3dsmax 2017

[padre.ayuso]

That's really sad news. OK, will check out Blender. If anything, at least I'll have that one under my belt in case AD decides to remove 3DS Max from their toolset.

[Vizioen]

Maybe a global petition, where one eloquently speaks out to Autodesk, telling them to get a grip pointing out the flaws of the last releases of max, maya, revit and autocad. If they won't start doing things right, people are going to move over to other packages. That should wake the stakeholders a bit if this thing goes viral and gathers a lot of attention. A lot of these new releases aren't even worth the title of a quick patch honestly, let alone a Service Pack, yet they even call it a new release. Shameful. The only reason these programs thrive is because of the huge script/plugin community they have, to fix/implement the shit they should've.

[bardo]

That's really sad news. OK, will check out Blender. If anything, at least I'll have that one under my belt in case AD decides to remove 3DS Max from their toolset.

If you would like to try it...I can suggest you a good addon that help in transition.

https://blenderartists.org/forum/sho...-left-3ds-Max-)

[Pixelcon]

If you would like to try it...I can suggest you a good addon that help in transition.

https://blenderartists.org/forum/sho...-left-3ds-Max-)

What's the status of Vray for blender? Beta? Released? 3.4?

[bardo]

Vlado & Co. will be more precise about the name of calling the development but with Vray4Blender you can use Vray 3.4.

The main options (render settings, shaders, textures, ecc) are available... but I'm not able to say if all the new ones are covered by the Blender version (obviously the specific 3dsmax feature will not be covered).

Probably, one of the main features missing is the realtime viewport preview (the Blender active shade) and the VFB integration in the Blender UI.

I'm quite sure, in ant case, that the main step for the transition is not Vray...believe me. It's quite mature.

Blender itself , for me, was the big step...

[Sbrusse]

What about plugs?
The major superiority from 3ds over the others are the plugins IMO, forest pack pro, railclone, viz park, etc...
How to get all that working in Blender?

We work with huge files that takes 64+ Gb ram to render with loads of Xrefs etc, is Blender capable of handling all that without hiccups?

[Vizioen]

I was investigating a possible switch to another package too, but unless I have a good scattering tool like forest pack, and a good way of importing max files for all the assets I don't see a possibility. It's like having to start from scratch completely.

[Pixelcon]

unless I have a good scattering tool like forest pack...I don't see a possibility

This.




.

[bardo]

About plugins and Blender there is a discussion here.

The quick answer is that there are something similar using the Blender addon system but probably nothing developed at the same level we could have in the 3dsmax world.

In any case it's always the same thing... 3dsmax starts when people doing computer graphics were "nerds" (in a negative meaning)... Someone here weren't already born... so the big users mass is attractive for the plugin software houses.

I'm quite sure that, if Blender could grow , there will be some portings. About this, following also the Blender scene (a good forum is BlenderArtists), I'm able to admit that in the last 2 years there will be more and more professional use oriented addons. So, if the trend continues, I'm confident that the things will be better.

At the moment I'm quite sure that the transition, if you use several plugins, wil not be a 1:1 replace...and you should have problems.
I'm a bit lucky that, in my job, I can use the 3dsmax core tools with some scripts and so my Blender transition (not completed) was more easier.

Speaking about huge files Blender has an Xrefs system...you have simply to choose "link" instead of "append" and you could import models from another scenes with linking for materials,meshes, objects and so on.
Consider also that you can use VrayProxy if you are used to.

[bardo]

I was investigating a possible switch to another package too, but unless I have a good scattering tool like forest pack, and a good way of importing max files for all the assets I don't see a possibility. It's like having to start from scratch completely.

This is completely understandable.

[Syclone1]

Im in the same boat too and seriously going to be taking a look at alternate software to 3dsmax as I'm assuming at some point and most likely next year they will drop the perpetual licenses completely and force the monthly cloud subscriptions and Ill definitely be dropping 3dsmax at that point. Ive been a paying user since 3dsmax 1.0 and if they think I'm willing to pay $1400+/year instead of the $700 I pay now then they have a big surprise coming, why the hell should I pay double for no reason at all. Especially when there have been no significant additions since CAT. Its like buying tires for my Jeep from AD, the front two are $200 but the back ones are $600 just because, even though there is no difference at all between them. I know there is also rumors of a fluid sim but we all know that wont be useable for a couple years after it is integrated given AD's past track record. Given the comments above Ill be taking a serious look at blender, at least I can still use V-Ray on it and I'm sure if enough people ask then forest pro would get ported.

[andybot_cg]

Great to hear so much positive interest in Vray for Blender! I've been using it now for over 3 years, and I've been able to find workflows for pretty much anything I've needed. Like Bardo says - the last major hurdle for a full implementation of Vray is the VFB integration. Right now, there is no RT feedback between Blender and Vray. Progressive rendering since Vray 3.0 has been a great boon though, in the ability to get quick feedback, but still, RT or IPR is very much needed. The more interest there is in Vray for Blender - the more likely this implementation will be expedited

In terms of file size, RAM, etc. I rely on vray proxies quite extensively, and one can also reference external blender files. There is a particle system native to Blender that allows for particle scattering that can be used with vray proxies similar to forest pack. Maybe I should start a thread on that in the tips & tutorials section in the Blender subforum. There's quite a lot of fine-grain control that's available, and you can layer many objects and groups of objects over a base mesh.

I had made the decision early on when I needed broader arch-viz capabilities that I didn't want to be locked in to the AD hegemony and went the direction of Blender. Quite glad I did Never too late for anyone else!

-Andy

[jstrob]

I wonder why in the case of V-Ray for blender they have to make a special version of Blender with V-Ray inside of it?

Very good to know you were able to instance V-Ray proxies in blender. The main advantage of forest pack is that it can handle V-ray instancing correctly in most cases (I bought forest pack for a case where it didn't work but that's another story).

I would like to see your tutorial on this!

[andybot_cg]

I wonder why in the case of V-Ray for blender they have to make a special version of Blender with V-Ray inside of it?

The Vray integration is simply a plugin, but I believe there are a few pieces required in the Vray for Blender build to be able to run the plugin. You could possibly get a different build of Blender (most canonical ones and lots of experimental ones here: http://graphicall.org) and just add the vb30 add-on folder, but I'm not sure if that works out of the box any more. The V/B build also has a built-in Github updater which has been working really well (only updates the few lines of code that need updating, don't need a full reinstall) Point is - if there are other add-ons you'd want to try for Blender, there aren't any restrictions to adding them afaik. You can also have multiple builds running at the same time, so there's tons of flexibility.

Very good to know you were able to instance V-Ray proxies in blender. The main advantage of forest pack is that it can handle V-ray instancing correctly in most cases (I bought forest pack for a case where it didn't work but that's another story).

I would like to see your tutorial on this!

OK! Not sure how soon I can get to it, but will definitely happen.

[rikou]

Great to hear so much positive interest in Vray for Blender! [...] I had made the decision early on when I needed broader arch-viz capabilities that I didn't want to be locked in to the AD hegemony and went the direction of Blender. Quite glad I did Never too late for anyone else!-Andy

I'm also really happy because I still believe in the strong potential of Blender/Vray.
I wanted to jump from max to Blender but you know.. it's not so easy (need more time than I have). Anyway, I think the hour of truth has sounded !!!