Re: OT: Max 2009 features...

["Stefan Kubicek" <xsi(at)tidbit-images.com>]

I think it comes down to the fact that it's simply cheaper to implement  
third party software improvements
(e.g. a new mental ray version or shaders) than developing everything from  
scratch.
XSI benefits from this as well extensively through Shave, Mental Ray and  
Syflex.

What I like in 2009 though is the Help Center search function, which ties  
many sources of help together.
Also, I like the concept of relaxing the UV's by keeping the button  
pressed until it looks right, instead of having to crank some spinner up  
and down for iterations and hitting a "Relax" button several times, and  
then still not quite hitting the desired end result. Eliminates the  
guesswork.

Commercial spline mapping solutions exist for quite some time, e.g.  
Texture Layers from www.mankua.com for 3dsmax.

As far as open ends are concerned: Max is definitely the worst example  
overall (It started stagnating with Version 3 imho), but even XSI shows  
some signs of this.

e.g. Cloth and Hair solvers "don't know each other", the same goes for  
fluids and rigid bodies. Now this is surely
more a technical problem rather than a design problem on which both  
Houdini and Maya have their own take, and apparently available middleware  
that's capable of that (PhysX) doesn't seem to cut for high end packages..

We have two cloth solvers in XSI. The standard version, and Syflex.
There are 2 ways to achieve soft bodies: Syflex and the old built in  
version.
None of them interacts with any of the other dynamics stuff like rigid  
bodies or fluids. (see above)

There is no central facility for handling rc or pulldown menu contents and  
layout. Plugins tell the registrar at load time in which menu they want to  
appear and that's it. No easy/user friendly way of reorganising those that  
I know of.
In Max you can completely customize the UI, pull down and quad menu  
entries with a simple drag and drop UI tool, which beats the crap out of  
XSI & Maya in this regard (don't know about Houdini and C4D).

Small UI inconsistencies: The left command panel has bitmap buttons to  
switch between Weight Paint tools, Main Tools, Palette and Scripting  
tools. The MCP has tabs with text instead, which looks much tidier. (ok,  
that's probably a bit pedantic, but it simply doesn't look consistent, and  
the Icons (especially the Palette icon) seem to suffer from JPG artefacts).

We're in version 6.5 now and the sculpting tools ("painting" deformations)  
are a joke.
Primitives don't create a default UV layout. Ok, that's no big deal with  
most, but you tell me how to parametrically map a torus with the given  
toolset. Yeah, you can create another nurbs torus and GATOR the hell out  
of it, but...you have to do it.

Other than that: I Love it :-)

Stef




> Raffaele Fragapane wrote:

> Looking into the release, thereÂs lots of mR functionality
> implemented. This seems to become the biggest chunk of updates
> with any of the major 3Dapp licensees. This is either because
> there is nothing else to be developed (I doubt that) or because
> implementing the latest mR version and keeping track of itÂs
> changes takes more and more time in the development cycle,
> leaving not much room to actually implement other new features.
>
> The splineUV thing is also something a smart guy released for
> Maya (using a NURBS surfaces as input) a while back, might
> even have transfered over from the Maya Bonus tools, concept-wise.
>
> *The IES lightprofile stuff and viewport display is still great.
>
> *Softselections are about time, the implementation seems nice.
>
>
> In general, regardless of the 3D app IÂm looking at, IÂd find
> it about time the developers find the strenght to consolidate
> existing functionality, update and weeding out where neccessary.
>
> Otherwise, with age, there comes an increased risk of bogging
> down and falling flat on your face...especially if thereÂs all
> sorts of open ends, nuissances and whatnot building up slowly...
>
> Cheers
>
> tim
>
>
>
>
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