Onyx Tree company

[tricky]

Well, on the basis is imagery created by other artists, coupled with thoughts and comments on this forum, we have decided to take a gamble with Onyx. I say 'gamble' as we have not managed to try out the software as the company doesn't have a demo. I don't know if it is just me but I find this very very odd behaviour for a company, so much so that I decided to email them:

ME: "I wondered if you had a demo version of Treestorm and the Broadleaf plant creator for Max2009 (64bit) as we are considering purchasing your software."

ONYX: "We do not have trial versions of our modelers and plugins. The best trial we always recommend to those who would like to see our software in action in front of their eyes prior to committing to the whole Suite is to purchase a single module, for example, OnyxTREE Broadleaf first and then, if you like it, you can purchase the whole Suite for the difference in price if you order within the 30 days of your purchasing OnyxTREE Broadleaf. This way, you will have a fully functional modeler and you can test it up and down in your office."

ME: "However, what if I don't like your software? Surely this is also the purpose of a trial?"

ONYX: "In all the 16 years we have been in this business, we have never had anybody who has not liked our software. You may call us arrogant, but we are pretty sure that you would like it too.

Now, if you know your criteria by which to judge the suitability of our software for your work, you can ask us about it. We are engineers and artists, not marketers, we will be glad to answer any of your questions to the best of our abilities which, at the end, might just prove to be more efficient way to get you the information you want than spending time with trial versions."

I am rather stunned by their responses to my questions and can't think of another company who operate in this way. Just thought you might be interested.

[jacksc02]

ha haa that is typical Onyx developer talk for you.
I have used Onyx and treestorm since it was first released and I love it, but there support is shit. The developers are a bunch of tree hugging hippes (IMHO)
The first build of Treestorm for Max9 64bit was awful and it crashed constantly, but luckily the latest build works perfectly.

Tricky, if you need help just drop me a line. It will be much easier then getting hold of Onyx.

[tricky]

Many thanks - much appreciated. At the moment, we've just bought Broadleaf, so I'll be having a play later this week.

[re:FORM]

Lol... I for one have contacted them complaining that I didn't like their software because it was unuseable (constant crashing).... but with the new version of treestorm I think those issues have been resolved.

When I complained that I couldn't collapse a treestorm tree to a mesh without destabilising max, they thought it would be good customer relations to patronisingly explain to me that I was at fault.. ie that it was a contradiction in terms to collapse a parametric mesh to a static mesh and that I shouldn't attempt to do so.... So much for the old addage that the customer is always right!

Good software though... shame about the developers!

[tricky]

Well, at least I am not alone in my concerns. I must admit, as soon as I posted this thread, I thought I shouldn't have done so - 'dishing-the-dirt' and all that!

[glorybound]

Onyx

I find it strange that you don't get any texture maps with the trees. I would probably buy it if the trees came texture mapped.

[tricky]

I thought you did - I haven't had chance to check what I have downloaded, but I am sure they are there...

[glorybound]

texture maps

Hmmm... I guess they are. I guess I didn't realize that.

[mikeh]

i've had Onyx software for years. The stand alone plant generators work OK. They deliver in their own quirky way with their own minimal UI. Treestorm is a seperate animal that uses the trees and shrubs created in the plant generators as a base to work from within MAX. Treestorm used to have the feature that one could substitute the plates for custom objects. This feature has been removed so the only reason for purchasing treestorm would be if you want your trees and shrubs to blow in the wind. Be aware that blowing in the wind will hit your render times.

Onyx support and attitude s exactly as you experienced it. No better, no worse.

What amazes me is that this software is probably the best you can get and, in my humble yet demanding opinion, it still is incredibly clunky and limited and time consuming to get reasonable trees...not fantastic trees, just reasonable trees.

It seems that this area is ripe for some one with no attitude and a sense of what a good UI is to come in and blow every competitor out of the field but....it just hasn't happened. If we could get Itoosoft to come up with a good plant generator then we would have a company that has attitude that can't be beat coupled with product. But I'm just wishing here.
mh

[Giovanni]

I don't get it.
The whole, complete suite, with MAX plugin, is $600.

If you buy it, and Onyx disappears from the planet, it would still be worth it, IMO.

How much you guys charge per hour?
I mean, the damm thing should pay itself back with one or two renderings.

The one or two times in the last 10 years I contacted Onyx, I had some decent response, nothing stellar, but nothing bad either.

The exchange you had with them is just what it is: we don't have a demo, people use the software, here is the gallery, we are small and essential, get over with it.

Anyways, for background vegetation, the trees are just fine, little tweaks to get nice volume of canopies. The palms are superb. For close ups they still need some mapping, but you need to do it once, then save the tree as a single object MAX scene, at 0,0,0 that you can merge into new scene on need.

Good luck,

regards

gio

[lukx]

"In all the 16 years we have been in this business, we have never had anybody who has not liked our software. You may call us arrogant, but we are pretty sure that you would like it too.
[/FONT]

WOW... I guess they didn't count me after I asked for help with buggy treestorm .

[tricky]

It is a truly bizarre attitude. Everytime I read their response, I just think "Why on earth have i given money to these monkeys?"

[Clifton Santiago]

As lukx once pointed out, just take a look at the developers:



And how can you argue with the president of Onyx who holds Doctorate from Harvard Graduate School of Design?

For some reason, I thought they were old hippies living in Spain (because as I've recently discovered, thats where a lot of old german hippies live). But no, they are old hippies living in Massachusetts.

[jacksc02]

thats tree-hugging hippies to you......

[tricky]

Hey, now there's nowt wrong with hippies. I quite fancy being one myself. Their attitude doesn't really sound 'hippie' to me anyway. A hippie would surely just say "Yeah man...have a freee copy for 30 days and see what you think. And if you don't like it, hey...don't use it. No worries"

i.e. a demo.