Another alternative to Softimage

[Paulo César Duarte]

Between, Houdini, Modo, Lightwave and Cinema 4d, Blender is also a good alternative, I'd say he's a middle ground between Modo and Lightwave, but the best thing about him is opensource and the community, any developer can implement something in it.

Take a look in this "The best blender demo reel film 2013":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8l8WNHwTOg

Blender has ongoing projects very interesting like the "Molecular", which seems to me better than Lagoa, and it's not finish yet, but you can use right now:

http://pyroevil.com/2013/10/03/molecular-v1-0-1-uvs-feature-and-osx-build-now-available/

http://pyroevil.com/2013/09/11/block-of-sand-4-millions-of-particles/

http://pyroevil.com/2013/08/28/fluid-solid-and-granular/

http://pyroevil.com/2013/08/28/1920-x-1080-4-millions-particles-simulation-wallpaper/

http://pyroevil.com/2013/03/18/a-little-rope-simulation-with-cython-code/

http://pyroevil.com/2013/04/07/test-with-a-cube-of-sand/

http://pyroevil.com/2013/05/25/cloth-test-with-molecular-addon/

A data processing project similar to ICE:

http://phonybone.planetblender.org/

Advanced procedural polymodeling/remeshing:

http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?279453-Polydrive-advanced-procedural-polymodeling-remeshing-(-possibly-development-funding)&p=2454126&viewfull=1#post2454126

Node-based everything and openCL particles:

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?284448-Node-based-everything-and-openCL-particles

Development, Roadmap, Daily Builds, Contacting with Developers...

http://www.blender.org/get-involved/developers/

http://code.blender.org/

Valve is supporting 2 developers to work on Blender:

http://code.blender.org/index.php/2013/09/valve-steam-workshop-donations-2-devs-get-hired/

I think Blender has a great future and can be a good alternative between Modo or Lightwave.

Take a look on artwork from do Max Puliero:

http://blendernews.org/xe/Feature_Articles/8087

Also now V-Ray has a official plugin:

http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/vray_blender.html

One of The best resources to learning:

http://www.blenderguru.com/

Community:

http://blenderartists.org/forum/index.php

Softimage Theme for Blender:

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?227802-THEME-Softimage-2-70

Blender 2.70 Overview of New Features:

http://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/blender-2-70-overview-new-features/ 

Other works with Blender:

http://libregraphicsworld.org/blog/entry/10-best-commercials-made-with-blender-in-2013

Cheers.

Paulo Duarte

--

www.pauloduarte.ws

[Dan Yargici]

+1

I think it's foolish to dismiss Blender as some kind of joke DCC.  It has a lot of nice things going for it.  I've been looking over the 2.70 features this morning (before the government here decided to turn off YouTube...) and it's once again taken some good strides.

DAN

[Ed Schiffer]

+1, Paulo

I'm still not prepared to let go of Softimage, but would definitely give Blender a chance.

--
www.edschiffer.com

[Paulo César Duarte]

Hello Ed!!!!

Well, I'm not going to leave Softimage, it's like part of my arm, five years from now, will still be a great software, but I'm always following the evolution of Blender and make me happy every new release.

--

www.pauloduarte.ws

[Sebastien Sterling]

How the hell does blender get closer to ICE in 1 release then AD ? early days still but they get an awfull lot of things right.

[Paulo César Duarte]

Well, I never said that it was close to the ICE, I just showed the projects that are walking the path to get there.

--

www.pauloduarte.ws

[Sebastien Sterling]

I said it was obviously early days

but they do get the color coded ports and tree assembly looks similar.

[Doeke Wartena]

I tried blender before and it was horrible. But a lot seems to be changed. Once sofitmage get's to old for me or my pc i think i will give blender another change.

I really like that it is open source.

Nice list in the OP btw.

Can blender be bought by a company? Or who owns blender?

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Problem with Blender IMHO still is, that everybody invariably mentions
how it's "making great strides"/"getting there",
conveniently overlooking the fact that this simply implies that it's not
there yet!

Greetz
Leendert

--
Leendert A. Hartog – Softimage hobbyist
AKA Hirazi Blue – Administrator @, NOT the owner of si-community.com

[Stefan Kubicek]

Blender is a foundation, hence does not "belong" to anybody, very much like the source code, which is open source.

Funding comes mostly from Google and Microsoft (afaik), with individuals making occasional donations too.

On Fri, 28 Mar 2014 09:49:30 +0100, Doeke Wartena <clank...@gmail.com> wrote:

Can blender be bought by a company? Or who owns blender?

--

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

[klak06]

Leendert,

I don`t think people are conveniently overlooking the fact.
I wonder where Blender would be if it had the resources available
AD has to innovate, develop blablabla...

The more people support it in one or another way
the sooner it hopefully will reach the state
of being a true alternative to the AD route.

IMHO they already have come pretty far, don`t you think?

As mentioned before recent events force a lot of people to take
another look at what applications are out there - and where they stand
today.
People who looked at Blender, Modo or Houdini some time ago
and were not really comfortable with what they saw
seem to be pleasantly surprised to see how far those packages have come by
now.
And to take a closer look does not hurt for sure, right?

That does not take away the fact that AD does not provide a true alternative
which actually causes this mess people are facing now.

cheers, Klaus

[Mirko Jankovic]

Is tehre option in Blender to have "normal viewport interaction, something that we are used to over the last decades of work on all other 3d apps? 

s or alt and mouse and walk around the scene? :)

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Oh, my remark wasn't about Autodesk or the state of the industry/other
software for once.
My remark was solely about the perception of Blender.
We all do want to love it (yes, we do!), but it still falls short.
And believe me, I've been sampling Blender since the beginning of this
century,
desperately wanting to love it just that little bit more...

[Jon Swindells]

there are hotkey/navigation setups for maya and max

either set it on the splash or ctrl+alt+u and they are in the input section.

 

have a dig around for 'release confirms' and set the select to be lmb and you should find things start getting 

better faster :)

 

 

 

--

Jon Swindells

jon_sw...@fastmail.fm

 

[Dan Yargici]

That's not what I meant to imply at all in my case.  I absolutely believe I could use it for a commercial project, however I as I work primarily as a ICE TD (and Generalist) for pretty much all my work, I'm unable to; just as I am unable to use Max or Maya...

As I freelance for other companies I currently have little choice unless companies adopt it (not that I would willingly choose or suggest Blender over Softimage given the choice), so it's a moot point.  Plus, I am unlikely to find a company that uses Blender and is also able pay me the same daily rate that I charge normally.

As with all things there is a threshold of economics/performance/convenience that needs to be crossed, but I believe we'll get there sooner rather than later and I applaud them for what they're doing.

DAN

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Oh, don't let my slight semantic cynicism fool you into thinking
that I don't "applaud them for what they're doing".

Greetz
Leendert

Dan Yargici schreef op 28-3-2014 12:02:

As with all things there is a threshold of economics/performance/convenience that needs to be crossed, but I believe we'll get there sooner rather than later and I applaud them for what they're doing.

[Angus Davidson]

Anyone on list know who I could speak regarding an merchandising opportunity associated with Pacific Rim ?

Kind regards

Angus

From: "Leendert A. Hartog" <hiraz...@live.nl>
Reply-To: "soft...@listproc.autodesk.com" <soft...@listproc.autodesk.com>
Date: Friday 28 March 2014 at 2:01 PM
To: "soft...@listproc.autodesk.com" <soft...@listproc.autodesk.com>
Subject: Re: Another alternative to Softimage

This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.

[Sebastien Sterling]

where you responsible for assets ?

[Angus Davidson]

Hi Sebastien

It was a student project which has been identified as having this possibility. So the assets  were created by them. Would need to check on the exact legal standing within the university context. This is all very new for us.

Kind regards

Angus

[Alan Fregtman]

I don't have contacts but Pacific Rim is owned by both Legendary Pictures and WB. You should talk to either of their folks. Try Legendary first:

http://www.google.ca/finance?cid=1021586

https://twitter.com/Legendary

[Angus Davidson]

Will most definitely do so;) Thanks Alan.

---

From: Alan Fregtman [alan.f...@gmail.com]
Sent: 28 March 2014 04:36 PM
To: XSI Mailing List

[Paulo César Duarte]

Maya style 3D-Viewport navigation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12fqTUyDts0

--

www.pauloduarte.ws

[Sebastien Sterling]

Did they make models of the yagers (robots) ? cause those already exist as toys I'm pretty sure. still... maybe if you put a baseball cap on one of them that could slide :P.

[Angus Davidson]

Sadly its not something I can describe without totally giving it away.

No Yeagers in Caps, I can promise you that.

---

From: Sebastien Sterling [sebastien...@gmail.com]
Sent: 28 March 2014 06:18 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com

[Sam Bowling]

They ever get a working bevel tool for blender? Last time I looked at it, there wasn’t even a decent way to do bevels and that was where I stopped looking at it.  A tool that has been around this long lacking one of the most basic modeling tools is just sad. Sure, it’s great for free, but it’s still pretty bad for any real professional work.  The interface is also still terrible.

 

From: softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Ed Schiffer
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 7:19 PM
To: Softimage Mailing List
Subject: Re: Another alternative to Softimage

 

+1, Paulo

 

I'm still not prepared to let go of Softimage, but would definitely give Blender a chance.

On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 1:48 PM, Dan Yargici <danya...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

--
www.edschiffer.com

[Dan Yargici]

I'm sorry but "the interface is still terrible" is just a cheap shot that is overused by people that have opened it for 10 minutes, found it's different, and closed it again.  What is it you find terrible?

It certainly needs organising a little (something they're doing, and the introduction of tabs in 2.7 has gone a long way to reducing clutter) but from what I've been reading here lately Maya's is no bed of roses either...

Yes, you can now bevel both in edit mode, or with an operator.

Sent from my phone...

[Sebastien Sterling]

It does tend to bloat its own interface, lot of panels opening up, similar to maya.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ2ob8F3sJQ

This may be an older version of Blender but it's the version i tried, have they fixed this ?

i mean they can pretty much take the package where ever they want, something i feel autodesk
can't do for fear of disgruntling its precious maya legacy users, a practice i find damnable cheap and cowardly.

even if you are not going to change the core interface, initiatives such as CAD Junkie ZEN are a breath of fresh air in this regard and free to boot

letting people experience tools in an up to date efficient new layout.

[Angus Davidson]

The new interface stuff starts rolling in in 2.70

To me its a lot better then it was back in mid June 2012

Not there yet mind you, but definitely better.

---

From: Sebastien Sterling [sebastien...@gmail.com]
Sent: 01 April 2014 05:35 PM
To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Dan Yargici schreef op 1-4-2014 8:41:

>
> I'm sorry but "the interface is still terrible" is just a cheap shot
> that is overused by people that have opened it for 10 minutes, found
> it's different, and closed it again.
>

As someone how did a little bit more than merely opening it for 10
minutes, I agree that it's an overused criticism, but that sadly doesn't
make it less true...

Greetz
Leendert

[Jordi Bares]

Watching this makes me wonder if there is any vision whatsoever in the Blender community..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYiiD-p2q80

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIedljapuz0

Jordi Bares

jordi...@gmail.com

[Paulo César Duarte]

Bevel, select edge and Ctrl + B or use the object modifier.

About the interface, each new version has an implementation, I think the editing speed of the object can still improve, but it is much more customizable than Softimage, in positioning of tools layout and colors. Just take a fast look at these two videos:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-MKZTvJIrQ

--

www.pauloduarte.ws

[philipp.oeser]

I also think the interface is

(a) quite usable as vanilla blender [ i really think so :) even though I do some tweaks as well...]

(b) easily customizable to your needs, have a look at these guys (stripping away anything but the stuff they need for their interior designer)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW0Ac2cK1Ss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s6Sl7og7xY

 

Greetz

Philipp

 

 

 

Paulo César Duarte <pauloc...@gmail.com> hat am 1. April 2014 um 17:51 geschrieben:

Bevel, select edge and Ctrl + B or use the object modifier.

 

About the interface , each new version has an implementation , I think the editing speed of the object can still improve, but it is much more customizable than Softimage , in positioning of tools layout and colors . Just take a fast look at these two videos :

 

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

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-MKZTvJIrQ

 

[Paulo César Duarte]

Very nice works with Blender by "Christophe SEUX":

http://vimeo.com/90280028

--

www.pauloduarte.ws

[Andres Stephens]

I have been looking more and  more into Blender. I use it mainly for compositing and video editing - and UV’s and some basic texture painting. It’s a fun software once you get the hang of the interface, and yes, it is flexible but still lacking in the SI side of things...

But I have been following the progress of the Blendergraph and other node addon abilities that have been mentioned and are trying to be implemented into the software. With some focus and investment I am sure Blender will come up to par eventually. =)

 

-Draise

 

[David Saber]

Wasn't this posted just some days ago?

[Ahmidou Lyazidi]

A nice post about Sverchok the blender nodal system:

http://blendersushi.blogspot.it/2014/04/sverchok-embracing-art-of-parametric.html

-----------------------------------------------
Ahmidou Lyazidi
Director | TD | CG artist
http://vimeo.com/ahmidou/videos
http://www.cappuccino-films.com

[Paulo César Duarte]

Great work, hopeful to be able to work with a tool equivalent to ICE in Blender. 

--

www.pauloduarte.ws

[Doeke Wartena]

I also started with blender now.

The UI is way better then it has been. But still it could use some work.

So far I kinda like blender, it being free and capable of a lot of things.

Also the cycles render engine is great.

The start up time is amazing btw, it starts in less then a second!

[Chris Johnson]

I posted this a while back and caused a bit of a stir. A friend of mine has spent years in blender. Mostly modeling and using it for retopo work. Apparently lots of other great features. He's spent a lot of time customizing the ui for it to work better. He updates it regular ly with each new release. I could get you a link to his build if your interested.

Another nice thing about blender is you can launch it from anywhere...no install necessary.

[Pierre Schiller]

I´m jumping into blender bandwagon 2 years from now. Last conference was very uplifting with what´s comming in the feature.

But, if you got a link to those UI improvements from your friend, yes, please share :D

Thanks.

--

Portfolio 2013

Cinema & TV production

Video Reel

[Doeke Wartena]

Could you post some screens from the UI improvements?

[Patrick Neese]

I am also interested in the UI improvements/link

[Chris Johnson]

here's the link with a brief video explanation.

http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?352666-Input-Custom-Blender-Setup-Silo-Maya-esque

He has another version with added scripts for retopo and some other stuff but he paid for those plugins.

--

Chris Johnson | www.someonescousin.com | 416.473.1624