Kinda OT: Combustion vs. DFX+

[CTRL+X]

The one reason I find that Combust2 has a Head over the others is its tight intergration with MAX,, In my opinion, If your not on MAX+C2 then the pros and cons (in my opinion) for one app or the other becomes blurred.

[Triple G]

From what I can tell, Combustion will work with up to 16-bit images whereas DFX+ is limited to 8. It also looks like a lot of the stuff that I'd have to pay extra for with DFX+ in the modules that aren't included with the deal are features that come standard with Combustion, i.e. keying & color correction, network rendering, paint capabilities and a particle system.

I'm just trying to understand what it is about DFX+ that's got people so jazzed... :shrug:

[wgreenlee1]

Originally posted by Triple G
From what I can tell, Combustion will work with up to 16-bit images whereas DFX+ is limited to 8. It also looks like a lot of the stuff that I'd have to pay extra for with DFX+ in the modules that aren't included with the deal are features that come standard with Combustion, i.e. keying & color correction, network rendering, paint capabilities and a particle system.

I'm just trying to understand what it is about DFX+ that's got people so jazzed... :shrug:

Thats what I'm trying to figure out also...

What exactly is in this "Lite" version.......?

[robinson]

What kind of work you are planning to do with a comp tool ?

[Triple G]

Originally posted by robinson
What kind of work you are planning to do with a comp tool ?

Umm...compositing, mostly. :p

Hehe...seriously though...probably just D1 NTSC broadcast-res stuff. So I guess the extra bit-depth of Combustion isn't such a big deal, but still...it might be nice to have, just incase.

For the foreseeable future, I'd probably be doing mostly work with Lightwave renders and/or created images (i.e. very little, if any, live action). I really like the idea of being able to render a layered PSD sequence out of Lightwave and then being able to tweak the hell out of it in post. This is the main reason why I'm hunting around for something to replace After Effects.

[Triple G]

Originally posted by wgreenlee1
What exactly is in this "Lite" version.......?

DFX+ 4 Features and Specs (http://www.eyeonline.com/products/dfx_plus/dfx_plus.html) vs. Combustion 2 Features and Specs (http://www.discreet.com/products/combustion/)

Uggh...they both look great...my eyes are starting to glaze over and my brain's beginning to melt...information overload...must sleep...:insane:

[robinson]

Trible G

You can’t open psd files in After Effects ?
I'm pretty sure you can, I did it in version 4.0, so maybe this feature isn’t there anymore ? :rolleyes:

The Combustion feature list looks for sure better than the DFX+ feature list, but I always had stability problems with Combustion, and “mac” friends told me it is much worse on a mac !!!
Combustion needs a lot of ram for every little preview, and it’s damn slow !!! :thumbsdow

I never experienced any problems with DF, it was always running very very stable and that’s more important to me !!! :curious:

I really hope (speculation) that the “partnership” between Newtek and eyeon will bring us better connections between DFX and Lightwave (like the max combustion connection), don’t get me wrong the connection is already great, but something like render elements and output to DFX file would be great !!! :beer:

I will get this Newtek deal, damn you get DFX+ for free, and I guess you want this LW 8 update anyway, sure we still don’t know what’s in LW 8, but I wasn’t disappointed with the last major update… :shrug:

[Triple G]

Originally posted by robinson
You can’t open psd files in After Effects ?
I'm pretty sure you can, I did it in version 4.0, so maybe this feature isn’t there anymore ? :rolleyes:

In AE, You can open a layered PSD file (singular) as a comp, or you can bring in a sequence of layered PSDs, but AE will treat the sequence as flattened files, not letting you edit the individual layers. There's no way to bring in a sequence of layered PSDs and still keep all of the layers editable. :thumbsdow

The Combustion feature list looks for sure better than the DFX+ feature list, but I always had stability problems with Combustion, and “mac” friends told me it is much worse on a mac !!!
Combustion needs a lot of ram for every little preview, and it’s damn slow !!! :thumbsdow

Hmm...you're the second person I've heard from who's complained about stability with Combustion. Was this with the latest version, 2.1, or an older version? I've been doing some of the tutorials that come with the C2 demo, and as far as stability, I haven't had a single crash...doesn't seem flakey at all. It does seem a bit slower than AE, but not terribly so. But then again, they weren't terribly complex scenes I was working on, either. Guess I'll have to play around with it some more and see.

I really hope (speculation) that the “partnership” between Newtek and eyeon will bring us better connections between DFX and Lightwave (like the max combustion connection), don’t get me wrong the connection is already great, but something like render elements and output to DFX file would be great !!! :beer:

Yeah...fantastic for PC users...that's one of the biggest reasons I'm going to be switching over to a PC. I'm tired of getting left out in the cold on deals like this. I know Chuck Baker has stated that they're simply running the deal because it's a great deal and eyeon was willing to go along with it...nothing more, nothing less. But the fact of the matter is that Mac users are getting the short end of the stick. It's like when you're a kid and your Grandparents come over to visit, and they give you and your two sisters a new red dress for each of you. Well, that's great for them...but YOU'RE A BOY! Sure, you can take the dress back to the store and get that new set of Legos that you really want, but....wouldn't it have been nice if your Grandparents had taken into account the needs and wants of all their grandchildren in the first place, not just those of the majority?

sure we still don’t know what’s in LW 8, but I wasn’t disappointed with the last major update… :shrug:

That's what's got me worried...I held off on upgrading from 6.5b for a while after 7 was released (actually waited for 7.5 until I finally did it). I remember hearing reports of different plugins not working properly, and I didn't want to take the chance of having something break when I was right in the middle of a project. I'm sure 8 will be good eventually, I'm just worried that it's going to take them til 8.5 to get it to a point where it's stable enough where I can upgrade without fear of things breaking that shouldn't.

I don't know....there's just so many different sides to this whole situation...I'm really at a loss as to what to do...:hmm:

[sketchyjay]

it's pretty much a given that plugins wont work because they always upgrade the Lscript. There is also the off chance they redid the plugin/lscipt architechure so it may take a while for plugins to get back onto lw (it will happen eventually)

The fact you can edit the psd layers in it makes it worth it to me. You may want to find out if it has the same problem as AE though. i.e. no limitations like no image sequence psd editing or can't do alpha on thursdays sort of thing.

I'm going to buy the update at some point so I don't see any reason not to buy it now besides a lack of money. when 8.5 comes out you'll still be able to upgrade to it.

Jay

[Arte]

Originally posted by sketchyjay
it's pretty much a given that plugins wont work because they always upgrade the Lscript. There is also the off chance they redid the plugin/lscipt architechure so it may take a while for plugins to get back onto lw (it will happen eventually)

The fact you can edit the psd layers in it makes it worth it to me. You may want to find out if it has the same problem as AE though. i.e. no limitations like no image sequence psd editing or can't do alpha on thursdays sort of thing.

I'm going to buy the update at some point so I don't see any reason not to buy it now besides a lack of money. when 8.5 comes out you'll still be able to upgrade to it.

Jay

Fusion has a separate importer for PSD so that may be the case. However I would not count on it. Eyeon don't do half measures and Fusion is pure evidence of this.

Alpha channels in Fusion make AE look like a toy. Sorry Alpha's in Fusion make just about everything on the planet look like a toy. Although Shake may have some of the funky operators Fusion can pull off though?

X

[Flywaver]

Like I said in this thread: http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67689

C2 has stability issues...sometimes it's stable and sometimes it's awful! :(

Regarding the LW-DF compatibility, Fusioneers has a great tool for 3D comp called Gaia 3DF: http://www.fusioneers.net

I have no idea if it's working with DFX+...will find out soon! :cool:

Well, the only module that I will definitely get for DFX+ is the keyer/CC...as it's extremely powerful and a tad less complexe than C's one; but both have very powerful tools compared to AE! :buttrock:

Cheers!

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