Luxology's next step

[Arkitectural]

I think. relying on what i've been looking around here and there, that a renderer is their next step, based on their Nexus platform.
animation is not likely to be born very soon

[paul k.]

It seems like releasing a stand alone renderer would be the next logical step.

However: there are some questions that come to mind....

1. Will it work with all four major apps? ( It doesn't seem logical that you would only render in Modo.. without animation what's the point 90% of the time? )
2. Will it have features that will justify users abandoning there current engines, especially at whatever price point the Lux guys need to ask to justify development and profit margine.( FPrime, Native LW, Mental Ray, etc.)
3. Maybe the biggest question is how will they compete in a market where every app outside of Lightwave has at least three alternative render engines available right know.

I wouldn't doubt the these guys could make a truly fantastic rendering solution, however I think it will really have to have MAJOR MAJOR advancements in order to entice users ( who tend to be very loyal) to invest their finances and even more importantly time to a new rendering tool.

I think we'll all be anxious to see what happens at Siggraph this year.

[MarkH]

The way I see it is Stuart Ferguson was the creator of Lightwave Modeler, so he is probably responsible for most of Modo. Alan Hastings was the creator of Lightwave Layout, but we haven't seen anything equal from his camp yet other than technology previews shown by Brad.

What Stuart is to Modo, Alan will be to whatever is Luxology's next product is. Let's hope!

[c-g]

3. Maybe the biggest question is how will they compete in a market where every app outside of Lightwave has at least three alternative render engines available right know.


Couldn't the same be said when there were only two alternative render engines?

[Modollor]

http://www.tcp-net.ad.jp/danbo/wwdc2003/image/Luxology02.jpg
This is what i mean.Didnt they work on this animation tool?
Original website news from japan.
Links.http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=Luxology/v=2/SID=w/l=IVR/SIG=11rktpei4/EXP=1117678828/*-http%3A//www.tcp-net.ad.jp/danbo/wwdc2003

[MarkH]

Now that's what I'm talkin' bout Modollor! :)

If Luxology really did say Siggraph wouldn't be the debut of any new products, then maybe it will be WWDC 2005 on June 6th? Luxology has more participation with Apple than any other 3D company I know of.

[tunedby]

I expect a robust and less-buggy modo 2.0
I don't like the scenario of two luxology products (modo and render module) carrying buggy crashes and shortcomings. I hope the time will serve in favor of them. I prefer luxology making us wait, but coming out with a robust software in the end.

[tjnyc]

I agree that Lux should fixes alot of major bugs in Modo by 2.0 or at least release a patch for some of the crash prone bugs, but nonetheless I would be very happy to see what they have plan for 2.0


Cheers,

[paul k.]

Couldn't the same be said when there were only two alternative render engines? Yesterday 11:58 PM



Sure it could have. I'm only saying that the bottom line is that with three other engines already having user bases that are large enough to sustain those companies it will be difficult to find users in the sence that you will have to convert loyal users of other products.

I'm not saying it can't be done or trying to be negative at all. I'm really looking forward to what they do next. I'm a big fan of Modo. I hope all their stuff rocks this well.

I would also love to see the demo Modellor was showing at the Apple convention. That would be awesome!!!

[Nemoid]

Surely theere are alot of third party renderers out there : Vray, Kray, Maxwell, Turtle and also Mental Ray is adopted from many apps. however in this scenario another renderer with cool feautures could find its place too. it could be Modo built in render engine and, if its a module,at the same time another solution for artists coming from other apps.

Modo is a good app, but we know it needs more stability adn IMHO it also needs some really interesting features popping up right now, like for example Eovia's Hexagon ones (construction history , interactive booleans and more) and also, what about a good topology brush a la Silo.

so what i'd like to see now is faster advancements on Modo development and also the renderer that from movies i saw on the web seem s to be very powerful and fast.

this being said, i think that we'll see alot of good Lux stuff at Siggraph.:)

[BigJay]

Modo needs a native renderer to make use of all the features of the models. Soft edges with no way to export to another program that can actually use them does not make sense UNLESS they have their own renderer.

Brad at the NY show hinted that something will be shown at siggraph so it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

[paul k.]

The feature that has to top the list is far and away ZBrush painting of Normal Displacement !!

No other feature is nearly as needed as this is, in order to complete the level of detail that is required now that this technology has reached every studio on the planet. Or at least any interested in high res organic models.

I use Z Brush at work, but I hate the interface it's terrible. I hate the method of working in a lot of ways, and if I had ZBrush capabilities in Modo's interface and with it's methodology I would be in seventh heaven.

This is what MODO NEEDS! And the sooner the better....


I'm still lovin it overall though..... http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon7.gif http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon7.gif http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Nemoid]

Z brush is a completely different beast compared to Modo. it handles millions of poligons with no real prob, and has a lot of interesting features for organic modelling and texturing. sorry if u don't like the UI. u can always work with shortcuts tho.
ZB it has also some nice rendering features, even if it doesn't approach rendering in a traditional way.
what modo needs IMO are more innovative features like

instances,
more cad -like tools
curves toolset
bones for posing and rig test purposes.
deformer (lattices)
interactive tools and booleans
construction history
topology brush
an advanced traditional and nodal texture editor.


it also needs to get far from its Lw inheritance to become really more advanced like its flexible and open structure would allow to do.
Even without the current features, Lw modeler seems to be more solid in many ways when working.

[Mylenium]

Sure it could have. I'm only saying that the bottom line is that with three other engines already having user bases that are large enough to sustain those companies it will be difficult to find users in the sence that you will have to convert loyal users of other products.

What you are forgetting is that most of those "big renderers" rely on very old approaches to doing certain things or even lack features (do not forget that even Renderman only did scanline rendering until v11). I'm not saying that it's wrong and the outstanding quality that can be produced with some of them surelyy justifies their existence, but considered to other developments in CG, e.g. Mental Ray moves rather slowly in terms of adding features.

On the other hand there are some nice rendering tools used internally by companies such as Digital Domain, Blue Sky Studios or ILM that use some very fancy technology, but they are not accessible by the public average user. A new renderer that applies all those latest technologies combined with excellent quality and good usability is sure to attract new users, especially if available for a reasonable price.

BTW, a point that has comletely lost so far is that some of the renderers mentioned only are available to a limited userbase, namely MAX users for the most part. While either connections to other programs exist but do not work as well as in MAX, others like the VRay.exe initiative haven't yielded any usable results so far...

To add just one more argument - I don't think it is a healthy tendency that the big companies rely on a limited number of renderers for their programs. Mental Ray isn't the holy grail of CG but many manufacturers have integrated it into their products and stopped or limited development of their own rendering engines. In the end we users pay the price and might end up with a monopoly that only allows minor development and creative freedom. That cannot be what everybody wants. Competition is good for the advancement of technology so I sincerly hope Lux can cause some stirr in that area as it did with modo.

Mylenium

[Nemoid]

well it depends on how renderes are conceived. AFAIK, Mental ray is the only one that's better integrated in different apps. the best integration tho, is that for XSI.because XSI is conceived around Mray actually.

other renderers are good too. especially Vray. even Maxwell looks promising, but other solutios like a Lux renderer are interesting if they apply new technologies :)
so far , i liek very much Lw rendering for its quality, and Fprime too, even if it has limitations currently i really hope a Lux rendrere could join the best of both these 2 worlds.

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