There seem to be tons of people making a living with C4D no ?
Le 27/02/2014 17:10, Eric Thivierge a écrit :
Fabric Engine is an option for rigging / anim, though you'd still have to use Maya as your application for editing your animation and building your control structures but all your solvers would be in KL. When Fabric Engine comes out with more integrations (Max, Houdini?) the tech will port over pretty much 1 to 1.Eventually you'll be able to roll your own full application (it's even an option now) you just need the time and money to do it.Eric T. On Thursday, February 27, 2014 11:02:10 AM, Andy Nicholas wrote:I notice that no one's mentioned Fabric Engine yet. I'm wondering what theirfuture plans are at the moment.Yep, I would love Houdini to develop to a place where it's capable of dealing with modelling, rigging, and animation in an artist friendly way. All credit to you Jordi in trying to push SideFX in the right direction. Honestly, you seem tohave boundless energy to drive these revolutions! IMHO, in order for Houdini to succeed, I think they need to split theirinterface into two. The "dev" interface where you deal with nodes, etc. to build rigs, procedural modelling, tools, FX, etc. and then have an "artist" interface where they get to model stuff in a conventional way, animate rigs, etc. Only then will it really take off. Nodes are great, but only in certain situations.Until then, I think Maya + Houdini is the way to go. There's too much artist availability out there at the moment to go any other way, but I wish it wasn'tso. AOn 27 February 2014 at 15:39 Sergio Mucino <[email protected]> wrote:Just in case it helps... anyone looking into rigging and animation in Modo, needs to look at ACS ( http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/modo/kits/acs/<http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/modo/kits/acs/> ) It's the best auto-rigger system I've had the pleasure of using. It'scurrently limited to bipeds, but I don't think it'll take too long before itsmade modular. This thing is worth every penny... twice.I know it's a bit OT, but I thought some people looking into alternatives in this department would like to be aware of the available options. Cheers!Sergio Mucino Freelance Rigger/TD On 27/02/2014 10:23 AM, Angus Davidson wrote: > > Hi thereAlways great to meet a fellow educator. We are precisely in the same boat as you. We originally started in Maya (was the choice before | started working there) and moved to Softimage after many issues with Maya. We saw an immediate increase in the quality of the student work and use it to this day. We however have the same concerns as you about the lack of development.We also now have a games design course (which is now in its third year) and we need to get them started on a 3d App as well in their forth year.If you already have Houdini in your pipeline my advise would be to use that more and augment it with something like Modo. For student work both are rock solid (especially on Mac OS X) We dont have massive studios like in theUK and the States. Our Biggest did Zambezia and that was mostly on softimage.From a teaching point of view what we loved about Softimage was the results were always consistent. On Maya it was never the case and depending on when or if they deleted history it was incredibly difficult to trouble shoot when things went south. Dear God I spent so many hours editing Maya. ma files to try and salavge projects. with Softimage never had to do that.
I am really enjoying the Modo Rigging and animating process. Themindset is a bit different but then again sadly no process will be the same as Softimage. At least my rigs dont break in Modo which happened to me allthe time in maya (rigging is not my strength ;) ) Luckily our teaching year just started so we only need to decidesometime before Jan Next year (sticking to Softimage definitely for thisyear)Maya LT due to its game focus is also a possibility. I need to do some more testing from going between Maya LT / Modo and Unity as threat willweigh heavily on the decision kind regards Angus ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------! 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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From: Sofronis Efstathiou [[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ] Sent: 27 February 2014 04:41 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: RE: new upgrade policy Hi Jordi,Thanks for the information – and 100% agree with was mentioned in your earlier post. I was going to ask that exact question (especially as your our external!). Obviously we need to transition from Softimage in the nextfew months (can’t tell you how disappointed we are here) – however wealready use Houdini successfully on the Digital Effects course so it’s areal option.Concerns are the character tools though – animation, rigging, modelling etc. It seems Modo won’t be ready for a couple of years yet – do you think our options are Maya for a single year and then a move to Modo, or are we missing something else? Up skilling is a pain – would prefer not to do it twice. Ideally looking for a Non-Linear Workflow to character setup and animation (I hear Maya rigging workflow can be quite restrictive and lessflexible than Soft’s). Not sure about Modo. Houdini seems like a non starter.I’ll be honest – although we have worked with a pedigree application (Soft) for 15 years here; it’s been treated as an underdog for far too long now. Development has been almost non-existent these past 3 years and I need to look after my students, exposing them the to the tools and processes that provide them the best opportunity. Maya seems to be the safe bet – but I’m kind of tempted with a Houdini/Modo pipeline. Also a concern as some staff will be teaching across a new Games course, so I can’t introduce Maya/Modo –just wouldn’t be able to support it. Thoughts much appreciated as always…. Cheers Sofronis EfstathiouPostgraduate Framework Leader and BFX Competition & Festival DirectorComputer Animation Academic Group National Centre for Computer Animation Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Tel: +44 (0) 1202 965805 Profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sofronisefstathiou <http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sofronisefstathiou> Student Work: http://www.youtube.com/NCCA3DAnimation <http://www.youtube.com/NCCA3DAnimation> http://www.youtube.com/NCCADigitalFX <http://www.youtube.com/NCCADigitalFX> http://www.youtube.com/NCCAAnimation <http://www.youtube.com/NCCAAnimation> <http://www.bfxfestival.com/competition/> <http://ncca.bournemouth.ac.uk/> <http://www.bfxfestival.com/> Awarded for world-class computer animation teaching with wide scientific and creative applications From: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ] On Behalf Of Jordi BaresSent: 27 February 2014 14:24 To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: new upgrade policyYou can certainly animate in Houdini (I have seen it) but its toolset is not geared towards it and IMHO although I am going to give it a good go (I am right now rigging and processing mocap in houdini) the truth is that I have already identified many issues we XSI artists would not be happy with.For this reason I look at rigging and animation on the Modo side orSoftimage side while SideFX a do their homework.As we speak I am preparing a massive report with videos on what theyshould add and let's see.. so far they have been exceptionally good atembracing suggestions (like the old softimage team… remember?) so I am goingto put my energy there. Jordi Bares [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> On 27 Feb 2014, at 12:33, Greg Punchatz <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:Jordi, As far as character and creature animation, how and what are youusing for that? I have never seen anything move at a decent clip whilewatching Houdini demos.... and have heard nothing but nightmares from peopletry to do character work in it.Does it have the user friendly tools for rigging like soft? Or are you using Modo for character work? Its rigging seems more than strange to me.On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 6:21 AM, Simon Reeves <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:Interesting conversation for sure, I might finally have a good lookinto workflows in houdini.Also this is the preview to the last email.. I wondered if it was goingto be solution to a lack of freelancers...<temp.png> Simon Reeves London, UK [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> www.simonreeves.com <http://www.simonreeves.com/> www.analogstudio.co.uk <http://www.analogstudio.co.uk/> On 27 February 2014 12:07, Jordi Bares <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Training an animator to use Houdini to animate is trivial Training a lighter to use Houdini is trivial Training a modeller to use Modo is pretty easy Training a modeller to texture in Modo is pretty easyWhat I want to say is that if you dive in the correct areas it is easy and in a week or two you have any of these positions up and running. The only secret is to have an expert at hand that can easy the pain and guidethe team.Obviously a different thing is to get a Houdini FX guy, but we haveplenty of these ;-)On the flip side, the less freelancer competition, the more you cancharge… ;-) Jordi Bares [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> On 27 Feb 2014, at 09:59, Cristobal Infante <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: What about freelancers though?Surely you will want access to healthy freelance pool of people. So good luck finding a "Modo lighter" or a "Houdini Rigger". My guess is Maya is a more sensible option only for that looking from a production/managmentperspective. On 27 February 2014 09:43, Jordi Bares <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:would you give more money to Autodesk after what they are doing topretty much *every package* ? Let's recap Image Modeller = dead Stitcher = dead Matchmover = dead Combustion = dead Toxik = dead Naiad = dead until further notice Softimage = still developed but tiny tiny increments Motion builder = still developed but tiny tiny increments Motion builder for mac = stopped development FBX converter for mac = stopped development Mudbox = still developed but tiny tiny incrementsThe only good news is that Flame v2014 has been a major effort on their side and gave me the confidence to give Autodesk one more year, lots of people angry with the changes but at least there was some vision although my fear is that they will enter now a marketing stage to help boost sales and engage again and push sales after the debacle of their change in the librarywhich made pretty much every flame artist angry. Now, what are the alternatives?Well, I leant something last year when Apple decision regarding FinalCut Pro (I am sure nobody needs reminding)… and what I learnt is thatApple's core market is not pro software, its market is hardware, speciallymobile hardware (laptops, phones, tablets…)If you apply the same thinking with Autodesk everything becomes clear… Autodesk core market is not entertainment, it's architecture and engineering and they don't really give a $@^$£% about us as the list above demonstratesclearly.The new version of Softimage, Mudbox and Motion Builder will tellexactly where they stand for third year in a row so eyes open…in the meantime I chose to focus on those companies that pro software is their core business and have market share to gain, and these are the onesSideEffects (via Houdini) Foundry (via Modo) MassiveSoftware (via Massive)So my approach is simple, force myself to transition in an abrupt way (nothing better than full inversion) and help these companies to polish their software as much as possible by being in the beta process, report allbugs, new ideas, pass them information of which things work from other packages… Exactly what I did with XSI.And one more thing, after diving in Houdini I consider it *impossible* for any software manufacturer to put the necessary resources to compete with them (I will repeat it… IMPOSSIBLE), the architecture is so advanced and so well designed it is a marvel of software engineering (and expensive to buildof course)… this is here to stay my friends. and its getting easier by the day. Jordi Bares [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> On 27 Feb 2014, at 08:42, Nicolas Esposito <[email protected] <http://gmail.com/> > wrote: Quick question regadring the switch to another software:I saw that quite few people are considering Modo or Houdini as analternative to Softimage. This is due to the fact that you want tocompletely leave Autodesk for good, or because an alternative like Maya wontsuite your needs?I'm asking because I'm not familiar nor with Maya or Modo, so I wasjust wondering what is the main reason 2014-02-27 9:21 GMT+01:00 Sebastien Sterling <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >:It's a system that seems to favour massive company's that can afford to routinely upgrade their packages, and screws the individual user for any sort of brand fidelity they may attempt to maintain; if you know you are going to get a discount (where it even 10%) on your next upgrade as a token to your brand loyalty, you would feel incentivised to perches upgrades, itsmarketing 101 no different then a loyalty card at your supermarket.The only reason for doing this is to intentionally loose a demographic. In the short term maybe this will allow AD to save money, freelancers are"infrequent in their purchases". They actually require a stable andcompetent package out of the box, something big companies usually pays their own Devs and TDs to sort out. Unlike big companies they also have the gallto voice their contempt of an inferior service.So yea this kinda makes sense for them in the short term to stabilise their key demographic, to the detriment of others probably makes the share holders smile as well. of course this also kills any form of growth within the potential market, but only time will tell what kind of impact that couldhave.On 27 February 2014 08:16, Angus Davidson <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:On Modo I am really impressed with it. Some tools are not 100% where I want them yet but overall finding it very powerful. Mesh fusion is awesome and saving my pennies to buy myself a copy of it. Stuff like rigging ishandled differently so it takes a bit to wrap your head around it.I really love things like being able to edit an animation curve in the viewport or create a custom UI that allows me to key specific things on each frame for the selected controller. Their curve editor just feels moreresponsive to me.You can see these on the new learn modo videos the posted recently.That being said its not as polished as softimage yet but you also have to bear in mind that things like decent particles and animation have only been around a few years in Modo. If Softimage does go EOL it where I amheaded for my personal stuff. Whether we go that way for our students depends on a few more things. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------! 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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From: Daniel Sweeney [[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> ] Sent: 26 February 2014 11:19 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: new upgrade policyI am as quick as I can off the autodesk rollercoaster. A few things have made my choice I will always love soft and use the tool when its needed but I think I need to look for another avenue. Looking at modo? Thoughts??Autodesk bollocks. On Feb 26, 2014 8:52 PM, "Kris Rivel" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: I read it and couldn't help but say WTH?! KrisOn Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 3:36 PM, Emilio Hernandez <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Seems they need to fill the vault... 2014-02-26 14:29 GMT-06:00 Kris Rivel <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >: > > >So...what's everyone's take on this gem? So if I don't upgrade to latest version now...then when I want that version I have to pay fullprice? http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-the-Autodesk-Upgrade-Policy.html<http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-the-Autodesk-Upgrade-Policy.html>Kris > >This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, pleasenotify 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 AfricanLaw unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.BU is a Disability Two Ticks Employer and has signed up to the MindfulEmployer charter. Information about the accessibility of University buildings can be found on the BU DisabledGo webpages <http://www.disabledgo.com/en/org/bournemouth-university>This email is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this email, which must not becopied, distributed or disclosed to any other person.Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University or its subsidiary companies. Nor can any contract be formed on behalf of the University or itssubsidiary companies via email. -- This message has been scanned for viruses anddangerous content by MailScanner <http://www.mailscanner.info/> , andis believed to be clean. This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, pleasenotify 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 AfricanLaw unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary. >
