MJV

Does the new machine have a Redshift GPU license and is GPU activated in render settings?

Wanting absolutely nothing to do with crypto bros and nft's in general would be good reason enough for me

In a node network, a different variable controlled result is just another tree branch, one the user ultimately has much greater control over and confidence.

It think it must be a mistake or something they overlooked, because it makes no sense.

These viewport toggle switches, Animation, Deformers, Coffee (Expressions), Generators, Joints were more important when computers weren't as fast as today, but every layout could benefit from at least including the kill generator toggle, because when some process is freezing Cinema, it can be more effective than using the escape key. As soon as Cinema sees that generator toggle command it disengages all generators. It's like "cease all motor functions" in Westworld.

Ok. Cool. Regarding the cache hierarchy, I am amazed that such a tool exists.

Yes, that's the entirety of my point. Every object that has a checkmark would be worse without it, and every object that doesn't have one would be better with one. The corollary being that every object in Cinema that doesn't have a checkmark is worse and less convenient to work with for not having it. In the end, the arguments for not all objects having one don't stand up to scrutiny and basically always boil down to "that's how it's always been so that must be how it is".

So for the sake of argument you're saying that technically everything with a green checkmark is generating a polygon cache? Deformers and effectors and fields and lights also come with checkmarks so they all generate a polygon cache as well?

While trying to learn Houdini I am constantly saying to myself things like "wow", "this is so amazing", "I can't believe this is so great", "this is so cool" etc., while at the same time am constantly exasperated at not being able to figure out how the simplest and most basic things should be done, even after watching videos on how to do that very thing. For example, the materials/shaders in Houdini don't have shaderballs or any preview. It took me forever for my mind to even register what was going on with that. With Cinema I was able to completely self learn the software (with the aid of helpful users on Postforum, if anyone remembers that), but Houdini is really a beast and if not for Igor's activism last year and offer to help one on one, which I took him up on (Thank you Igor!), I probably wouldn't have even started with it.

I'm talking about the Sky Object, not Physical Sky. Other generators that don't have checkmarks include Foreground, Background, and Floor.

Yes, that seems to have been the logic, or so it has been so explained, but then you have the Sky object, also a generator, that has no checkmark, so even the logic as explained isn't consistent. We just accept it because that's how it's always been.

You can't turn a polygon object on and off because Maxon never added that feature. That's the only reason. Had it always been there from the start you would never question that either or even think to suggest that it shouldn't be possible.

0 It seems like you misunderstood me. I never and am not arguing that the dots and checkmark are or should be conflated or are the same. I am saying that everything should have both the dots and a checkmark. Having some things which can be disabled with a checkmark and other things that can't is what makes no sense. People only think it makes sense because that's the way it's always been.

Because, sadly, Maxon did not make it that way. Some will argue that there is some logical or rational reason behind it, but there isn't. It's just a general failure of logic and reason that is so old and established that it has come to be accepted as canon, just how things are and never questioned anymore.

What about displaced or heavily subdivided polys? In theory one can make a very richly detailed landscape with just a single poly.

What about procedural objects such as a sweep or an extrude, which technically don't use any polys but rather virtual polys?

Can it be an angle, or a percentage, or any use of 99?

I've been using a texture folder in Cinema for 20 years and it's never been at all slow, though it certainly could be if on a network drive, as network drives are something Cinema always struggles with in my experience. If speed is an issue then please know that there have been a multitude of reports that the new asset browser is extremely slow by other users attempting to do what you have described. As far as I know they all gave up on the idea after seeing how slow it is, though I also saw some reports that later versions are faster so your mileage may vary. For the record I wasn't happy with the Content Browser either, except for it's ability to browse files and display a variety of file types, which was indeed nice and something the new asset browser can't do. I once tried to work with it as a database while working for a company with a large number of products where the files were stored in lib files , but lib files were even less transparent and subject to corruption and data loss than the new asset browser, and ultimately a multitude of bugs saw that effort crash in flames even after trying to work with Maxon to fix them. I can for sure see the theoretical value of a robust database that lets you do all the things you have described so I wish you well in finding a solution that works for you. I just have my doubts that that will be the Asset Browser any time soon or that it's even really designed for that yet, as you are finding out.

Nice thread Iceman. I for one very much appreciate finally seeing you showing off some of the strengths of Blender instead of focusing on the weaknesses and your personal grievances about Cinema.

I'll try to be clearer. As I understand it, and I admit I don't know everything about it because as is I won't ever use it and can't be bothered with learning it further only to be met with at lot of pain over its limitation, it's an inefficient system for managing your geometry and material assets, because it requires you to make copies of all the assets already on your hard drive into a proprietary system that strips the copied assets of all their metadata and recodes it into a database that can only be read if you own a copy of Cinema. This means amongst other things that if your Cinema license expires you won't even have access to that database anymore, even though it's taking up space on your hard drive. It won't be readable or usable anymore. Furthermore, Cinema has a very nice feature that lets you designate a texture folder on your hard drive where you can keep all your material bitmaps and have all the materials in all your projects always reference that designated folder thus insuring that you never have to have duplicates on your hard drives or worry about where they are located. Cinema always knows where to look, but I'm not sure if material assets that are saved into the asset folder are able to do this. If this is too much opinion please ignore. 🙉

I trust you do. 🙂 I tried rewatching parts of Houdini Isn't Scary yesterday and realized the presentation keeps saying how simple everything is, but then tells the student all they need to do is input some precise and mysterious syntax here, more precise and mysterious syntax there, and so on and isn't at all something that can be casually viewed and retain much. Here is an another beginner tutorial series that I found even more useful as a beginner overview. Even though it's 7 years old now, it's well organized and presented, and can be more casually viewed and still learn something.

I don't know the direct answer to your question about duplicate materials, but my understanding is that it's designed to store and distribute Maxon's assets and not for managing a user's own assets in an efficient manner. I mean the very fact that it stores such assets in a proprietary database readable only by Cinema should tell you all you need to know.

Just would add that I've been a member since 2007 and I really appreciate C4DCafe and Core4D and those like 3DKIWI and now IGOR who kept it and are keeping it going. For me it's worth supporting.

In response to this thread request I signed up for Tier Three contribution level which is like $10 twice a year, admittedly a pretty token gesture, cancelable at any time, but I too would have been much more comfortable with a single donation opportunity that didn't carry the risks associated with a paypal based subscription plan, cause I just don't trust paypal or subscription plans in general, and would have been comfortable making a larger one time contribution than I was with the subscription plan.

An exploration of the abstract possibilities of the new extrude faces that were introduced in R22/R23 or so that could clip an intersection from colliding. https://portfolio.mvpny.com/accidental-art