Cinema 3d Releases ?

[thorn3d]

Maxon has not announced plans to support linux. I'm sure they may consider it, but based on previous support of OS's that didn't go anywhere they will approach it carefully, if at all.

thorn

[flingster]

not heard of anything.
please submit this as a request to maxon though

[JIII]

yes I think cinema would benefit from a linux version but I have never even used linux once so what would I know?

[thorn3d]

One thing that people should consider: every hour spent on porting to linux is an hour not spent on improving the overall application.

thorn

[WSzP]

Neverwake, I agree. Maxon's top priority should be to keep C4D on top of the 3d industry.

[flingster]

please don't try to tell me a linux edition won't help keep cinema at the top of the 3d industry.

[linkinpark]

I think that WSzP and neverwake just wanted to say that the convertion C4D to Linux would take a time which Maxon could use to improve Cinema 4D itself.. :thumbsup:

LP

[stew]

What would be the benefits of a Linux port? If you can afford C4D and a computer powerful enough to run it, you surely can afford a Windows license too, so cost can't be it.

[JamesMK]

Think "renderfarm" here. Should you ever want to set up 100 PC's running NetRender, you'll save quite a lot using Linux on them instead of buying a 100 Win licences. Purely academic for most of us, but in a Studio....

[stew]

Right. Porting just the renderer should also be relatively easy compared to the full app.

[flingster]

loads of the major film studios use linux.
disney has just moved over i think....those currently using linux in there production pipelines DreamWorks SKG, Pixar Animation Studios, ILM and Digital Domain

cheaper for renderfarm scenario.
adaptable and customisable
robust and stable enterprise solution

houdini, maya, xsi....NO CINEMA??? and we then wonder why we are not being used in anger in production pipelines...at least the current relationship between sony imageworks and maxon to develop bp2 shows signs of what can be done successfully....we want more imho of course.
i know you guys want development on cinema but this is about adapting the current suite to a different os..

btw i don't think you can separate the two...so if you want net render you gotta have c4d also from what i read in the past but please correct me if i'm wrong.

[ThirdEye]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by flingster
"loads of the major film studios use linux.
disney has just moved over i think....those currently using linux in there production pipelines DreamWorks SKG, Pixar Animation Studios, ILM and Digital Domain"

all they use is prman or mental ray, they wouldn't use c4d anyway

"houdini, maya, xsi....NO CINEMA??? and we then wonder why we are not being used in anger in production pipelines..."

i don't think the reason is the lack of linux support, but the lack of basic stuff, i prefer the coders work on the core ;)

[stew]

Originally posted by flingster
houdini, maya, xsi....NO CINEMA??? and we then wonder why we are not being used in anger in production pipelines...
I don't think that's because there is no Linux version. Maya and XSI have been used in the studios long before they had Linux versions, and they probably would be used just as well without a Linux version now. The studios select the platform based on what their apps need, and not the other way round. If Maya and PRMan were only available on OS/2, I'm sure the studios were happily using OS/2. I think for a better integration into a larger scale pipeline, C4D would need to be able to separate the renderer from the rest. A lot of production rendering happens on PRMan or MentalRay, and I haven't seen any decent RenderMan exporter for C4D yet (if I'm overlooking one, I'd be happy to get more info).
btw i don't think you can separate the two...so if you want net render you gotta have c4d also from what i read in the past but please correct me if i'm wrong.
I think this should be rather easy. Since you can render in C4D while working on the scene, the renderer must at least have a completely independent copy of the scene description, and as the advanced renderer is a module now, there sure is a way of separating the two.
As I see it, Maxon is working on making C4D better suitable for large pipelines, but by making the app more flexible and modular and not by porting it to Linux.

[flingster]

i know what your saying here they just use the renderer as they just send it of to a cluster/render farm.
but the c4d renderer isn't exactly s**t...and a lot of the time stuff is done in post anyways...i just think c4d renderer is so under rated...maybe mental ray has the feature set...but alot of the time that feature set isn't even used anyway.
cinema is very stable one of the things these enterprises actually rely on.

at the moment they don't even have the opportunity to change so cinema is just missed out of the equation/evaluation process altogether...:shrug:

[flingster]

stew i take your point that the studio were already using the alternative software...but the studios approached the software companies to develop maya for linux.

if cinema wants some of that market it doesn't have any alternative...
whether they decide to go for toolset upgrades or linux development only time will see...which is what makes the whole industry so damn interesting.

[stew]

I'm not sure if C4D's render meets the needs in terms of flexibility and expandability. A huge advantage of PRMan is that you can tap into it at almost any stage of the render process and implement your own algorithms - e.g., before PRMan was able to perform raytracing, people used BMRT as a ray server for PRMan. Also, many algorithms we know now were first implemented as RenderMan shaders and then made it into the renderers of 3ds or C4D. I know that C4D has COFFEE and the C++ SDK for writing your own volume and surface shaders, but I don't think it allows you to write your own lightsource shaders or prepasses. I could be wrong here, though, I am relatively new to the C4D SDK.

[stew]

Originally posted by flingster
stew i take your point that the studio were already using the alternative software...but the studios approached the software companies to develop maya for linux.
That's why I believe that they would approach Maxon if and when they have the desire of a Linux version of C4D.

I don't think the studios are overlooking C4D, not at all. I'm pretty sure they have a close eye on everything that is happening on the 3D market and are constantly evaluating new tools. Take a look at Sony and BodyPaint - it was compelling enough, Linux version or not.

But frankly, I don't see what C4D would offer them what their existing tool chain wouldn't, and if there is some feature they want, it must be good enough to make it worth the effort of reworking their pipelines.

[flingster]

i totally agree with ya there currently c4d is not offering them anything more than they currently have....maybe its a case of waiting for a studio to come to them...but no company ever won a market by waiting for a customer to come to them...at the moment if you were a running a studio why would you come to maxon when you can go to your current supplier alias or whoever and get them to tailor the toolset for you....
its a difficult nut to crack...as you rightly point out there are many parts to the issue...renderers etc. which can't all be solved at once...but a linux version two releases down the line..very stable with renderer support might prompt a move....as it is currently its unlikely to happen any time soon...you have to take it from the IT managers point of view...ask for one component to be developed or wait for many...to much risk if you wait for many.:shrug:

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