New Updates Available!!! (2.5 & 5.5 + Demo)

#41

How has that changed? They are not posting in the forums daily and you freak out? I’ve experienced worse communication from much larger software companies. Lack of communication? They just released a patch now with detailed info about what was fixed. And have released numerous patches/updates this year, fixing many serious and simple issues. Hell you even received a pre-release version yourself despite not being involved on the beta team. How is all of that a lack of communication?

I agree its not the best implementation. Though I don’t have the problem with the taskbar issue. I’ve worked with enough software to know that its not uncommon for implementations to be just plain crappy in one version and then completely redone in another and end up either worse or better. And I’ve seen that with pretty much every piece of software I’ve used. I do own XSI:fnd and have seen horrible implementations throughout it as well. No software is perfect.

Anyway. My comment was more than just related to messiah. Your plugins are commercial products for you and are an example of your work. Granted they are not your sole source of income, but bashing the company which produces the product in which you are selling products for, does not seem like it would build confidence in someone looking to pursue hiring you for future employment, or actually even purchase your plugins. Was just a thought.

By the way, I came across this thread that you might want to respond too: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=409736

#42

Same here it crash but with the scale percent between 1 and 100 it works very well

Phil

#43

Originally Posted by svintaj
[i]Ok, then it’s not only my computer, thanks!
And then I dare to report one more crash bug:

->Select the camera view
->From the Image Manager load an image from a sequence
->Click on Set As Background
->Check Activate Background Image
->Change the Background Image Scale Percent to something above 100
->Check Image Sequence, crash!

/ Svante[/i]

Same here it crash but with the scale percent between 1 and 100 it works very well

Phil

Probally because its only designed to work between 1 and 100.

See whats new doc:

There is a new control, ‘Background Image Scale Percent’ which will allow the user to interactively scale the background image in the viewport on both the x and y dimensions, by a percentage between 1-100. 100 is the default.

So I’d assume going above 100 would not work very well. Though it shouldn’t crash the program when the user does go above 100.

#44

Thanks for your thoughts.
If somebody is uncomfortable with my way of perceiving messiah, he is welcome to not work with me. Most of my customers share my view though, even if they are more “political correct” in the open. Some of them switched from LW/messiah to other software as well.

Sure XSI has problematic corners too, but the groundbase is very solid. Solid in a way that messiah will never reach if I do the math after using it for 6/7 years. It is the way of thinking in the end…

I can’t respond much since I still don’t know if I will ever release the plugins for XSI or keep them just inhouse. Coding is just a hobby for me - not sure if I want to become a full time developer with Win/Linux and 32/64bit versions and what not - I guess I rather not open that can of worms, although I even got the permission from Softimage… :wink:

Cheers,

#45

Woot! Thanks for fixing the dope sheet!!

Mouse Tracked Rotation Directions seems to work a lot better too. Previously I would get crazy flipping and weirdness with that clicked. That’s enough for me to be happy for a while =)

Thomas it’s not about being politically correct. You make good points, it’s just that half the time you sound more than a little angry, which doesn’t help me to hear what you’re saying.

To put it another way, would you listen more if I wrote the previous paragraph, or just said

“Stop being such a whiny bitch, dude.”

Makes you want just a little to hit me, doesn’t it? See the difference? The XSI forum even has a sticky telling people to not be a dick when they post.

When the time comes I might not use messiah to render my short, but I also don’t insist on telling all of creation how much and to what extent I’m not going to use it, repeatedly. XSI and Maya are a big deal because people use them, so the companies have money, and generally improve faster. It’s my opinion the short film that people are working on in other threads here will do a lot more to improve messiah than you or I complaining ever will, because people will see it, and like it, and want to use whatever they used, which means dollars, which means development time.

#46

it’s common for anyone who criticises software to be thought of as the devil incarnate but a lot of what Thomas has said is very true.

Would you rather buy a car that has constant free safety improvements or one that is perfectly safe when you buy it? I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be grateful for the many free updates but you’ve got to wonder why Messiah wasn’t fully functional when you bought it. Why does it need bugs to be fixed? Why does it need improvements to very basic things such as the manipulator? Why has there been so many free updates but hardly any actual additions to the core application?

Why? Because PMG released an unfinished product & are trying to keep everyone happy by giving you little treats…but rather than working on a fully functional point release they keep giving away half-arsed bug fixes that cause as many problems as they fix.

Be grateful but don’t see it as more than it really is.

#47

Hehe. Thomas, in my opinion, you can be how angry you want, your shaders still improve the renderer greatly. :wink:

PS. Pmg, I really like the renderer. Fix the sss ray setting and I WILL upgrade to pro, even if I have to buy a butterfly license.

#48

I like that one better :slight_smile: : “Stop being such a whiny bitch, dude.”
I’ll try.

biliousfrog: Thanks, that was my point.

AAAron: Cool you like them.
I think the SSS depth is fixed now? - there is a new setting in the Render/Settings tab.

Cheers,

#49

When the time comes I might not use messiah to render my short, but I also don’t insist on telling all of creation how much and to what extent I’m not going to use it, repeatedly. XSI and Maya are a big deal because people use them, so the companies have money, and generally improve faster. It’s my opinion the short film that people are working on in other threads here will do a lot more to improve messiah than you or I complaining ever will, because people will see it, and like it, and want to use whatever they used, which means dollars, which means development time.

Which is exactly my opinion. I couldn’t have put it all any better. And the project will succeed. I won’t quit nagging people until it gets done:) And what many people don’t understand is that developers like Taron, etc. who are developing more for themselves and the projects they work on, and have less of a commercial/marketing attitude are more likely to advance software if they see people using it, and will improve it if things are needed in a production situation. Something we’ve seen repeatedly with Wegg, etc. Which is the point of this short film, how can we truly improve messiah? Beyond bug fixes, or things we feel we need. Rather things that we require to get the job done.

My comments to Thomas though were more geared towards the professionalism of his comments, and him having a commercial interest in messiah. It seems if messiah succeeds and gains more users it is of more benefit to him. If he sells 30-40+ copies of AON and TLH:PRO now. Thats great he earns ~8K+. Imagine if messiah adds many more users with a more stable and advanced version of messiah and 1k+ people buy messiah. Thats ~200K+. So supporting messiah and helping in its future would be quite beneficial to Thomas I’d think. Which is why his attitude confuses me, as well as his lack of assistance with projects which could help messiah grow in popularity.

#50

LOL You’re a good guy, Thomas

#51

Why? Because PMG released an unfinished product & are trying to keep everyone happy by giving you little treats…but rather than working on a fully functional point release they keep giving away half-arsed bug fixes that cause as many problems as they fix.

hmm. I’d consider the fixes at face value. Mainly PMG working on fixing the things that need fixing. I wouldn’t consider them little treats to appease us. Actually its kind of funny, when they don’t update and fix things you complain that they aren’t doing anything and are quiet. When they do, its trying to keep everyone happy and not really doing anything…LOL.

And how do we know that they aren’t working on a full on point release? Unless someone here works for PMG and has an inside scoop, we do not know. And they have no obligation to tell us if they are. For all we know these fixes could be trying to straighten out all the loose ends before releasing a point release with all that we desire. Personally, I’m not going to hold my breath, but I’m not going to accuse PMG of something I have no clue about. I kind of hope PMG releases a awesome point release with all that you have desired, simply so I can laugh at all the hypocrites.

#52

Nice, I have not tried the new update yet since I just fried my dell and I didn´t see it in the update docs so I thought it was for the next update. :bounce: Thanks pmG!

#53

ThomasHelzle you sound alot like my Lightwave posts ( if we have any Lw’ers i the room :smiley: )

SO I can see where your coming from,
But messiah is still very good software for doing what it does best toons/ character animation
tho there are some great exsample of other stuff too.

XSI is great software I love it too, :buttrock:
it’s like a 3D crack habbit and you just keep wanting to know and explore more.

BUT I prefer to model - rig - animate,. I’m Not much of a texture guy or a rendering guru.

but i can understand many who love to model spend hours on textures and ligthing rendering and make a great still.

SO each person learns the tool they need to get they creative job done
if they current tools work for them ( messiah toon Ca ) well great.

and who’s a generalist in every way and a master of modeling, Uv’s, textures, rigging, Character animation, Lighting, surfacing, rendering & composing ?

so not everyone wants to deal with every point, polygon, vector, ik channel, reflection blur amount, GI bounce, photon focus level, render pass composition etc etc etc etc etc

XSI greatest feature is being a 3D greek heaven,
But it’s also it’s biggest negative because there’s SO much in there !
not many have ILM budgets, so we don’t want or need ILM features.
( I tho some are handy :wink: )

but the complete other way is Poser, Daz studio, Vue, Byrce which takes all the control out and just presets and simple settings ,:argh:

for me Messiah is just far enough from XSI to be easy and just close enough to be dam powerful.:thumbsup:

BUT if you got the $$$ and feel your hitting your head with your current software.
OR want to really move into a 3D app for afew years and really go off.

GO Buy XSI IT’s FREAKING EXCELLENT ! :twisted:

#54

I agree on all points. :thumbsup::applause::beer:
And I look forward to what you come up with in Messiah. Lets see that rig you are making.

#55

I’m very happy that pmG is improving their wares. I’m a long-time and avid messiah user since 1.5.7. Still the upgrades does those of us who purchased uprades from an earlier versions no good if we can’t get the dongles to work with the downloads and pmG refuses to answer any e-mails concerning the problems we are having. I have checked back through the archives of this forum and it seems that people have waiting almost a month and pmG has never gotten back with them. I personally bought pmG upgrade to workstation from M:A4 almost a month ago and never got it to work because of the HASP system not recognizing the dongle. Yet I observed only a day after I set my order pmG took the money off of my credit card. Why can’t things be more prompt for those of us who support the company? I would like to get messiah workstation to actually WORK before i even dream of doing business with this company again.

#56

I get so tired reading these recurring complaint lists. I feel deeply that everyone’s right - the rants are justified, and the software remains enjoyable. I, too, wish those zombie keys would stay in their graves. I wish the pmG team would integrate the beta-team (open or not) in bug-crushing, I wish the much-desired enhancements would be systematically tested and streamlined before release…
But in the end i use the software because I enjoy it. I suspect Thomas does too, because he remains on the fringe of the community, contributing both venom and ointment. (His shaders are definitely ointment). I also wish that the beta testing he has done in the past had led to a more fruitful cooperation.

I just wish the balance were more careful - more animation tests, more renders.

#57

HAHAHAH

“contributing both venom and ointment.”

the obvious question that sprigns forth is: What kind of ointment and is it a topical application?

#58

Have you written to tech support?

EW

#59

I would like to get messiah workstation to actually WORK before i even dream of doing business with this company again.

Completely understandable. Try PMing Fred who posted about this update. If that doesn’t work try Taron. PMG is a mom and pop company. Patience seems to be important. The question is who is mom and who is pop;)

#60

intraveinous ointment

Thomas is here to supply some critical balance. The fact that he’s willing to crit pmG and their latest effort despite his commercial interests is for me a tribute to his seeking for truth and excellence above compromise and gratuitous ooohs and aaahs.

A thread like this desperately needs a generous serving of pmG input.

For now I’m still rendering on 2.4d+ and not taking a chance upgrading to 2.5 so close to the end of my mammoth render run. After that, I’m already using messiah for some web graphics and perhaps also for the content of a rather interesting Internet project if there’s nothing technical stopping me (which of course there may be). The client is rather mysterious and eccentric but the job description so far seems perfect for m:render. On the other hand this specific client may just insist on pedigree stuff with render accellerators and the works. It’s all too soon, but I’ll be sure to post something around here if messiah is in the pipe.