The word for the day today: "Anticipointment" - (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Anticipointment)
> "...Mental Ray is on the verge of releasing new shader technology called
> MetaSL as well as their own shader GUI called mental mill..."
>
> I am so excited about this! i have been reading about MetaSL and mental
> mill since mid 2005. Artist friendly shader writing! woot.
>
> Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote:
> >
> > Let's just agree that you're a Messiah user and you're looking at the
> > rendertree from that angle. XSI could use a revision of its basic
> > shader library, but it isn't the best of time for this at this exact
> > moment, because Mental Ray is on the verge of releasing new shader
> > technology called MetaSL as well as their own shader GUI called mental
> > mill. Both of which will have serious impact on how clients aproach
> > mental ray shading in the future.
> >
> > On the side of non-metal ray shading, there is of course massive
> > movement happening in realtime shading, and companies still focusing
> > on solving the problems of shader networks for classic ray tracing
> > might very well be making tools that may end up working clumsily in
> > the GPU future when problems will be approached differently and the
> > workflow no long maps exactly.
> >
> > With regards to render tree workflow issues such as lost nodes when
> > recycling, and population of factory menus with custom shaders, we're
> > looking into these issues. Both of these are user interface issues,
> > and I'm the manager of that team.
> >
> > With regards to the contribution of Softimage staff to threads such as
> > particle discussions, it isn't really reasonable to extrapolate the
> > company's interest or direction based on mail contributions there.
> >
> > First, people such as myself, halfdan and other egineers avoid making
> > statements about potential or future releases. Second, I don't really
> > think anything more needs clarifying on that issue, and aren't we just
> > tired of talking about that topic. Thirdly, as engineers we know
> > first hand that even if we decide to do something, generally
> > everything takes longer to do than we hope, as we gather all the
> > pieces necessary to make it really useful in production. It's best to
> > instead show stuff that actually works, in previews, betas, then
> > tradeshows. We know anything need iterations and interaction. It's
> > isn't real until it's there.
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Thomas Helzle
> > >
> > > Well, that sounds like a very good idea, but so far I wasn't
> > > under the impression that Soft is interested in the whole
> > > render business too much. MR feels like an orphaned appendage
> > > that is only getting the most basic attention when new stuff
> > > is delivered by Mental Images.
> > > I can't feel the usual Softimage-Touch or -Genius that I can
> > > see in modeling and subdivision surfaces etc., neither in the
> > > render tree implementation nor in the available nodes.
> > > There is no "artistic" approach in them, but they look more
> > > like a tax-accountant would do them: complete, stable, but
> > > 100% uninspired.
> > >
> > > There is no beauty in the procedurals, there is no cleverness
> > > in the materials and no feeling for "reduce to the max" in
> > > the whole thing - you could also call it "Zen and the art of
> > > shading", "Love for the subject" or "The beauty of
> > > simpleness". Not simple as in primitive but simple as in
> > > non-confusing, non-clumsy and non-cluttered. The priority for
> > > me personally would have to go from bread and butter everyday
> > > tasks which should be easy-to-do no-brainers (f.i. bump
> > > mapping) to enough control for the special task with higher
> > > and highest demands.
> > > (I find it interesting that the other main area of complaint
> > > is particles, which were also bought into the package and
> > > lack "the touch")
> > >
> > > Since Softimage is a 100% commercial company and doesn't tell
> > > the users what's coming down the pipeline, you can either
> > > "hope" that mother Soft will do it eventually in version
> > > 6/7/8/9..., or you take it in your own hands to have it fixed
> > > in given time. I guess most studios do that anyway. Kim wrote
> > > usable nose shaders first thing it seems ;-)
> > >
> > > If Softimage wants help, I am sure they know how to ask or
> > > look for it.But without active interest in the matter from their side, I
> > > don't see much use in running against the corporate walls.
> > > I found the "Particle/Node system" discussion and thread very
> > > interesting, but I was missing the active involvement and
> > > interest from Softimage. Did it any good? I don't know.
> > >
> > > So for me it is back to grassroot development where things
> > > aren't that buttoned-up :-)
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > > Thomas Helzle
> >
>
> --
> Steven Caron
> doer of things somewhat technical
> scaron(at)omation.com
> 949-366-4422 x601
>
>
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