Black Friday / Cyber Monday Deals?

[erikals]

might use it for clouds, even Cumulus clouds...

here, a PhotoShop mock-up >

[erikals]

[Marander]

just bought EmberGen

lost the BlackFriday rebate 20% - BLACKFRIDAY

Ouch told you so

Would have been 30% btw.

Great you bought it nevertheless, have fun!

Of course the Embergen experience depends also on the graphics card and amount of GPU memory. On a 2080S 8GB it's a joy. Doesn't seem to support multi GPU yet but it's already fast enough.

I think there will be nice updates coming (fbx, Alembic), reading your last post, thanks for the info!

[Marander]

by the way,

does Turbulence load VDB files into LW11.6 ?
anyone knows ?

haven't found the info yet...

i know it can export to VDB... but can Turbulence import VDB from another app.. ?

No, only VDB export via command line tool which works fine.

[prometheus]

just bought EmberGen

lost the BlackFriday rebate 20% - BLACKFRIDAY  
used the Beta rebate 15% - EARLYBIRD  

had to do it before it goes the way of the Subscription

Oki..not something you can use with lightwave though, since you do not have lw 2019, but for blender it´s gonna work ok, up till a certain resolution point where it can´t handle the data I think, seems people have issues of getting the full disney cloud asset of 1.4 gig in to blender, so be careful about how big you make those files.

I would suggest you start importing that stuff ..ASAP in to blender and work with principled volume or scattering nodes and the lighting, for clouds etc, I think it´s gonna be able to do great cloud stuff from that.
I will probably have to pass this one out, and just fiddle with the demos for a while though, it can export for 14 days.

[Marander]

Not Black Friday but new version 9 with 20% release discount:

The Grove

https://www.thegrove3d.com/

Great Blender Plugin but it was also tested with LightWave (see their page https://www.thegrove3d.com/learn-mor...l-with-others/).

There are many good vegatation plugins available now, Forester, The Grove, Scatter, Botaniq Pro, Graswald Pro, SpeedTree...

For LightWave use, The Grove is probably the best choice.

[erikals]

not something you can use with LightWave though, since you do not have lw 2019,

looks to be.

No, only VDB export via command line tool which works fine.

ah, ok, was afraid of that.

if Turbulence 2.0 supports LW11.6 and VDB import i should be set.
if not, not so much, unless i can match the LW/EG camera data and add the effect in post. (tho' certainly a minus using that method)

I will probably have to pass this one out, and just fiddle with the demos for a while though, it can export for 14 days.

yeah, any higher and i would've dropped it, too costly for a man that doesn't currently earn Dolla' doing 3D.

[Marander]

if Turbulence 2.0 supports LW11.6 and VDB import i should be set.
if not, not so much, unless i can match the LW/EG camera data and add the effect in post. (tho' certainly a minus using that method)

Wouldn't count on that, development is very slow. If still according to plan (years ago) TFD2 would be a separate application similar to Embergen, if I recall correctly even using nodes. Maybe with a LW plugin/bridge but what LW version and would it be on a same level or better than Embergen? For me Embergen is the new TFD.

On the positive side, Jawset delivered updates for newer NVidia chipsets and newer software versions frequently. TFD is still a good tool and yes I agree, VDB import would be very useful!

Why not purchase the LW 2020 update instead and render VDBs there. Lots of other improvements since 11.6!

[prometheus]

Wouldn't count on that, development is very slow. If still according to plan (years ago) TFD2 would be a separate application similar to Embergen, if I recall correctly even using nodes. Maybe with a LW plugin/bridge but what LW version and would it be on a same level or better than Embergen? For me Embergen is the new TFD.

On the positive side, Jawset delivered updates for newer NVidia chipsets and newer software versions frequently. TFD is still a good tool and yes I agree, VDB import would be very useful!

Why not purchase the LW 2020 update instead and render VDBs there. Lots of other improvements since 11.6!

I wouldn´t recommend that, I would recomend to stay away from any lightwave upgrade, til vizrt decides to either..
Release a new version update with substancial improvements/features
or when they decide to abandon their stupid "we don´t talk about development policy"

Meanwhile, he would be better of just to save money and also render it faster in you know what that is free, he can get started with that right away no additional cost, can´t see any reason why he would stay in lightwave to render the vdbs actually, dynamics from lightwave can be baked if not done entirely in the other software.

Put the money in better hardware instead.

- - - Updated - - -

might use it for clouds, even Cumulus clouds...

here, a PhotoShop mock-up >

]

You should NOT have to do the photoshop route, get in to how to shade it in blender.

Also orbiting around a vdb set or rotating it is extremely slow in Lightwave..I mean Extremely slow compared to blender.
Also..solving noise from emissive vdb seem to be much better to deal with in blender.

but nevertheless, if one have lightwave 2019 it can of course at least import it and render it..

[Tim Parsons]

I wouldn´t recommend that, I would recomend to stay away from any lightwave upgrade, til vizrt decides to either..
Release a new version update with substancial improvements/features
or when they decide to abandon their stupid "we don´t talk about development policy"

I'm not so sure I agree with you here. For anybody using LW2015 and lower, LW2020 is a substantial upgrade. Especially for those going back to the 9 series and before, it's like a whole new program. If you were to jump from 8, 9 or 11 to LW2020 you'd even see useful Modeler upgrades - not earth shattering upgrades, but very useful additions. So yeah the current situation kind of sucks with Vizrt and such, but 2020 is pretty darn useful.

[prometheus]

I'm not so sure I agree with you here. For anybody using LW2015 and lower, LW2020 is a substantial upgrade. Especially for those going back to the 9 series and before, it's like a whole new program. If you were to jump from 8, 9 or 11 to LW2020 you'd even see useful Modeler upgrades - not earth shattering upgrades, but very useful additions. So yeah the current situation kind of sucks with Vizrt and such, but 2020 is pretty darn useful.

I´m talking about vdb options foremost, for the other stuff..well, blender does have a quite extensive set of tools that matches much what Lightwave 2015 can offer, and much more.
So if he spent dollars on storm, embergen...and have to confront upgrading to a software that now seem to have fallen in to darkness with leaving developers and a company that hasn´t got the courage and decency towards customers to tell them wether or not it is still developed, I would say it´s a no brainer.

What would he get in modeler that is needed, that blender may not have or the old 11 versions might not have, or for the render engine, pbr materials? he can get much similar stuff in blender..the question is foremost wether or not he feels comfortable dealing with the structure of blender and it´s way of doing things ..I suspect.

but for vdb, orbiting around vdbs in lightwave is a nightmare, while it goes smooth in blender.
then there are differences in what you can do with vdb´s in blender VS lightwave, some things you can´t do in blender, some things you can´t do in lightwave.
Erikals has already touched on blender quite a bit, so I suspect it´s just a matter of using it more and get more comfortable with it.

Not only is the vdb files slow as hell to orbit around or rotate in Lightwave, they are hard to see in opengl thanks to the horrible tick display, if you are to close to the volume the ticks are spread out to thin air so you can´t hardly see any preview, while in blender it´s voxel slicing display, looks nice all the way and can be controlled in thickness display as well.

Meanwhile, vizrt can prove themself worthy to clients by hiring and continue to work on their thoughts.. (should we or should we not talk about development) and at the same time do a plan for Lightwave, when the next release get´s out
..he should look at it again, if a new version isn´t out within a year or so, screw it and aim for something else.

My advice anyway.

[jwiede]

I'm not so sure I agree with you here. For anybody using LW2015 and lower, LW2020 is a substantial upgrade. Especially for those going back to the 9 series and before, it's like a whole new program. If you were to jump from 8, 9 or 11 to LW2020 you'd even see useful Modeler upgrades - not earth shattering upgrades, but very useful additions. So yeah the current situation kind of sucks with Vizrt and such, but 2020 is pretty darn useful.

There's a problem, though, for many "anim-render" users upgrading from further back than LW2019 (like Erik) -- lacking LW2019 as a "stable fallback", there's a high chance they'll just wind up back where they started. Such users considering upgrading should definitely give the LW2020 demo a thorough workout first, and convince themselves they won't encounter blockers in their usual workflows.

It'd be nice if VizRT reset everyone's ability to get LW2020 demo keys again, too. The upgrade sale proposition has changed slightly, and folks might want to reevaluate upgrading given current circumstances.

[Tim Parsons]

There's a problem, though, for many "anim-render" users upgrading from further back than LW2019 (like Erik) -- lacking LW2019 as a "stable fallback", there's a high chance they'll just wind up back where they started. Such users considering upgrading should definitely give the LW2020 demo a thorough workout first, and convince themselves they won't encounter blockers in their usual workflows.

It'd be nice if VizRT reset everyone's ability to get LW2020 demo keys again, too. The upgrade sale proposition has changed slightly, and folks might want to reevaluate upgrading given current circumstances.

Yeah the total lockup bug when the anim slider is running and a window is open is not good. Thankfully for those like me who don't animate its a non-issue. I only ran into it while I was playing with some of the demo scenes. Something that should have been caught.

[Tim Parsons]

I´m talking about vdb options foremost, for the other stuff..well, blender does have a quite extensive set of tools that matches much what Lightwave 2015 can offer, and much more.
So if he spent dollars on storm, embergen...and have to confront upgrading to a software that now seem to have fallen in to darkness with leaving developers and a company that hasn´t got the courage and decency towards customers to tell them wether or not it is still developed, I would say it´s a no brainer.

What would he get in modeler that is needed, that blender may not have or the old 11 versions might not have, or for the render engine, pbr materials? he can get much similar stuff in blender..the question is foremost wether or not he feels comfortable dealing with the structure of blender and it´s way of doing things ..I suspect.

but for vdb, orbiting around vdbs in lightwave is a nightmare, while it goes smooth in blender.
then there are differences in what you can do with vdb´s in blender VS lightwave, some things you can´t do in blender, some things you can´t do in lightwave.
Erikals has already touched on blender quite a bit, so I suspect it´s just a matter of using it more and get more comfortable with it.

Not only is the vdb files slow as hell to orbit around or rotate in Lightwave, they are hard to see in opengl thanks to the horrible tick display, if you are to close to the volume the ticks are spread out to thin air so you can´t hardly see any preview, while in blender it´s voxel slicing display, looks nice all the way and can be controlled in thickness display as well.

Meanwhile, vizrt can prove themself worthy to clients by hiring and continue to work on their thoughts.. (should we or should we not talk about development) and at the same time do a plan for Lightwave, when the next release get´s out
..he should look at it again, if a new version isn´t out within a year or so, screw it and aim for something else.

My advice anyway.

Yeah okay I don't mess with VDB's. I have no doubt that Blender can handle those larger datasets better than LW. I'm getting up to speed with Blender and am really enjoying it and am impressed with how easy it is to learn. Still like my no icon interface that I get with LW, but Blender is fun to use.

I stand by my thoughts that a LW upgrade from pre 2015 versions is a worthy investment.

[erikals]

I stand by my thoughts that a LW upgrade from pre 2015 versions is a worthy investment.

won't happen before >
- VizRT shows that they continue develop LightWave (alternatively release a sister App)
- a Modeler update wouldn't hurt.

Also orbiting around a vdb set or rotating it is extremely slow in Lightwave..I mean Extremely slow compared to blender.
Also..solving noise from emissive vdb seem to be much better to deal with in Blender.

quite possible that i'll go that route for certain scenarios.

would like to get EmberGen into LW11.6 somehow, but it proves difficult.
was also tinkering about using the Cookie Cutting technique with multiple planes, but it doesn't work well for realism i suppose,
so would probably just use a flat plane with an image sequence. (would work for certain scenarios only)