New Press Release

#21

Great News!

#22

I wish EITG all the best in bringing EIM back.

I think it’s a good move.

Looks like I’ll be saving my hobbiest pennies for both a EIAS upgrade and new Mac or PC
in 2008.

Cheers,

Mike

#23

Awesome!! I’m glad I made up my mind to officially move to Maya after my last EI project having no texture import with FBX. This just confirms my decision to move to Maya with yet another poor EI business decision. This has been a great year for dropping dead weight, useless and unproductive tailing chasing. EI is good at chasing it’s tail, spinning in circles instead of moving forward.

I promised my crew that I would be reinburst them for v7. and I have personally been working with v7. Unless, the next EI upgrade has Zbrush Displacment rendering, intergrated Modeler, and CA support, I’m not wasting time repeating historically bad mistakes or foolishness. (I’m really very angry with right now).

I’ll honor my previous commitments. I’ll finish my DVD’s and then I’m done with EIAS.

(this has nothing to do with Kishore)

#24

Well, an integrated modeler certainly wasn’t going to happen any time soon. I read somewhere Lightwave was finally managing to do that after all this time, and partially, at that (please anyone correct me if I am wrong here) so being EITG that small a team… I don’t know what was to be expected otherwise, really. That EIM announcement belongs to the v7 wave, anyway, given the ETA. CA tools are supposed to be v8’s focus. Perhaps by then it regains its appeal to you (but then I don’t think it will, Maya being so incredibly versatile an environment).

But I don’t think resucitating EIM is EITG chasing its tail etc.: EIM’s code is an unused asset which could bring money to the company if brought back to life and up to spec. I don’t think it will be a development effort black hole: the design and code are already there, and it seems as if its dev team will be an addition instead of a substraction to EITG.

Plus, seeing about this Sonica announcement, the Konkeptoine thing, and that “Kryptonite” hint, I’d say getting EIM back feels as resulting from a new utilitarian policy of seeing what looks like being able to bring money to the company. If a certain number of people said they would pay X money for EIM, and Mr. Parscale estimates it is worth it, then…

That there are two main EI user camps, the ones needing conceptual design tools and the CA/generalists, is clear. That EIAS imperiously needs a modeler, whichever modeler, to be complete marketing-wise, is so, too. EIM is the easiest route to that, and will let the company take a breather and concentrate on the other areas. Starting to build an entirely new modeler right now would take too long and consume even more resources. Doing an integrated animator-modeler is like trying to turn LW into a 3DMax-level effort.

What intrigues me is this “new framework” thing: if it has the potential to satisfy the SubD/poly crowd as the modeler develops.

#25

When/where was this information released? Is this info privy to the advisory board?
I’m not a member…another EI misgiving.

#26

Well, I deleted my original post yesterday as I did not want to hurt EI’s announcment…
But I am really down on EI’s future here.
I mean, have we learned nothing from the past EITG?
While it might be nice to have Modeler back, it will do ZERO to expand the user base.

There are too many modelers out there that do what EIM is going to do, and they work great.

Someone said this a couple weeks ago here, “I feel like I got on the wrong bus”.
I really feel like back in 1996 when I chose to go with EI, I too got on the wrong bus.

I think I’ve seen this movie before. It started much later then it was slated for, and it didn’t tell the story it was suppose to.

#27

Calm down gentlemen…jeesh. The move to ressurect EIM was a calculated decision. A decision that is being executed on an entirely different budget than v8. The facts for this decision are pretty clear and in my opinion…valid.

  1. EITG wants a complete animation “system”. That includes their own modeling solution. I don’t know how many potential users pass over EIAS mainly because there is no modeling capabilities that are directly linked with the application…and as good as Obj2Fact is, its not the answer to certain needs. Bringing models into Animator lately has become a sort of voodoo dance. Some people get good results, others don’t. The more confusion in that arena, the more people get annoyed. We need something that deals with FACT directly.

  2. The direction for Animator’s future is dependent on having a decent modeling solution. Brad acknowledges that:

    a. Animator needs an interface facelift. So its possible there may be a v7.5 that addresses that.

    b. He also acknowledges that Animator needs an animation tool upgrade. Will that consist of new CA tools? Most likely, but it will also address other necessary enhancements that users have been asking for. However, things are still being addressed for what v8 will bring. Its still quite open.

  3. Having a modeler will ultimately solve the UV problem because this new EIM, according to Brad, will likely have a direct link to Camera. To me that speaks of texturing capabilities. Why render to camera if you don’t have texturing information?

  4. A new EIM based on a new framework speaks of the future of the entire EIAS product line. We can’t live on Animators 18 year old framework forever.

#28

There was no official announcement. V8’s direction has not be decided. When v8’s future gets discussed, and if its CA related like we hope, I’m certain your advice will be needed and helpful.

The advisory board is just a collection of users providing Brad with our insight. Speak to Brad directly. I’m sure he’ll listen. Just try to avoid statements like this… its not helpful.

#29

No need for drama Alonzo. These things take time and stomping your foot down stating that EI has to revolve around you isn’t gonna make things go any faster. Zbrush displacement rendering is certainly possible…and you know several are pushing for CA support. Trust me…there’s a lot of people to please. Hang in there.

#30

I think 1 very important feature that is sorely needed and I never seen mentioned is the ability to handle larger data set both within Animator and Camera. Scenes that are couple million of polygons is very common place these days. A single detailed car exterior/interior w/o engine parts can easily take up millions of polys. In a recent project I have to handle 2 cars. And maybe next time there will be 4 cars…

I can barely load 1 car into Animator and it crashes all the time (4 gig physical RAM). And Camera cannot render it with any RT features turned on. This is on Win XP, I’ll give that a try on OS X when v7 is released. Eventually, the whole rendering had to be done w/ v-ray which has a proxy feature that allows it to handle scenes with billions of polys (w/ RT, GI…). I heard Mental Ray also has a similar mechanism.

I like EI be able to utilize more than 2gig in Animator and Camera, and perhaps have a mechanism that will allow it to render scenes that are 10+ million polys and even billions of poly in size. With 64 bit processors and OS, this is where the future lies. I hope the new EIM framework can handle large data sets.

#31

I’m not sure what your issue is there, but I regularly render between 4 and 6 million polygons with full RT and GI.

What error message does camera give you? And what kind of crash does animator do? Is the Camera error in the GI, RAYT or CLCS library?

I’m on OSX here.

In my current project there are 4 millions polys worth of trees, 2 million in buildings and 2 million in cars, it’s currently rendering with RT/GI on 22 slaves very happily. Admittedly I run into Camera memory errors if I add anything else to the scene though :wink:

Ian

#32

I couldn’t agree more. The minute you tell a new user they have to buy other apps to do any work with EI is the moment they start looking elsewhere. You can’t offer someone new to 3D an incomplete solution. A complete animation system is the best goal EI can have.

Yes MR has that. It’s called the Approximation Editor and it works with Polys, NURBS, SubDs and Displacements. The high res settings are only called on during renders. It would be nice to see something like this in EI.

#33

(About v8 and a Character Animation focus: my bad. It’s not been established so, but when the discussion arised it certainly seemed to be the main theme, with even several voices from the conceptual/mechanical animation crowd pointing out how useful reinforcing such capabilities would be to them)

#34

Duplicate post (Ooopsie!)

#35

Thanks for the info, Ian, I get mostly RAYT errors, I think scenes with 5-6 millions are starting to push the limits of EI, and I think EI should be able to handle 10X the amount of polys and be steady like a rock.

I will go back to OS X once I get v7 and test the large scene.

-David

#36

Hi, David. i think you have some sort of problem (maybe plug ins?) i had rendered near 10 million poly with raytrace without any problem (and huge textures, i like the posibility of get very close if i need) only it takes lot of time, but my Mac is veeery old (G4 dual 500+1Gb Ram) i need to upgrade the machine, i know… ;D

BTW some Approximation Editor could be very nice.

FelixCat

#37

EITG plans to strongly investigate what v8 needs. There’s been a strong call for animation enhancements and I really think that will happen. Its just the extent of how many enhancements will be made in combination with other needs the program requires.

#38

Wow!..there’s a few heated posts:-)

Multi-processor support. Bought a PC last week for a measely $1000…I’ve been doing all my work on my 2.3 dual G5. Certainly not cutting edge but felt zippy. On my new PC, Modo is 4.5 times faster than my G5!

All of my work is spent doing render tests…I sure wouldn’t mind spending $1000 and have EI render 4.5 times as fast!!..actually it’s only taking advantage of one of the processors in my G5 so probably 5-6 times as fast.

This one is really over-due as a needed feature.

A little good news - I have so little of it at times here:-)

On a unique project and have attempted to work on it in 4 different programs…Max, Modo, C4D and finally EI. Each program contributed a little to the geometry but failed to give me what I needed in render features and general look. This is a very specific look the client is after.

Every other one just didn’t cut it in terms of all of the tools working how I needed them to together. Once I got the geometry into EI, the project just started to come together and is very close to being done.

EI feels like an old chevy truck at times but it dones the job where other’s at times just can’t cut it.

I sure would like to hear that the area shadows for transparency are faster in V7…everyone has been quiet about that one. What’s the deal? Yes - no?

#39

A temporary substitute for a multithreaded camera for preview renders would be to be able to Preference-set Previews as frame strip-type renders (to avoid the tedium of doing them via the Render palette, plus using all the Preview types available).

#40

This is not about me…or Character Animation. I contracted two high profile jobs this month, one for character a clothing line and one for hard body surface renders for an auto maker.

  Obviously by David's comment, this is not fiction. This is not about me stomping my feet on "my" behalf or pouting. I'm a currently responsible for 5 EIAS people  getting a check this week and this is the reason why 3 people almost didn't get paid thousands of dollars.
  My very difficult deadline decision to drop EI and go with another renderer was as crucial as a life line.  This is a hard body surface render "JOB" that EIAS couldn't handle or FAILED yet we DID NOT. My previous comment was an "excutive decision" exhibiting critical thinking in team and project management. I guess I have a different definition of what's "Production Standard" than others. The data we use we could tool a real car. Still I thank God for having the right  people in the right when EI assed out on me.
  
  I have 11gb of RAM. Real World data is billions of polys. I was responsible for getting this job done with no excuses and losing a contract because the software can't load textures, or can't address more than 2 gigs of Ram is "Drama" but not an OPTION. I am expressly communinicating critical concerns to successful contracts. Shun my comments, but in doing so, it costs EIAS not me. We used Vray (paul S:). The money is in my account and I can't give EI credit tho "we tried".  I made all the right decision  We still got the job done. People will be enjoying their shopping this "Black Friday" as soon as the check clears. 
  
  If winning international awards, employing several EI users, landing high profile auto manufacturers contracts, isn't enough to get me on the advisory board or at taking my comments seriously isn't enough... what would be?    Walking on Water ?