R9.5 review

[Jonj1611]

Looks good, do we know if this is a free update or paid?

Jon

[c4dportal]

See below :D

[Bob3D]

It's a free upgrade if you've purchased R9.x after 1st July, otherwise it's paid.

[Jonj1611]

Well, I am glad I waited to purchase, was thinking about buying C4D again, was just waiting for Siggraph, will wait until it is released and get it then.

Jon

[michaeli]

Thanks , cool review! :thumbsup:

[mlmiller1983]

It's a free upgrade if you've purchased R9.x after 1st July, otherwise it's paid.

SWEET. I bought mine mid July. :)

[fretshredder]

looks like they decided to continue the x.5 PAID upgrade path and screw us once again. So, if I don't pay for it now, I'll pay for it when R10 rolls out ...


this sucks

[AdamT]

looks like they decided to continue the x.5 PAID upgrade path and screw us once again. So, if I don't pay for it now, I'll pay for it when R10 rolls out ... this sucks
Yeah, hard to believe they still have to pay their bills and feed their families. :rolleyes:

[fretshredder]

Yeah, hard to believe they still have to pay their bills and feed their families. :rolleyes:

So do I :rolleyes:. So, one point release then time to fork out more dough, just thought I'd get more bang for my (many) bucks

[Erik Heyninck]

Let's first see how much the upgrade prices are. Per module (basic, AR, Mocca and BP), or bundled.
Perhaps you don't need them all. That's why they are modules, no?

[AdamT]

So do I :rolleyes:. So, one point release then time to fork out more dough, just thought I'd get more bang for my (many) bucks
Hopefully the new features will more than pay for themselves. Otherwise ... wait! :)

[Bob3D]

looks like they decided to continue the x.5 PAID upgrade path and screw us once again. So, if I don't pay for it now, I'll pay for it when R10 rolls out ...


this sucks

What do you mean 'again'? 9.1 was a free upgrade.

[unseenthings]

looks like they decided to continue the x.5 PAID upgrade path and screw us once again. So, if I don't pay for it now, I'll pay for it when R10 rolls out ...


this sucks

Or, if R9 suits you just fine, then just keep on using it.

[fretshredder]

Let's first see how much the upgrade prices are. Per module (basic, AR, Mocca and BP), or bundled.
Perhaps you don't need them all. That's why they are modules, no?


Good point. But, I have the Studio Bundle, so unless I want to forfeit the benefit of the bundle when it comes time for R10, I'll have to pay either way which, to be honest, doesn't exactly motivate me to keep current when the likes of XSI are competing like hell with their prices etc.

I'll, of course, wait to see what the actual damage will be before making any decisions, but only one point release before another paid upgrade is NOT cool. :)

[fretshredder]

What do you mean 'again'? 9.1 was a free upgrade.

again as in 8.5 was not. hence, why I said x.5 :-)

[Thalaxis]

What do you mean 'again'? 9.1 was a free upgrade.

I think he's referring to the fact that people who upgrade from 8->8.5 paid the same amount to upgrade to v9 as people who didn't.

Edit: clarity.

[Bob3D]

Ah, okay.I went from 6 to 9.1 :D

[acmepixel]

I think he's referring to the fact that people who upgrade from 8->8.5 paid the same amount to upgrade to v9 as people who didn't.

Edit: clarity.

Yup, it pays to wait. I'm still on 8.5 for said reason. Looks like it may be time to upgrade, though. I'll be interested to see what the XL upgrade prices are. I have the XL bundle plus BP2, Net, and S&T, which is really the Studio Bundle sans Dynamics. I was hoping for some improvement to Dynamics before I decide whether to stay at the XL level or move up to Studio.

Sure am glad I didn't buy Paranormal or SimpleMakerPro, now that R9.5 has Normal map features.

Maybe I'll wait for 10. :hmm:

What I'm really holding my breath about is Zbrush 2.x Sorry Maxon. Pixologic is the hot item at the Acme Pixel Factory. :eek:

[tcastudios]

Sure am glad I didn't buy Paranormal or SimpleMakerPro, now that R9.5 has Normal map features.



Well, that depends on if Cinema now -uses- the normal maps.

Cheers
Lennart

[Thalaxis]

Yup, it pays to wait. I'm still on 8.5 for said reason. Looks like it may be time to upgrade, though. I'll be interested to see what the XL upgrade prices are. I have the XL bundle plus BP2, Net, and S&T, which is really the Studio Bundle sans Dynamics. I was hoping for some improvement to Dynamics before I decide whether to stay at the XL level or move up to Studio.


One thing Maxon still seems to be having problems with is their upgrade paths. They did not, for example, have an intelligent upgrade path for anyone who bought Cinema and BodyPaint and wanted to get the Studio bundle. I asked about it... they suggested getting the Studio bundle and then selling off one copy of BodyPaint, which was a silly suggestion.


What I'm really holding my breath about is Zbrush 2.x Sorry Maxon. Pixologic is the hot item at the Acme Pixel Factory. :eek:

I'm still baffled by these Pixologic folks... they haven't charged me for an update since ZB v 0.9 alpha.
Not that I'm complaining... I just want more free time (as if grad school will help with that :banghead: ).

[mecha]

Hey All,

I have to agree with the weary ones who are not thrilled at paying for this .5 update.

This entire update is 100% dependant on the pricing and a solution to the module upgrade problem. I am not for a moment suggesting it should be FREE, thats crminially stupid considering the improved render times and new features......but, lets not forget that the grass IS getting greener elsewhere! (Price drops across the board, you can't deny it!)

I really wanted more animation tool updates, but instead got render updates - which to me means I can render my static, bald characters 4 times quicker than before! Not much motivation for me personally, but you cant please all the people all the time!

I had my heart set on a usable hair system, a revamped timeline and improved viewport speed. I got none of these so will wait for R10, unless the pricing is inline with the other apps and my bank balance!

mecha

[AkaKico]

Hey Mecha

I agree I'd l'd always like to see better ways to animate. But consider the trend of threads in Cgtalk alone. Sooooo many threads about maxwell/AR and people upset with the current renderer and lack of render options. Based on that I'd say that I'd say the Maxon guys hit the nail on the head on what to focus on as far the 'masses' were concerned. I'm very happy with what changes have been made all around. Just keep you fingers crossed for 10 I guess.

[Triker]

I am not the greatest artist out there, but I manage to use C4D to make a living and I think the new features are well worth the price.

AO, new area lights and GI will cut hours off my CPU time in one week alone! That means more time for more work, or time to ride my bike or whatever.

Folks, this is a business not a hobby, and I think Maxon is delivering the goods. I used to use FormZ, Lightwave and others. Maxon has delivered for me. I am a happy customer and thankful that upgrades come, they work, and the program is stable. If they are going to offer me new features for 2-3 hours paid work in a week I am thrilled.

[mecha]

Hey Kico82,

Your right, a lot of people (including myself) went nuts for Maxwell (only to discovery it was a waste of time) and third party rendering options, so Maxon has done a good job addressing their concerns. However, I have also read many posts from disgruntled Shave users and people asking how good FBX support is so they can buy Motion Builder!!

I must say that I am very disapointed, but I do understand that it is more from a personal point of view rather than a Maxon failing! Oh well, I hope Pixologic (ZBrush) and Adobe (After Effects) do better for me as I really want some new toys!

mecha

[cookepuss]

Sure am glad I didn't buy Paranormal or SimpleMakerPro, now that R9.5 has Normal map features.
Why? Based on Maxon's literature, r9.5 only generates normal maps off of displaced geometry. That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't seem too helpful if you've got 2 different meshes of varying LOD. You'll still need SimpleMakerPro to do that. Seems to be an oversight on Maxon's part imho. I assure you that this will probably be the next thing people will b***h about before r10's release.

[Erik Heyninck]

I have had the opposite experience with Maxon. I had 8.5basic plus AR and Pyro and wanted to go to 9 and add Mocca and TP. They made me a very good offer and a kind of agreement that in the future (having 1 comp and don't needing net) I could upgrade as XL.
My serials are always here within a week. If I mail, I get an answer within the hour.

Perhaps there's an early bird, perhaps not. We'll see.
But if the price is reasonable, then I will very probable upgrade. It is not a spectacular upgrade, but, imo, one that adds more roots. The fruits will come later.

Let's just hope all plugins will keep on working.

[acmepixel]

Why? Based on Maxon's literature, r9.5 only generates normal maps off of displaced geometry. That's all fine and dandy, but it doesn't seem too helpful if you've got 2 different meshes of varying LOD. You'll still need SimpleMakerPro to do that. Seems to be an oversight on Maxon's part imho. I assure you that this will probably be the next thing people will b***h about before r10's release.


My only interest in Normal maps is in applying those imported from Zbrush. If R9 can read the normal map from Zbrush, without having to buy another plugin, then I'm all set.

[mecha]

Same here, anything that bridges C4D to ZBRUSH with minimum effort is going to get my cash. After I update ZBrush ofcourse!

[Personne]

I'm not very interested to pay for an .5 upgrade:sad:

[cookepuss]

True. 9.5 addresses one particular workflow. Though it should be noted that the ZBrush path isn't for everybody. The inability to work with two different LODs seems to ignore what is considered the "most common" path. As is, it sounds like a partial implementation. In light of this, I don't regret my purchase of SimpleMakerPro.

Let's hope that Maxon delivers 9.5 for a decent upgrade price.

[Venkman]

True. 9.5 addresses one particular workflow. Though it should be noted that the ZBrush path isn't for everybody. The inability to work with two different LODs seems to ignore what is considered the "most common" path. As is, it sounds like a partial implementation. In light of this, I don't regret my purchase of SimpleMakerPro.

Let's hope that Maxon delivers 9.5 for a decent upgrade price.

Hmmm, I hadn't considered that. Nice to know. I wonder if there is a way to eliminate tris generated by simple make pro.

Can we bake SPD to real geometry, and create normal maps from that? Or does it just bake SPD to a normal map?

So many cool choices!

[Ric535]

doesn't exactly motivate me to keep current when the likes of XSI are competing like hell with their prices etc.

people were saying this 1 year ago yet they are still with C4D cos they know they just love it really :)

I really wanted more animation tool updates, but instead got render updates - which to me means I can render my static, bald characters 4 times quicker than before! Not much motivation for me personally, but you cant please all the people all the time!

I had my heart set on a usable hair system, a revamped timeline and improved viewport speed. I got none of these so will wait for R10, unless the pricing is inline with the other apps and my bank balance!

mecha

Dont ever buy an application for what is hasnt got and what you hope it MAY get, buy it for what it HAS got - in ither words if you wanted to do animation and you are not happpy with C4D's animation tools it is your fault for buying it - it has a demo so does XSI - if thats more to your needs buy that instead



a lot of people (including myself) went nuts for Maxwell (only to discovery it was a waste of time)

i very very much disagree with this statement

[pit]

Hey All,

I have to agree with the weary ones who are not thrilled at paying for this .5 update.

This entire update is 100% dependant on the pricing and a solution to the module upgrade problem. I am not for a moment suggesting it should be FREE, thats crminially stupid considering the improved render times and new features......but, lets not forget that the grass IS getting greener elsewhere! (Price drops across the board, you can't deny it!)

I really wanted more animation tool updates, but instead got render updates - which to me means I can render my static, bald characters 4 times quicker than before! Not much motivation for me personally, but you cant please all the people all the time!

I had my heart set on a usable hair system, a revamped timeline and improved viewport speed. I got none of these so will wait for R10, unless the pricing is inline with the other apps and my bank balance!

mecha

Then do not update and buy yourself messiah:studio workstation or messiah:animate. Priced at $299 and $249. No hair, but all the other stuff you long for - including very good integration with ZBrush. Should keep you happy until R10 appears...

[AdamT]

FWIW, 9.5's normal shader works perfectly with ZBrush maps--actually better than Paranormal and Mr. Pepper. You don't have to invert the green channel and UVs work great.

[acmepixel]

FWIW, 9.5's normal shader works perfectly with ZBrush maps--actually better than Paranormal and Mr. Pepper. You don't have to invert the green channel and UVs work great.


This is a big selling point for me.

Thanks. :thumbsup:

[mecha]

Dont ever buy an application for what is hasnt got and what you hope it MAY get, buy it for what it HAS got - in ither words if you wanted to do animation and you are not happpy with C4D's animation tools it is your fault for buying it - it has a demo so does XSI - if thats more to your needs buy that instead

Demo, or no demo, when I purchased C4D at V6 all then high end aps such as XSI (or just Softimage as it was then) were totally out of my price range. After testing Cinema 4D and Lightwave I gave Maxon my cash and have happily updated every version since! Hell, I even got screwed by the module fiasco, but still come back.

I am PERSONALLY dissapointed that my area of interest has been overlooked again, but I am not the type to jump ship or demand a free update. I will wait for official pricing, or wait for R10.

Finally, I know I am not the only person underwhelmed by this update, but as usual the people getting flustered by negative feedback are the ones who are probably on Maxons beta team or free update list! Then again, I may be wrong....

mecha

ps. Sorry if this sounds aggressive, but comments such as "it is your fault for buying it", really p!$$ me off! Not constructive, not helpful!

[AdamT]

Who's getting flustered? If it suits your needs buy it. If not wait for R10. I and some other beta testers are trying to answer whatever questions folks may have. And yeah, I guess most of us are cheerleaders too. :) Ra Ra Maxon!

[acmepixel]

...I am PERSONALLY dissapointed that my area of interest has been overlooked again, but I am not the type to jump ship or demand a free update. I will wait for official pricing, or wait for R10.
...
mecha

ps. Sorry if this sounds aggressive, but comments such as "it is your fault for buying it", really p!$$ me off! Not constructive, not helpful!

Hey I feel your pain. I "personally" felt screwed by the R9 update after just upgrading to R8.5+S&T+BP2. Primarily because it "broke" a lot of my plugins. Xfrog, MeshSurgery, especially. I have to shell out another $100 just to make Xfrog fully compatible. And it killed off MeshSurgery. But none of this is Maxon's "fault". There's no one to blame, it's just the way the software biz is.

I'm not complaining. R9.5, on top of all the goodies introduced in R9, make this upgrade look very promising. ..... unless they overprice it.

Bottom line: buy what you need today,.... today. :thumbsup:

[mecha]

Hey Adam,

Thats exactly my point, in my original post I did mention that I was a little dissapointed because animation had been overlooked - but that was it! Nothing to warrant the response Ric_535 offered up, that attitude really makes my blood boil! :banghead:

If the price is right FOR ME, I will update - if not I will wait.

Anyway, great job Maxon and all the beta people showing what 9.5 is capable of! :thumbsup:

AcmePixel : Yup, I got screwed on exactly the same module combination you did, but didnt let it get to me or the fact that Shave has since gone from my toolset.

To make matters worse, I purchased MeshSurgery upon launch for my PC, then I switched to Mac OSX with the R9 upgrade early bird. Third Party would not let me transfer my MS licence to the Mac, so I had to purchase another licence only to find out that MS and R9 are incompatible! :applause:

mecha

[lightblitter22]

Nice upgrade overall. Too bad that CA and dynamics wasn't touched, but the stuff thats actually in the upgrade all looks very good and useful.

[Ric535]

. Sorry if this sounds aggressive, but comments such as "it is your fault for buying it", really p!$$ me off! Not constructive, not helpful!

Peace :beer: i am sorry to have pissed you off, i didnt mean it in such a negative way, its the maxwell forum thats done it - everyones at each others throats over there :)

[Chrissyboy]

Review by Mike Batchelor, aka Slouchcorp.
...

If you come across any dead links, please let me know.

Regards,
Telnoi.

Thanks for the review Telnoi - looks thorough and fair. One thing though, most of the movies refused to play for me, QuickTime wouldn't touch them and VLC only played two of the five, and they looke very odd (unless you like a bright yellow interface... :eek: ).
I don't normally have problems with AVI's, is there a codec I should install? Or is there any chance you could use a more standard format for the videos?
Lastly - the link for video4, for Baker, seems to be missing altogether.
Cheers - Chris

[lightblitter22]

google for Techsmith codec.

[FredSpeaks]

Question for betatesters... how good is the new baker? Does it work on complex meshes? does it bake scene reflections?

[JamesMK]

Question for betatesters... how good is the new baker?

- Pretty darn solid.

Does it work on complex meshes?

- It's worked on everything I've tried at least.

does it bake scene reflections?

- Yes it does, based either on normal direction or camera vector. Very very useful.

[FredSpeaks]

Thanks JamesMK
That sounds great, and very usefull for speeding up animations.
:thumbsup:

[JamesMK]

Very useful indeed, particularly when one wants to incorporate GI in animations :thumbsup:

Here's a quick example:

First, group your entire scene in a null, then add two-three mouse clicks to kick off the object baker:

http://web.telia.com/~u48040664/9.5stuff/step1.jpg

The baker will unwrap the objects (if you want it to), then bake out the texture, make a copy of the baked object and finally apply the new texture to it. Very automated and slick.

In this case, just some stochastic GI and a sky object, and I used a very small map here (800 x 800 px, which normally would be too small of course, but this is just for the sake of demonstration)

After a couple of minutes, I have this:

http://web.telia.com/~u48040664/9.5stuff/step2.jpg

Then just switch of the GI again and render away :cool:

[ EDIT: Needless to say, you can of course bake single objects as well ]

.

[Continuumx]

...snip...
Finally, I know I am not the only person underwhelmed by this update, but as usual the people getting flustered by negative feedback are the ones who are probably on Maxons beta team or free update list! Then again, I may be wrong....

mecha

ps. Sorry if this sounds aggressive, but comments such as "it is your fault for buying it", really p!$$ me off! Not constructive, not helpful!

I am not a Maxon Beta Tester, and I am not on their free update list, and I love the new update! Anything that gets me closer to being better able to express my personal mission and theoretical work and on the ocassion some paid work, then I am all for it. 9.5 is a another step in that direction. I make all my purchasing decisions on this goal.

You have to decide if this particular feature set is for you or not. If not, then wait until R10. I am sure Maxon is well aware of the other modules and character animation and is probably already beta testing the new featureset for R10 which may or may not address some of these concerns.

Maxon has proved to me in a three year period they work hard to provide a quality product, and back it up 100% with some of the best surprise updates I have ever seen for any platform. I can think of no other platform that has their track record.

[FredSpeaks]

Thank you once again JamesMK. That is exactly what I am looking for. Hopefully I can get architectural scenes to render with baked GI. This makes the 9.5 upgrade worth it.

[lightblitter22]

The new baker looks great. But why, why, why wasn't it in R8.5 or R9? :banghead: It would have saved me so much trouble with massive scenes that are practically impossible to light for animation use. Max has had good texture baking for ages.

I suppose the next question is, who's going to make some game exporters for C4D? The main use of baking has always been for realtime/game use.

[AdamT]

Ah, now we're complaining about new features because they aren't old features! :)

[rsquires]

Very useful indeed, particularly when one wants to incorporate GI in animations
.


That's fantastic, truly great. No more boiling GI renders.

Brilliant

regards

Richard

[JoelOtron]

This is a nice release. It will be extra nice as I am still using 8.5, so there will be a lot to learn and play with.

I wonder what percent of the beta features made it into the locked down feature list.
Already looking to the future for 9.5.1 :)

[Pegasus]

The video files are realy interesting... :thumbsup:

[brammelo]

I had my heart set on a usable hair system, a revamped timeline and improved viewport speed. I got none of these so will wait for R10, unless the pricing is inline with the other apps and my bank balance!

Well, Kai is currently beta-testing the new hair system, but as you can see it still lacks realism ;)

http://www.cybergooch.com/cgtalk/s4.jpg (Kai's on the right)

Best,
BaRa

[Mono Jojoy]

I wished they would have optimized the boolean function.

C4D 9 can already do n-gons....but
When I subtract one object from another one then I still get ALL TRIANGLES which often messes up the final shape's surface.

[brammelo]

I am PERSONALLY dissapointed that my area of interest has been overlooked again, but I am not the type to jump ship or demand a free update. I will wait for official pricing, or wait for R10.

Animation has not been dealt with in this release, but that's not because MAXON has overlooked this area. There are a couple of points of interest, and animation is one of them. You can tell by looking at Clothilde that MAXON cares. But MAXON (or any other developer) can not develop everything users want in 1 product cycle. Animation overhaul isn't in 9.5, but I'm pretty sure it will be included in version 10. Of course this doesn't help your right now, but people have also been waiting for other things like better lighting. And guess what: better lighting is included in 9.5. My advice would be to hold on.

[brammelo]

I wished they would have optimized the boolean function.

C4D 9 can already do n-gons....but
When I subtract one object from another one then I still get ALL TRIANGLES which often messes up the final shape's surface.

Check the options of the Boolean object in the AM. Try "Hide new edges".

[Mono Jojoy]

Check the options of the Boolean object in the AM. Try "Hide new edges".That works fine :). And I thought I had tried it all ;)


EDITED:
Naaa, it still doesnt work. It doesnt create n-gons. Its just as before. You have to create phong breaks to make it smooth.
It would have been nicer if C4D9 with its SUDDEN n-gon capability would also create n-gons in bool operations.

[moka.studio]

That works fine :). And I thought I had tried it all ;)

And if you still have triangles in the mesh after yo make it editable, run the Untriangulate function with the Create Ngons option turned on.

[mecha]

Peace :beer: i am sorry to have pissed you off, i didnt mean it in such a negative way, its the maxwell forum thats done it - everyones at each others throats over there :)

No problem dude! Like I said, Maxon can't please all the people all the time. I am one of the few that wasnt pleased, and am clearly in a minority which shows Maxon did their homework!

I have to admit, the more I look at this update, the more I want it - but it will be behind After Effects 7 (when its announced) and Cactus Dans new tools, unless I can get a good upgrade deal to the Studio bundle from 9.1 XL with BP2 and ST! :deal:

As always, time will tell! Roll out the demo!

mecha

[cornel]

hey, what codec do I need to watch those review-videos from c4dportal ?

Maybe someone found out... divx is not, so whats inside the avi ?

[moka.studio]

hey, what codec do I need to watch those review-videos from c4dportal ?

Maybe someone found out... divx is not, so whats inside the avi ?

hi Cornel.
Techsmith Screen Capture codec (there is a link on the C4d portal page)

[Bob3D]

The direct link to the file doesn't work. Click the link for 'More product information' and go to Download/Codecs.

It's a terrible codec btw.

[interactiveBoy]

It's a terrible codec btw.

You can't be serious. It is one of (if not THE) best codec for screen capture. It only makes frame-to-frame pixel changes, and therefore can produce very high quality, large pixel dimension movies with smaller file sizes. Have you seen the videos that 3D Fluff produces? They are using this codec.

[cornel]

hi Cornel.
Techsmith Screen Capture codec (there is a link on the C4d portal page)

oha, thanks alot, got it.

[Zendorf]

FWIW, 9.5's normal shader works perfectly with ZBrush maps--actually better than Paranormal and Mr. Pepper. You don't have to invert the green channel and UVs work great.


Sounds good to me, jumping into Photoshop everytime I created a normal map was getting real old! Since I don't have the AR module, I hope that normal maps are supported in the core package?

What about HDRI input and output, is this only for AR or is it now supported in the core. I really only want to use HDRI maps in my reflection channel, and 9.1 core and earlier won't import these.

Also , does the new baker allow AO baking in the core or will I need AR?

Cheers....

[AdamT]

I'm not sure what's included in the base package vs. AR. You might want to post this question in the 9.5 questions thread.

[Bob3D]

You can't be serious. It is one of (if not THE) best codec for screen capture. It only makes frame-to-frame pixel changes, and therefore can produce very high quality, large pixel dimension movies with smaller file sizes. Have you seen the videos that 3D Fluff produces? They are using this codec.

They must just be recorded really badly then - changing the position makes some awful pops, and everything seems out of focus.

[Venkman]

Thanks for the videos- but I am still wondering what some of the uses for Ambient Occlusion are. I saw you can apply it to material, objects, and entire scenes. What uses does it have besides creating "white room" type radiosity effects?

not an attack, just someone who doesn't know the full use of the feature. Everyone seems to like it. Would one use an AO layer in photoshop to help tint a scene?

[Venkman]

They must just be recorded really badly then - changing the position makes some awful pops, and everything seems out of focus.

I got constant audio pops in the videos when I viewed them, I just chalked it up to the mac version of the codec. Then again, I had no pops on the 3dfluff DVD.

[JamesMK]

I am still wondering what some of the uses for Ambient Occlusion are. I saw you can apply it to material, objects, and entire scenes. What uses does it have besides creating "white room" type radiosity effects?

not an attack, just someone who doesn't know the full use of the feature. Everyone seems to like it. Would one use an AO layer in photoshop to help tint a scene?
Trust me, it has a zillion great uses. One of the main things to use it for to occlude environment map reflections, a major thing used in most movie productions.

I'm planning to write a rather extensive tutorial on how to use the new AO and its features, and I hope to have this ready by the time 9.5 is publicly available. But for the time being, lets just say it's a serious production tool you don't want to do without, particularly when working with animations.



.

[unseenthings]

C4D 9 can already do n-gons....but
When I subtract one object from another one then I still get ALL TRIANGLES which often messes up the final shape's surface.

When you're creating the boolean, if you pick High Quality and Hide New Edges, that will often remove all the tris and give you (at least the apparance of) n-gons... or in grab the selected/offending polygons (in each plane) and use Functions->Melt (or U~Z for the shortcut kinda people) -- both of these work in R9.1 pretty well for me in such cases.

[Venkman]

Trust me, it has a zillion great uses. One of the main things to use it for to occlude environment map reflections, a major thing used in most movie productions.

I'm planning to write a rather extensive tutorial on how to use the new AO and its features, and I hope to have this ready by the time 9.5 is publicly available. But for the time being, lets just say it's a serious production tool you don't want to do without, particularly when working with animations.



Sold! Anything to help animations. I look forward to the tutorial!

[JDP]

When you're creating the boolean, if you pick High Quality and Hide New Edges, that will often remove all the tris and give you (at least the apparance of) n-gons... or in grab the selected/offending polygons (in each plane) and use Functions->Melt (or U~Z for the shortcut kinda people) -- both of these work in R9.1 pretty well for me in such cases.
The hide edges function gives you n-gons not just what appears to be n-gons. If you try to unhide the edges after you've made your boolean editable you'll find it won't work, also you can check the stucture manager in n-gon mode to see that you have truly got n-gons.

[AkaKico]

I'm planning to write a rather extensive tutorial on how to use the new AO and its features, and I hope to have this ready by the time 9.5 is publicly available. But for the time being, lets just say it's a serious production tool you don't want to do without, particularly when working with animations..

Looking forward to it :thumbsup:

[c4dportal]

I got constant audio pops in the videos when I viewed them, I just chalked it up to the mac version of the codec. Then again, I had no pops on the 3dfluff DVD.

3DFluff is dvd quality and the files are probably uncompressed.
If you want to download the uncompressed files, i'll be happy to post them...just don't expect them to be finished downloading in a few minutes .

Further more, we aren't making any money out of what we are doing. We don't want to run into too much expenses (besides hosting) so don't expect us to be recording sound with super duper high quality microphones. In fact, mine costs 9 euro and is..yeah..crappy..(crappy doesn't cover it).

For now it will have to do.

My birthday is coming up in about a month, so if somebody is feeling generous :D :P

Regards,
Telnoi.

[lightblitter22]

We don't want to run into too much expenses (besides hosting) so don't expect us to be recording sound with super duper high quality microphones. In fact, mine costs 9 euro and is..yeah..crappy..(crappy doesn't cover it).

I've seen crappier. At least you don't use walkman headphones as a microphone.

[STRAT]

Thanks for the videos- but I am still wondering what some of the uses for Ambient Occlusion are. I saw you can apply it to material, objects, and entire scenes. What uses does it have besides creating "white room" type radiosity effects?

not an attack, just someone who doesn't know the full use of the feature. Everyone seems to like it. Would one use an AO layer in photoshop to help tint a scene?

it's fantastic for faking radiosity too. render an AO pass, then comp that over a scanlined render. really adds to the shadow depth and gi look of an image. great for 'dirtying' up scenes too.

look foreward to JamesMK tuts.

[imashination]

IMA 4:1 mono 44KHz audio compresion, £200 preamp and mic ;-)

[c4dportal]

IMA 4:1 mono 44KHz audio compresion, £200 preamp and mic ;-)

...200? :eek:
Haha, i'll better start saving.

[lightblitter22]

meh, you don't need that. Look for a decent quality lavalier or shotgun mike, as used for video work. they aren't always terribly expensive. or a decent quality headset mike designed for voice recognition use.

[Venkman]

3DFluff is dvd quality and the files are probably uncompressed.
If you want to download the uncompressed files, i'll be happy to post them...just don't expect them to be finished downloading in a few minutes .

Further more, we aren't making any money out of what we are doing. We don't want to run into too much expenses (besides hosting) so don't expect us to be recording sound with super duper high quality microphones. In fact, mine costs 9 euro and is..yeah..crappy..(crappy doesn't cover it).

For now it will have to do.

My birthday is coming up in about a month, so if somebody is feeling generous :D :P

Regards,
Telnoi.

Don't worry, the vids are great! I really do think it is something to do with the mac side of the codec. When it pops at the same interval over and over, it is usually comething wrong with the codec. I get the same thing while playing some divx AVIs that various people post on the boards. Of course, AVIs have always been questionable on the mac, and that can't be helped by you.

Thank you for the offer of uncompressed files, though. As usual the tutorial people around here are unusually generous!

[AdamT]

Yep, Plantronics has some relatively affordable headset mikes ($30-80) with decent quality. Not as good as Mash's setup of course, but perfectly intelligible.

[spirozero]

I have to admit, the more I look at this update, the more I want it - but it will be behind After Effects 7.

My thoughts exactly!

[c4dportal]

Don't worry, the vids are great! I really do think it is something to do with the mac side of the codec. When it pops at the same interval over and over, it is usually comething wrong with the codec. I get the same thing while playing some divx AVIs that various people post on the boards. Of course, AVIs have always been questionable on the mac, and that can't be helped by you.

I'm not sure if Mike used audio compression or not. That might make a difference.
Personally i compress the audio stream with mp3.

I'll setup two example video's in a couple of days and would appreciate it if you could download these when ready and tell me if any of them cause clicks.

Thanks for the mic tips. I'll see if I can find the brand or type you guys recommended.

[lightblitter22]

What would be very cool would be a video showing off the volumetric 3D SKY clouds more. maybe some camera rotation around and above them, or showing how complex clouds you can build. quite intrigued by that feature.

[Venkman]

I'm not sure if Mike used audio compression or not. That might make a difference.
Personally i compress the audio stream with mp3.

I'll setup two example video's in a couple of days and would appreciate it if you could download these when ready and tell me if any of them cause clicks.

Thanks for the mic tips. I'll see if I can find the brand or type you guys recommended.

Sure. If you want to test, give me a PM and I'll give 'em a shot. If it still has pops I can try recompressing them on my mac and see if that would make a difference for you.

Again though- don't put too much time into it. The movies were still very small and perfectly usable. The voice was totally audible.

[c4dportal]

That may be so, but it would be better to avoid these kind of issues for future projects :)
It's worth investing some time into it.

I'll drop u a pm once the test vids are online.
Thanks.

[imashination]

I'm not sure if Mike used audio compression or not. That might make a difference.
Personally i compress the audio stream with mp3.

We have a winner! Don't compress mp3 audio if you intend to use the techsmith codec, they are generally incompatible with each other. Use another audio codec instead :) I use IMA, but I don't have to worry about file sizes.

[brammelo]

Something that hasn't really been talked about thus far is the possibility to use geometry as a source for an area light. I hope the attachments make something clear in this regard. The green and blue colored "bulbs" are pure polygonal geometry linked to two area lights - one green, one blue. As you can see, you have no artifacts. There is noise, but that is due to the lower Area shadow settings. In previous versions of C4D you could try to achieve the same with GI, but you would have had horrendous render times.

(on a side note: the improved reflection blurr has also been used in this image)

[Continuumx]

Something that hasn't really been talked about thus far is the possibility to use geometry as a source for an area light. I hope the attachments make something clear in this regard. The green and blue colored "bulbs" are pure polygonal geometry linked to two area lights - one green, one blue. As you can see, you have no artifacts. There is noise, but that is due to the lower Area shadow settings. In previous versions of C4D you could try to achieve the same with GI, but you would have had horrendous render times.

(on a side note: the improved reflection blurr has also been used in this image)

Brammelo, I was just thinking of this and wondering about it! Thanks!

[Bob3D]

I'm going to have to stop thinking of ways to use polygonal area lights before my head explodes. Fabulous.

[JamesMK]

I'm going to have to stop thinking of ways to use polygonal area lights before my head explodes. Fabulous.
They are indeed extremely useful, yet another one of the best things about the new version.

A few days back there was a greeble thread around, and as usual I couldn't avoid making a quick greeble... in which I used a polygonal arealight (which I could not mention at that point since 9.5 wasn't public yet), but it's the one in the middle of this image below. The rest of the lighting comes from a sky sphere (used for the GI) and an infinite light with areashadows (another awesome addition to 9.5) coming in through the top right direction:

http://web.telia.com/~u48040664/greeble_again_0002.jpg



.

[AkaKico]

They are indeed extremely useful, yet another one of the best things about the new version.

A few days back there was a greeble thread around, and as usual I couldn't avoid making a quick greeble... in which I used a polygonal arealight (which I could not mention at that point since 9.5 wasn't public yet), but it's the one in the middle of this image below. The rest of the lighting comes from a sky sphere (used for the GI) and an infinite light with areashadows (another awesome addition to 9.5) coming in through the top right direction:
.

Haha, now I understand what you meant when I had PM'd you about that scene JamesMK. Now all the studies I had tried are out of date. Thems the breaks I guess :)

[JamesMK]

Haha, now I understand what you meant when I had PM'd you about that scene JamesMK. Now all the studies I had tried are out of date. Thems the breaks I guess :)
M'yea, it's hard to explain things when you're not allowed to say what's needed to explain it :D





.

[AdamT]

Thanks for bringing up infinite lights with area shadows! That's definitely one of my favorite new features. No more daylight scenes that look like they were shot on the moon. :)

[JIII]

wow, it's getting harder and harder to justify not opening up my wallet and getting 9.5, that render looks amazing James.

-JIII

[Erik Heyninck]

Very impressive indeed. I only find it bizarre that the "can't live without!" nine now suddenly is looked upon as making renders of the most horrendous quality.
That's commercial talk.

[bobtronic]

Very impressive indeed. I only find it bizarre that the "can't live without!" nine now suddenly is looked upon as making renders of the most horrendous quality.
That's commercial talk.

believe me, the new area lights are a god-send.

cheers,
Bob

[Venkman]

Thanks for bringing up infinite lights with area shadows! That's definitely one of my favorite new features. No more daylight scenes that look like they were shot on the moon. :)

Damn, this is super hot. I simply can't wait. Luckily my birthday is in September, so I can treat myself to the upgrade!

[bobtronic]

I don't know if it was already mentioned but the raytraced shadows in 9.5 don't produce
ugly artifacts anymore. Look at the attached pic. Left is 9.1 and right 9.5. You can see
clearly the facetts in the left render. Maxon did a great job on the lights.

cheers,
Bob

[Continuumx]

They are indeed extremely useful, yet another one of the best things about the new version.

A few days back there was a greeble thread around, and as usual I couldn't avoid making a quick greeble... in which I used a polygonal arealight (which I could not mention at that point since 9.5 wasn't public yet), but it's the one in the middle of this image below. The rest of the lighting comes from a sky sphere (used for the GI) and an infinite light with areashadows (another awesome addition to 9.5) coming in through the top right direction:
.

James, I was wondering how you accomplished this, I just went with fact that you are an awesome artist and you are just gloriously fantastic with lighting, which you are, it is just some aspects of this image, I could not quite figure out how to do it, without blowing out the stuff in the middle!

Great!

[JamesMK]

I could not quite figure out how to do it, without blowing out the stuff in the middle!
He he, well, mystery solved! - - It's just plain old R9.5 power :cool:



.

[c4dportal]

We have a winner! Don't compress mp3 audio if you intend to use the techsmith codec, they are generally incompatible with each other. Use another audio codec instead :) I use IMA, but I don't have to worry about file sizes.

Thanks for the info.
It might be better to switch to quicktime when handling compressed files for internet transfer.

I've tried sorenson in the past but wasn't too happy with the quality, even when taking it easy on compression settings.

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