MotionBuilder 2010 Announcement

[kiko]

well, I guess we can safely say Adios to the Mac version.

[gozzer]

Looks like we can safely say adios to any new worthwhile features as well...

[kiko]

aah, the joys of the monopoly...

[TomThumb]

Looks like we can safely say adios to any new worthwhile features as well...

aah, the joys of the monopoly...
I wouldn't worry about it.

In a few years they'll probably do away with MotionBuilder anyway and roll it into Maya/Max/XSI. :)

[cmogk]

Looks like we can safely say adios to any new worthwhile features as well...

If you guys have things you're looking for, please let us know. What's on your wishlist?

Cory

[TomThumb]

If you guys have things you're looking for, please let us know. What's on your wishlist?

Cory

I think kiko above would ask for a Mac version.

I would ask for the Motion Builder Standard version back.

[deepcgi]

Here's a feature request. Instead of rolling Motion Builder into Maya/Max/XSI, expand it to be a standalone animation package with non-character animation and seamless transfers to and from Mudbox.

Then I can just use Mudbox to model and Motion Builder to animate. We could dump the big applications altogether. All of the game companies i've worked for do their world building in proprietary applications anyway. Maya/Max/XSI are too bloated for real-time world building.

[biggyninja]

There are some nice new features in Motionbuilder 2010 which im looking forward to. The main one for me is fingers are now supported on actors. The ragdoll stuff has been improved, although that doesnt affect me much as our ragdoll is managed through Havok (Games). The new props system might be handy, but I cant say for sure until ive looked at it.

I think their still focused on stability and working with other 3d apps (max,maya) so I didnt expect any new ground breaking features.

[Qslugs]

Hey Cmogk, how about a mac version?

http://architosh.com/2009/01/autodesks-motionbuilder-important-to-mac-market/

[TomThumb]

Well... it looks like none of the requests here are worthy of a reply. :(

[jbidwell]

According the QSlugs's link, they are still working on the mac version, it's just not ready yet.

[AVTPro]

Maybe they were waiting for the full 64 bit OSX?

We still have yet to see a Maya 64 bit OSX right?

[josephjacir]

I have just started using MB 7.5 for retargeting... four days ago. I am coming from 3ds max and to a slightly lesser degree, Maya. Here is what I feel is missing, although I'm not sure if these have already been addressed:



Mappable hotkeys - including for menu items like turning on and off actor visibility.
The ability to change parenting without offsets happening at the current frame. I.e. as in 3ds max
An X-ray mode like max has, with the ability to switch it on and off quickly (quicker than changing materials)
Sometimes rotating in local mode causes my object to wig out and move to some unpredictable rotation. Global mode works fine, maybe fix this. Although I will say I do like the way local mode works generally, and not having to deal with gimbal mode.
Being able to set the mode separately for move and rotate. Often I want to move in global mode and rotate in local, it is annoying to have to manually switch. Maybe a check box to remember the association?
Maybe this exists and I haven't noticed it, but I think it should be quicker/easier to switch between an effector and an aux effector or aux pivot. Maybe a button to snap one to the other, in either direction, and automatically set adjacent keys to switch their reach values. One click, instead of moving back and forth between them and scrubbing time, and pulling sliders. Many rigs have this functionality, as in IK<->FK snap.
A way to increase the precision of the rotation manipulator. Another thing you can yank from 3ds max, the crank wheel option.
Jeez, he is asking for suggestions and so far the only thing people have said besides complaining about MB are "get rid of it" and "put it on Mac." It would be nice to be able to do some of this without switching to MB but come on, if Autodesk is listening tell them what to change.

[TomThumb]

Jeez, he is asking for suggestions and so far the only thing people have said besides complaining about MB are "get rid of it" and "put it on Mac." It would be nice to be able to do some of this without switching to MB but come on, if Autodesk is listening tell them what to change.

You've got to be kidding. Autodesk HEARS... but LISTENING is a completely different art. How difficult would it have been to respond about a Mac version? And there is NO ONE here asking to "get rid of" MotionBuilder. And what's wrong with asking for it on the Mac? And why no response from AD here on that? I don't think it's asking too much AT ALL!

[josephjacir]

Fair enough. But at least my suggestions are on record now. How constructive is idle bitching?

[kiko]

I have just started using MB 7.5 for retargeting... four days ago. I am coming from 3ds max and to a slightly lesser degree, Maya. Here is what I feel is missing, although I'm not sure if these have already been addressed:

Mappable hotkeys - including for menu items like turning on and off actor visibility.

I believe this can be done in MOBU 2009/2010

The ability to change parenting without offsets happening at the current frame. I.e. as in 3ds max

Use Parent constrain (switch it by pressing SNAP, this will keep the offset, and key the constraint on and off in the fcurves or the navigator panel)

An X-ray mode like max has, with the ability to switch it on and off quickly (quicker than changing materials)

Use Ctrl+A to cycle through the different view modes (faster than Maya or Max!!!)

Sometimes rotating in local mode causes my object to wig out and move to some unpredictable rotation.

?? can you explain, is it when you rotate limbs?

Being able to set the mode separately for move and rotate. Often I want to move in global mode and rotate in local, it is annoying to have to manually switch. Maybe a check box to remember the association?

In preferences > Viewer > toggle on the option "store reference mode by transform mode"

Maybe this exists and I haven't noticed it, but I think it should be quicker/easier to switch between an effector and an aux effector or aux pivot. Maybe a button to snap one to the other, in either direction, and automatically set adjacent keys to switch their reach values. One click, instead of moving back and forth between them and scrubbing time, and pulling sliders. Many rigs have this functionality, as in IK<->FK snap.

The beauty of Mobu is that there is no need for IK-FK switch or snap, as it behaves like a true hybrid rig. If you select the IK nulls, (mostly throuhg the character panel) they behave as IK nulls with the move tool AND FK if you have the rotate tool selected (try doing this with any other software),
If you select the FK nulls, (the yellow bones visible in X-ray mode) they always behave as FK with the rotate tool, or IK in most cases (like the elbow and knees) with the move tool... UNLESS they are being overriden by the pinned(RT)-and-or-green IK NULLS in which case you can un-green (switch then off).

What I explained is for interactive posing, if you want to switch on off in the curves, just keyframe the reach values in the panel or in the FCurve window, like you would in Maya etc.

Mobu KICKS ASS as an animation tool, once you "get it", you'll feel like in Maya and Max you're animating with your hands tied.

A way to increase the precision of the rotation manipulator. Another thing you can yank from 3ds max, the crank wheel option.

You can also clic+drag in the XYZ numeric fields for more control, don't know what the crank wheel is though.

[/list]Jeez, he is asking for suggestions and so far the only thing people have said besides complaining about MB are "get rid of it" and "put it on Mac." It would be nice to be able to do some of this without switching to MB but come on, if Autodesk is listening tell them what to change.

as for the "idle bitching":
people have a right to complain, Autodesk has a long story of pissing people off and their M$-style monopolistic behaviour ain't garnering them any new fans.

Under Kaydara, Motionbuilder had a Freelancer version for 100 bucks :beer: , you heard that right.
Autodesk Axed it :argh: , hiked the price stratospherically :surprised and didn't honor the licenses to the freelancers. :cry:

The upgrade from 5.5 to 6 and 7 was a nightmare, turning MB into an buggy-unusable program we had to stop upgrading to in the middle of game production and go back to 5.5.

The mac version gets axed now. What would you say if Autodesk ported Max to linux and axed the Windows version? Would you be happy that they suddenlly decided to make your favorite software unavailable for your favorite platform?

thought so...

[kiko]

Fair enough. But at least my suggestions are on record now. How constructive is idle bitching?

see my previous post

[TomThumb]

Fair enough. But at least my suggestions are on record now. How constructive is idle bitching?

Why would you expect less bitching when they can't even respond to a simple request for a Mac version? They can bother askinig for suggestions, but can't bother to answer a simple question with a yes or no as to if it's being worked on?

If they can't respond to that... "idle bitching" they probably won't hear/listen to either. And it may show how many others here have "issues."

[kiko]

The upgrade from 5.5 to 6 and 7 was a nightmare,

correction, the upgrade from 5.5 to 6 was under Alias' ownership
sorry.

[kiko]

Fair enough. But at least my suggestions are on record now. How constructive is idle bitching?
Idle-bitching gets things done, believe or not.

Mac users are "idle-bitching" hard-core veterans. That's one of the reasons we're still around.

Maybe Amiga users should have "idle-bitch"-ed more :p

[josephjacir]

Kiko, thanks for the tips, that will speed me up. To clarify a few things:

Originally Posted by josephjacir

An X-ray mode like max has, with the ability to switch it on and off quickly (quicker than changing materials)


Actually what max calls x-ray mode is something else - it basically makes all objects solid and transparent. This is useful for finding intersections and seeing action behind this. I didn't mean the mode where the rig is overlaid, although this is useful too.

Originally Posted by josephjacir

Sometimes rotating in local mode causes my object to wig out and move to some unpredictable rotation.

It seems to happen when I have an aux pivot or effector parented to another object, and I try to rotate it independently of that object.

Originally Posted by josephjacir

Maybe this exists and I haven't noticed it, but I think it should be quicker/easier to switch between an effector and an aux effector or aux pivot. Maybe a button to snap one to the other, in either direction, and automatically set adjacent keys to switch their reach values. One click, instead of moving back and forth between them and scrubbing time, and pulling sliders. Many rigs have this functionality, as in IK<->FK snap.

I understand that snapping between IK and FK is unnecessary on this rig, and I like how that works here actually. However, I was just using that as an analogy for switching between the effector and the aux effector/pivot. That could work more quickly, and perhaps similarly to a switch controlling IK/FK snap.

Originally Posted by kiko
The mac version gets axed now. What would you say if Autodesk ported Max to linux and axed the Windows version? Would you be happy that they suddenlly decided to make your favorite software unavailable for your favorite platform?

thought so...

Actually that's my not-so-secret fantasy! But I take your point.

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