I dunno. I can pretty well decide in a few days if the UI concept and the toolchain works for me or not. But yeah, as told, two weeks in demo mode didn’t let me go really deep.
an example: when you use knife in blender (or Silo or SI), you can cut edges in the middle pressing a key (CRTL in Blender and Softimage), in Modo you need to check the box “split in the middle” in the GUI (in standard GUI is at your left, or you can call it with same default Pie Menu (crtl+3 if I’m not wrong), so Modo will ever split in the middle, until you go on the GUI and deselect “split in the middle” mode.
Honestly, that’s where i find Blender weaker
Graphical UI issue again. A graphical element is a mental reminder. A hotkey only tool does not have a tooltip. So in Blender you might not even know the option exists. Until somebody tells you about or you stumble across it in the manual.
^ To be fair, in this particular case Blender does let you know the moment you pick up the tool that you can define its behavior with hotkeys. Its in the bar right below the viewport… of course for some reason in the past I have always missed it so the argument can be made that it should be more prominent and have some visual presence.
As discussed many time with SaintHeaven, anyone has preferences, someone prefer moving and clicking around the gui, other prefer hotkey/gesture for accomplish tasks. Anyway, as stressed by SaintHeaven, is graphically represented, also, you can call a floating window (f6 by default) for many tools. No software help if you didn’t study it before a bit, an example: in modo you need to activate select through on toolpipe, if not you must forced to activate/deactivate any time the tools (move/rotate/scale), if you don’t know, Modo or any software don’t help you. The some for Maya, XSI or Blender.
I think 901 release will be more strong and better suited, sound like Foundry has great expectations from modo, this indie release is nice, but not so useful for a well versed blender user. Said so, I’d like to see some nice Modo features in Blender (Modo Item list make Outliner what truly is: a simple and not so useful list of objects) also I like the macro recording system and the simple, out of the box ready to use rendering.
Yep, Steam acts as a floating license. As long as you can log into your steam account on a computer, you have access to your library of software.
If you want to get a free copy, try submitting a doodle, doesnt even have to be good, to that thread I just linked above. There is only one guy who drew something, and the foundry’s Jack G. put him in the lead for being the only one to do anything. Literally he is just itching to give away a few licenses.
Substance Painter is a great app, love it to death actually but its only suitable for realistic pbr textures atm. I wouldnt recommend it for say hand painted texturing or actual illustration like painting (just yet). Mari is more closer to photoshop in how its brush engine works, thus giving a bit more variety in style. They have their pros and cons.
Edit: contest over. Congrats to Krita GSoC dev, JedTheKrampus, for getting a surprise full Mari license ($2,000) out out that.
It seems like neither MARI nor Substance Painter have paint-on-curve feature
I wonder if Blender itself is sufficient enough (and fast!) for 3D painting if I only need add some grime to a texture 2048 x 2048 (4096 x 4096 max) or if I should go for MARI. Or maybe 3D Coat? (since 3D Coat has 3D curves)
I know Modo 801 does. For painter, and possibly mari I am not sure, you can make use of a curvature map/cavity map, both to generate materials or effects, or use as a mask for painting. Painter recently added a lazy mouse for those smooth strokes.
Perpetual is still an option of course. Subs are good for temporary projects or testing out, or those who want an upgrade that comes with the sub.
901 wont be inside of Indie until after a few service packs patch up the pro-version (will include upgrades to the advanced viewport), they also have to decide how to move forward with Indie, which is only around 6 months old. My educated guess is that they will aim for annual updates, just like with the non indie version (modo only). That would put it at around Nov-Dec, which coincidentally is usually when we see a service pack 2.
Indie as it stands now is based off Modo 801 and Mari 2.5ish. Not sure what Jack has up his sleeve for Mari Indie but he’s being quite active in getting it out there.
Well it is clear that they have been listening to feedback. And I am sure I would not be alone in wanting to see 901 come to steam sooner than you have projected.
Same here. 901 was a pretty big undertaking for them, so now that its finally out I’m pretty sure they can devote a lot more attention to both the short and long term plans for Indie. I think its smart if they delay Indie updates in comparison to the pro version, there has to be some incentives in place after all. Would rather they do that than say remove features entirely. It will be curious to see how it plays out against Maya LT and Houdini Inide for the same market. Either way the user benefits.
Yeah it is a great time for software all around. You can get a nice package of tools for a fraction of the cost compared to say a year ago. Lots of free and very cheap software out there now. And much of this has been developments within that last 6 months or so. Unreal, Unity, Fusion etc.
Mari Indie is in the version 2.6v5
and even with all of its annoying limitations it is kind of an okay tool with some nice gimmicks but
since those indie tools are catered towards game artists, 8bit only, no scripts/plugins, no exchange between others and a few other things it is a huge dealbreaker
Substance Painter and 3DCoat are strong and amazing competitional tools and those give imo
more options and functions to the Gameartist.
Substance Painter and 3DCoat also use less resources than Mari Indie while painting.
If The Foundry would release Meshfusion with Modo Indie… + gives the Groboto discount… (still a disgruntled customer)
and lift more limitations, we could speak about another perpetual licence to buy.
site note;
The Foundry team sadly doesn´t seem to realise that a rent to own system could tremendously boost their sales.
I would love to switch from Mari Indie to Mari but the money they want upfront is ridiculously high for an indie/student.
