mental images - future?

[Sajjad Amjad]

Hey guys,
Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.

We had this posted on the list a few days ago:
http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :
https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448

Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no
longer work at mental images"

A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?

Cheers,
Sajjad

--

-----
"Consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative" - O. Wilde

[Oscar Juarez]

Thomas Driemayer has been out of Mental Images for a while, he is working with the guys at The Bakery (www.bakery3d.com) for at least a year or so.

[Len Krenzler]

Maybe it's a good thing? They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers
as of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe
this will shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get
something done. Just hoping :-)

On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:
> Hey guys,
> Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.
>
> We had this posted on the list a few days ago:
> http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/
>
> Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :
> https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448
>
> Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no
> longer work at mental images"
>
> A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?
>
> Cheers,
> Sajjad
>

--
_________________________________________________

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

Phone: 780.463.3126

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

[Sajjad Amjad]

Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a
Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)

Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog
post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups
together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU
rendering is going to be the major focus for them.

--

[Greg Punchatz]

Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)

---

Greg Punchatz

Sr. Creative Director
Janimation
214.823.7760
www.janimation.com

[Steven Caron]

as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.

s

[Gene Crucean]

+1 Greg.... Pluuussss 1 :)

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options
> here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)
>
>
>

> Greg Punchatz
>
> Sr. Creative
> Director
> Janimation
> 214.823.7760
> www.janimation.com
>
>
>
> On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:
>
> Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a
> Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)
>
> Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog
> post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups
> together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU
> rendering is going to be the major focus for them.
>

> On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca>�<l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:
>
>
> Maybe it's a good thing? �They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as
> of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will
> shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.
> �Just hoping :-)
>
>
> On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:
>
>
>
> Hey guys,
> Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.
>
> We had this posted on the list a few days ago:
>
> http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/
>
> Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :
> https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448
>
> Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no
> longer work at mental images"
>
> A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?
>
> Cheers,
> Sajjad
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> _________________________________________________
>
> Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions
>
> Phone: 780.463.3126
>
> www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

--
[Gene Crucean] - [VFX & CG Supervisor/Generalist]
** Freelance for hire **

[Ciaran Moloney]

+1!

[Mirko Jankovic]

another + for Greg...
With Arnold you don't need anything else ;)

[Gene Crucean]

Steven. I would definitely be down for that if they lowered the price
by the cost of MR. And Reeeally made things nice for 3rd party dev's.

I would also only be interested in an Arnold/MR swap if AD had zero
say in Arnolds future decisions. Marcos and co seem to be doing a bang
up job as is.

This news could be the best thing to happen to Soft in a while if you ask me.

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Steven Caron <car...@gmail.com> wrote:
> as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.
>
> s
>
> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options
> here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)
>
>
>

> Greg Punchatz
>
> Sr. Creative
> Director
> Janimation
> 214.823.7760
> www.janimation.com
>
>
>
> On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:
>
> Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a
> Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)
>
> Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog
> post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups
> together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU
> rendering is going to be the major focus for them.
>

> On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca>�<l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:
>
>
> Maybe it's a good thing? �They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as
> of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will
> shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.
> �Just hoping :-)
>
>
> On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:
>
>
> Hey guys,
> Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.
>
> We had this posted on the list a few days ago:
>
> http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/
>
> Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :
> https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448
>
> Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no
> longer work at mental images"
>
> A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?
>
> Cheers,
> Sajjad
>
>
>
> --
> _________________________________________________
>
> Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions
>
> Phone: 780.463.3126
>
> www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

--

[Gene Crucean]

Sorry let me clarify that first paragraph...

I meant lower it by the price of the licensing difference. Whatever
they were paying MI to license it, who knows.

[Williams, Wayne]

Agreed. As one wise sage put it, “Diversify ya bondz” i.e. don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

[Meng-Yang Lu]

Yeah.  Sometime I feel like it's trading one set of advantage and disadvantages for another set.  Keeping my options open would be the best.  And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option for the job at hand.

As always, the right tool for the right job.  :)

-Lu

[Paulo César Duarte]

It´s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it´s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.
The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

[Francois Lord]

By the way, any of you guys noticed that Halfdan no longer works for
Autodesk?
http://www.linkedin.com/in/halfy

It's not the end of the world, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

On 26/05/2011 15:22, Paulo C�sar Duarte wrote:
> It�s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it�s a great render,

[Len Krenzler]

I really doubt that mental ray will be discontinued.� If anything, they'll have a fresh new team and some motivation.� As much as I'd love to see Arnold as the default that ships with SI I really doubt that too, it's probably way too expensive (just a guess).� I think SI needs to ship with something so I suspect nothing will change.� Hopefully MR gets some of that much needed attention.� AD has a lot invested in MR and like a big slow boat, they aren't likely to change at the drop of a hat.

Don't forget, Nvidia has quite a bit of experience to add.� They did a lot of work on Panta Ray for Avatar it seems as well as assisting on other projects.� So maybe something good is coming eventually.

On 5/26/2011 1:22 PM, Paulo C�sar Duarte wrote:

It�s sad if mental ray�is discontinued, because it�s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

Yeah.� Sometime I feel like it's trading one set of advantage and disadvantages for another set.� Keeping my options open would be the best.� And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option for the job at hand.

As always, the right tool for the right job.� :)

-Lu

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Williams, Wayne <wayne.w...@xaviant.com> wrote:

Agreed. As one wise sage put it, �Diversify ya bondz� i.e. don�t put all your eggs in one basket.

�

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 2:52 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: mental images - future?

�

as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.

s

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:

Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)

---

Greg Punchatz

Sr. Creative Director
Janimation
214.823.7760
www.janimation.com

On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a

Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)

�

Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog

post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups

together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU

rendering is going to be the major focus for them.

�

On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:

Maybe it's a good thing? �They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as

of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will

shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.

�Just hoping :-)

�

�

On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Hey guys,

Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.

�

We had this posted on the list a few days ago:

�

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

�

Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :

https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448

�

Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no

longer work at mental images"

�

A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?

�

Cheers,

Sajjad

�

--

_________________________________________________

�

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

�

Phone: 780.463.3126

�

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

�

�

�

[Juhani Karlsson]

Its all ok, if SI team keeps the 3rd party devs happy, like SolidAngle.
Others might join, if the SDK is developed to their needs and they support the development. : )

2011/5/26 Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca>

I really doubt that mental ray will be discontinued.  If anything, they'll have a fresh new team and some motivation.  As much as I'd love to see Arnold as the default that ships with SI I really doubt that too, it's probably way too expensive (just a guess).  I think SI needs to ship with something so I suspect nothing will change.  Hopefully MR gets some of that much needed attention.  AD has a lot invested in MR and like a big slow boat, they aren't likely to change at the drop of a hat.

Don't forget, Nvidia has quite a bit of experience to add.  They did a lot of work on Panta Ray for Avatar it seems as well as assisting on other projects.  So maybe something good is coming eventually.

On 5/26/2011 1:22 PM, Paulo César Duarte wrote:

It´s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it´s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

Yeah.  Sometime I feel like it's trading one set of advantage and disadvantages for another set.  Keeping my options open would be the best.  And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option for the job at hand.

As always, the right tool for the right job.  :)

-Lu

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Williams, Wayne <wayne.w...@xaviant.com> wrote:

Agreed. As one wise sage put it, “Diversify ya bondz” i.e. don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

 

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 2:52 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: mental images - future?

 

as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.

s

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:

Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)

---

Greg Punchatz

Sr. Creative Director
Janimation
214.823.7760
www.janimation.com

On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a

Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)

Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog

post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups

together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU

rendering is going to be the major focus for them.

On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:

Maybe it's a good thing?  They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as

of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will

shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.

 Just hoping :-)

On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Hey guys,

Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.

We had this posted on the list a few days ago:

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :

https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448

Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no

longer work at mental images"

A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?

Cheers,

Sajjad

--

_________________________________________________

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

Phone: 780.463.3126

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

[Gene Crucean]

Woa!! And he landed at Side Effects!! Cool!!

Good luck with the new gig Halfy.

On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Francois Lord <flord...@gmail.com> wrote:
> By the way, any of you guys noticed that Halfdan no longer works for Autodesk?
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/halfy
>
> It's not the end of the world, but I find it interesting nonetheless.
>

> On 26/05/2011 15:22, Paulo C�sar Duarte wrote:
>
> It�s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it�s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

> The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.
>
> Cheers.
> Paulo C. Duarte
>
>
>
>

--

[Mathieu Leclaire]

I just contacted Barton Gawboy at Mental Images and here's what he said:

OK, regarding the mental images rumors � yes, we�ve just gone through a reorganization, and are now combined with other professional software teams within NVIDIA. There have been staff reductions, but most were due to overlapping disciplines and some priority shifts. At the same time, teams on core technologies like mental ray, iray and cloud rendering have staffed-up by a fair bit. All the development managers are in place, and are now working closely with their peers within NVIDIA. The truth is, that being �independent� from NVIDIA has kept us from leveraging some serious resources and know-how there (and vice versa).We will now take full advantage. Things are changing here � but we think you�re going to like the results.

Bart

...So I guess this move is not what it seems. On the contrary, we can expect good things from this. I for one am excited to see what they come up with next.

-Mathieu

[Matt Morris]

It is the end of an era though. Best of luck with Side Effects Halfy!

On 26 May 2011 20:30, Francois Lord <flord...@gmail.com> wrote:

By the way, any of you guys noticed that Halfdan no longer works for Autodesk?
http://www.linkedin.com/in/halfy

It's not the end of the world, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

On 26/05/2011 15:22, Paulo César Duarte wrote:

It´s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it´s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

--
www.matinai.com

[Robert Chapman]

or they could take too long to develop the next version, meanwhile
everyone jumps ship to the newer, already released competition....
deja vue!

and Halfy at Side Efffects!, it is time to learn some Houdini now then :)

[Leoung O'Young]

That is what happened to Softimage when they took too long coming out
with XSI. They lost the momentum, studios and schools switched to Maya
and have to play catch up ever since.

[Sajjad Amjad]

I'm with Steven on this, I hope the Soft team continues to decouple
the renderer from the main app. More choice for the masses :-)

--

[Dwayne Elahie]

Hi,

this was probably discussed already. I was wondering where I can read
how dual quaternion works and how it is implemented in practice.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Dwayne

[Alan Fregtman]

http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/projects/DualQuaternions/

[Renato Polimeno]

Try these links:

http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/projects/DualQuaternions/

http://www.ogre3d.org/tikiwiki/SoC2011+Dual+Quaternion+Skinning

http://isg.cs.tcd.ie/kavanl/papers/sdq-tog08.pdf

Hope that helps ;)

--

______________________________

 

-> Renato Polimeno

+55 11 7539 3615 

renatopolimeno.com

facebook.com/renato.polimeno
@renatopolimeno

[Dwayne Elahie]

Thank you very much. I will check them out.

-Dwayne

[Gerbrand Nel]

Oh hell please no!!
The power of Arnold IMHO lies in SolidAgles independence of AD.
Mental ray could have been almost as good as Arnold if it wasn't tied up in a big company where decisions can take months, or even  years to be made.
A reduction in price for buying SI without MR would be nice though.
Just my 2 cents
G

---

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1375 / Virus Database: 1509/3661 - Release Date: 05/26/11

[AnimatorGuy]

Guys, I am going to underscore what Bart said to Matthieu. This is most of the story. Mental Images becomes Nvidia ARC and
combines with the OptiX team. In fact Steve Parker from OptiXis now managing all of development at ARC and Phil Miller is managing the business side.Most of the people who were let go (and BTW many of them will take other positions at Nvidia) were working
on projects that were "diluting the MI brand" a bit. The core business of ARC was and is rendering.
As you know, some products are being discontinued.The efforts are being renewed on Mental Ray 3. There is now 3.9, 3.10 [ten] is
scheduled for release and there is 3.11 and 3.12 on deck. I know, the numbering is a bit silly . . .

Yup! In Mental Ray 3.10 expect to see more GPU acceleration.Expect to see more features and improvements in iray, too.

Mental Ray is not the only rendering product ARC has.For instance, Neuray has been released in Bunkspeed. Neuray is actually
not a renderer, it is a framework that can support multiple renderers like iray, OptiX renders, CG, DX, OGL, or any other compliant
renderer you can build. So, actually, there are two iray versions: one called by Mental Ray and one as a renderer for Neuray.

One new renderer being developed at ARC in Berlin [MI] we are calling "Wonderay" is like iray on steroids. Not at liberty
to say much about it right now, but it is truly a game changer. It is beyond anything I ever imagined.

The Mental Ray future is very , very bright.
8-)



Cheers,
Peter





Peter de Lappe
PM Nvidia ARC



Mathieu Leclaire wrote:

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

Greg Punchatz

�

[Sajjad Amjad]

Thanks for the insight Peter.

Cheers,
Sajjad

> And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but
> were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option
> for the job at hand.
>
> As always, the right tool for the right job.� :)
>
> -Lu
>
> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Williams, Wayne
> <wayne.w...@xaviant.com> wrote:
>
> Agreed. As one wise sage put it, �Diversify ya bondz� i.e. don�t put all
> your eggs in one basket.
>
>
>

> From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com
> [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
> Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 2:52 PM
> To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: mental images - future?
>
>
>

> as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of
> the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK,
> improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose
> their engine.
>
> s
>
> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:
>
> Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly
> licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)
>
> Greg Punchatz
>
> Sr. Creative Director
> Janimation
> 214.823.7760
> www.janimation.com
>
> On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:
>
> Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a
>
> Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)
>
>
>

> Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog
>
> post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups
>
> together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU
>
> rendering is going to be the major focus for them.
>
>
>

> On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:
>
> Maybe it's a good thing? �They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as
>
> of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will
>
> shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.
>
> �Just hoping :-)
>
>
>
>
>

> On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:
>
> Hey guys,
>
> Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.
>
>
>

> We had this posted on the list a few days ago:
>
>
>

> http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

>
>
>
> Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :
>
> https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448
>
>
>

> Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no
>
> longer work at mental images"
>
>
>

> A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?
>
>
>

> Cheers,
>
> Sajjad

>
>
>
> --
>
> _________________________________________________
>
>
>
> Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions
>
>
>
> Phone: 780.463.3126
>
>
>
> www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> _________________________________________________
>
> Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions
>
> Phone: 780.463.3126
>
> www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca
>
>

--

[tak...@earthlink.net]

Thanks for the clarification, Pete.  Looking forward to seeing where they can take this. 

cheers,

-T

-----Original Message-----
From: AnimatorGuy
Sent: May 27, 2011 10:02 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: mental images - future?

Guys, I am going to underscore what Bart said to Matthieu. This is most of the story. Mental Images becomes Nvidia ARC and
combines with the OptiX team. In fact Steve Parker from OptiXis now managing all of development at ARC and Phil Miller is managing the business side.Most of the people who were let go (and BTW many of them will take other positions at Nvidia) were working
on projects that were "diluting the MI brand" a bit. The core business of ARC was and is rendering.
As you know, some products are being discontinued.The efforts are being renewed on Mental Ray 3. There is now 3.9, 3.10 [ten] is
scheduled for release and there is 3.11 and 3.12 on deck. I know, the numbering is a bit silly . . .

Yup! In Mental Ray 3.10 expect to see more GPU acceleration.Expect to see more features and improvements in iray, too.

Mental Ray is not the only rendering product ARC has.For instance, Neuray has been released in Bunkspeed. Neuray is actually
not a renderer, it is a framework that can support multiple renderers like iray, OptiX renders, CG, DX, OGL, or any other compliant
renderer you can build. So, actually, there are two iray versions: one called by Mental Ray and one as a renderer for Neuray.

One new renderer being developed at ARC in Berlin [MI] we are calling "Wonderay" is like iray on steroids. Not at liberty
to say much about it right now, but it is truly a game changer. It is beyond anything I ever imagined.

The Mental Ray future is very , very bright.
8-)



Cheers,
Peter





Peter de Lappe
PM Nvidia ARC



Mathieu Leclaire wrote:

I just contacted Barton Gawboy at Mental Images and here's what he said:

OK, regarding the mental images rumors – yes, we’ve just gone through a reorganization, and are now combined with other professional software teams within NVIDIA. There have been staff reductions, but most were due to overlapping disciplines and some priority shifts. At the same time, teams on core technologies like mental ray, iray and cloud rendering have staffed-up by a fair bit. All the development managers are in place, and are now working closely with their peers within NVIDIA. The truth is, that being “independent” from NVIDIA has kept us from leveraging some serious resources and know-how there (and vice versa).We will now take full advantage. Things are changing here – but we think you’re going to like the results.

Bart

...So I guess this move is not what it seems. On the contrary, we can expect good things from this. I for one am excited to see what they come up with next.

-Mathieu

Len Krenzler wrote:

I really doubt that mental ray will be discontinued.  If anything, they'll have a fresh new team and some motivation.  As much as I'd love to see Arnold as the default that ships with SI I really doubt that too, it's probably way too expensive (just a guess).  I think SI needs to ship with something so I suspect nothing will change.  Hopefully MR gets some of that much needed attention.  AD has a lot invested in MR and like a big slow boat, they aren't likely to change at the drop of a hat.

Don't forget, Nvidia has quite a bit of experience to add.  They did a lot of work on Panta Ray for Avatar it seems as well as assisting on other projects.  So maybe something good is coming eventually.

On 5/26/2011 1:22 PM, Paulo César Duarte wrote:

It´s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it´s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

Yeah.  Sometime I feel like it's trading one set of advantage and disadvantages for another set.  Keeping my options open would be the best.  And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option for the job at hand.

As always, the right tool for the right job.  :)

-Lu

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Williams, Wayne <wayne.w...@xaviant.com> wrote:

Agreed. As one wise sage put it, “Diversify ya bondz” i.e. don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

 

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 2:52 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: mental images - future?

 

as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.

s

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:

Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)

Greg Punchatz

Sr. Creative Director
Janimation
214.823.7760
www.janimation.com

On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a

Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)

Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog

post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups

together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU

rendering is going to be the major focus for them.

On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:

Maybe it's a good thing?  They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as

of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will

shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.

 Just hoping :-)

On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Hey guys,

Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.

We had this posted on the list a few days ago:

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :

https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448

Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no

longer work at mental images"

A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?

Cheers,

Sajjad

--

_________________________________________________

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

Phone: 780.463.3126

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

[peter boeykens]

and wether or not softimage is still in the picture...

 

in the late soft3D days and the early XSI days (up to ~3?) softimage and mental ray had a bit of a synergy going on.

Soft gave you the best access to mental ray in the industry - and mental ray was giving Softimage an edge.

 

But these days its like a marriage gone wrong, where both partners are still tied - but try to ignore one another as much as they can - and look elsewhere for their needs.

[Mirko Jankovic]

"But these days its like a marriage gone wrong, where both partners are still tied - but try to ignore one another as much as they can - and look elsewhere for their needs."

fantastic description of mray / SI state :)

[Steve Pratt]

Thanks for the clarification Peter, glad to hear development is still going strong.
Can you shed any light on why iRay is not exposed in Softimage?

Is it purely an Autodesk decision?

Cheers,
Steve

On 28 May 2011 12:02, AnimatorGuy <Anima...@att.net> wrote:

Guys, I am going to underscore what Bart said to Matthieu. This is most of the story. Mental Images becomes Nvidia ARC and
combines with the OptiX team. In fact Steve Parker from OptiXis now managing all of development at ARC and Phil Miller is managing the business side.Most of the people who were let go (and BTW many of them will take other positions at Nvidia) were working
on projects that were "diluting the MI brand" a bit. The core business of ARC was and is rendering.
As you know, some products are being discontinued.The efforts are being renewed on Mental Ray 3. There is now 3.9, 3.10 [ten] is
scheduled for release and there is 3.11 and 3.12 on deck. I know, the numbering is a bit silly . . .

Yup! In Mental Ray 3.10 expect to see more GPU acceleration.Expect to see more features and improvements in iray, too.

Mental Ray is not the only rendering product ARC has.For instance, Neuray has been released in Bunkspeed. Neuray is actually
not a renderer, it is a framework that can support multiple renderers like iray, OptiX renders, CG, DX, OGL, or any other compliant
renderer you can build. So, actually, there are two iray versions: one called by Mental Ray and one as a renderer for Neuray.

One new renderer being developed at ARC in Berlin [MI] we are calling "Wonderay" is like iray on steroids. Not at liberty
to say much about it right now, but it is truly a game changer. It is beyond anything I ever imagined.

The Mental Ray future is very , very bright.
8-)



Cheers,
Peter





Peter de Lappe
PM Nvidia ARC



Mathieu Leclaire wrote:

I just contacted Barton Gawboy at Mental Images and here's what he said:

OK, regarding the mental images rumors – yes, we’ve just gone through a reorganization, and are now combined with other professional software teams within NVIDIA. There have been staff reductions, but most were due to overlapping disciplines and some priority shifts. At the same time, teams on core technologies like mental ray, iray and cloud rendering have staffed-up by a fair bit. All the development managers are in place, and are now working closely with their peers within NVIDIA. The truth is, that being “independent” from NVIDIA has kept us from leveraging some serious resources and know-how there (and vice versa).We will now take full advantage. Things are changing here – but we think you’re going to like the results.

Bart

...So I guess this move is not what it seems. On the contrary, we can expect good things from this. I for one am excited to see what they come up with next.

-Mathieu

Len Krenzler wrote:

I really doubt that mental ray will be discontinued.  If anything, they'll have a fresh new team and some motivation.  As much as I'd love to see Arnold as the default that ships with SI I really doubt that too, it's probably way too expensive (just a guess).  I think SI needs to ship with something so I suspect nothing will change.  Hopefully MR gets some of that much needed attention.  AD has a lot invested in MR and like a big slow boat, they aren't likely to change at the drop of a hat.

Don't forget, Nvidia has quite a bit of experience to add.  They did a lot of work on Panta Ray for Avatar it seems as well as assisting on other projects.  So maybe something good is coming eventually.

On 5/26/2011 1:22 PM, Paulo César Duarte wrote:

It´s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it´s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

Yeah.  Sometime I feel like it's trading one set of advantage and disadvantages for another set.  Keeping my options open would be the best.  And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option for the job at hand.

As always, the right tool for the right job.  :)

-Lu

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Williams, Wayne <wayne.w...@xaviant.com> wrote:

Agreed. As one wise sage put it, “Diversify ya bondz” i.e. don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

 

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 2:52 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: mental images - future?

 

as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.

s

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:

Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)

Greg Punchatz

Sr. Creative Director
Janimation
214.823.7760
www.janimation.com

On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a

Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)

Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog

post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups

together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU

rendering is going to be the major focus for them.

On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:

Maybe it's a good thing?  They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as

of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will

shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.

 Just hoping :-)

On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Hey guys,

Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.

We had this posted on the list a few days ago:

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :

https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448

Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no

longer work at mental images"

A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?

Cheers,

Sajjad

--

_________________________________________________

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

Phone: 780.463.3126

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

[Len Krenzler]

This is extremely good news!!� Especially about the ongoing development of MR with GPU help and the new "Wonderay"!� Can't wait to see it.� I always thought that the purchase of MI by Nvidia was a great thing.� Now if we could just get SI to at least activate Iray...

OK, regarding the mental images rumors � yes, we�ve just gone through a reorganization, and are now combined with other professional software teams within NVIDIA. There have been staff reductions, but most were due to overlapping disciplines and some priority shifts. At the same time, teams on core technologies like mental ray, iray and cloud rendering have staffed-up by a fair bit. All the development managers are in place, and are now working closely with their peers within NVIDIA. The truth is, that being �independent� from NVIDIA has kept us from leveraging some serious resources and know-how there (and vice versa).We will now take full advantage. Things are changing here � but we think you�re going to like the results.

Bart

...So I guess this move is not what it seems. On the contrary, we can expect good things from this. I for one am excited to see what they come up with next.

-Mathieu

Len Krenzler wrote:

I really doubt that mental ray will be discontinued.� If anything, they'll have a fresh new team and some motivation.� As much as I'd love to see Arnold as the default that ships with SI I really doubt that too, it's probably way too expensive (just a guess).� I think SI needs to ship with something so I suspect nothing will change.� Hopefully MR gets some of that much needed attention.� AD has a lot invested in MR and like a big slow boat, they aren't likely to change at the drop of a hat.

Don't forget, Nvidia has quite a bit of experience to add.� They did a lot of work on Panta Ray for Avatar it seems as well as assisting on other projects.� So maybe something good is coming eventually.

On 5/26/2011 1:22 PM, Paulo C�sar Duarte wrote:

It�s sad if mental ray�is discontinued, because it�s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

Yeah.� Sometime I feel like it's trading one set of advantage and disadvantages for another set.� Keeping my options open would be the best.� And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option for the job at hand.

As always, the right tool for the right job.� :)

-Lu

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Williams, Wayne <wayne.w...@xaviant.com> wrote:

Agreed. As one wise sage put it, �Diversify ya bondz� i.e. don�t put all your eggs in one basket.

�

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 2:52 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: mental images - future?

�

as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.

s

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:

Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)

Greg Punchatz

Sr. Creative Director
Janimation
214.823.7760
www.janimation.com

On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a

Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)

�

Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog

post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups

together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU

rendering is going to be the major focus for them.

�

On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:

Maybe it's a good thing? �They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as

of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will

shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.

�Just hoping :-)

�

�

On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Hey guys,

Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.

�

We had this posted on the list a few days ago:

�

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

�

Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :

https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448

�

Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no

longer work at mental images"

�

A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?

�

Cheers,

Sajjad

�

--

_________________________________________________

�

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

�

Phone: 780.463.3126

�

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

�

�

�

-- 
_________________________________________________

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

Phone: 780.463.3126

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

[Jordi Riera]

That seems good news !
I really look forward reading more about new moves from MI.
Any talk planned about this (wonderRay, Neuray) during the SIGGRAPH ?

Cheers
Jordi

On Sat, May 28, 2011 at 3:02 AM, AnimatorGuy <Anima...@att.net> wrote:

Guys, I am going to underscore what Bart said to Matthieu. This is most of the story. Mental Images becomes Nvidia ARC and
combines with the OptiX team. In fact Steve Parker from OptiXis now managing all of development at ARC and Phil Miller is managing the business side.Most of the people who were let go (and BTW many of them will take other positions at Nvidia) were working
on projects that were "diluting the MI brand" a bit. The core business of ARC was and is rendering.
As you know, some products are being discontinued.The efforts are being renewed on Mental Ray 3. There is now 3.9, 3.10 [ten] is
scheduled for release and there is 3.11 and 3.12 on deck. I know, the numbering is a bit silly . . .

Yup! In Mental Ray 3.10 expect to see more GPU acceleration.Expect to see more features and improvements in iray, too.

Mental Ray is not the only rendering product ARC has.For instance, Neuray has been released in Bunkspeed. Neuray is actually
not a renderer, it is a framework that can support multiple renderers like iray, OptiX renders, CG, DX, OGL, or any other compliant
renderer you can build. So, actually, there are two iray versions: one called by Mental Ray and one as a renderer for Neuray.

One new renderer being developed at ARC in Berlin [MI] we are calling "Wonderay" is like iray on steroids. Not at liberty
to say much about it right now, but it is truly a game changer. It is beyond anything I ever imagined.

The Mental Ray future is very , very bright.
8-)



Cheers,
Peter





Peter de Lappe
PM Nvidia ARC

Mathieu Leclaire wrote:

I just contacted Barton Gawboy at Mental Images and here's what he said:

OK, regarding the mental images rumors – yes, we’ve just gone through a reorganization, and are now combined with other professional software teams within NVIDIA. There have been staff reductions, but most were due to overlapping disciplines and some priority shifts. At the same time, teams on core technologies like mental ray, iray and cloud rendering have staffed-up by a fair bit. All the development managers are in place, and are now working closely with their peers within NVIDIA. The truth is, that being “independent” from NVIDIA has kept us from leveraging some serious resources and know-how there (and vice versa).We will now take full advantage. Things are changing here – but we think you’re going to like the results.

Bart

...So I guess this move is not what it seems. On the contrary, we can expect good things from this. I for one am excited to see what they come up with next.

-Mathieu

Len Krenzler wrote:

I really doubt that mental ray will be discontinued.  If anything, they'll have a fresh new team and some motivation.  As much as I'd love to see Arnold as the default that ships with SI I really doubt that too, it's probably way too expensive (just a guess).  I think SI needs to ship with something so I suspect nothing will change.  Hopefully MR gets some of that much needed attention.  AD has a lot invested in MR and like a big slow boat, they aren't likely to change at the drop of a hat.

Don't forget, Nvidia has quite a bit of experience to add.  They did a lot of work on Panta Ray for Avatar it seems as well as assisting on other projects.  So maybe something good is coming eventually.

On 5/26/2011 1:22 PM, Paulo César Duarte wrote:

It´s sad if mental ray is discontinued, because it´s a great render, you can make any visual, from cartoon to realistic renders.

The problem with mental ray is that he got little attention on development last years, and practically stop in time.

Cheers.
Paulo C. Duarte

2011/5/26 Meng-Yang Lu <ntmo...@gmail.com>

Yeah.  Sometime I feel like it's trading one set of advantage and disadvantages for another set.  Keeping my options open would be the best.  And believe it or not, there was a situation where we were using Arnold, but were considering that maybe another renderer might have been a better option for the job at hand.

As always, the right tool for the right job.  :)

-Lu

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Williams, Wayne <wayne.w...@xaviant.com> wrote:

Agreed. As one wise sage put it, “Diversify ya bondz” i.e. don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

 

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 2:52 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: mental images - future?

 

as much as i like arnold, i think that might be repeating the decision of the past choosing MR as their main engine. i continue to open the SDK, improve 3rd party relationships, and provide options for users to choose their engine.

s

On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Greg Punchatz <gr...@janimation.com> wrote:

Well I for one hope this has AD looking at their options here...mainly licensing Arnold as the main AD render engine:)

Greg Punchatz

Sr. Creative Director
Janimation
214.823.7760
www.janimation.com

On 5/26/2011 12:24 PM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Thanks for clarifying that Oscar, I'm no conspiracy theorist but a

Twitter post like that don't inspire confidence :-)

Len, I'm hoping beyond hope it will be a good thing. The nVidia blog

post says a lot but no specifics. They've brought the two groups

together to form the Advanced Rendering Center? Sounds like GPU

rendering is going to be the major focus for them.

On 26 May 2011 18:16, Len Krenzler <l...@creativecontrol.ca> wrote:

Maybe it's a good thing?  They've had a lot of pretty unhappy customers as

of late with not much to show over the last couple years so maybe this will

shake things up a bit and Nvidia will light a fire and get something done.

 Just hoping :-)

On 5/26/2011 11:01 AM, Sajjad Amjad wrote:

Hey guys,

Wondering if anyone knows what's going down over at mental images.

We had this posted on the list a few days ago:

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/05/nvidia-integrates-workstation-software-efforts/

Then Moritz Moeller on Twitter a few days ago :

https://twitter.com/#!/virtualritz/status/72603197121896448

Finally, Thomas Driemeyer (www.bitrot.de) says on his page "I no

longer work at mental images"

A good time to look for other renderers perhaps?

Cheers,

Sajjad

--

_________________________________________________

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

Phone: 780.463.3126

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

-- 
_________________________________________________

Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions

Phone: 780.463.3126

www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.ca

--
- Jordi Riera  

-- Software Developer - MPC ( London, http://www.moving-picture.com )
-- Founder and Public Relations - CGStudioMap ( http://www.CGStudioMap.com )