGPU system (using a HP 1100+W PSU)
but for a 3-4xGPU system, I´d actually revert my suggestion and go 
home/custom built.


Cheers,

tim




Am 30.12.2014 um 12:04 schrieb Tim Leydecker:
I was suggesting to also look into refurbished HP Z800/Z820/Z840 
workstations

as a basis for building a multi-GPU plattform.

There is a grain of salt.

Most if not all graphics cards come expecting an additional 2x6pin 
power supply,

e.g. 75W from the PCIe slot, plus 75W from each 6pin connection, there are
Quadro cards that are spec´ed for 150W power consumption but most
gaming cards will excess that 150 W drain limit.

You´d need at least 4 6pin connections for 2 gaming cards.

The HP Z8++ series may present problems because of the way the PSU 
provides

these 6 pin connections in a vendor specific cable kit.

There are several cable kits available but I haven´t found a 4x6pin 
kit sofar.
This could be a dissapointment for anyone looking into get such a 
plattform.


Of course, there is a chance I missed something from the datasheets 
and spare parts

listings, as well as a chance the HPZ840 doesn´t have such a limitation.

Worth mentioning anyway.

Cheers,

tim
Am 12.12.2014 um 12:14 schrieb Angus Davidson:
Worthwhile noting that Octane works with the GTX 9XX cards very well. 
It also has a really good Network GPU support. Which means you dont 
need to cram 4 cards into one machine. If you dont know what you are 
doing the machine can go *Poof* very easily.






*From:* Tim Leydecker [bauero...@gmx.de]
*Sent:* 12 December 2014 12:42 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

Hi,


I would also like to recommend a nvidia gtx 9xx card, the available cards
(970980) have a lower power consumption compared to a 7xx series card.

Aside from that, I would like to point out nvidia CUDA support, which 
might
help in a couple of programs, be it redshift or 3d coat or the latest 
nvidia games

related tools (fluids, cloth, physics, etc for Maya).

If you have to invest now, e.g. immediately, I´d suggest a 970 4GB 
card and

downloading a redshift demo to see if it would benefit your workflow.

If you can wait a bit longer, I´d suggest waiting for a successor to 
the 780ti or
Titan (Black) nvidia cards, expected early next year, mostly because 
of the

more RAM expected to come with these cards, which would give you more
headroom for heavy scene handling (e.g. shitloads geometry and 
raytracing).


There is a lot of new stuff coming early next year, including Houdini 
and Nuke

versions more accessible due to licensing changes/options.

In general, I would split my money between system RAM, ssd and 
graphics unit,
expecting to work happy with a 128-256GB system OS partition, 64GB 
ish RAM,

and a gt(x) 9xx ish card with at least 4GB VRAM (6-8GB prefered).

Making sure that your system has a 800+ Watts PSU will help stability.

From there, finding redshift attractive, you could always add 
another card to
your system, devoting it to getting more out of a single render 
license or even

go fully committed and swap your mainboard to a 4x16PCIe version, adding
even more cards.

This implies a tower workstation case and enjoying building your 
hardware.


Alternatively, I can recommend looking into refurbished HP Z800/820 
or Dell T7500/7600
workstations (on ebay) to get an idea about prices, performance and 
extension options.


These plattforms are well enough documented  to find a solid, not to 
loud machine
that will reliable work 24/7 with a reasonably sized PSU and at least 
a 2x16PCIe

graphics option.

There´s caveats with maximum system RAM or the PSU in some of those 
refurbished machines

but they tend to be solid machines, well designed.

If all of the above is too much information for you:

Get a gt 970 card. They are the best bang for the buck nvidia´s atm.


Cheers,


tim















Am 12.12.2014 00:09, schrieb Tim Crowson:

I have a 970 for my home system and it's fantastic.

-Tim


On 12/11/2014 3:34 PM, David Rivera wrote:

GTX 9XX it´s the way to go, packed with another $600 on Redshift.
Thanks. :)
*David Rivera*
/3D Compositor/Animator/
LinkedIN http://ec.linkedin.com/in/3dcinetv
Behance https://www.behance.net/3dcinetv
VFX Reel https://vimeo.com/70551635


*From:* Mirko Jankovic mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
*To:* softimage

Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

[Tim Leydecker]

Regarding the HPZ820 and the 1100+W PSU, I would have hoped for a
better structured HP homepage, making it easier to find out if splitting
a 6pin into two 6 pin (or 6pin and 6pin+2 for a GTX980) would work
or stress the lane(s) beyond it´s limit.

The HP 8xx´s generally don´t provide dangling Molex connectors, btw.

There is loads and loads of information burried somewhere but what is 
missing

is a simple button labeled CONTACT FOR INFORMATION.

I would want to ask, do you have a cable set for a HP8xx series PSU that 
will

give me 4x6pin and if so, how much?

Those machines cost a couple of a thousand dollars/euros but it´s proven
easier to find gaming component related hardwaresetup information in
the depths of the internet.

In conclusion, that´s why I wanted to share and point out that there is 
a good

chance to run two GT970 cards (w/175W consumption each) using a clever
combination of a cable kit + an extra Y splitter but I wouldn´t want to pull
loads of Watts trough the split 6pin connections either.

I´d think 2xGPU á la GT970 would be stable BUT

for a brute force level 4xGPU machine, I´d also look for another 
mainboard+PSU+cooling+case



Anyway, personally, I´ll wait for a GTx9xxTI now...


Cheers,

tim





Am 30.12.2014 um 16:45 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:
Damn premature sends! If you go molex to 6pin make sure it's with a 
dual molex adapter, while good PSUs can deliver a lot more on them, 
standard molex spec is 40W, while 6pin is 75W.


On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 2:42 AM, Raffaele Fragapane 
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote:


800W PSU not CPU, though a CPU with an 800W TDP would be
interesting to cool :p

On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 2:30 AM, Raffaele Fragapane
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com
wrote:

Splitting the outlet might or might not work out for you.
While it's touted as a feature a large majority of high output
PSUs are multirail because it's generally cheap to provide
multiple stable lines than one large pipe distributed
arbitrarily over N cables.

What that boils down to is that if you have an 800W CPU, but
it's a multirail with the 6pin on a 120W necked line (hard
coupled), and you fork it to two videocards for a 200W pull,
you are going at the very least to run a very hot PSU, and at
the worst to set it on fire :p

And if you think Dell or HP use premium components, especially
for the PSUs, think again, more often than not even their
workstation grade components have been, at one point or
another, extremely subpar.

You can always convert another rail if you have a multi rail.
6pins aren't anything magic, they still run two or three
sublines like anything else and a molex on a spare rail should
be convertible to 6pin. If you have a quality single rail PSU,
you should be able to safely split.

On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 10:56 PM, Tim Leydecker
bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

It´s good to write things like this, I guess.

A minute later I found the HP part number:

Hewlett Packard 6PIN TO DUAL-6PIN GRAPHICS ADAPTER
F5J05AA

This let´s you split a 6pin connection to 2x6pin.

--

Similar adapters are available from 3rd party vendors.

I can´t tell how well this would work when using hot
nVidia 7xx range cards
but the gt 970 cards are spec´d for needing roughly 150W,
drawing around 180W in
actual test scenarios.

--

I´d guess that would allow a stable 2xGPU system (using a
HP 1100+W PSU)
but for a 3-4xGPU system, I´d actually revert my
suggestion and go home/custom built.

Cheers,

tim




Am 30.12.2014 um 12:04 schrieb Tim Leydecker:

I was suggesting to also look into refurbished HP
Z800/Z820/Z840 workstations
as a basis for building a multi-GPU plattform.

There is a grain of salt.

Most if not all graphics cards come expecting an
additional 2x6pin power supply,
e.g. 75W from the PCIe slot, plus 75W from each 6pin
connection, there are
Quadro cards that are spec´ed for 150W power consumption
but most
gaming cards will excess that 150 W drain limit.

You´d need at least 4 6pin connections for 2 gaming cards.

The HP Z8++ series may present problems because of the
way the PSU provides
these 6 pin connections in a vendor specific cable kit.

There are several cable kits available but I haven´t
found a 4x6pin kit sofar.
This could be a dissapointment for anyone looking

Re: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files will open in 2016?

[Tim Leydecker]

For opening SI|3D files using Softimage 7.5 32bit:


One way would be to use Windows 7´s XP mode and use that 32bit XP
to install Softimage 7.5 32bit (which has the SI|3D scene import option).
Setting that VM´s RAM to ~4GB.

I just did this using the 30 days trial (Standalone mode) of Softimage
and successfully opened scenes from the year 2000.

Also installed LMTOOLS on the Virtual PC to get an idea what ethernet ID
that VM has and if it is possible to run a network license inside that VM.

Autodesk is so kind to recreate/resend me my legacy network license for
Autodesk Softimage 7.5.

I´ve opted to get the license recreated for my current server, appending
the license file info and serving from that.

Due to valid security concerns regarding Microsoft no longer providing
security updates to Windows XP32, some people may want to restrict
the xp mode from getting any internet/network access.

That would mean the license server would have to be set up and  run off the
ethernet ID of the VM instead, requring a license transfer/recreation AND
an extra Host network adapter in the host not connected to the internet.

Even then, the VM will assign random ethernet IDs (for each install of a VM)
so it´s best to check the internet for ways to backup the VM´s hexcode 
of the adapter

in case a VM breaks or needs a reinstall without having to recreate a new
license file because the virtual PC´s ethernet ID changed.

To avoid all this, I opted to use the VM Host as the license server and 
simply disconnect

from the internet while doing SI|3D file salvages.

A simpler alternative might be to use a different Virtual Machine Option 
instead of

using the XP Mode in Windows Virtual PC.

Or simply create a new XP mode + Softimage 7.5 32bit trial install every 
now and then
when one just tries to get access to some files but that could be 
regarded shady, to

say the least.

Cheers,

tim








Am 29.12.2014 um 10:49 schrieb Tim Leydecker:

Hi guys,

after checking through a random selection of *.scn files, I am 
somewhat positive
I´ll be able to open most if not all of my files with Softimage 
2012/2014/2015.


When I was refering to *.obj/*.fbx files, I didn´t mean to suggest 
that should be
the prefered archive format, even thought in my case, there is a high 
percentage
of *.obj/*.fbx files containing assets and easily enough (re)connected 
to their textures.


Personally, I have decided to go through my projects, check for assets 
I like and then make
sure I have at least an *.obj/*.fbx, ZBrush or Mudbox file, Photoshop 
texture base and

finalized maps. Building a salvageable library of parts.

That´s not archiving, that´s salvaging.

Now my real problem is opening older 32bit files, from Softimage 3.9

*.dsc and *.hrc files.

Any way to get access to that?

Those scenes/files I missed to convert to *.xsi or *.scn around Y2k...


Cheers,

tim




Am 26.12.2014 um 23:52 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:
jason, about vista check the fourth post down here from Stephen and 
please stop trolling.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-965169.html

On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com 
mailto:jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote:


I don't know.. just installed XSI ModTool 4.2 (2004 ~11 years
ago) on Windows 8,
Maybe I missed something, (that I should've done for it to not work)
but Install went fine, no button click or other interface issues,
loaded-up sample scenes,  posed-up RedJaiqua
without running it in any sort of compatibility mode, and also
loaded bunch of addons from that time.

But I'm sure Soft will break by tomorrow at most ;-|

Quick! Move to Maya before it's too late! (the friendly future of
'high-end' 3D?)

If soft wouldn't be run, it would more likely be because our
spirits would have been broken as opposed to the actual software.

Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Olivier,

thanks for the first hand information! That´s impressive.

The Titan Z draws up to/around 350W from it´s combined powersupplies 
(PCIe+2x8pin).


Must be fun to GPU render with that card. Also probably 20%-30% cheaper 
than 2xTitans.


I found a Tom´s Hardware Article that has info on Power Supply 
Specifications.
It´s from 12/2011, there is a chance there´s been updates but it it´s a 
good read:


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-specifications-atx-reference,3061-12.html


Cheers,

tim








Am 30.12.2014 um 23:52 schrieb olivier jeannel:

Hey Tim,
I Have a Z620 (smaller than a Z820) running with a TitanZ inside.
For such big card I had to convert both PCIe6 pins into 2 PCIe8 pins 
connectors.
I did this after I ask to my official HP reseller, and he did confirm 
that it wasn't a problem.

It's running fine here.




Le 30/12/2014 21:09, Tim Leydecker a écrit :

Regarding the HPZ820 and the 1100+W PSU, I would have hoped for a
better structured HP homepage, making it easier to find out if splitting
a 6pin into two 6 pin (or 6pin and 6pin+2 for a GTX980) would work
or stress the lane(s) beyond it´s limit.

The HP 8xx´s generally don´t provide dangling Molex connectors, btw.

There is loads and loads of information burried somewhere but what is 
missing

is a simple button labeled CONTACT FOR INFORMATION.

I would want to ask, do you have a cable set for a HP8xx series PSU 
that will

give me 4x6pin and if so, how much?

Those machines cost a couple of a thousand dollars/euros but it´s proven
easier to find gaming component related hardwaresetup information in
the depths of the internet.

In conclusion, that´s why I wanted to share and point out that there 
is a good

chance to run two GT970 cards (w/175W consumption each) using a clever
combination of a cable kit + an extra Y splitter but I wouldn´t want 
to pull

loads of Watts trough the split 6pin connections either.

I´d think 2xGPU á la GT970 would be stable BUT

for a brute force level 4xGPU machine, I´d also look for another 
mainboard+PSU+cooling+case



Anyway, personally, I´ll wait for a GTx9xxTI now...


Cheers,

tim





Am 30.12.2014 um 16:45 schrieb Raffaele Fragapane:
Damn premature sends! If you go molex to 6pin make sure it's with a 
dual molex adapter, while good PSUs can deliver a lot more on them, 
standard molex spec is 40W, while 6pin is 75W.


On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 2:42 AM, Raffaele Fragapane 
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com 
wrote:


800W PSU not CPU, though a CPU with an 800W TDP would be
interesting to cool :p

On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 2:30 AM, Raffaele Fragapane
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com
mailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote:

Splitting the outlet might or might not work out for you.
While it's touted as a feature a large majority of high
output PSUs are multirail because it's generally cheap to
provide multiple stable lines than one large pipe
distributed arbitrarily over N cables.

What that boils down to is that if you have an 800W CPU, but
it's a multirail with the 6pin on a 120W necked line (hard
coupled), and you fork it to two videocards for a 200W pull,
you are going at the very least to run a very hot PSU, and
at the worst to set it on fire :p

And if you think Dell or HP use premium components,
especially for the PSUs, think again, more often than not
even their workstation grade components have been, at one
point or another, extremely subpar.

You can always convert another rail if you have a multi
rail. 6pins aren't anything magic, they still run two or
three sublines like anything else and a molex on a spare
rail should be convertible to 6pin. If you have a quality
single rail PSU, you should be able to safely split.

On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 10:56 PM, Tim Leydecker
bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

It´s good to write things like this, I guess.

A minute later I found the HP part number:

Hewlett Packard 6PIN TO DUAL-6PIN GRAPHICS ADAPTER
F5J05AA

This let´s you split a 6pin connection to 2x6pin.

--

Similar adapters are available from 3rd party vendors.

I can´t tell how well this would work when using hot
nVidia 7xx range cards
but the gt 970 cards are spec´d for needing roughly
150W, drawing around 180W in
actual test scenarios.

--

I´d guess that would allow a stable 2xGPU system (using
a HP 1100+W PSU)
but for a 3-4xGPU system, I´d actually revert my
suggestion and go home/custom built.

Cheers,

tim




Am 30.12.2014 um 12:04 schrieb Tim Leydecker:

I was suggesting to also look into refurbished

Re: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files will open in 2016?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Luc-Eric,

I couldn´t get Softimage 7.5 32bit to run on win 7 64bit. The install 
went through
but Softimage wouldn´t start on my machine, regardless of which 
compatibility

options I tried to run it with. Could be I missed something.

Also, the installer didn´t register with Add/Remove Programs.

I´ll give it another try to see if I missed something.

Cheers,

tim


Am 31.12.2014 um 04:36 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:


Why xp mode?  XSI 7 32 bit runs on 64 bit win7

On Dec 30, 2014 4:59 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:


For opening SI|3D files using Softimage 7.5 32bit:


One way would be to use Windows 7´s XP mode and use that 32bit XP
to install Softimage 7.5 32bit (which has the SI|3D scene import
option).
Setting that VM´s RAM to ~4GB.

I just did this using the 30 days trial (Standalone mode) of Softimage
and successfully opened scenes from the year 2000.

Also installed LMTOOLS on the Virtual PC to get an idea what
ethernet ID
that VM has and if it is possible to run a network license inside
that VM.

Autodesk is so kind to recreate/resend me my legacy network
license for
Autodesk Softimage 7.5.

I´ve opted to get the license recreated for my current server,
appending
the license file info and serving from that.

Due to valid security concerns regarding Microsoft no longer
providing
security updates to Windows XP32, some people may want to restrict
the xp mode from getting any internet/network access.

That would mean the license server would have to be set up and 
run off the

ethernet ID of the VM instead, requring a license
transfer/recreation AND
an extra Host network adapter in the host not connected to the
internet.

Even then, the VM will assign random ethernet IDs (for each
install of a VM)
so it´s best to check the internet for ways to backup the VM´s
hexcode of the adapter
in case a VM breaks or needs a reinstall without having to
recreate a new
license file because the virtual PC´s ethernet ID changed.

To avoid all this, I opted to use the VM Host as the license
server and simply disconnect
from the internet while doing SI|3D file salvages.

A simpler alternative might be to use a different Virtual Machine
Option instead of
using the XP Mode in Windows Virtual PC.

Or simply create a new XP mode + Softimage 7.5 32bit trial install
every now and then
when one just tries to get access to some files but that could be
regarded shady, to
say the least.

Cheers,

tim








Am 29.12.2014 um 10:49 schrieb Tim Leydecker:

Hi guys,

after checking through a random selection of *.scn files, I am
somewhat positive
I´ll be able to open most if not all of my files with Softimage
2012/2014/2015.

When I was refering to *.obj/*.fbx files, I didn´t mean to
suggest that should be
the prefered archive format, even thought in my case, there is a
high percentage
of *.obj/*.fbx files containing assets and easily enough
(re)connected to their textures.

Personally, I have decided to go through my projects, check for
assets I like and then make
sure I have at least an *.obj/*.fbx, ZBrush or Mudbox file,
Photoshop texture base and
finalized maps. Building a salvageable library of parts.

That´s not archiving, that´s salvaging.

Now my real problem is opening older 32bit files, from Softimage 3.9

*.dsc and *.hrc files.

Any way to get access to that?

Those scenes/files I missed to convert to *.xsi or *.scn around
Y2k...


Cheers,

tim




Am 26.12.2014 um 23:52 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:

jason, about vista check the fourth post down here from Stephen
and please stop trolling.
http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-965169.html

On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com
mailto:jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote:

I don't know.. just installed XSI ModTool 4.2 (2004 ~11
years ago) on Windows 8,
Maybe I missed something, (that I should've done for it to
not work)
but Install went fine, no button click or other interface
issues, loaded-up sample scenes,  posed-up RedJaiqua
without running it in any sort of compatibility mode, and
also loaded bunch of addons from that time.

But I'm sure Soft will break by tomorrow at most  ;-|

Quick! Move to Maya before it's too late! (the friendly
future of 'high-end' 3D?)

If soft wouldn't be run, it would more likely be because our
spirits would have been broken as opposed to the actual
software.

Re: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files will open in 2016?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi guys,

after checking through a random selection of *.scn files, I am somewhat 
positive
I´ll be able to open most if not all of my files with Softimage 
2012/2014/2015.


When I was refering to *.obj/*.fbx files, I didn´t mean to suggest that 
should be
the prefered archive format, even thought in my case, there is a high 
percentage
of *.obj/*.fbx files containing assets and easily enough (re)connected 
to their textures.


Personally, I have decided to go through my projects, check for assets I 
like and then make
sure I have at least an *.obj/*.fbx, ZBrush or Mudbox file, Photoshop 
texture base and

finalized maps. Building a salvageable library of parts.

That´s not archiving, that´s salvaging.

Now my real problem is opening older 32bit files, from Softimage 3.9

*.dsc and *.hrc files.

Any way to get access to that?

Those scenes/files I missed to convert to *.xsi or *.scn around Y2k...


Cheers,

tim




Am 26.12.2014 um 23:52 schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau:
jason, about vista check the fourth post down here from Stephen and 
please stop trolling.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-965169.html

On Fri, Dec 26, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com 
mailto:jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote:


I don't know.. just installed XSI ModTool 4.2 (2004 ~11 years ago)
on Windows 8,
Maybe I missed something, (that I should've done for it to not work)
but Install went fine, no button click or other interface issues,
loaded-up sample scenes,  posed-up RedJaiqua
without running it in any sort of compatibility mode, and also
loaded bunch of addons from that time.

But I'm sure Soft will break by tomorrow at most  ;-|

Quick! Move to Maya before it's too late! (the friendly future of
'high-end' 3D?)

If soft wouldn't be run, it would more likely be because our
spirits would have been broken as opposed to the actual software.

Re: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files will open in 2016?

[Tim Leydecker]

: RE: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ 
files will open in 2016?


I keep all installer files and of course the licenses itself on 
backup. The licenses are yours and they will not stop working. I once 
renewed a network license with ADSK to move it to a new server 
without problems. However, when I moved to SOFT2015, I tried to 
request a new license for an old 2011 version just out of curiosity 
and it didn't work via the website (serial was not recognized). But I 
think that?s one of the flaws with the ADSK websites. I wasn't able 
to get a lic file for the 2015 either even the serial was recognised. 
COntacted support and they sent me the lic file.


Even the perception of ADSK is evil, eating your children alive, 
they're not criminals :) I would not expect problems in renewing 
licenses in the future.
In the rare case, ADSK will go bankrupt in a couple of years, and you 
would have to move the license to a new server, you can still use the 
old license file. You would have to keep the name of the server of 
course. The MAC ID for the network card is changeable so an old 
lic-file will keep working.
I don't know how this apply to standalone licenses however since 
they're more tightened to specific hardware of the workstation.


Generally it might be a good idea to move old projects to newer 
versions every couple of years. But most of the times we forget about 
it and face problems like Matt Lind did with his old Soft3D databases 
:) I would also try to keep everything local stored on backups and 
not relying an vendors to give you access to old versions. That 
applies not to ADSK alone but to the general trend software vendors 
trying to establish with clouds, subscription and other methods.


Usually I don't mind open old projects with newer versions. So I 
don't bind projects to versions. Last year I opened an old scene from 
around XSI v4 with Soft2011 and started working on it.


If you are unsure about available service packs from the past, just 
ask the hive.


Sven


-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Tim 
Leydecker

Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2014 1:45 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files 
will open in 2016?


Hi guys,


how do you guys prepare for the time after Softimage 2015 and how do 
you guys cope with files dating back to legacy versions of Softimage 
XSI, like from old XSI Foundation files, Softimage XSI version pre 
7.5 and so on?



Aside from the fact that I am still not sure if I have to take any 
specific action with Autodesk to make sure I?ll have a Softimage 2015 
license to run after the Autodesk 2016 Suite will be released or the 
licensing model changes somewhere in February 2015, I do feel 
additional pressure to make sure my last 10 years worth of 
Softimage/XSI files will not end up as a cryptic data dump equal 42.


Do you guys also try to keep at least the old licensesinstallers on 
backup?


How do you cope with the servicepacks and updates usually not 
directly available via the subscription center?s account 
datadownload link but only the intial releases listed there?


Personally, I get lost keeping track of wether or not I actually have 
all neccessary servicepack, etc. for each release cycle or if this or 
that pack is a full install or a patch.



I?d wish for Autodesk at least centralizing all downloads instead of 
scattering things all over downloads, subscription center home, 
account info and maybe even the area...


Maya Bonus Tools probably means you get a Bonus Dolphin Sticker on 
your user account when you successfully managed to also nfind and 
download it in the correct version ...


Cheers,

tim




--

___
Softimage mailing list
Softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
http://listproc.autodesk.com/mailman/listinfo/softimage


End of Softimage Digest, Vol 73, Issue 134
**


-
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2015.0.5577 / Virus Database: 4253/8770 - Release Date: 
12/19/14

How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files will open in 2016?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi guys,


how do you guys prepare for the time after Softimage 2015 and how do
you guys cope with files dating back to legacy versions of Softimage XSI,
like from old XSI Foundation files, Softimage XSI version pre 7.5 and so on?


Aside from the fact that I am still not sure if I have to take any 
specific action

with Autodesk to make sure I´ll have a Softimage 2015 license to run after
the Autodesk 2016 Suite will be released or the licensing model changes
somewhere in February 2015, I do feel additional pressure to make sure
my last 10 years worth of Softimage/XSI files will not end up as a cryptic
data dump equal 42.

Do you guys also try to keep at least the old licensesinstallers on backup?

How do you cope with the servicepacks and updates usually not directly 
available

via the subscription center´s account datadownload link but only the intial
releases listed there?

Personally, I get lost keeping track of wether or not I actually have 
all neccessary
servicepack, etc. for each release cycle or if this or that pack is a 
full install or a patch.



I´d wish for Autodesk at least centralizing all downloads instead of 
scattering things
all over downloads, subscription center home, account info and maybe 
even the area...


Maya Bonus Tools probably means you get a Bonus Dolphin Sticker on your 
user account
when you successfully managed to also nfind and download it in the 
correct version ...


Cheers,

tim

Re: Lets Hope Autodesk Buys the Foundry!

[Tim Leydecker]

I hope the already announced Non-commercial NUKE will not be affected. 
Seriously.


I am looking forward to giving myself the pains of learning at least 
basic roto skills
to be able to do better slapcomps. Everybody has their own New year´s 
resolutions...


Aside from that, I trust that whoever will go ahead and pay 250 millions 
for the company
will expect this to be a long time investment and will want to make sure 
the profit grows

from customer trust and a long term development strategy.

As I understand it, that´s how business and profit is done nowadays and 
those worries
about hedgefonds or private investor groups triggered by short sighted 
motives are
totally out of context and should not be taken yet again as a mirror of 
the world we live in.


The best business model atm is the subscription model. Guaranteed cash flow.
Like with a cow, milk it instead of butchering it. Exceptions just prove 
this rule.


Cheers,

tim


Am 19.12.2014 00:55, schrieb Sebastien Sterling:
I'm pretty sure most of us are happy with Nuke, it would be nice if 
the next owner exhibited some shared passion or vision of the product 
and a willingness to further it's betterment. instead of begrudgingly 
stretching out and rationing feature quotas secure in the knowledge 
that there is no longer (oups..!) i mean no comparable alternative for 
people to defect to. :P


On 18 December 2014 at 23:37, Luc-Eric Rousseau luceri...@gmail.com 
mailto:luceri...@gmail.com wrote:


More context for clarity: worthless.. to build a new greatest
compositing  app.

On Dec 18, 2014 6:01 PM, Luc-Eric Rousseau luceri...@gmail.com
mailto:luceri...@gmail.com wrote:

I see what you did there, but that quote was about the 14-bit
compositing code that was last developed in 1996, which I used
5 years
later.

On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 4:56 PM, Andi Farhall
hack...@outlook.com mailto:hack...@outlook.com wrote:
 Personally I think all of this old source code base is now
worthless.

 I would agree, and I would include Maya.


 
 From: mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
 Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 20:22:00 +0100
 Subject: Re: Lets Hope Autodesk Buys the Foundry!
 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com


  I think people just want the existing, production-proven
ones they are
 used to,

 Well this goes also for Softimage for a lot of artist out
there but doesn't
 meant a thing later when it was chopped down

 On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 8:18 PM, Luc-Eric Rousseau
luceri...@gmail.com mailto:luceri...@gmail.com
 wrote:

 Does anybody want a new compositor? I don't think they do. 
I think people

 just want the existing, production-proven ones they are used
to, cheaper.
 What people have in their hands is pretty great already.

 btw autodesk doesn't own eddie/illusion/matador/ER, just the
source code of
 the fxtree, which doesn't really have any eddie in it and
not that much of
 the other ones. Personally I think all of this old source
code base is now
 worthless.

 On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 1:28 PM, Paul Griswold
 pgrisw...@fusiondigitalproductions.com
mailto:pgrisw...@fusiondigitalproductions.com wrote:

 Doesn't ADSK own Toxik, Composite, Smoke, Flame, FX Tree
(Eddie, Media
 Illusion, Matador), as well as Elastic Reality (inside the
FX Tree)?  On top
 of that they have a fantastic vector paint program called
Sketchbook
 Designer (not Sketchbook Pro, though that's pretty spiffy too).

 It seems like they already own enough technology to create
the greatest
 compositor the world has ever seen.  I wonder what the
problem is?
 Leadership?  Nah

 -PG

Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi,


I would also like to recommend a nvidia gtx 9xx card, the available cards
(970980) have a lower power consumption compared to a 7xx series card.

Aside from that, I would like to point out nvidia CUDA support, which might
help in a couple of programs, be it redshift or 3d coat or the latest 
nvidia games

related tools (fluids, cloth, physics, etc for Maya).

If you have to invest now, e.g. immediately, I´d suggest a 970 4GB card and
downloading a redshift demo to see if it would benefit your workflow.

If you can wait a bit longer, I´d suggest waiting for a successor to the 
780ti or

Titan (Black) nvidia cards, expected early next year, mostly because of the
more RAM expected to come with these cards, which would give you more
headroom for heavy scene handling (e.g. shitloads geometry and raytracing).

There is a lot of new stuff coming early next year, including Houdini 
and Nuke

versions more accessible due to licensing changes/options.

In general, I would split my money between system RAM, ssd and graphics 
unit,

expecting to work happy with a 128-256GB system OS partition, 64GB ish RAM,
and a gt(x) 9xx ish card with at least 4GB VRAM (6-8GB prefered).

Making sure that your system has a 800+ Watts PSU will help stability.

From there, finding redshift attractive, you could always add another 
card to
your system, devoting it to getting more out of a single render license 
or even

go fully committed and swap your mainboard to a 4x16PCIe version, adding
even more cards.

This implies a tower workstation case and enjoying building your hardware.

Alternatively, I can recommend looking into refurbished HP Z800/820 or 
Dell T7500/7600
workstations (on ebay) to get an idea about prices, performance and 
extension options.


These plattforms are well enough documented  to find a solid, not to 
loud machine
that will reliable work 24/7 with a reasonably sized PSU and at least a 
2x16PCIe

graphics option.

There´s caveats with maximum system RAM or the PSU in some of those 
refurbished machines

but they tend to be solid machines, well designed.

If all of the above is too much information for you:

Get a gt 970 card. They are the best bang for the buck nvidia´s atm.


Cheers,


tim















Am 12.12.2014 00:09, schrieb Tim Crowson:

I have a 970 for my home system and it's fantastic.

-Tim


On 12/11/2014 3:34 PM, David Rivera wrote:

GTX 9XX it´s the way to go, packed with another $600 on Redshift.
Thanks. :)
*David Rivera*
/3D Compositor/Animator/
LinkedIN http://ec.linkedin.com/in/3dcinetv
Behance https://www.behance.net/3dcinetv
VFX Reel https://vimeo.com/70551635


*From:* Mirko Jankovic mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 
softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

*Sent:* Thursday, December 11, 2014 2:32 PM
*Subject:* Re: Best graphic card for Softimage?

How long can you can your computer on with this card in it?

Sry but clarification please?

On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 2:28 PM, hk-v...@iscs-i.com 
mailto:hk-v...@iscs-i.com wrote:


How long can you can your computer on with this card in it?
On 2014-12-11 05:36, Mario Reitbauer wrote:

Got the msi gtx 970 gaming 4g.
Quite happy with it.

2014-12-11 10:03 GMT+01:00 Mirko Jankovic
mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com:

right now 970 is best bang for backs.
they do not heat too much, power consumption is prety low
and they do really good job.
and on top of that Redshift as perfect companion ;)
viewport performance is not that big issue at all between
two cards but being able to utilise GPU rendering with CUDA
is way more higher on the list then couple more FPS in viewport

On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Christoph Muetze
c...@glarestudios.de mailto:c...@glarestudios.de wrote:

I'd stay clear of the ATI/AMD consumer cards if I were
you. From our
experience Soft becomes generally less stable (crashing
a lot more), and
the raycast selection is going haywire sometimes.

Chris

On 11/12/14 04:44, phil harbath wrote:
 I went Redshift and have been very pleased. I can get
by using a lot less computers than before on most
projects,  volume smoke is pretty much all I use MR for
anymore.   I have several computers with a combination
of 780TI, 770, and 970,  while I think the 780Ti give
the best performance, it really makes more sense to buy
the 970 as they are priced better or 980 if you have
more cash. The Redshift say go with the cards with the
most ram (that would be Titan 6tb, if you got even more
cash), depends on your needs of course.

 From: David Rivera
 Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 8:51 PM
  

Re: Stand-Alone to Network license?

[Tim Leydecker]

On a related note, it is a good time to check the Autodesk Store for the Desktop 
Subscription.

In my specific case (e.g. locationlicenses) I see that updating my 
subscription before Feb. 1st 2015:

Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Ultimate Subscription Advanced Support 1 
Year from my reseller

for 1.380,40 € incl. taxes


is a better deal than ending up buying a completely new license at the 
Autodesk Store:


Entertainment Creation Suite Ultimate for either monthly 365 €  or annual 2.900 
€ (plus taxes)


I´m sure there will be special promos and license transfer offerings into 
Desktop Subscription deals available
but still, the Autodesk Store gives an idea where software rental prices are 
supposed to land in the future.


In a nutshell, from that I will expect to have to pay at least twice as much 
per year.

Except for Mudbox...

Cheers,

tim



On 26.10.2014 23:55, Jason S wrote:

2) You can buy the Maya + Softimage or Max + Softimage bundle for the same 
price as Maya or Max until Feb 1, 2016. Contact your reseller.

4)  In neither of the above cases 2) or 3) do you need to be on subscription.

That's great Jill, seems much more reasonable!

and sorry if I confused the bundle with the Ultimate Suite, because the suite 
use to be the only way left to get new seats,
and I admit I didn't even check the updated FAQ dating back to last May!

But even now searching for it, only turned up a 3 post thread on SI community from 
Hirazi,  don't even know how he found it (seemingly unannounced)
(but thanks to Hirazi too! :] )

And that may actually be much more actractive now, since not unlike Photoshop
(~6.5 mil out of ~8mil still sticking to the last perpetual ver after 2 years),
SI users wont be the only ones using 'last versions', as many Maya users will 
also seemingly stick to 'last' perpetual versions as well, based only on very 
similar sentiment, while
probably not having (literally) 10$/month bargain promotional 'introductory' 
rental prices.

anyways,
cheers!


On 10/25/14 10:37, Jill Ramsay (Contractor) wrote:

So, just to reiterate in case anyone's still confused:

1) If you have a current seat of Softimage on subscription you can migrate to 
the bundle for free - effectively just choose whether you want free Maya or 
free Max - until Feb 1,
2016.
2) You can buy the Maya + Softimage or Max + Softimage bundle for the same 
price as Maya or Max until Feb 1, 2016. Contact your reseller.
3)  If you have a seat of Softimage that is six versions or less back, you can 
upgrade to the bundle until Feb 1, 2015. This should be a cheaper option for 
you if you don't want
an additional seat. How much cheaper will depend on how old your license is. 
This is why the FAQ focuses on this. Again, contact your reseller.
4)  In neither of the above cases 2) or 3) do you need to be on subscription. 
However, since upgrades are going away for all products on Feb 1, 2015, you may 
very well want to
consider getting on subscription if you want to keep your Maya or Max seat 
current.

Hope this helps,
Jill

Re: [Maya] Yeti vs XGen

[Tim Leydecker]

I´m pretty excited about xgen.

Not as a replacement for yeti fur, though.

The thing about yeti isn´t just it´s grooming controls,
it has loads of tools for actually animatingsimulating
fur and then caching things into somewhat reliable caches.

That said, i still don´t have fully understood the whole yeti process
and find myself battling with it more than i would like to have to.

Still, I haven´t seen anything from xgen that shows that level of
dynamic simulationanimation control you have with yeti.

For me, xgen is starting to look more like an alternative to 
http://www.multiscatter.com/

Multiscatter is for 3DSmax.

It´s so easy to use, it makes me weep when I think about it while trying to 
nicely
scatter or distribute *anything* in Maya...

Cheers,


tim





On 11.10.2014 04:46, Sebastien Sterling wrote:

Hey there, would like to take an opportunity to survey people transitioners or 
old hands, about Hair/fur systems in Maya.

I've already seen Yeti used to great effect, in and out of production.

Has anyone used Xgen ? cause despite the hype, the implementation at the very 
least from the demo, looks convoluted as all hell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15PJ4v_f-2I

It seems to embrace all the tenants of Maya design philosophy, e.g: ... It's 
broken out of the box, no seriously the guy apologises like 4 times in the 
video before showing
workarounds.

Would love to hear if anyone has used it in production, and if it is actually useful, or 
if it is yet another Maya Feature...

(Ps: yes i know Yeti is not commercially available in the US, but if we could 
restrict this to the technical ?.)

Re: ADSK going Subscription only?

[Tim Leydecker]

Subscription (e.g. updates and bugfixes) isn´t bad in itself,
what worries me is the stealing away from providing support for a specific 
release
to forcing the client into a subscription model that has nothing to do with a
specific release but instead has the potential to be re-labeled as the 
equivalent to
subscribing to a service. You don´t own a specific software, you pay for the 
service
of being granted access to using a range of software.

Or more simply put for comparison, you don´t get to marry your very own special 
wife,
you are expected to pay just to spend time with a woman...

Cat in a bag.

Very nice model for the vendor not so nice for the client.

Cheers,

tim






On 03.10.2014 00:08, Matt Lind wrote:

This has been discussed quite for a while, so it should be news.

The one piece of information in the article that is not entirely true is the 
assumption customers stay on older versions of software only because they can.

Reality is many stay on older versions because productions with longer 
timelines need to freeze on a version to ensure no regressions creep into the 
pipeline during the critical
part of the schedule.  R+D in production is at a premium and they cannot be 
spending oodles of time fixing the same stuff again and again.  Many other 
studios have no R+D at all,
they’re on thinner ice with thin profit margins and breakneck schedules just to 
keep the doors open.  As the saying goes, “In the heat of battle, the best 
weapon is a familiar one”.

Another reason which applies in general – Autodesk really hasn’t given any 
incentive to upgrade as the feature improvements have been fairly minimal but 
problems have been all too
frequent.   Why would a customer invest money to upgrade a product which makes 
life more difficult?

Matt

*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *pedro santos
*Sent:* Thursday, October 02, 2014 2:55 PM
*To:* Softimage Mailing List
*Subject:* ADSK going Subscription only?

Solid Info? o_O


http://www.studiodaily.com/2014/10/autodesk-plans-to-go-subscription-only-over-next-one-to-two-years/?utm_source=feedlyutm_reader=feedlyutm_medium=rssutm_campaign=autodesk-plans-to-go-subscription-only-over-next-one-to-two-years

Cheers


--



http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s202/animatics/probiner-sig.gif



Pedro Alpiarça dos Santos
Animator  3DModeler  Illustrator

http://probiner.x10.mx/

Re: maya uv tool broken?

[Tim Leydecker]

It would be nice if there would be ways to enforce symmetry.

I can understand that an algorithm can´t catch all but symmetry
along an axis or even a custom oriented, (picked?) plane or ultimatively
automagic would be very desireable.

I had a lot of grief with unfolding ammo boxes lately, where each panel
would end up off and bent, some slightly, some warped, etc.

That was not the best way to transfer fixed size decals in a reliable way
to those meshes elements.

Cheers,

tim

P.S: In terms of ignorance and bussiness, I happened to overhear a support
request the other day, where a number of licenses needed care and the stupid
reseller reacted bitchy because it was someone elses support contract.

We talk 5 digit figures. That stupid reseller could also just have offered to 
take
over the support management and cash in on follow up maintenance and 
subscription.

We Zee Germans are sometimes pretty slow when it comes to realizing how 
business works...

On 08.09.2014 23:59, Matt Lind wrote:

‘perfect’ mirrored symmetry?

The problem we’ve experienced is one half will be slightly larger or ever so 
slightly skewed.  To reproduce; Take a sphere, torus, or other polygon mesh 
primitive and cut it in
half with your edge selections, then unfold.  Take one half of the mesh’s UVs, 
then mirror/flip them to overlay the other half.  Is it an **exact** match?

Matt

*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Raffaele 
Fragapane
*Sent:* Monday, September 08, 2014 2:55 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* RE: maya uv tool broken?

It does symmetry within each shell AFAIK.

On 9 Sep 2014 04:13, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.com 
mailto:ml...@carbinestudios.com wrote:

If Maya is using the same Unfold3D as Softimage, then artists will still need 
to go to another software for UV layout because Unfold3D lacks very basic 
functionality required for
certain types of work.  For example, unfolding a symmetrical object an having 
the resulting UVs laid out symmetrically to reflect the geometry's shape.  
Unfold3D is very poor with
that.


Matt



-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau
Sent: Saturday, September 06, 2014 10:59 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: maya uv tool broken?

Hello,

Unfold3d is build directly in Maya 2015 and accessible directly from the UV 
Editor menu.
Then, there is a Bonus Tools which is a mel script that takes you step-by-step 
into setting up things and then call unfold.  That's not a new tool, but it's 
been updated to use the
new Unfold3d.  I figured that if you knew how to use Softimage's Unfold3D you 
may not need the Bonus Tools.

It's worth checking out all the changes in UV Editor and unfolding in the two 
separate sections here:
http://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2015/ENU/?guid=New_in_Modeling

The team has studied UVLayout; going to it shouldn't be necessary for anything.

On Sat, Sep 6, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Manuel Huertas Marchena lito...@hotmail.com 
mailto:lito...@hotmail.com wrote:
  I don't know The bonus tool predates 2015 and the new workflows .   what
  do you mean? sorry it might be obvious but usually I use uvlayout for
  this type of task, so I am trying to find the best way to approach
  uvs inside maya to rely less in uvlayout for simple geo.
  My approach in xsi was usually do all (simple geo) uvs in xsi and
  complex geo unwrap, uvs packing, uv islands ratio inside uvlayout. I
  am now replacing xsi for maya and will like to keep the same workflow.
  So if the uvtool is supposed to be the new way of unwrapping
  meshes in maya 2015, I was asking why is not included by default? but
  again being a bit new, I am surely missing something obvious :)

Re: Autodesk considering ditching perpetual licenses

[Tim Leydecker]

 On 08/30/14 13:23, Tim Leydecker wrote:
 I really like the concept of making monthly payments
 the prime and only option for earning your access to something.
..
 It´s genius.

 No more pressure.

 Just one more nail to the coffin.


English is not my mother´s tongue. I am not sure how well my sarcasm transfered.

Also, when I said that I don´t mind paying subscription in my follow up post,
I had the previous licensing model in mind, where paying subscription could give
you a bonus over just buying individual updates now and then, as an annual fee
covered all updates and patches available. Even back then, I expressed my firm
dissaproval about Extensions made specifically for subscriptions customers only,
as that was just another tool to push people into subscription by makeing them
miss something otherwise.

That said, Thanks Jason for calculating a ballpark figure.

I´d like to point out that taking away mother nature´s ability to reproduce
as a default and replacing it with a genetic modification that requires
a license fee for every sowing is something to be inspired by, too.

Especially if it can be enforced using laws.

This way of doing things might not be desireable at all. Regardless of where 
it´s applied.

Cheers,

tim


On 31.08.2014 21:09, Jason S wrote:

On 08/30/14 13:23, Tim Leydecker wrote:

I really like the concept of making monthly payments
the prime and only option for earning your access to something.


Well, say over a 5 year period,

185 (monthly) * 12 * 5 = 11,100

1,470 (yearly) * 5 = 7,350

And on sub:
~4,000 + (~500 * 4) = 6000

Apart from how selling in bitesize chunks can be so much more profitable,
it also has the 'advantage' of making subsequent increases (only) *look* much 
smaller.

But as 'SheepFactory' from cgTalk put it when rental options were introduced,

Nobody hated Adobe for renting their software suite, they hated them for 
making that the only choice and forcing it on customers.

(while he may have a point, I think 'hate' should be more like 'firm 
dissaproval')


Also from then,
Quote:
Bass said that Adobe's success made Autodesk more confident about the 
feasibility of rental pricing, but suggested that Autodesk's move wouldn't be 
quite as aggressive.

wouldn't be quite/as aggressive/  *just YET*

from 
:http://www.cgchannel.com/2013/09/autodesk-launches-pay-as-you-go-pricing-for-max-maya/

Autodesk FAQs states:
“/Rental plans are provided in addition to perpetual licences. //*
   Autodesk is committed to providing you the flexibility to choose.*/”

right.. committed


and  from the latest article:

140829_AutodeskPerpetualLicences 
http://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/140829_AutodeskPerpetualLicences.jpg
//

*Decision to drop software upgrades helped drive revenues*
Bass’s remarks were made in the context of Autodesk’s recent */record/ 
*second-quarter earnings:
attributed in part*/to the decision to /*/*discontinue upgrades of its 
software next year*//**//*driving subscription revenue*//./

And THAT is what all these moves (if not the company itself) are all about.

No need to look any further.



On 08/30/14 13:23, Tim Leydecker wrote:

I really like the concept of making monthly payments
the prime and only option for earning your access to something.

It works great for cabletv, your landline, internet access, gas, water,
the rent, healthcare, insurances, the works.

In a way, even citizenship is granted on the basis of being expected
to pay back for being born in a similar system, where you are to contribute
monthly or yearly with your taxes but transfer your right to decide about
what´s going to happen with that money to someone else supposed to know it 
better.

It´s a very well evolved system with centuries old tools to enforce regular
payment and the least amount of hassle for the one sitting on the receiving end.

It´s genius.

No more pressure.

Just one more nail to the coffin.

Cheers,

tim


P.S: The Unreal Engine model is nice, you can log in once for a reasonable fee,
 get the tools you need, learn based on that and only really need to part with
your money once you´ve earned some...

Re: Autodesk considering ditching perpetual licenses

[Tim Leydecker]

Brooding about this thing more.


I had mentioned before how I like the Unreal Engine license model
approach which let´s you postpone investment if you are willing to
freeze yourself temporarily to the last built you had access to before
putting your version updates on hold, stepping out of your subscription.

That´s basically like buying once, then once more every other new release
or just when there is a justifiable neccessity, e.g.just buying updates.

The Unreal model gives you a lot of freedom. It doesn´t force you to
constantly commit money.

At work, I see the same thing. Major version iterations are 2012 and 2014 
packages.
Most likely 2016 will be the next step. Even while on support, it isn´t always
practical to push everything and everyone through releases constantly.

Unless of course the software you plan to commit to has a defect that will only
be adressed in an update...

The time it takes to get the workenvironment in place, including plug-ins and
workflows is enough with every other version already.

That may change, with release circles and software getting more reliable and
less buggy but then the need to constantly update/subscribe gets even less 
pressing.

In a nutshell, going the forced to subscription customers only way reduces the
useability of the software, as it can easily lead to even faster update cycles
if only to give a reason to subscribe but then get less reliable milestones as
everything is constantly changing anyway and the next release is around the 
corner.

It´s flashing, blinking, screaming new in your face while making your progress 
look dated...

It might be worth finding out how much time people loose already per day on
windows updates, general software updates, login procedures, update downloads,
the overhead to just keeping everything in sync. The stuff you have to do before
you start working really.

Personally, I don´t mind paying subscription, I might even find a benefit in
opting in and out, for example with the 3DS Max version i have lying around
and rarely use at the moment but might need at a short notice.

But still, the releases I commit to for work aren´t neccessarily the lastest 
built only.


Cheers,

tim












On 31.08.2014 07:47, Angus Davidson wrote:

I might be wrong but i was getting a very much force people onto the latest 
version vibe from that interview. Which may very well work for Autocad, but it 
sure as hell isnt going to work for Max and Maya.

That model isn't working very well for Adobe as any user of After Effects will 
tell you. Its causing a world of hurt as far as bugs and instability goes.

=
table width=100% border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 
style=width:100%;
tr
td align=left style=text-align:justify;font face=arial,sans-serif size=1 color=#99span 
style=font-size:11px;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. /span/font/td
/tr
/table

Re: Autodesk considering ditching perpetual licenses

[Tim Leydecker]

In terms of development initiative, leaving the phasing out of softimage aside,
i see indications for the opposite.

It feels like there´s a new leap forward in the industry.

Even if many of these leaps may not have their origin at Autodesk, they are
embracing those developments and put them into their line of products.

*fbx
*Alembic, and what it means for a pipeline
*GPU rendering, either speeding up the viewport or even making the viewport the 
finaloutput
*massive data sets, like scan data and how to handle or make best use of it
*opensubdiv
*3d to comp (see alembic/fbx and vray for nuke)
*game development for next gen
*bifrost/and it´s the nucleus framework 2.0 potential


cheers,

tim


P.S: In terms of license options and entry level fees, I´m no fan of the 
foundry.
I can´t justify having a nuke or even nukeX license just for dabbling with it on
my home/dev/tests machine.




On 31.08.2014 14:44, Sebastien Sterling wrote:

i feel the only reason AD has to use this model is that they where too greedy, 
they bought up all the software in the industry hoping to create a monopoly and 
only found out later
what a fucking stupid idea that is dev cost wise. The cost of developing all 
these packages is unsustainable. So now there screwing their clients, the 
additional strain probably
causes them to put out an inferiorly tested product with lest time afforded to 
each demographics needs. i reckon places like pixologic luxologic and maxxon 
don't really have these
kinds of problems, pertaining to the fact they only have one package to 
support, meaning they have an incentive to tailor it to there clients and make 
it the best package out
there. a much healthier approach all things considered.


On 31 August 2014 11:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de 
mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote:

Brooding about this thing more.


I had mentioned before how I like the Unreal Engine license model
approach which let´s you postpone investment if you are willing to
freeze yourself temporarily to the last built you had access to before
putting your version updates on hold, stepping out of your subscription.

That´s basically like buying once, then once more every other new release
or just when there is a justifiable neccessity, e.g.just buying updates.

The Unreal model gives you a lot of freedom. It doesn´t force you to
constantly commit money.

At work, I see the same thing. Major version iterations are 2012 and 2014 
packages.
Most likely 2016 will be the next step. Even while on support, it isn´t 
always
practical to push everything and everyone through releases constantly.

Unless of course the software you plan to commit to has a defect that will 
only
be adressed in an update...

The time it takes to get the workenvironment in place, including plug-ins 
and
workflows is enough with every other version already.

That may change, with release circles and software getting more reliable and
less buggy but then the need to constantly update/subscribe gets even less 
pressing.

In a nutshell, going the forced to subscription customers only way reduces 
the
useability of the software, as it can easily lead to even faster update 
cycles
if only to give a reason to subscribe but then get less reliable milestones 
as
everything is constantly changing anyway and the next release is around the 
corner.

It´s flashing, blinking, screaming new in your face while making your 
progress look dated...

It might be worth finding out how much time people loose already per day on
windows updates, general software updates, login procedures, update 
downloads,
the overhead to just keeping everything in sync. The stuff you have to do 
before
you start working really.

Personally, I don´t mind paying subscription, I might even find a benefit in
opting in and out, for example with the 3DS Max version i have lying around
and rarely use at the moment but might need at a short notice.

But still, the releases I commit to for work aren´t neccessarily the 
lastest built only.


Cheers,

tim













On 31.08.2014 07 tel:31.08.2014%2007:47, Angus Davidson wrote:

I might be wrong but i was getting a very much force people onto the 
latest version vibe from that interview. Which may very well work for Autocad, 
but it sure as hell isnt
going to work for Max and Maya.

That model isn't working very well for Adobe as any user of After 
Effects will tell you. Its causing a world of hurt as far as bugs and 
instability goes.

=
table width=100% border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 
style=width:100%;
tr
td align=left style=text-align:justify;__font face=arial,sans-serif size=1 
color=#99span style=font-size:11px;This communication is intended for the
addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this 
communication in error, please notify

Re: Autodesk considering ditching perpetual licenses

[Tim Leydecker]

I really like the concept of making monthly payments
the prime and only option for earning your access to something.

It works great for cabletv, your landline, internet access, gas, water,
the rent, healthcare, insurances, the works.

In a way, even citizenship is granted on the basis of being expected
to pay back for being born in a similar system, where you are to contribute
monthly or yearly with your taxes but transfer your right to decide about
what´s going to happen with that money to someone else supposed to know it 
better.

It´s a very well evolved system with centuries old tools to enforce regular
payment and the least amount of hassle for the one sitting on the receiving end.

It´s genius.

No more pressure.

Just one more nail to the coffin.

Cheers,

tim


P.S: The Unreal Engine model is nice, you can log in once for a reasonable fee,
 get the tools you need, learn based on that and only really need to part with
your money once you´ve earned some...




On 30.08.2014 19:01, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote:

On Sat, Aug 30, 2014 at 5:47 AM, Sebastien Sterling
sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com wrote:

But they don't.


They don't even seem to get how subscription works currently

Back when i bought softimage 2013 it cost 3700 with vat stand alone, i
checked how much it would cost to buy with subscription, an extra 1500
dollars ?!

surely a subscription entry fee should come at a lower or at the very least
equal entry point, I'm paying extra for the right to pay monthly ? is paying
a feature ?


There must be some subtlety I'm missing about your subscript story,
because adding a 1 year support contract to anything is always going
to be an extra?

Re: Kinect 2 data to Softimage

[Tim Leydecker]

The Kinect2 for windows is announced/available via the microsoft online 
shop since july 15th.

It is working with a pc, no proprietary connector as in the xboxone kinect.

An sdk public preview should be available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=43661


I have a skanect+kinect1 setup at home to fiddle with.

I liked 3DCoat better to merge/edit/fill/whatever scans saved out from 
skanect in Voxelmode.


Haven´t done too fancy stuff with it but already liked what was possible 
with that.


Others on the net hinted me towards meshlab for baking vertexcolors to 
textures or filling holes.


Keep us updated!

tim


Am 31.07.2014 18:47, schrieb Jeff McFall:


Thank you Francisco, yes this information is very helpful as we are 
just starting down this path.


And not a bad dance at all.

Thanks again

jeff

*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of 
*Francisco Criado

*Sent:* Thursday, July 31, 2014 12:21 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: Kinect 2 data to Softimage

Hi Jeff,
don´t know for V2 but for the first one, i couldn´t found a direct 
methodlogy for working in softimage with kinect.


For 3d scanning, i highly recommend you skanect, is simple, cheap and 
powerfull enough for kinect capabilities, and then doing retopo in 
zbrush worked ok for us. We never used the vertex colors from the scan 
since V1 has a very bad quality in its rgb camera. We use to take 
photos with a dslr and then paint textures on Mari.


About motion tracking, we used Ipi soft for doing some tests (see link 
attached, sorry i´m a bad dancer) with 2 kinects (it demands a lot of 
time in setup and calibration) becuse with one camera tracking wasn´t 
enough stable.


https://vimeo.com/79887493


Kinect V2 is not supported in Ipisoft, but in FAQ they state that: 
Kinect 2 for Xbox is not possible to use. We will include support of 
Kinect 2 for Windows as soon as it is released (expected in summer 2014)


Quite interested in seeing Kinect for Windows 2 capabilities for 3d 
production.


Hope this helps of something.

F.

2014-07-31 12:31 GMT-03:00 Jeff McFall jeff.mcf...@sas.com 
mailto:jeff.mcf...@sas.com:


Hi everyone,

We are just starting to look into some of the possibilities of
using the new Kinect 2 for some production ideas.

Would anyone have any initial advice or links to share of
resources to get started?

At first glance the areas to explore would be

-Bringing a pointcloud single file and cache into Softimage for
use with ICE

-Generating useful meshes and texture mapping from pointclouds and
importing to Soft

-Motion tracking – skeleton export

At first glance I am not finding much info on how to get a basic
pointcloud from Kinect into Soft.

Motion tracking to skeleton and mesh generation seem a bit more
detailed and covered

Brekel.com seems to have several apps and examples…

anyone have good experience with others?

thanks in advance

Jeff

Re: Stereo Render differences between versions

[Tim Leydecker]

The usual suspects for trouble in camera transfer between Maya and 
Softimage,

depending on the Crosswalk/*.fbx/or else version used:

*Field of View Angle calculation, Horizontal or Vertical? Can also give 
grief with 3DSMax.


*Default XSI Picture Ratio vs. Maya Film Aspect Ratio,  Softimage 
defaults to a 16:9 ratio, Maya to a 3:2.


When I create a Stereo rig in both Maya and XSI 2014, they differ in 
Angle of View,
Film Aspect Ratio and a Film Offset in Maya of +/- 0.017 (mm?) vs a 
Optical Center Shift of
+/- -0,0043 inch in XSI. Also note the overall 10:1 scene unit related 
values...


Enough to make my head hurt by itself already. Which is why I generally 
don´t like Stereo much anyway.


I´d check for inch/Millimeter issues in values as well as rounding 
errors and Film Aperture woes.



Cheers,


tim












Am 13.06.2014 01:32, schrieb Athanasios Pozantzis:

just speculating here...
is there a film shift (tilt shift) or film offset setting in the mix?
that could be off if everything else is spot on

my 2 cents

On 12 Jun 2014, at 18:16, Andre Zazzera andyzazzera...@gmail.com 
mailto:andyzazzera...@gmail.com wrote:



Hey all,

In an effort to start transitioning over to Maya, *sigh*, we've been 
doing look dev on our current project in Softimage 2013 with the 
intent to render in Maya.   We got approval on the stereo from client 
based on our Softimage animation, but now we're having a big 
discrepancy between the stereo renders in Softimage and the stereo in 
Maya - Maya has a biiig shift in the depth of the renders and it 
/looks /like a massive difference in the camera interaxial.


But we're measuring, and all the distances from camera to camera and 
camera to subject are exactly the same in Maya as they are in 
Softimage, and all the camera settings are the same.


So we opened the scene in Softimage 2015 and exported to Maya from 
there, and then they match each other. Great!  But here's the thing - 
we checked and the renders from Softimage 2015 don't match the 
renders from Softimage 2013. So we tried in 2014, and those match the 
originals from 2013.


Did something change between 2014 and 2015 in the way Softimage 
stereo cameras work?


For the moment we're just trying to eyeball the cameras to try and 
get something that matches the approved shot, but something just 
isn't making sense.   I don't understand how cameras in the same 
place in space could yield different results.


Do you guys have any insight?

Thanks!
Andy

Re: humanize Maya, SOFT top 5

[Tim Leydecker]

After brooding about MMB vs. M key for a day or two.

I just realized that I use Softimage´s beveling a lot. But differently.

When adding an edgeloop or edges in general, I will usually resort
to beveling that selection instead of just adding an edge loop.

Beveling gives better curvature, averaging the postion of the now
two egde (loops) nicely in relation to the selected edges and it´s
neighbours. It is convenient to adjust the bevel width slider and
interactively tune the result to taste. For that, I often use bevel
settings wider than 2.

The benefit is that the polygon surface´s curvature doesn´t get as
unevenly modified and it becomes easier to add detail or even out
topology in wip basemeshes/cleaned up meshes.

Together with the option to slide components across the surface and
the phletora of transformation modes (REF, Global, etc) this makes
clean organic modeling a lot easier.

Cheers,

tim

On 27.03.2014 07:48, Tim Leydecker wrote:

Can I trade the MMB functionality against the M key workflow?

Personally, I don´t use MMB much because when modeling, I will usually
resort to using either the M key or rick-clicking to access polygon 
operations.

Sliding a component (selection) around on a polygon surface is a wonderful 
feature
in Softimage.

I would say that using a combination of variations of the M key settings, add 
edge,
and extrude is covering 65% of my work for modeling, with a Split Edge (with 
split control)
here and there. I tend to model my bevels due to legacy shortcomings in tools.

A good 15% is the ease of using U/T/E with raycast perference options 
that prevent
selecting unwanted (backfaced) areas.

10% is viewport interaction. Tumbling around and view modes.

10% is unfold3d. (It´s a lot more this brings but it´s become so easy :-)

Using wheighting edges in subD models I refuse to use until it is consistenly 
supported
in something as reliable as a blank *.obj format in any other app available.

There´s no point in wheighting a (subD style) edge hardness when you realize 
you can´t import/export it anywhere
like that.

Cheers,

tim

P.S: Merging vertices in Maya is nicer, with it´s treshhold options.



On 27.03.2014 00:45, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote:

We are keeping MMB Repeat under consideration for Maya, thanks all for the 
feedback.

On Wednesday, March 26, 2014, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.com 
mailto:ml...@carbinestudios.com wrote:

I fully understood what your post was about, Luc-Eric.

What I stated is what many users here liked MMB upon learning about it as, 
other than myself and one other person, nobody had used Softimage before.  They 
had all come from
3DSMax and/or Maya.  Many of them have commented they wish the MMB feature 
was in Maya as it's simple, intuitive, and saves repetitive work freeing up a 
spot or two on the
keyboard for something else.  While you can use 'g' in Maya, it's not the 
same as MMB in the menus as each menu can have its own history remembering a 
different command whereas
'g' can only remember one command - the most recent.  That's important.  
Users here have a mentality burned into their skulls from those other software 
that they have to make
lots of keyboard shortcuts and toolbars to get anything done.  Introducing 
something like a MMB is a revelation as it's both simple and powerful.

What should also be conveyed is that when artists feel like they have to 
make lots of keyboard shortcuts and toolbars, they often tend to start dabbling 
in scripting to make
those customizations.  Artist code tends to be a frequent cause of fires I 
have to exterminate and generally a waste of my time as a TD.  If artists have 
these nice UI workflow
touches such as MMB to repeat, they're less inclined to write crappy code 
which means fewer fires to fight and more focus on productivity not only for 
the artists, but also for
me as it allows me to spend more time focusing on writing tools which can 
provide bigger impact than quickie buttons.


Matt




-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 12:25 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: humanize Maya, SOFT top 5

On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 3:00 PM, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.com wrote:
  Here at Carbine, users like the MMB to repeat a menu command.  It's 
popular.  They're not as fond of tear off menus.  They don't hate tear off menus, 
but given the choice
they'll use a custom key as 1st option, custom toolbar as 2nd option, and 
tear off menu as last option.  The issue being that tear off menus don't allow 
for customized menus.
You only get the existing menu structure in a different place.
 
  What users want is clutter free and minimal effort to execute commands 
or a series of commands.  Tear off menus are good for situations where the entire 
menu

Re: really hgih poly zbrush to SI

[Tim Leydecker]

There´a a few things you can run when trying to bake.

*ZBrush UV shells tend to shrink when subdivided to higher levels,
which means your maps may not line up nicely around UV shell seams.

*Projecting detail between meshes may result in stray edges/vertices.

*You need good UVs to get a good bake.

*Intersecting faces are hard to see when double sided is switched off.



Since you go for a game resolution geometry result:

How about exporting parts of the highrez geometry with a nice broad overlap
each and importing that into Softimage?

Then, in Softimage, modeling a clean low poly version on top of the highrez 
meshes.
You could use ZRemesher or decimation master to get better initial lowrez 
snippets,
then clean out, merge and UV map inside Softimage.

I´m not sure about using UVs outside the 0-1 range with Unity, which means you 
have
to face the fact that your texture space is very limited unless you use an 
alternative
approach to generate additional surface detail inside your egine that needs 
fewer,
smaller but tiled maps.

A few free tutorials you might like:

http://eat3d.com/free/vertex_painting
http://eat3d.com/free/xnormal_overview
http://eat3d.com/free/cryengine3_decals
http://eat3d.com/free/mudbox_displace


Myself, I am a fan of crazybump (and the likes). Helps a lot in creating very 
nice maps
from, let´s say the diffuse map.

Once you have your lowrez mesh, I would like to suggest you try baking using 
Gator/rendermap
or Mudbox.

For level 0 meshes with a map of 1-2K, Mudbox gives easy, quick to use bakes 
and will
not introduce as many sampling errors as it does when you tell it to smooth 
UVs, that´s
where it will struggle, tho. The Smooth UVs option in Mudbox´s map extraction 
will give you
a lot of stray pixels. On the bonus side, your UV shell borders don´t shrink 
if you tell
it not to in the prefs.

You can of course also avoid UVshell shrinks in ZBrush when baking to a mesh 
that´s not subdivided at all.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

tim




On 28.03.2014 01:37, Williams, Wayne wrote:

Hey Mirko,
Did you use the Inflate brush a lot to create the details? If so, that can 
cause a lot of noise because the polys are now mashed into one another.

As for zeremesher, it's more for helping create new topo that conforms to the 
surface. It's not going to transfer the detail most of the time. That means you 
will have to do a
projectALL to get those details back.

Without actually seeing the models I would guess that the detail is very high 
frequency/noisy in the sculpt. If you can import the hi rez sculpts into xsi 
and it's all blackened
weird surface detail, then that's it. Nothing you can do to fix that other than 
to smooth it out in zb.

A trick that helps me sometimes narrow down a problem area like that is to turn 
on Double in the Display menu down on the bottom right. That will show double 
faces and you'll see
the culprits stand out easier.

Hope that helps.
-Wayne

*From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Tom Kleinenberg 
[zagan...@gmail.com]
*Sent:* Thursday, March 27, 2014 7:22 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: really hgih poly zbrush to SI

I seem to recall Zremesher giving odd results at a first pass, but if you run 
it again it gives cleaner results. I think it was in one of Paul Smith's videos 
- I may be crazy
though.What do you mean when you say weird polygons? I'd try exporting the 
remesher mesh to Xnormal and see what sort of bakes you get.


On 28 March 2014 00:37, Cristobal Infante cgc...@gmail.com 
mailto:cgc...@gmail.com wrote:

I hate to state to obvious but have you tried zremesher in zbrush, results 
are astonishing on my side...

On Thursday, 27 March 2014, Mirko Jankovic mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com 
mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com wrote:

The trick is that those are couple parts of huge Wall, with all details 
in modeled in by displacement map and then modified.
So it is already cut out in couple pieces but a lot of details in there 
and I would like to transfer them as much as possible to low poly model version 
in Unity.


On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 5:26 PM, Williams, Wayne 
wayne.willi...@xaviant.com wrote:

Did the same thing….didn’t understand your question. Some things 
you can try (as stated previously):

Break the mesh up into subtool chunks that aren’t 10 million polys  
and export those and bring them into xnormal to bake bake. This can potentially 
give seams so make
sure you try to break the chunks in areas that can hide those. 

__ __

You can also use zremesher to get it down to something a bit more 
manageable poly count wise then subdiv your way back up to about 4 million or 
so and 

Re: humanize Maya, SOFT top 5

[Tim Leydecker]

Can I trade the MMB functionality against the M key workflow?

Personally, I don´t use MMB much because when modeling, I will usually
resort to using either the M key or rick-clicking to access polygon 
operations.

Sliding a component (selection) around on a polygon surface is a wonderful 
feature
in Softimage.

I would say that using a combination of variations of the M key settings, add 
edge,
and extrude is covering 65% of my work for modeling, with a Split Edge (with 
split control)
here and there. I tend to model my bevels due to legacy shortcomings in tools.

A good 15% is the ease of using U/T/E with raycast perference options 
that prevent
selecting unwanted (backfaced) areas.

10% is viewport interaction. Tumbling around and view modes.

10% is unfold3d. (It´s a lot more this brings but it´s become so easy :-)

Using wheighting edges in subD models I refuse to use until it is consistenly 
supported
in something as reliable as a blank *.obj format in any other app available.

There´s no point in wheighting a (subD style) edge hardness when you realize 
you can´t import/export it anywhere
like that.

Cheers,

tim

P.S: Merging vertices in Maya is nicer, with it´s treshhold options.



On 27.03.2014 00:45, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote:

We are keeping MMB Repeat under consideration for Maya, thanks all for the 
feedback.

On Wednesday, March 26, 2014, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.com 
mailto:ml...@carbinestudios.com wrote:

I fully understood what your post was about, Luc-Eric.

What I stated is what many users here liked MMB upon learning about it as, 
other than myself and one other person, nobody had used Softimage before.  They 
had all come from
3DSMax and/or Maya.  Many of them have commented they wish the MMB feature 
was in Maya as it's simple, intuitive, and saves repetitive work freeing up a 
spot or two on the
keyboard for something else.  While you can use 'g' in Maya, it's not the 
same as MMB in the menus as each menu can have its own history remembering a 
different command whereas
'g' can only remember one command - the most recent.  That's important.  
Users here have a mentality burned into their skulls from those other software 
that they have to make
lots of keyboard shortcuts and toolbars to get anything done.  Introducing 
something like a MMB is a revelation as it's both simple and powerful.

What should also be conveyed is that when artists feel like they have to 
make lots of keyboard shortcuts and toolbars, they often tend to start dabbling 
in scripting to make
those customizations.  Artist code tends to be a frequent cause of fires I 
have to exterminate and generally a waste of my time as a TD.  If artists have 
these nice UI workflow
touches such as MMB to repeat, they're less inclined to write crappy code 
which means fewer fires to fight and more focus on productivity not only for 
the artists, but also for
me as it allows me to spend more time focusing on writing tools which can 
provide bigger impact than quickie buttons.


Matt




-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 12:25 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: humanize Maya, SOFT top 5

On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 3:00 PM, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.com wrote:
  Here at Carbine, users like the MMB to repeat a menu command.  It's 
popular.  They're not as fond of tear off menus.  They don't hate tear off menus, 
but given the choice
they'll use a custom key as 1st option, custom toolbar as 2nd option, and 
tear off menu as last option.  The issue being that tear off menus don't allow 
for customized menus.
You only get the existing menu structure in a different place.
 
  What users want is clutter free and minimal effort to execute commands 
or a series of commands.  Tear off menus are good for situations where the entire 
menu is a custom
menu of commands like a custom toolbar would be, and the commands in that 
menu are very closely related to the task at hand.  If the menu is full of 
built-in commands, they're
less liked because usually the user only cares about one or two tools in 
the menu but is stuck having to take all of them as part of the package deal 
resulting in clutter.  For
example, go to the property menu and you have entries for visibility, 
display, etc..., but also a lot of unrelated tools such as rendermap or gator.  
It's a very tall menu but
the user only wants 3 or 4 items out of 30.  If tear off menus allowed 
individual items to be torn off and merged into a toolbar, then that would be 
ideal.
 
  Implementing MMB to repeat a command in a menu would be a popular move.

that's OK, but that's in Softimage.  The bit that's not obvious is whether 
someone using Maya needs a MMB, that's what my post is meant to be about.

Re: An Open Letter to Carl Bass

[Tim Leydecker]

Thanks for sharing that response.


I can see why moving to a cloud based service can be tempting
when looking at the recent news from Adobe:

http://www.adobe.com/news-room/pressreleases/201403/031814Q1FY2014results.html

If you then go and look into this press release:

http://www.adobe.com/news-room/pressreleases/201403/031014AdobeLicenseAgreementwithDoD.html

You might want to take a moment and think about this snippet:

While these commercial applications utilize online services,
they also support offline and private cloud implementations—as
used by government for enterprise deployments.


--

For me as a customer, I might actually welcome the ease of licensing and
additional short term rental options Adobe is now able to offer.

Autodesk´s expansion of licensing models is also a welcome thing, as a
freelancer, I get more options to budget a project and actually get it done.

But.

The above is not about a specific function of the content creation software,
it´s all about the access to such software and licensing it´s usage.


In terms of focus, it´s a bit like working in a TVC/commercials project.

The pool of people claiming responsibility and credit easily extends into the 
100´s,
the group of people actually doing all the artwork boils down to a small few.
Everybody else just reserves their right to take their cut by status.

As cool as it is to review a TVC on a retina display iphone, google cast it
around the office or order a sandwich while idling around bored in a suite,
that´s not where the money is spent for software.

The actual software is used by only the few doing the artwork.

Not by all the guys riding their back. Like ticks, they don´t invest, they want 
it for free.

I´m not sure you want them.

You want the artists.

Cheers,

tim

Re: An Open Letter to Carl Bass

[Tim Leydecker]

I guess what I try to say is:

You want the Artists because the Artists are the only
ones in the whole DCC pipeline that actually have to
commit to anything.

First and foremost, investing life time to learn the tools.

Everybody else is tempted to strive to NOT commit.

Opening licensing down to convenient rental modes and
a stronger feeling of being in control of sofware usage
actually enables everybody else but the Artists to commit
even less - as a decision can be postponed or reversed easier than before.

That´s a bad thing.

It means a general, more long-term commitment can be reduced without 
consequences.

The result will be more pressure and less revenue.

Cheers,


tim



On 24.03.2014 09:19, Tim Leydecker wrote:

Thanks for sharing that response.


I can see why moving to a cloud based service can be tempting
when looking at the recent news from Adobe:

http://www.adobe.com/news-room/pressreleases/201403/031814Q1FY2014results.html

If you then go and look into this press release:

http://www.adobe.com/news-room/pressreleases/201403/031014AdobeLicenseAgreementwithDoD.html

You might want to take a moment and think about this snippet:

While these commercial applications utilize online services,
they also support offline and private cloud implementations—as
used by government for enterprise deployments.


--

For me as a customer, I might actually welcome the ease of licensing and
additional short term rental options Adobe is now able to offer.

Autodesk´s expansion of licensing models is also a welcome thing, as a
freelancer, I get more options to budget a project and actually get it done.

But.

The above is not about a specific function of the content creation software,
it´s all about the access to such software and licensing it´s usage.


In terms of focus, it´s a bit like working in a TVC/commercials project.

The pool of people claiming responsibility and credit easily extends into the 
100´s,
the group of people actually doing all the artwork boils down to a small few.
Everybody else just reserves their right to take their cut by status.

As cool as it is to review a TVC on a retina display iphone, google cast it
around the office or order a sandwich while idling around bored in a suite,
that´s not where the money is spent for software.

The actual software is used by only the few doing the artwork.

Not by all the guys riding their back. Like ticks, they don´t invest, they want 
it for free.

I´m not sure you want them.

You want the artists.

Cheers,

tim

Re: Redshift3D Render

[Tim Leydecker]

Redshift requires an Nvidia chip based card.

A gaming card works fine, I have a mid-level GTX 670(3GB RAM)
to go with it and am already happy every time I render a region.

You can use the redshift beta with both Maya and Softimage.

Might help ease the pain of transition...

Cheers,

tim



On 21.03.2014 02:08, Ed Manning wrote:

We should all put our money into 3-person startups.   Better ROI than 
subscription.

Re: Autodesk webinar

[Tim Leydecker]

Hi Maurice,

thanks for confronting this situation and the consequences.

Personally, I am not happy about the end of Softimage´s development.
I´ve come to like Softimage the most from the 3 DCC apps. XSI, Maya and 3dsMax.

That said, I give Autodesk credit for starting to branchout development and 
research
during the last couple of years, including actually taking more risks than
just resorting to rudimentarily developing a specific feature for a specific 
program.

It seems there has been a shift to first go and do a fundamental research, then
see where and how this advance can be utilized across the range of individual 
apps.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you loose. Not all those fundamental ideas make it.
I try to remember that now and generally welcome this broader approach to 
advancing things.

One thing I´d like to ask for, thought.

Please don´t fall for the cloud concept. It is not desireable, not even for 
vendor licensing...

It is common in the VFX/commercials industry to deny internet access to actual 
workstations.

Any such services requiring a internet connections has to be abandoned because 
it violates
contracts with clients and poses a security risk and a business/financial risk.





Cheers,

tim

P.S: http://www.youtube.com/user/Autodesk/videos gives some examples about the 
other softwares/services
Autodesk is developing and the progress made in other areas hopefully affecting 
3d and VFX.








On 18.03.2014 00:52, Maurice Patel wrote:

Hi Emilio et al.
About the webinar: First sorry about the technical problems. Google servers and our 
streaming servers had issues and we lost the service. Yes the questions were screened. We 
were not sure of the volume of the questions we would get and suspected it would be too 
high to try and handle onscreen on the fly.  But behind the camera questions were being 
collected and fed to us - such as Greg and others' question why should I trust 
Autodesk? - which was the live component. We answered pretty much all the questions 
posed although we tried to avoid repeating similar questions. We answered the key 
recurring ones : why don't you sell/license/open source Softimage? Why don't you continue 
development longer/forever? Why discontinue what we feel is your best/most innovative 
product. The answer to those three questions are so we can focus more of our efforts on 
Maya and 3ds Max. Now you may find our answers unsatisfactory but that is why we are 
doing it.
We have now posted the full recording should anyone want to refer to it 
-ultimately there is not a whole much more new than what has been already been 
discussed on this forum.
maurice


Maurice Patel
Autodesk : Tél:  514 954-7134

Re: YOUR TOP 5

[Tim Leydecker]

My top 5 are modeling area biased:


1) Unfold op and the Regularize tool (especially in 2014sp2,
since the Regularize tool doesn´t stop at shell borders)

2) Everything that´s part of the M shortcut/workflow
(Sliding edges/points/faces, etc). Adding eges. Splitting edges. Loops.

3) The render region. The render region. The render region.

4) The operator stack. An envelope can swims atop massive
changes to a topology and still interpolates existing wheights
nicely. Great for testing and working out shape/topology on
a mesh - you´re not restricted to being stuck in the bindpose.
Also helps prepping a mesh copy for painting/sculpting.

5) CopyPaste UVs. Bake to another UV set. Gator/Rendermap.


Cheers,

tim

Re: YOUR TOP 5

[Tim Leydecker]

Sorry. Edit.

The most convenient thing in Softimage is the Transformations options:

http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2014/en_us/userguide/index.html?url=files/xfo_transforms.htm,topicNumber=d30e47900

That´s the basis for the below top 5 to be so convenient:



1) Unfold op and the Regularize tool (especially in 2014sp2,
since the Regularize tool doesn´t stop at shell borders)

2) Everything that´s part of the M shortcut/workflow
(Sliding edges/points/faces, etc). Adding eges. Splitting edges. Loops.

3) The render region. The render region. The render region.

4) The operator stack. An envelope can swims atop massive
changes to a topology and still interpolates existing wheights
nicely. Great for testing and working out shape/topology on
a mesh - you´re not restricted to being stuck in the bindpose.
Also helps prepping a mesh copy for painting/sculpting.

5) CopyPaste UVs. Bake to another UV set. Gator/Rendermap.


Cheers,

tim

On 14.03.2014 09:38, Tim Leydecker wrote:

My top 5 are modeling area biased:


1) Unfold op and the Regularize tool (especially in 2014sp2,
since the Regularize tool doesn´t stop at shell borders)

2) Everything that´s part of the M shortcut/workflow
(Sliding edges/points/faces, etc). Adding eges. Splitting edges. Loops.

3) The render region. The render region. The render region.

4) The operator stack. An envelope can swims atop massive
changes to a topology and still interpolates existing wheights
nicely. Great for testing and working out shape/topology on
a mesh - you´re not restricted to being stuck in the bindpose.
Also helps prepping a mesh copy for painting/sculpting.

5) CopyPaste UVs. Bake to another UV set. Gator/Rendermap.


Cheers,

tim

Re: MAYA community

[Tim Leydecker]

You might like to google:

maya_he3d google group

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/maya_he3d

There´s many of the long-time Maya users there that transitioned
from the old/closed m...@highend3d.com listserver.

The volume is quite low. For specific questions you may as well
probably go ahead and ask Stefan Andersson or Matt Estela.

I think Matt set it up, in case you want to subscribe.

Cheers,

tim





On 14.03.2014 13:44, Alastair Hearsum wrote:

Folks

Doses anyone know the equivalent of this list for Maya users? I wanted to pose 
some questions to them.

Alastair

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Re: More XSI Monkey business by The Mill

[Tim Leydecker]

Redshift is very, very nice.

ATM, it seems 1 license will be fine to work with both Maya and Softimage.

I have the Redshift paid beta running on my modeling box and use it to literally
instantly get a good preview of what things are going to look like later.

Redshift has completely changed the level of preview quality I take for granted.

VRay 3 for Maya will sure be pretty nice, too. Arnold 1.0.1+ feels pretty 
mature now
and can be found in a great many places looking for an extensible plattform.

In terms of rendering options, this is like the golden age finally...

Personally, for me it´s mostly Redshift but I wouldn´t automatically discard 
Vray in favor
of Arnold. Arnold already needs significantly more dedication for just getting 
it to render a
sequence out of Maya and the whole kick/ass thing and rlm business is a lot of 
script(ing) stuff
where Vray may provide you with just a button/GUI that works as expected.

To me, VRay is the final version of mental ray that actually just works.

Arnold is like the stereotype of a TD. Powerful but not neccessarily easy to 
get just because you dialed the AA.


Cheers,


tim





On 14.03.2014 21:46, Stephen Davidson wrote:

Wait till they see it with 4 Titans installed. Goodbye renderfarm.


On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 3:54 PM, Mirko Jankovic mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com 
mailto:mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com wrote:

Chris, just demo them Redshift inside Softimage.
When they see how it works... they must be crazy to ignore it then


On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 8:21 PM, Chris Johnson chr...@topixfx.com 
mailto:chr...@topixfx.com wrote:

Valid points Paul.

At our shop I'm the last hold out using Softimage and I'm being forced 
to go down the Max Vray path. I personally plan to hold onto Soft until they 
tear it out of my cold
dead hands. But in the meantime I have to play nice with the masses and 
move onto something else which has been predetermined.


On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 12:45 PM, p...@bustykelp.com 
mailto:p...@bustykelp.com wrote:

Well its true that we can all carry on using it. Thats my plan for 
the foreseeable future, but Its very annoying that firstly you cant just buy 
Softimage alone after 2
weeks and then you have to get a package with Maya which will be 
more expensive, then in 2 years time, you can’t get any more seats at all. 
There is no real
justification for the bullying tactics whatever they say.
I’m hardly bothered at all about them not developing it, I can do 
that myself with ICE. I’m more concerned the ability to get new seats. I’ll 
just have to buy up as
many as I can in the next 2 years I guess.
Paul
*From:* Chris Johnson mailto:chr...@topixfx.com
*Sent:* Friday, March 14, 2014 3:29 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 
mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: More XSI Monkey business by The Mill
I doubt The Mill cares all that much. The artists might. Considering 
it's The Mill and they have the RD infrastructure to make Softimage and ICE do what they 
need
toothey could probably work for a long time with the current 
version as is. What is Autodesk going to bring to the table in the next 2 
releases that the Mill
couldn't easily create themselves.


On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 11:22 AM, adrian wyer 
adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com mailto:adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com wrote:

__
+1
this;


*From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of 
*p...@bustykelp.com mailto:p...@bustykelp.com
*Sent:* 14 March 2014 15:03
*To:* Morten Bartholdy; softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 
mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: More XSI Monkey business by The Mill

I wonder what the Mill think of all this debacle?
Its so utterly ridiculous discontinuing Softimage.
Its the best solution for designing complex character 
deformation bar none in my opinion.
Surely Autodesk aren’t stupid enough to not be able to see that 
they have a diamond here?
‘Selling it as a particle system’ my arse! I don’t think they 
even know what they have.
Paul
*From:* Morten Bartholdy mailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk
*Sent:* Friday, March 14, 2014 2:33 PM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com 
mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

Re: A germ of an idea.

[Tim Leydecker]

Hey Paul,

I´m looking forward to seeing your piece come together.

It´s a really nice team effort and gives a good opportunity
to come together and create something lasting and unique.

I understand that many would prefer to show their artist´s skills instead
of showing themselves in a documetary, so I move on and wish you all the best.

Unfortunately, my workload doesn´t allow me to offer any serious contribution
but I´m looking forward to glancing at what you guys pull off with a bang.

Best,

tim









On 13.03.2014 00:12, Christian Gotzinger wrote:

I think the video has got to be visually stunning. Short (i.e. doable) but very 
epic, and Paul's idea fits the bill.
Also, I completely hate the thought of doing a documentary with interviews. How do you 
feel about the discontinuation of Softimage? - Well, it certainly has affected us 
a lot,
and... *YWWWN* Seriously, who'd watch that?

I'm willing to put aside time for Paul's idea. If nothing else, at least we go 
out with a bang.
I have been using SI for around 9 years. These days I mostly do modeling, 
texturing, lighting and build lots of ICE tools. But in the past I've also been 
paid to rig, animate,
matchmove and comp. So I qualify for the generalist category.

Hopefully Paul can pull off the coordination of this.

Christian



On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 4:37 PM, p...@bustykelp.com 
mailto:p...@bustykelp.com wrote:

Wow so that’s 41 people so far!! I never imagined this would happen.
Its also rather intimidating. I certainly can’t lead this on my own, so 
who would like to help coordinate it?
I’d also like to nail the basis for the idea down soon or we’ll be all 
over the place.
This is my idea, cleaned up a bit, with suggestions from Doeke Wartena 
who aptly likened it to Forest Gump’s running sequence.
I thought Greg would be a good start, as he still has a lot of 
followers on you-tube and is kind of known. I had a big response from the VFX 
industry when I made it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o9Fod9KigU
We start with Greg Mutt (see above) doing a video blog about Soft being 
killed.. He suddenly jumps up and  says You know what? Screw this!! and stomps 
off screen.
We cut to him walking down a street with purpose.
Then we cut to various other CGI characters or entities, leaving 
buildings, walking, running. making their way somewhere.
The shots get bigger as more and more CGI things join the walking 
groups.
Its starts getting Epic. Godzilla Stomps through times Square as a 
bunch of Lego-like characters run beneath him etc
We see Greg again, riding on a Trex, past Mount Rushmore, as 
helicopters fly past . George Washington’s stone face says ‘Go for it Greg!’
Tokyo and a bunch of Manga characters strut down the neon streets 
looking mean and others looking Cute join them.
Paris and a bunch of Monsters stick out their thumbs to hitch a ride. a 
massive spaceship descends.
etc ( increasingly epic ideas along these lines are up for grabs.)
Eventually an awesome throng of CGI characters, and entities gather at 
the HQ of Autodesk.. (this could be CGI and Stylised. Black and Imposing)
They are carrying banners, such as ‘make Softimage not war’. They 
stop.. Greg hesitates, from behind him, a character walks to the door.
It is a little cute Manga girl . she presses the buzzer a reply comes.
‘Hello, this is Autodesk. Press 1 if you want information on Maya. 
Press 2 if you want information on Max, press...’ (this bit needs more thought)
She leans in and whispers ‘Please don’t kill us’
SAVE SOFTIMAGE slams onto screen
I don’t want to force anyone to do this idea, but if the general 
consensus is that its a decent start then its worth building on I think. I 
think the good thing about it is
that its a simple premise, yet allows for great creative freedom.

Re: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer

[Tim Leydecker]

Comparing Maya and Softimage jobs/projects I worked on for the last 10-15 yrs,
I would come to the conclusion that I worked on many almost vanilla install
Softimage projects while the Maya projects involved a significantly higher 
amount
of using scripted extensions and plug-in functionality.

That may boil down to the Softimage projects I was involved in being more from
the commercials side of jobs while the Maya projects where often incorporating
bigger teams or bigger promises made in advance.

Currently, I´m on a Maya centric project, myself doing all the modeling in
Softimage, creating assets and handing them off into the Maya pipeline.

The reason I´m modeling in Softimage today is the 3D Love Tour and the home 
access
to XSI Foundation this gave me back then. I will miss modeling in Softimage 
(2014sp2).

Maya is not on par with Softimage in terms of fluidly modeling in my opinion.
A co-worker is biased heavily towards C4D and I´m impressed with it´s potential.

Personally, I haven´t decided where to lean to but am grateful for the heads-up
and license conversion options offered by Autodesk.

As a freelancer, I have learned not to expect being treated as part of the 
family,
moving on is part of the job and am transfering this to the choice of my tools.

I´ll see what´s out there and what comes next.

All the best,

tim





On 13.03.2014 08:56, Mirko Jankovic wrote:

There is a bit of perspective of view issue here.
To developers Maya sounds like god given tol to work on.
On the other hand to artists Softimage is god given tool to work on.

Now at the end what is more important - developers to have smooth day 
developing or artists to have smooth workflow? :)
Ideally it would be both bur right now artists are loosing battle.. with heavy 
losses :)

Point is, why killing when instead by developing Maya, making it better, really 
better, people would naturally move to better tool.
This right now is shoving it to Softimage users in the face saying that we will 
like it and it is for our own good.
All this issue could be handled way better with much lesser resistance if AD 
actual paid attention to customersand tried to eas in and help with transition 
instead of killing years
of dedication and experiences and turning a LOT of Softimage veterans into Maya 
juniors...
Btw most of those now to be juniors are 30+,40+ ...


On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 8:38 AM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com 
mailto:maurice.pa...@autodesk.com wrote: