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Sculptris - dynamic mesh tesselation


JamesE
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This is blender sclupt though not sculptris, i don't think it uses the sculptris code either but certain things are inspired by how sculptris works. I know people probably know this though but blender sculpt should get a new thread maybe which is why i say this. :)

Btw - On the blender artists forum in the main thread there has been a few quite high detail sculpt images posted.

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Nope, Ton won't be bought, from my many years of observing him and his work. This is a matter of pride for him. He's out to prove something to the world.

I think he is succeeding.

Did you know someone in the Blender development community is working on their version of automatic meshing of "Unlimited Clay" sculptures. Looks like they are hot on our tails.

Greg Smith

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  • Applink Developer

That's true that they can buy developers. But there is always coming new ones. Blender is a good for university students who wants to do

something cool and show they talents for everyone. Just recently the guy who was coding blender render features was hired to octane render.

That's only good thing. Now there is a lot of blender talent in octane render so maybe we can see something interesting in the future. We will

see.

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That's true that they can buy developers. But there is always coming new ones. Blender is a good for university students who wants to do

something cool and show they talents for everyone. Just recently the guy who was coding blender render features was hired to octane render.

That's only good thing. Now there is a lot of blender talent in octane render so maybe we can see something interesting in the future. We will

see.

No matter how good Blender gets, it will always be viewed as a non-industry standard toolset...and students can download the whole Autodesk Creation Suite for free (while they are in school, naturally), as a relatively new education initiative by Autodesk. Very smart on their part, as it cuts the legs out from under piracy (to a large degree), and it's like getting kids hooked on your product, knowing they'll be inclined to stick with AD once they graduate and start work.

Nevertheless, I still think more and more smaller studios and freelance artists are going to get wise and get it in the pipeline somewhere...it just makes too much sense financially.

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Please pardon the long rant ;-)

anyone who has had to deal with an Autodesk licensing/site issue know how great blender is(in more than just the licensing sense), IF IT WORKS IN YOUR PIPELINE of course. If you want a good laugh, read your autodesk licensing agreement and look for the section that refers to where and what you can do with your license regarding the country you are "attempting" to use your autodesk product in, LOL. Opensource becomes a saving grace in such a case IMO.

Maya(autocad, 3ds Max, mudbox, lightwave core, etc) are VERY solid products, with their own issues and caveats, as goes for EVERY bit of software. However, The lack of a scaleable purchase price will assist in proving(in the long term) which software package will have industry adoption. A free autodesk short-term license to an unemployed worker or student is a good idea, but I will be surprised if it fights off a moderate rist in adoption of Blender amongst non-behemoth-studios.

Ton & the Blender foundation aren't playing to lose, neither are the (socialist) governments behind making blender grow/mature(with grants and other support). After the premiere of the new open-movie project(Durian/Sintel), IMO prepare for another erosion of the 3D app established empires. And not in the sense that professional studios will dump apps like Maya (Immediately or ever perhaps), as Maya is a VERY mature product(3ds max is very good too, but its no maya IMO, LW Core has a way to go IMO, Houdini is still friggin awesome IMO). Long term though, once the python API is given the final thumbs up(after the beta probably), there will be change in the industry, as has already started to happen. Anyone who uses Maya(or houdini, 3ds, SoftImage, etc) knows how very powerful a robust scripting API is in a professional pipeline, and with the combination of NGons(BMESH), and a full Python API, the industry best be prepared. This is the calm before the storm IMO. I still use a number of Software packages for their strengths(subjectively speaking), but each time I open Blender I find myself being able to use another package less and less, taking me from using certain apps for over a decade, to barely using them any longer thanks to Blender, though I still upgrade some of them ;-)... just me, but I'm not alone, thankfully.

Pardon the rant, but the recent purchase of Sculptris was imminent IMO, as was that of SoftImage no too long ago. Now the way that ZBrush(Pixologic) handles its upgrade policy, and its customers is one in a million, but with other goliath-like companies moving ALL software into a per year SUBSCRIPTION policy, even for VERY mediocre upgrades not fixing core issues, the average user with a limited budget just may become wary more and more of expensive annual subscription 3D packages, or at least that is what I have seen from those I work with. When a company (Newtek, Autodesk, Etc) demands a thousand dollars(or more) every year, or every other year, the non-studio customer might find apps like Blender more and more comfortable, just an opinion for the moment though.

At least Sculptris is still free, for now, but so goes the "free-market" ;-)

Blender's unlimited Clay is yet another awesome feature that will (hopefully) make it into the blender Trunk some day soon. The power of layering unlimited clay, with multires, with armatures rigged on the low poly mesh before the modifiers, should let some users imagine the power in this feature(not counting the ability to layer baked displacements as modifiers too).

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When a company (Newtek, Autodesk, Etc) demands a thousand dollars(or more) every year, or every other year, the non-studio customer might find apps like Blender more and more comfortable, just an opinion for the moment though.

Just to be clear NewTek has no subscription that you have to pay for every year.

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Just to be clear NewTek has no subscription that you have to pay for every year.

Perhaps I misunderstood the wording on NewTek's own website :

"To become a LightWave HardCORE member you must hold a licensed and registered copy of LightWave v9. Your LightWave v9 registration entitles you to purchase an annual membership for US$495."

that is quoted from the lightwave core web page on newtek's site http://www.newtek.com/lightwave/core/

that still sounds to me like a $495.00 annual subscription to get the newest version of the software, similar(or nearly identical) to Autodesk in some/many respects IMO.

I understand that developers need to make $$, I pay a number of them for their great software, but I was pointing out a trend that I hear a number of 3D artists speak not-too-highly of, that being annual subscriptions.

EDIT: Thanks for pointing that out Phil, still looks to me like they MIGHT be creeping towards the subscription only plans, ugh, I've been with Lightwave since V4.0, but 9.6 is the last update I'll likely be using of LW, its been great using LW through the years. Blender has replaced LW for most of my needs in the non-sculpting/texturing 3d areas, just for me and my pipelines.

EDIT2: Still IMO, a subscription is a subscription, and technically speaking, you DO have to pay an annual subscription to NewTek for the benefit of using the newest version of Core that is available.

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Right you can join HardCORE and get all of the minor updates but you don't have to, you could just buy the next full update when it's released, like skipping 10.3 and 10.6 and going straight for 11. You also aren't required to pay every year, you could skip 11 and buy 12 when it's released without any penalty.

That quote just says you need LW9 in order to upgrade to 10 which is what HardCORE is. Same thing happened when I bought 9, it was an upgrade from 8 so I got to beta test the next version. Only difference is they're calling it Hard CORE instead of Open Beta.

Edit: Ah here we are from the general FAQ link on the page you linked to:

Is HardCORE a membership program for LightWave?

Yes, but it is not mandatory. You can still buy LightWave upgrades the way you always have in the past. The HardCORE program is an alternative that will allow you to interact more closely with our developers and participate in the development of LightWave with CORE Technology. As a member of the HardCORE community you receive early access to LightWave with CORE Technology builds and have the opportunity to work with and provide feedback to LightWave engineering management on the application as it develops.

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I agree with you ifxs. When we get 100% python Api support + Bmesh. That will be pure joy for blender users. Also features like unlimited clay will spice

up blender quite nicely. If someone would have asked me to use blender 2 years ago. I would have replied something like: Are you crazy, bad UI, bad etc...

But right now you can call me a fan boy in two things. 3d-coat and blender (houdini is very close but not just quite yet). Blender 2.5 is still unfinished

product but when 2.6 hits the market. it will be a hard hit.

And when blender is free. There is a opportunity to pay donations for developers that code features that are important for you. I see huge potential in this, because

Blender has one of the largest user base in the world. I have been donation my money for bmesh and vray support. Because I feel that those two features really makes

the diffrent. But it seams that I will have to give some donations for this guy who is making unlimited clay because that just look too cool.

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I have to admit that i cannot pay thousands of dollars for a software, thats why i began using Blender a few years ago. Today i simply see no reason to switch to another solution. Blender is the most honest deal (3D-Coat apart ;)), its best suited for gamedev, animations and stills. Over all the years it has always been very stable, is in rapid development (partly thanks to GSoC), has a overwhelming number of features and a huge friendly community.

From all i know about Autodesk(3DSMAX,Maya,XSI,Mudbox) some of these points are the opposite and users are basically cash-cows instead of contributing entities. Despite that, many Maya users also like Blender, partly for its speedy workflow and feature set.

However, good art is always about the artist not the software and its good we have choices!

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Actually Phil, just to clarify, if you buy before the first release build is shipped, then and only then will you be able to be in "hardcore", if you buy any time after that, you will not be allowed in, and will only be paying for the upgrade, NOT for "hardcore" membership. The "hardcore" thing is on a very limited time basis - That is, until NT decides to open it up again.

Anyway, blender is looking better and better. Hope they can nip the rest of the UI issues. Either way though I plan on using it for bullet simulations.

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Well we shall see in 5 years where blender and AD stand. Though I don`t like AD theres no arguing they`re number one.

As of right now, job oppurtinities

for blender - few and rare

for lw - as rare as blender. Lol

for c4d - quite a lot in motion graphics and tv.

for AD - unless you`re under a rock its a monopoly

anyway it doesnt take anything away from the fact that blender is indeed impressive for a free app and the developer of this plug should work for newtek(not AD please) so they can add to core team. But I heard he`s from cuba and can`t be hired for political reasons.

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Yes I would like to use blender for fluid sims and maybe the game engine, these are all very promising, once I can feel satisfied with the UI.

The new 2.5 UI is very clean and logical. In Blender everything is basically on one single screen, there are no dialogues. When you need a feature - like UV editing, you split a window and open it in one of the halfes.

PS:

Update on unlimited clay in Blender :blink: : http://www.blendernation.com/2010/09/08/new-unlimited-clay-modifier-video-from-farsthary/#utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Blendernation+%28BlenderNation%29

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I've never heard that an artist did not got the job because he did not use a specified software previously unless maybe as an excuse. Good artists will get work regardless of the software listed on the job posting. In the worst case they have to use another software package. But often, at least with a bit of reputation, they can use their prefered software package.

But sure i see what you mean, AD is pushing their products alot, students learn first in Maya and tend to continue so. However whatever comes in five years i hope that artists pick their software by its qualities and value not because they're feel forced to.

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I've never heard that an artist did not got the job because he did not use a specified software previously unless maybe as an excuse. Good artists will get work regardless of the software listed on the job posting. In the worst case they have to use another software package. But often, at least with a bit of reputation, they can use their prefered software package.

But sure i see what you mean, AD is pushing their products alot, students learn first in Maya and tend to continue so. However whatever comes in five years i hope that artists pick their software by its qualities and value not because they're feel forced to.

No offense but what country are you from. Because here in japan if you dont know max, maya, xsi, your chances of getting a job is slim.

There are some posts at newtek forum about UK lightwave artists having a tough time finding job because they use lw only. These are real generalists that know more than modelling,texturing. I myself can`t survive if I stick to lw only. My job requires 3dmax. Its sad that AD has monopoly.

As for blender there`s no job at all here. But I really like blender fluids and actually used it in production to do something like this.

http://link.brightcove.co.jp/services/player/bcpid2902046001?bctid=sd_newstyle_30_3 :)

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The new GUI helps things a lot i think, like many others i wouldn't have ever tried it if they had not done that update. I am used to it's workflow now which has a learning curve but for a free app it is great and can do so many things.

It's best strength is the fact it can be expanded with python and not just builds so there is often great new features and addons getting made, it makes me wish 3DC had python or lua etc scripting.

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The new 2.5 UI is very clean and logical. In Blender everything is basically on one single screen, there are no dialogues. When you need a feature - like UV editing, you split a window and open it in one of the halfes.

That's true...Or you could make life easier on yourself by using this feature:

post-589-12839680963607_thumb.png

post-589-12839681558288_thumb.png

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I'm surprised to hear that, I understood Max was gaining ground in Japan but I had always heard that Japan was one place where LightWave was really big.

Nope. That`s a decade year old fact. The majority of cg studios are in Tokyo. There`s a directory of studios in cgworld japan magazine. Most are using 3dmax, maya, xsi. Hobbyist and freelance use lightwave, shade, blender. But they`re few in numbers. My work in the company requires me to use max. But I still love lightwave for personal stuff and its affordable.

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