Modo preview

[-JT-]

Yes finally we got to see some modeling tools (for a modeler...), it looks quite good so far, i like the tube creation throught splines (available in max).
But we want to see more ! Nowadays companies announce softwares too many months in advance... (lightwave 8, modo)

[samartin]

That is some serious customisation going on there, looks very nifty indeed, just hope they release a tryout version soon...

[Tim Deneau]

I love how you can create any interface you want, that would be extremely useful. It looks like a robust program.

I wonder if Luxology has later plans for a layout application to accompany their modeler?

[Nemoid]

Actually I really hope they will also have some module for animation and rendering ( or a good support for MR or VRay )
because a modeler is only a modeler and here we seem to have only a good subpatch modeler, with great characteristics indeed. to say it in short i see a quite limited thing to have only a modeler module for subpatch. I'd like at least having also NURBS tools, like in Rhino and other kinda tools for different approaches to modelling (artisan like? some new technology? )
since someone in these forums said that he saw there is some other module I hope Lux will reveal more soon about their softwares. but time passes...

[silvergun]

i've heard they're working on an animation and rendering application to go with modo. They will appear later under the name of whisper suite.

I'm more excited about the fact you can build your own type of 3d display in this modeling app and the ability to open models from any application being lightwave, maya, max and softimage, modify them and export them back. I think this will become the mod communitys app of choice. This is gonna be big news........quality nice.

That second videos great.. a quick easy way of modeling leaves on tree branches

[Dennik]

Did anyone notice that Modo interface takes full advantage of the apple cinema display?:hmm: I hope the interface customisation works just as well for the 4/3 monitors too.

[Peter Reynolds]

Looks like it will have some great tools.

Interesting to see how the workflow compares to wings or mirai.

You seem to be able to run it in a minimalist pro mode, or for those that love to fill their screens with wasted unused windows or menus, they can clutter things up as much as they like. Something for everyone eh?

[Tim Deneau]

I'm all giddy. There is some talk of this whisper suite over on the CG Channel board from people who have seen it.

Having 'universal' tools would be awesome. I wonder how much this stuff is going to cost.

[wgreenlee1]

Time to start selling furniture so I can afford it this spring or whenever....lol

[Nemoid]

Really, I hope that Lux products will be a good and solid suite of modules Modelling/Animation/Rendering.

from what I have seen in the web and what I read in these and other forums it will be a good product indeed, coupling user friendly and interactive tools with power and deepness.
The fully customizable UI with the preset similar to Lw, Maya, Max and others is a good idea since it allows to understand better the package out of the box, allowing to build your preferred UI later, when you fully understand the characteristic of the app.
the only things I am wondering are a few.

1)as I said, why implementing only Subpatches and not give also NURBS and other tools a possibility - as a solo modeler - a complete package from this POV would appear and really be the best for many kinda users, from architects to designers, to organic modelers and more. I'm not the big fan of NURBS, but i'm sure that many users would like them for design and prototyping issues. consider also that an app like Maya have NURBS, Polys, Subpatch of two types, even if not all is user friendly implemented, its surely completeand with the possibility to convert from polis to subpatch, from NURBS to subpatch etc.

2) the price : if I was Lux I would make a great price of middle level, lets say around 3000$ ( wich for a revolutionary package is not so pricey), because is a price not so high like that of XSI and the cost is minor than Maya unlimited.
obviously, if the price is similar to 2000 its even better...:scream:

3) the rendering module : snce the owners and main programmers of Lux are the same of old Lightwave 3D, I'd like a state of te art rewriting of current Lw rendering engine, or better, a rendering engine based on the old Lw engine, but comparable with MR, Vray, Final render.
Lw rendering engine is good and accurate, but its old. really needs different things like the support of rendering displacement maps, to avoid huge high polys models , a better lighting system and also a distributed rendering easy to setup and all integrated with the rendering window.I know there are good workaround and plugins to make all of this, but a new integrated system would be surely better. Lux surely have this possibility so I hope they will do it

also the support of MR would be a good thing, since it seems many apps are doing it.

4) the animation model is the more difficult to make IMHO, because we already have good animation solo modules, Like MB and Animanium, as well as rigging modules ilke TSM. but especially MB seems to be rocking solid and very good with every release.

5) news! a good updating of Lux website would be great. they give us a few news for now and even movies are not hosted in the main site!! heheheh. hope they will give us huge news about their projects soon, since waiting becomes quite painfull.

naturally these are only my opinions and considerations. I think I will wait and see what Lux will say, hoping to have soon a learnig demo edition.:drool:

excuse me for the long post.

Ciao from Italy!!:wavey:

[Chewey]

Modo is reported to be released as "Nexus". The interface costume change is cool but to me it's a bit of eye candy. I'd like to see them implement nurb support and solid modeling. I can model just fine in the current plethora of modeling packages available. Maybe the fully implemented suite of tools will spark my interest if the animation and rendering tools are strong.

[Nemoid]

Agree totally!! :beer:

interface can be eye candy, but I see it as helpful imitating a bit that of other apps, for easier learning issues.
obviously, hope that its fully customizable in colors, panels, etc.even if its not the part of the app wich interests me the most.

Nexus seem to be also a great name indeed

[RedEye01]

From the rumors I hear (while starting my own): There is the Luxology core that is installed with the first application you choose, then there are modules that can be revolutionized at will and be completely unafected by the other modules. You buy what you need and forget the rest. Cost effective for single users and awesome for companies. Modo is the first module. The Nexus animation module will be the next and apparently there may be two or three more that can be plugged into the Lux Core. As you add modules, the application expands with new sets of tools. A dynamics suite, standard renderer and another that may be renderman compliant...but then again, I could be full of it too.:thumbsup: Just a rumor of course.

[yog]

I had heard it was going to be multiple modules, and had hoped it would be implemented in this way.
It makes good sense with the way the industry is going, with modelling in one package, sometimes animating in a second package, and then occassionally going back to the first package or even going to a third package for rendering.

It also makes sence to push the modeller first. There are a number of very good animation only packages out there that intergrate well with software, there are also a few good standalone renderers out there with more coming (Brazil, Vray), and although there are some good stand alone modellers on the market, none offer the intergration with other software that Modo seems to be hinting at.

Just going to get my shades, cos the future looks bright.

[samartin]

Originally posted by Dennik
Did anyone notice that Modo interface takes full advantage of the apple cinema display?:hmm: I hope the interface customisation works just as well for the 4/3 monitors too.

While this being true, let's hope it works across multiple monitors and I'm sure it would, I really can't wait to try this puppy out...

[PhilOsirus]

Sounds interesting, and hopefull will come a good price. This is the big issue for me right now.

[Nemoid]

Originally posted by RedEye01
From the rumors I hear (while starting my own): There is the Luxology core that is installed with the first application you choose, then there are modules that can be revolutionized at will and be completely unafected by the other modules. You buy what you need and forget the rest. Cost effective for single users and awesome for companies. Modo is the first module. The Nexus animation module will be the next and apparently there may be two or three more that can be plugged into the Lux Core. As you add modules, the application expands with new sets of tools. A dynamics suite, standard renderer and another that may be renderman compliant...but then again, I could be full of it too.:thumbsup: Just a rumor of course.

Great rumours indeed! hope there is smth true in them.
I'd like very much having a real modular structure, every module designed for every task rendering, modelling, animating etc. and the possibility to buy every module separately if I want.:scream:

really can't wait to know more. for now they only showed a few things.

I also have noticed one thing. Lux product seem to be heavily related to Mac, wich seems to go towards 3D (finally !!) with the recent G5 models.
time to start thinking to change from PC to Mac for 3D?

[Tim Deneau]

Yeah, I'm glad to see the relationship between Apple and Luxology.

But man, that's like $6,000 for a nice G5 and display, and then probably $2,000 for the modeler... :surprised stupid money...

[Thalaxis]

Originally posted by Nemoid
I also have noticed one thing. Lux product seem to be heavily related to Mac, wich seems to go towards 3D (finally !!) with the recent G5 models.
time to start thinking to change from PC to Mac for 3D?

According to Lux, 75% of their staff is Windows-oriented.

[yog]

No worries.
One of the screen grabs on Luxology's site clearly shows a windows interface.

[Thalaxis]

I just figured I'd note that, since it's an answer to a common
question.

Lux posted it as part of their response to taking some of the
flak for attempting to assist Jobs in spinning his reality distortion
field.

But the fact is that they're not stupid; they're not going to focus
on the smaller and static market and ignore the larger and
growing one.

Instead they took the (most) intelligent route: apply some ntelligent software design so that the majority of the application
is platform independent anyway, and market it to both.

[talos72]

Someone said $3000 is not much for this app. I think 3k is a pretty hefty price, even for apps like 3D Max, let alone for a modeler only app. If it is more than a $1000, it might not be all that cost effective. Lightwave is little over a $1000 and you get animation, particles, compositing, etc.

[Thalaxis]

I can't vouch for this because I don't remember where I read it,
but I saw a price of around $400 for the modeller mentioned.
That sounded fairly reasonable to me, but it's hard to say without
actually trying it out :)

[Mike RB]

Rendernode has posted all the parts to thier video coverage of modo from IBC2003. The sound is quite poor but there are some neat stuff visible in the later ones.

http://www.rendernode.com/movies.html

-mike

[samartin]

dunno about anybody else, but I'm having no luck here trying to view these files, last time I downloaded them without any probs., but now when I get the small window I click it and get a frickin' 404 error :GAHHHH:

[Mike RB]

works fine here.

[SheepFactory]

i get the 404 too

[talos72]

The vids don't work for me either! When the quicktime window opens up and I hit play, nothing happens.

Ya, I did read that the price is actually going to be around $700 but for Lightwave owners it will be around $400. I think I read it in 3D World magazine somwhere. I already got me Lightwave, and $400 is not bad.

[Mike RB]

when the little window pops up, just click inside it, dont hit the button on the quicktime interface.

Mike

[SheepFactory]

yeah thats when we get the 404

[samartin]

I've also tried this at home but still no luck, I tried viewing the code and the files are pointing at :

rtsp://plain.ehost4you.com:554/modo3_medium.mov

What is RTSP:// ??? I've tried replacing with HTTP:// and of course FTP://

Do you have to join or anything to view ??? I am not a subscriber but maybe you are Mike ???

[Flywaver]

I will look into it! :eek:

Cheers!

[mpc823_99]

Originally posted by samartin
I've also tried this at home but still no luck, I tried viewing the code and the files are pointing at :

rtsp://plain.ehost4you.com:554/modo3_medium.mov

What is RTSP:// ??? I've tried replacing with HTTP:// and of course FTP://

Do you have to join or anything to view ??? I am not a subscriber but maybe you are Mike ???

RTSP stands for Real-Time Streaming Protocol. It's a protocol for starting/stopping/pausing real time streams over a network. Of course, I get the 404 as well. But I'm behind a firewall which doesn't allow port 554 (RTSP port) through.

[gaborca]

I had the same problem with quicktime... Try it with Realone player it works!

G

[CIM]

They still don't work--not in QT or RealPlayer. Why don't these ppl. just post them in a big ZIP file so ppl. can download them to their HD? Streaming sites always suck.

[pigwater]

i think it's just another example of lux's "bait and delay" presentation ... the vid's will work fine as soon as the app does

[Mike RB]

The vid's work fine here. There must be a port problem on your end.

[Chewey]

Not working here either.

[private]

Doesn't work here either.

[talos72]

"They still don't work--not in QT or RealPlayer. Why don't these ppl. just post them in a big ZIP file so ppl. can download them to their HD? Streaming sites always suck."

One thing I like about windows media formats is that you can right-click on the window and DL the target clip (at least in my experience). Maybe it is the way the site's servers are set up for those sites. For some reason, quicktimes files wont let you DL.

I am not a big fan of quicktime player and have found the last couple of versions to be pretty buggy on IE with frequent crashes and funky errors. I know others who have experienced the same.

[jason-slab]

can't view it either

talos72: i find qt alot better than media player, at least i can study anims frame by frame:D, and if u have qt pro u can right click "save movie", plus mine seems less buggy than media player:)
$0.02

|jason

[talos72]

I guess it's a matter of personal experience, because I haven't had much issues with WMP. Though the frame by frame is a nice feature, but I don't know if I want to shell out the cash for QT pro just so I can save clips. I don't know why the ability of saving target files is only part of the pro version of quicktime!:hmm:

[ngrava]

Yep. Vids are a no go for me too. The window pops up, I click on the quicktime player to start the movie and the window loads a little Quicktime streamer that states "404 not found". End of story.

-=GB=-

[MrWyatt]

I emailed them (rendernode) twice and told them the vids could not be viewed. but no replie since. let´s hope they will solve the problem.

[cg_matt]

don't work here either, but I'm behind a firewall, I agree with CIM I never understand why they just don't link to the files for download.

:annoyed:

[Flywaver]

Hi all,

the reason the videos are streamed is because asian sites were stealing them! :shame:

I am new at RenderNode and don't like broken videos as much as anybody. It seems to be a screwup on the new server (based in LA), should be fixed soon. :banghead:

Sorry for the delays! :blush:

Cheers!

[Flywaver]

Ok boys/girls,

The movies are back online...I am checking them as I type! :buttrock:

http://www.rendernode.com/movies.html

Sorry for the delays...we will make sure this doesn't happen again! :shame:

Cheers!

[trevlb]

i don't know if this is a problem on my end or not, but i am still having trouble viewing the videos. i get an '11004: S...not found' error in the quicktime player bar.

[Thalaxis]

I got a "-5402: Bad Data".

[talos72]

Finally got to check out the videos. Some really impressive stuff with the GUI. I like how you can easily create tool and view panes. It was kinda difficult to see exactly what was happening on the monitor of the demo guy, but what I saw looked interesting.

I definitly see some heavy Lightwave influences, especially with the way the software used widgets as deformers.

I also saw something that resembled the magic bevel tool in Lightwave. Creating projected splines on model surfaces is also a handy tool they showed. All you need to do is draw the spline freehand and it projects it on the surface of another geometry without any additional commands. Nice!

Hope they will have a feature list on Luxology site soon.

[CIM]

They clearly still don't work. :rolleyes:

[Flywaver]

Well,

for some reasons they now work fine for some while they still don't work for others.

I think now it's just a question of browsers and QT versions! :hmm:

Please tell us what browser/OS QT version your running if they still don't work...might be related to caching issues as well.

Cheers!

[trevlb]

i am running IE 6.0 and QT 6.3

there may be a firewall issue on my side, but i'm not sure. i can get to the sight, the movies just won't stream.

[Flywaver]

Ok I am with QT 6.4, ZoneAlarm set to MAX and the zillion patches of IE 6! :eek:

For the ones that it still doesn't work, I know it's boring to repeat this but did you click on the link to open the window and then click in th emiddle of the QT Movie?

I know it's a weird way to make it work, I told the team we need to make it work right away in the next movies! :hmm:

Cheers!

[trevlb]

yeah, i did that, and that's when i saw the error in the qt player.

can you set it up as a direct link, so we could do the old right-click, save target as?

[policarpo]

seems to be working now.

i really like the UI color scheme and some of the tools seem very very nice.

can't wait for a demo to give it a test run.

[silvergun]

what I did was click on the link to get the pop up window with the quicktime logo on it, then I viewed the source and copied and pasted the url from the source into IE and itll open up quicktime to let you stream the file

[alphatron]

The videos seem to be working fine for me now, but unfortunately, no audio! Is anyone else experiencing this? I have IE 6 and QT 6.4, win xp platform.

[pencil-head]

lol i got audio but no video :shrug:

[Tim Deneau]

It works on my end if QuickTime (6.4) opens the movies directly and not through the browser.

rtsp://plain.ehost4you.com:554/modo3_medium.mov

rtsp://plain.ehost4you.com:554/modo4_medium.mov

rtsp://plain.ehost4you.com:554/modo5_medium.mov

[Flywaver]

Ok...nice to see they work for some but still sux that others can't see them! :thumbsdow

I just started the job and will talk to the crew about the ways videos are streamed...we need to stream them for bandwith reasons and also to protect them but we will make sure anyone with QT6.x can see them properly!

How about some WMV versions as well? I find WMV9 to be excellent for long videos, a LOT better than DivX for compressed videos so if there is a great demand for them I will look into it. :wavey:

If you want to send feedback please do at rendernode@rendernode.com but I will setup a specific e-mail addy for feedback next week. :)

Cheers!

[talos72]

I think it would be a great idea to have WMV files, IMO. It is a good quality format and most people probably have WMV9.

[holosynthetic]

i don't know if this will help anyone, but i'll post it anyways

i too couldn't view these videos even with IE6 and QT 6.4, so anyways i went into my quicktime file in windows explorer and noticed a "quicktime updater" icon, so i clicked it and obviously even though i was using QT 6.4 i was missing some componants, after installing it i restarted quicktime and the videos on rendernode worked fine..go figure, heh

[alphatron]

NowI either get video and no audio, or audio and no video. Why not just have a right click save as like before instead of these troublesome streaming videos?

[Flywaver]

Originally posted by alphatron
NowI either get video and no audio, or audio and no video. Why not just have a right click save as like before instead of these troublesome streaming videos?

That's what I usually do but now the videos are only streamed but like I said we will look into WMV or another method to let people save the videos.

Cheers!

[Karmacop]

Don't use wmv, it locks out everyone that doesn't use windows. Quicktime is great, just don't use rtsp. That way people that can't stream them (I'm on adsl and it was still too slow to stream) still have a chance to view them.

[Flywaver]

Oh I wouldn't use *only* WMV!! :)

Yeah will look into the "rtsp"! :hmm:

Cheers!

[MrWyatt]

got the newest version of quicktime and still no movies to watch. when i use IE a window popps up with a quicktime movie acting as it was loaded but when i click play it has only loaded the first frame and that was it. that´s so frustrating.

[samartin]

Launch quicktime and the use open URL, then at the top of this page cut and paste the address, worked for me doing it this way...

[MrWyatt]

yes I tried that but all i get is audio, no video. that kind of sux.

[ambient-whisper]

some soundcards have mp3 hardware acceleration ( like mine ).

this actually conflicts with some apps and doesnt give out audio in them. ( like i couldnt hea audio in some divx ( and other types of files as well ) movies a while back until i turned it off )

so what im saying is it could be a specific setting that you might have turned on that is conflicting with codecs.

[Flywaver]

Yeah, so far it sems it's more debugging than wondering if the videos actually work. They work for us all at RenderNode and among many friends from outside...*but* I spoke to the team about making WMV's as well. :)

Also, why we don't give ddirect movie downloads is that many sites were only pointing to direct movies and not passing by the site...which makes it useless to produce such videos if people will only download them and not even visit the site that makes them available! :hmm:

Cheers!

[Karmacop]

Don't give direct downloads, do what apple etc do and make the movie play in an html page. I like viewing mov's that way as you can view it as you download (view the 15% you've already downloaded for example) but it's not streamed, meaning slower connections can still view it all with no jumpiness, it'll just take longer for them. Then include links back to the article and website on that webpage.

That's just my opinion though .. I could link some examples if you're not sure what i mean.

[private]

Direct downloads are fine, but make sure you embed your website into the video, so people know where it came from. Please, don't make this turn into another CGChannel debackle.

[Flywaver]

Well, this method we are using is definitely not what I wanted which is why I am trying to modify the way we offer videos.

What I want is the easiest and most compatible way we can offer while protecting the content from direct downloads. :eek:

Karmacop, I thought of this...there is a QT script that makes a movie load within a current window, which automatically hides the URL...is this what you were talking about?

Cheers!

[MrWyatt]

what ever it takes, get it going quickly as it really wrecks my nerves. checking several times every day, and allways having the same problems isn´t the way to make me a happy visitor of your site and will most likely hold me from subscribing to your magazine. this issue really makes me sick. i hope you get this fixed before modo has come out and before combustion 6 is in the making.
sorry for the hassle but i´ve never seen a proffessional site with so many trouble. Who ever does the coding at rendernode: FIX THIS NOW! (please)

[Flywaver]

MrWyatt I had some issues With XP and some of the M$ updates in the past but now all works well so I really don't know what to say...it's not programming at all they are simply streamed off a dedicated QuickTime Streaming Server. :hmm:

Cheers!

[Karmacop]

I think that's exactly what I mean flywaver. Something like this http://www.apple.com/trailers/artisan/the_punisher/trailer/ and (I think this wont play because of my firewall, I'll have to check) but it shouldn't be streamed and it shouldn't wait for the whole thing to download. It should be a progressive download to you can play what you have so far. I'm not sure if you need a special format for it or not though.

I'd like to say you've been very helpful in trying to fix up the problems you're having with people unable to view the video. I don't think I've seen anyone else be so visible about a problem like this. Great work :)

[MrWyatt]

well, still no worky here.
now it´s a moving timeline but no video or audio.
there is something hypnotic about solitair moving timelines.
:surprised

[Kenshin_himura]

no problems here

[Kenshin_himura]

Oh wait...there's a prob......nope, no problem. Works fine.

[CG.p]

Originally posted by alphatron
NowI either get video and no audio, or audio and no video. Why not just have a right click save as like before instead of these troublesome streaming videos?

The audio is bad because it is at the show. They need to get similar videos out there without the demo dude having to yell over the loudspeakers.
:)

[rock]

Originally posted by -JT-
Yes finally we got to see some modeling tools (for a modeler...), it looks quite good so far, i like the tube creation throught splines (available in max).
But we want to see more ! Nowadays companies announce softwares too many months in advance... (lightwave 8, modo)

Light 8.1, 8.2, and 8.5 have already been announced by Newtek employees in LW forum, even though LW 8 is not out yet.

[CG.p]

Originally posted by rock
Light 8.1, 8.2, and 8.5 have already been announced by Newtek employees in LW forum, even though LW 8 is not out yet.

They weren't announced. The concept of point releases after 8.0 was mentioned. There is a big difference.

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