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Okay....with the inevitability of the seasons, in 3 months all will be revealed about R19 (we hope). So before we start to get into a deep wish list of expected features, I would actually like to go back to the now famous quote made on the MAXON Blog back in February of 2016 (Foundations for the Future): So the new core has been creeping into C4D since R16...and given that this new core allows for "massive data-parallelism and optimized data structures" you get the sense that ultimately C4D will crunch through huge scene files with the ease of a hot knife cutting through butter. So I have to ask this given that it has been two releases since then, has anyone noticed a substantial improvement in R18's power? Three years is a long time in the computer industry. Think of it like dog years. So when talking about improvements over a period of 3 years you also have to factor in hardware upgrades. So I can't tell if it is C4D getting more powerful or my hardware is getting faster. So did I miss something? Do others detect the new core in action as described above? I am not a power user by any means, so I would really love to hear from those who work in the depths of C4D's capabilities and push it to its limits. Now remember, I am not talking about slight improvements in performance of the selection tools, spline tools, etc. I am talking about a huge paradigm shift as promised in the quote above. I mean "a highly efficient threading system for massive data-parallelism and new optimized data structure" is quite a huge promise....and this is from a company that doesn't make promises. So I have to believe it to be real more so than marketing. I guess my point is this: real proof to me of the new core making itself known to the C4D user will be when MAXON releases some killer feature such as a fluid simulation system, Bodypaint improvements that put it on par with Mari (e.g. handling 4K images with ease) and/or an uber-instancing capability, etc. Other programs in Studios price range (or lower) have these capabilities. Plus when you consider that Maya has integrated their fluids tools into their motion graphic toolset, you would think that would be a real threat to C4D. So something along those lines would make perfect sense and come at the right time for MAXON. But honestly, if R19 looks anything like R17 in terms of new features, it won't be pretty. If we get improvements in R19 equivalent to version 2 of the color picker, than MAXON will begin to sound like the boy who cried wolf regarding what to expect from the new core. In short, credibility will be lost...which is never good.....unless people can start to point out what I may have missed in R17 and R18 that shows the new core in action. So to be clear, I am not blaming MAXON of being too slow or not doing enough. I could very well have missed all their excellent work since R16 based on my own understanding and expertise with C4D. Therefore hearing about where others have felt the presence of the new core in action to the level promised in their blog post above would help temper my expectations for R19. I think it would be healthy at this point for users to really show where they are reaping the benefits of the new core...if possible. I have some doubt because you would have heard about this before, but maybe I just missed it. If not, then after 3+ years of new core development, we should start to see something in R19 that makes us all realize it was worth the wait. Dave

AsileFX is a vendor of tutorials and assets for Vue products. e-on has had its difficulties lately since they were acquired and took way too long to release their 2016 update and as such have kind of gone the way of Lightwave -- a once great program slowly falling out of use in the common market (their list of movies stops with films from 2012). So maybe business hasn't been that great for AsileFX lately...maybe it has. Not sure but you be the judge based on the following sale: 12 texture collections totaling over 2363 textures and 7002 image maps (16.2 Gb of files) for $99 (was $399). Each texture is in a tiff, PNG or JPEG format file so it is applicable to more than just Vue (like C4D) Find out more here. If you are Vue user, pretty much everything else at the site is going on sale too but the textures have some use to the C4D community. Again, when you see prices cut this deeply you have to wonder what is going on. Regardless, I hope all is well but whatever the circumstances you have to admit that this is a pretty good deal especially if you find yourself a little lite on building your own personal library of textures. Dave BTW: Anyone know what has replaced Vue as the top professional landscape software package?

It won't require Win 10 and will run perfectly fine on Win 7 :) Just a rumor, not true.

Given your modeling skills, I am surprised you are not a beta tester. But a better knife tool is not key evidence of a new core in action. New core as described by MAXON points to so many other capabilities than smarter modeling algorithms....unless I am reading into "massive data parallelism" too much. For me, apart from the hope of what a true new core would be giving you (like fluid simulation with OpenVDB support), I would love to see the following with the existing tool set: Emissive materials --- please!!! Very desperate for this and would change the render quality/capability in a huge way. A proper symmetry tool...select an polygon, click a button....you get symmetry about that polygon regardless of where the object is located within the scene file. Now imagine if you were to animate that capability....pretty interesting motion graphics opportunities. A spot light or tube light that allows you to independently change the size of the opening at each end. I hate using volumetric spot lights that start from a razor sharp point. The ability for lights (especially volumetric lights) to pass through polygons shaded with transparency or alpha maps. An upgrade to the sky tool to include spectral atmospheric effects. Sorry...the existing sky tools are painfully outdated given what you accomplish with other programs like Terragen and/or Vue. As well as what everyone else wants (Bodypaint, viewport, etc). Dave