Hi Jason, I went through a similar process, but instead of Blender, it was Houdini. I tested Modo and C4D and Houdini and came to very similar conclusions about how easy it is to use.
Where I see clear advantages in C4D and Modo over Houdini and Softimage is in OpenGL quality. C4D can display many, many things in OpenGL that I cannot get to display in any version of Softimage (procedurals, certain lighting effects, plugin results, etc.). C4D also (I agree) has a lot of stuff that makes it very easy to use for 90% of most jobs I do. While I am not happy to have to go down the paid plugin route, which makes me think of what 3DS Max users deal with) at least the plugins are almost always low or no cost and they also work with multiple versions of C4D, not always having to be recompiled for each new release of C4D. Not quite as flexible as Softimage, but a far cry from the stupiditity that is Maya when it comes to needing a new compile for each and every new version of Maya. This was one of (IMHO) Softimage's hidden talents. When you base an entire project around a plugin, and then upgrade the host application, you don't want to worry that the plugin maker might have gone out of business, thereby effectively locking you to the most recent version of the host app that worked with the plugin. Maya has this problem in SPADES. As a freelancer, or even small studios, this can mean never wanting to invest in a plugin because of the fear of having to lock (forever) to a specific release of the host DCC. While C4D isn't as flexible, I was very happy to see that it was close enough to Softimage to make me comfortable that I would be OK. Where C4D really lacks, in my opinion, is in a lack of Render Passes (sure, you can cheat them into working, but no developer created way of doing them yet). One more point: The rather large advantage that small developers like Maxon and The Foundry (OK, small compared to Autodesk) have over Autodesk, is that they can quickly jump on the bandwagon of a new technique or industry standard. It usually takes many, many, many versions of the Autodesk lineup to include something (for instance, Alembic) and when they do finally get it, it is usually a bare-bones implementation at first. I don't advocate that every new standard or technique get adopted, but it is nice to know that when it does, it will happen faster than the Autodesk implementation and will generally be more feature complete. The sweeping generalizations I have made are mostly from my own experience, your mileage may vary... On Tue, Aug 5, 2014 at 11:55 AM, Sebastien Sterling < [email protected]> wrote: > Yes, was watching a blender demo today regarding its hair workflow ,and it > is really good, but the interface ow the interface.... ow god the interface. > > > On 5 August 2014 16:45, Jason S <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Maybe it wasn't a good idea to install various trials at the same time, >> but I wanted to stress test Modo, C4d, (& Blender) at side by side. >> >> and I personally found c4d to be the most straight-forward/versatile >> (like freedom in an open field) while remaining easily managable ("asset >> management"?) and non finnicky. Quite a bit more than Modo actually, though >> it was easier to find help in Modo furums, (whilst I didn't as often need >> to in c4d) giving like a feeling that C4d is to Modo what SI is to Maya in >> terms of 'workflow', and I personally found Modo's 'user friendlyness' to >> be mostly (or only) in proportion to Maya (while at least not having Maya's >> price tag) >> >> But C4d (or modo) is still very much like a little brother, not just in >> regards to Espresso, >> but it (like Modo) always seem to add (some really very cool/useful) >> things without ever addressing some core performance/stability "issues" - >> (only being 'issues' relative to SI/Maya), while being -very hard- to see >> any light at the end of each tunnels in those respects. >> >> Blender was actually one who was 'able to take-it', but dealing with the >> outliner.. OMG.. reparentling things (alone) is excruciating(even after >> knowing how to do it), >> and there is to this day, no way to change the same properties of >> multiple objects (no spreadsheet or multi edit of any form) >> >> I think that if Blender addressed not that many things (which don't seem >> to involve too deep things compared to others) it could really be far more >> seriously be considered having it's own share of incredible things. >> >> >> But While SI can definately also bog down, and some operations can take a >> long time ... >> (in c4d for instance, reparenting 1 or 1000 objects takes the same amount >> of time, >> and that to my surprise, *technically* each app actually yeilded very >> similar raw FPS **when simply navigating** with the same amount of >> objects/polys) , >> >> .. In SI, everything remains very workable >> (interactivity/managability/stability, or not feeling like you have a >> heavy MR render region running all the time) >> with heavy loads or when pushing-it (especially so when minding a mere >> handful of things) >> >> But even without considering playback performance with lots of things >> happenning, this is all notwithstanding SI's ability to turn on dimes, or >> as mentionned; passes, gator, changing things at any level with it's >> procedural nature, it's seemless/modeless interaction model, need I go on.. >> making it (by heads & shoulders) faster than anything out there. >> >> Also in respects to many if not most new cool features, (both c4d & modo >> had lots of great new things in their last releases) >> already even without ICE, SI sort of had **TONS** of 'features' that were >> merely a combination of a few things, >> (shrinkwrap retopology for instance) >> >> But you know.. -WITH- ICE, it can easily be said that SI somehow has >> like an easy access to any feature you could ever think of, or need in a >> particular situation, which can be seen as nothing less than like an >> all-encompassing abstract feature. >> >> Which is similarly one of the things that make it (or have made it) so >> 'timeless' (indeed) :] >> >> >> >> >> On 08/05/14 9:06, olivier jeannel wrote: >> >> Yeah, well it doesn't have a modeling stack either. >> >> Looks more like a compilation of presets and "auto-tools" to me. >> >> No improvement of Mograph since ages, and the TP are an horror compared >> to ice. >> >> >> Le 05/08/2014 14:53, Rob Wuijster a écrit : >> >> Some nice things, but the one more..... wasn't Render Passes ;-P >> >> How do people cope with Modo, Cinema 4D not having Passes like in >> Softimage? >> With Modo I'm still not sure it's worth all the shuffling of item and >> polygon groups, shaders, pass groups and passes..... >> >> Rob >> >> \/-------------\/----------------\/ >> >> On 5-8-2014 14:31, Cristobal Infante wrote: >> >> Cinema 16 announced! >> >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mzym-HZ9IE#t=87 >> >> >> On 1 August 2014 02:45, Athanasios Pozantzis <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> more C4D character related links: >>> >>> http://www.the-ottoman.com/blog/ >>> >>> >>> a game level designer made with the Character Builder :-) >>> https://vimeo.com/79626573 >>> >>> >>> particle creation using the Character Builder >>> https://vimeo.com/79628599 >>> >>> >>> Train tracks using the Character builder >>> https://vimeo.com/79637056 >>> >>> >>> https://vimeo.com/46989130 >>> >>> >>> character stuff using C4D: >>> http://capacity.tv/upgrade-and-moblize/ >>> http://capacity.tv/cartoon-network/ >>> >>> so, I guess the answer to "Cinema 4D an option?" is DEFINITELY Yes, >>> C4D has an amazing character animation toolset, for TD's, riggers, >>> animators e.t.c. equivalent to the industry standard. >>> Having said that, this doesn't mean that they can't get better :-) >>> >>> Cheers >>> Thanassis >>> >>> [image: me] *Athanasios Pozantzis* >>> 103b-245 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, ON M4M 2S1 <http://noseman.org> >>> +1 (647) 294-7707 <%2B1%20%28647%29%20294-7707> >>> >>> >> No virus found in this message. >> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >> Version: 2014.0.4716 / Virus Database: 3986/7983 - Release Date: 08/05/14 >> >> >> >> >> > -- Perry Harovas Animation and Visual Effects http://www.TheAfterImage.com <http://www.theafterimage.com/> -25 Years Experience -Member of the Visual Effects Society (VES)
