Thanks for the update, but...

#1

Hi,

First, I would like to say that the free updates are always appreciated even if they are only fixes. I think that PMG are doing their best at providing the Messiah community a better working software.

I would be more interested in a paid upgrade for a significant upgrade like having better softbody system (i.e. cloth), ngons & weightmap support and a better manual. That is what I can think of now, but maybe other users would like more. Even if I own the Pro version, I don’t use the render module and would be happy to pay for rigging and animation improvements.

Finally, I think that if we are ready to pay for a better upgrade, PMG would be more inclined to add, fix features that the users really want. If you are ready to pay for a significant upgrade, please let PMG know about it…

#2

Once I receive mine. :bounce: I’d be more than willing to pay for a paid upgrade. Though I’m not sure how many will. It would require significant changes to bring in the money. Many I know feel alienated and are angry with pMG. For most to upgrade they would need the following likely:

Improved softbody dynamics, dynamic hair, n-gon support, weightpaint import/export support (not necessarily full painting within messiah, but conversion from and to metaeffectors), intergrated rendering controller, UV map editing, improved particles (better realtime display), editable manipulators (let us make our own), realtime displacement, support of Collada/FBX import/export, release develop, and improved education materials (DVD tutorial, improved manual)

The above would be a powerful release. I expect we’ll see some of these in a 3.0 release. But time will tell.

#3

I agree, I’d pay for a <$300 upgrade, if that’s what’s holding pmg back. More, if it included good hair and/or cloth. I’d also do something like make it free for people who bought within the first year. Yes we don’t have develop yet, and please please please, no complaints about the feature list on the website, because we’ve all had that conversation 10 times.

What I’d like;
*Update the manual completely. Make it as good as Thomas’ docs, with lots of examples for particles, armatures, and coding.
*Use particles as a weight field (I don’t think you can do that now?)
*Arbitrary 3D weight fields for the melt effect.
*Best effort to fix weird/stupid interface glitches, like the way armatures shake when zoomed way out.
*Copy XSI’s manipulator interaction–not the manipulator. Just the way it behaves. =)
*Long/short hair.
*COLLADA support

Bonuses;
*2-way connection to XSI
*Weight maps (I don’t know why, but many other people want it, so… let’s have it!)

#4

I’d be more than happy to pay for an Animate upgrade IF it contained the following…

  1. Removal of inactive keys (so they can be removed and NEVER created again)
  2. Dynamic parenting in place
  3. Ability to have specific channels in groups, not just items
  4. Perspective navigation like Lightwave

If I got just that - I’d pay for an update! I have no need for the renderer so nothing will tempt me there.

The only other thing I’d really like to see is some sort of roadmap and more regular communication.

#5

Hi,

I will be most definitely willing to pay for a point upgrade on Messiah. Still very much a believer. I will be even willing to pay now in lieu of a point upgrade with a timeline :love: .

cheers
Ikem

#6

Nichod, buddy. Its great that you like the program and are excited by it, but its really awkward reading your pro messiah arguments and opinions when you dont actually own the software nor spend a significant amount of time using it… IF you sense a bit of an edgy attitude towards you on my part, that has always been the reason.

speaking of hardcore messiah fans, anyone else notice the curious silence on weggs part? where you at wegg?

and yes, absolutely, for cloth/hair/collada i would pay extra!

#7

Nichod, buddy. Its great that you like the program and are excited by it, but its really awkward reading your pro messiah arguments and opinions when you dont actually own the software nor spend a significant amount of time using it… IF you sense a bit of an edgy attitude towards you on my part, that has always been the reason.

speaking of hardcore messiah fans, anyone else notice the curious silence on weggs part? where you at wegg?

and yes, absolutely, for cloth/hair/collada i would pay extra!

I do own it. I’m waiting for my dongle. I also use the demo about 1-2+ hours a day. I can’t render more than 320x240 so I don’t render, I build expressions, rig, experiment with particles, etc.

Wegg was deeply engrossed in a flash project last I spoke with him. Paying the bills keeps him busy sometimes.

#8

Was working on a post regarding the 2.5 release, but will precede that with my thoughts and opinions regarding this thread so far:

  1. I dont want to pay for an upgrade until I get the version of Pro that includes “develop”, and a little more consistency with some of the things that have already been released (which may or may not happen, it seems like it will though). Once I’ve gotten that, I think I will feel like I have gotten what was originally promised, and have confidence, just like I do with lightwave and modo (both worth upgrading).

  2. Having said that, I didnt originally purchase my copy directly from pmG, so, because of that, I feel like I should be a little more patient for some reason until “develop” and the originally promised suite of Studio tools are released.

  3. Based on how the updates have been emerging, with consistent progress, I personally had high hopes for whatever would be the ultimate drum roll release of “develop”. It seemed like the group working on the software has found a steady rhythm and would be successfull in releasing more and more things as they have interest and time. I dont understand many comments about how pmG isnt as responsive or that they dont release things. They do. There are bugs still, but, consistent updates will iron the application out eventually I think.

  4. I personally like the more frequent point updates. It made me feel like the programming team is sort of nurturing a living thing, and that slow and subtle changes were more of a gift to the user base than an attempt to build the “last and final” 3d application. More frequent (albiet “point”) updates make me feel like this is more of an animation community, than just a sales transaction. Plus, the changes arent necesarily all that subtle, the ability to target things with the text entry gadget is really nice, is that in other applications in the same manner? My own work hasn’t gotten complex enough to use those yet, but, looking at the rigging/effect/tool/bone stack of some of the other people’s work here makes me think it could become widely used.

  5. One positive thing about another “point” update, is that, if you look back at the last full point version update (2.0), there was quite a bit of new stuff. 3.0 could be very nice! Hopefully, by the time 3.0 comes out, the documentation will be completed too.

  6. Thanks for the update!

-Garin

#9

You can already get Messiah to do this
Customize/keycommandManager/Navigation

Set
L-ALT to World View Rotate HP
L-Alt-Shift to worldview Pan Y
L- Alt- CTRL World View Zoom
R-Alt World view Rotate B
R -alt- Shift World view PanXZ

That’d do it.

As for the rest, I agree that a roadmap would be good, but I’d prefer that to be high level/strategic rather than a long list of tiny fixes

#10

I agree 100%, after that I also like to pay for new features!

I think you can understand it´s frustrating keep waiting and waiting for Develop, it was announced to be released in November 26 2001!
Develop should be PMG’s main focus and maybe it is…

/ Svante

#11

I wouldn’t mind paying for an upgrade but for those that purchased the Pro version, when “develop” is finally released, it should be a free upgrade.

#12

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