3D-Pangel

Company: Pixel Lab (maker of C4D models and materials) Web-Site: https://www.thepixellab.net/ Offer: 30% off all items in store, 50% off the Mega Pack Discount Codes: 30% off anything: BigDealz30 50% off the Mega Pack: MegaDeal50 Restrictions: None listed Duration: Their site says "3 Days Only" but not which 3 days so I have to assume it is between 11/23 and 11/25. Comment: If you have downloaded any of their generously offered freebies, then you know the quality of the product. Had I not purchased a few packs in the past, I would be seriously considering the "Mega Pack" which is all 31 products (or Packs) for $360 after you apply the discount (versus $1425 list price or a 75% discount).

Wow.....many thanks Turboniko for prolifically and unselfishly sharing your knowledge. I will be visiting your page often. Relative to following you on Facebook, I am probably one of the few people who stay away from all social platforms. I just don't want to get caught up in following all of that. The best compliment I ever got was "you have a very low social networking footprint". I think it was meant to be a criticism. In any case, the Cafe is the only "social" networking site I visit (though I do lurk on CG Networks from time to time). So if you could post here when you have a new tutorial, that would be appreciated. Dave P.S. But for those social networking enthusiasts struggling with understanding this position, I could post a picture of my morning bran flakes and coffee at the Cafe from time to time if your desire is for me to be more "connected". Just be sure to "Like it" as we all need that affirmation!!!! ;-)

Company: Cyberlink (maker of editing software for video enthusiasts) Web-Site: Black Friday Sale Offer: Save 65% off PowerDirector 15, 65% off PowerDVD 16 Ultra, 40% off Director Suite 5, 30% off Media Suite 14, 50% off PhotoDirector 8 Discount Codes: BFSAVE20 Restrictions: None listed Duration: Ends 11/26/16 Comment: Honestly, I question the true value of these "savings" because I don't think I have ever seen them sell at full list price. The "discounts" are probably a little better now, but not at the percentages advertised.

Company: REALLUSION (maker of 2D animation software and plugins) Web-Site: https://www.reallusion.com/store/default.html?l=1 Offer: Save 40% for CrazyTalk Animation Suite and Get Free Bonus. Save 20% to 70% for iClone add-ons. Discount Codes: None listed Restrictions: None listed Duration: Ends 11/28/16 Comment: I have no idea why I got this email offer as I have never used any of their products, but so be it.

A few more: Offer 1: Company: BorisFX (maker of motion tracking and 2D graphics software and plugins) Web-Site: https://borisfx.com/blogs/news/black-friday-2016-deals Offer: 50% off on all bundles, 25% off all other products Discount Codes: None listed Restrictions: Sale is limited to one product purchase per customer. Sale is on node-locked licenses only. Duration: Ends 11/29/16 Comment: You only get one choice on this, so make it a good one Offer 2: Company: Corel (maker of Paint Shop Pro, Painter, CorelDRAW, AfterShot Pro) Web-Site: http://www.corel.com/en/special-offers/ Offer: Save up to 60% off plus free shipping (50% on Paint Shop Pro, 30% on Painter, 20% on Corel Draw, etc) Discount Codes: None listed Restrictions: None listed. Duration: Ends 11/23/16 at midnight Comment: So it ends on the Wednesday before "Black Friday"......not sure how that makes it a Black Friday sale?

All, Quick update which I should have provided about 3 weeks ago: e-on has released Vue Infinite 2016 and Plant Factory 2016. Still no word yet on their other products. New features for Vue is GPU rendering, height-field terrains, etc. Dave

Okay.... a few more Black Friday specials to share. Now some of these are along the lines of "Don't they offer that special very other month" and as such, don't really qualify as being "special" nor "Black Friday Special", but I will let you decide that for yourselves. So here goes: Offer 1: Company: NONECG 3D Model Store (very detailed models in various formats including C4D) Web-Site: http://www.nonecg.com/ Offer: 25% off all models Discount Codes: NonCG_BlackFriday_2016 Restrictions: None listed Duration: 11/21 to 11/27 (Monday to Sunday) Comment: I wish the discount was deeper because while their models look gorgeous, they are pricey. Offer 2: Company: Geek-at-Play Tutorials for Vue, modo, C4D, etc...etc.. Web-Site: http://www.geekatplay.com/tutorials.php Offer: 50% off all tutorials Discount Codes: happydays Restrictions: None listed Duration: Not specifically stated Comment: Note that this discount is good on their other products beyond just tutorials such as shirts and fine art prints. Who knew? Offer 3: Company: Motion Squared Texture paks Web-Site: https://store.motionsquared.net/ Offer: 50% off all texture paks Discount Codes: None listed Restrictions: None listed Duration: 11/20/16 to 11/25/2016 Comment: Normally pretty inexpensive and now just a steal. Offer 4: Company: Adobe Web-Site: https://creative.adobe.com/plans?promoid=D8F91SZ4&mv=other Offer: 20% off Adobe Creative Cloud Discount Codes: None listed Restrictions: None listed Duration: Ends 11/25/16 Comment: If only they extended that offer to single app licenses....but alas, it is for Creative Cloud only. Offer 5: Company: 3D Quakers (maker of Forester plugin) Web-Site: http://www.3dquakers.com/ Offer: No details yet just a statement in the CGNetwork forums that there will be a Black Friday (reference here) Discount Codes: None listed Restrictions: None listed Duration: Starts 11/25/16 and lasts about a week. Comment: So is saying that 3D Quakers will have a Black Friday the same as saying that France will have a 4th of July? Hey.....I just report the stuff. But, all that aside, there will be a Forester 2 in 2017. Fun times ahead! Happy shopping. Dave P.S. And if I could wish for a Black Friday Special then I would be hoping for something from Nitro4D!!!! C'mon Nitroman....jump on in!

Last year, there was some really outstanding Black Friday sales with vendors such as Evermotion, Video CoPilot, 3D Quakers, etc. Some of which I would not have known about if it weren't for casual mentions in unrelated threads at the Cafe. So given that I just got a Black Friday sales notice in email from C4Dzone, it occurred to me that it might be a good idea if we had a thread for people to post whatever news they might hear regarding Black Friday specials as they relate to plugins, model or texture packs or even other graphics software applications that are not C4D related. Please note that for ease of use it is probably a good idea to include (at a minimum) the following information in the post: Company Name Web-Site Nature of the offer (discounts, bundles, etc). Discount Codes Any relevant restrictions (new customers only, etc). Duration of the sale With that said, here is my first post of a Black Friday sale: Company: C4Dzone Web-Site: http://www.c4dzone.com/en/shop/ Offer: 50% off all plugins Discount Codes: None listed Restrictions: None listed Duration: 11/25 to 11/26 (Friday to Sunday) Happy Shopping! Dave

Ahhh....that might explain why I have not noticed it on X-particles because when I do get home and power up the workstation to use it, I am always on-line. Thank you for the quick answer. Once you understand what is meant by that statement, it makes sense but on first read it can lead to the wrong conclusions as it initially sounded that if you don't use C4D and the program for 30 days (even if on-line), something happens to the license. You may want to put some clarification into the fine print there such as: "Cycles 4D licensing is done online so you need an internet connection for normal use. You can use it offline, but only for 30 day periods at a time after which you must reconnect to the internet to refresh the license for the next 30 period of off-line use" So when will the demo be ready? This weekend? {keeping fingers crossed}. Dave

Okay....all I need is the demo and time to go through the tutorials and I will be making a purchase. As next week is the Thanksgiving Holiday in the US, that is a perfect time to learn as I will finally have some time at home to focus on it. Will the demo therefore be released soon? Also, one more question: The nature of my work has me doing international travel quite a lot lately (I have been in Mexico working with our manufacturers since September...and now you know why I am looking forward to taking all next week off). My travel for 2017 could potentially be China, Malaysia, Thailand, Poland, etc. So this is what I read on the Insydium order page: "must have a connection at least every 30 days (you can only be offline for 30 days)." As a hobbyist who is out of the country a lot, this is going to happen. Therefore, what happens when it does? Dave P.S. And now you know why my skill as an artist take soooooo long to develop. I cannot wait for retirement.

Hmmm.....I say we start a "Go Fund Me" page to "Bring Nigel to America" for some future Siggraph conference!!! ;-)

Ouch! Let's not go there....but you are always welcome to NH. Dave

Recommend skipping ahead to 5:16 minutes as that is when he actually starts talking about Cycles 4D.

Given all that shifting of land, I am waiting for the seismologists to determine if stress was relieved on the fault lines. A chilling fact with the Haitian earthquake a few years back was that even though one coastline sunk 20 feet and the other coastline rose 18 feet, the fault line was completely intact. No movement thus no stress relief. Go back into the historical records and you read reports that Haiti had a big earthquake in the 1800's and then 20 years later a really massive earthquake occurred. They are seeing repeat of that same pattern. They call it the zipper effect where the tectonic stress shift along the fault line rather than get relieved and then build again to something even more horrific. So again, hopefully the seismologists are looking into this and give an "all clear" for New Zealand. Nigel...if you don't get the "all clear" I would look into moving to New Hampshire...we are the Granite State after all....nothing moves that much!! Dave P.S. I wonder how WETA is doing? You will probably hear that Jame Cameron is once again postponing Avatar 2...this time due to the earthquake! ;-)

Hmmm....250 materials if you purchase before 1/1/2017. Now that is tempting. I hope one of them is that cool lava material used in Mike's tutorial. I would assume that each material can be examined in the node editor (not sure if there is the ability to use the material but lock out viewing/editing for those who wish to sell Cycles material sets in the future). Being able to examine other materials really helps with the learning process. Can materials created by the Blender users also be used in Cycles 4D? Dave

So if it is "all over the place" then is it the render engine or the user? I agree that some of the stuff you pointed out is pretty bad (in particular the jet...what was going on with that reflectance) and the AA on the Lamborghini but the XP stuff is pretty good! Yes...not all of it was show reel worthy and for a product launch they should have been more discerning but I don't think you should write off the Cycles render engine just yet unless you see a good quantity of Blender/Cycles show reels with the same issues. Personally, I haven't looked as I am thinking of sitting this one out until I understand more about either or all of the following: 1) how to use the nodes from the demo/tutorials, 2) whether Cycles delivers on their development plan as promised and 3) what MAXON has in store with their GPU rendering solution. So it could be awhile. Dave

I never doubted their ability to release a solid product. But not all things are in Insydium's control...namely the pace of development of the Cycles render engine. That needs to be proven to me to be pretty robust with some level of predictability regarding timing and features to make me pay $110 USD a year for a maintenance plan on a $220 USD plugin. Never said I wouldn't purchase it. Just said I would be cautious about purchasing the maintenance plan and favor re-purchasing new licenses every 2+ years until I am convinced that the maintenance plan provides a better value. Now, that is just me....but if others are making the same value judgments then that is a risk to Insydium as their development costs are the same each year but their expected revenue becomes unpredictable. Better all around to lower the maintenance costs so that it is predictable....that is, people keep signing up each years because the price is low enough that the value of doing so never comes into question given the unknowns about Cycles development schedule. Dave

I actually like that clause that they give you some time to rethink your maintenance plan after the deadline has passed. But their whole maintenance pricing is just very risky because of so many things that need to be proven to the C4D community to just assume we would jump in each year for 50% of the original purchase price. Here are (to me at least) the unknowns: 1) What is the Cycles release schedule? Is it annually? Bi-annually? 2) How long after Cycles releases a new update will we see Cycles 4D be able adopt that new release? 1 month after release? 3 months? 3) How many new features does Cycles add with each new release. The 2017 development plan looks pretty hefty, but that is just a plan. How many of those features were originally included in the 2016 development plan? Do they hit their development plan all the time? Again, no idea. 4) Say that Cycles releases a new update towards the end of our maintenance plan but the maintenance plan expires before Cycles 4D gets updated? What are we entitled to? No word on how that works. That may be why they have the 3 month grace period....but then what happens if Cycles 4D does not get updated after the 3 month grace period ends? So Insydium is dependent on the release schedule of an open source program --- and I have no idea how consistent open source platforms release updates nor how much is in each release to make me feel that paying 50% of the purchase price for a maintenance plan is a wise decision. That is out of Insydium's control which means it is out of our control as well. So the smart thing to do is to wait and see. And I mean wait for 1 year after your 12 month maintenance plan expires with the original purchase. Waiting that extra year to see how this goes and then buying a new license does not cost you any more than paying 50% each year as that new license still comes with another 12 month maintenance plan. If the pace of updates or the amount in each update is not worth it to you, then you wait longer. That is why I said "how does Insydium want to see their revenue? Consistently year after year or in lumps?" Lower the maintenance plan to something much more reasonable and people are more motivated to just keep signing up. Keep it where it is and the motivation is to wait as buying a whole new license at some point in the future is less risky (because you now know what you are getting) and potentially cheaper if it is more that 2 years between purchases. That is lumpy revenue because maybe they see some maintenance purchases in 1 year....but then again maybe not and they have to wait 2 or more years to see some additional revenue. Hey, they development costs are the same to them regardless of our buying patterns. Businesses love predictable revenue models. They can plan and invest on a predictable revenue stream. This will NOT be predictable for the reasons I stated....so they take on risk. I wish them the best of luck if they hold onto their current maintenance pricing. But right now, given all the unknowns, it is a big bet they are making for a new business. Dave

Wow...well...on the plus side, it appears that you still have basic services like power and internet otherwise you would not be able to post to the cafe. I would also assume that the rest of your family (children, parents, in-laws) have checked in an they are okay as well. Next big question, are the roads in and out of town okay? Will there be disruptions in food to the supermarkets, gas to the gas stations, etc. I mean, you could be perfectly fine but still be in a pretty rough spot like these poor cows: There is only so much grass left that they can eat! Dave

Okay.. just checked out the Cycles home page...so some of my questions have been answered. I will admit that the yearly maintenance cost of 90 pounds is a bit excessive as that is 50% of the purchase cost and 60% if you are an X-Particles 3.5 user. Think about it. Even C4D's Studio MSA is only 18% of the new license cost...so at those costs, you are strongly motivated to renew your MSA. But at 50% of the cost, I could afford to miss a few years and just buy a completely new license in the future. So how do you guys want your revenue stream to be managed in the future? Consistent or lumpy? The development effort and your costs are all the same but I would imagine people will not signing up for the maintenance program unless they saw a huge benefit...and that benefit is tied to the Cycles development pace and Insydium's ability to quickly keep up. So the big questions are: 1) If Cycles is cranking out a significant hunk of new and more powerful versions with each release (such that it is worth half our initial costs as that is what the maintenance program costs), 2) If Insydium can keep up and 3) Even if Cycles does pump out huge updates, that is a lot for Insydium to digest and integrate into the plugin so can it still be done quickly within the maintenance cycle. That is a lot of "if's". So for me, I would buy Cycles 4D now and then sit on it for at least 2 years....just to see how things go. That might be smart given what MAXON is working on with their own GPU rendering solution (which also has similar features). Now, reduce the maintenance costs to 30 pounds (20% of the initial cost), and you have me for life. So as a I said before, how do you want your revenue? Consistent or lumpy (30 pounds each year or "maybe" 180 pounds every 2+ years). I don't know. Charging 90 pound maintenance fee is a big bet for a new venture. Dave

The light emission capabilities alone have me drooling. Plus---and this is huge---Cycles 4D now supports TFD! Never would have expected that! Great job! What I find daunting though is the whole science behind nodal material system management. For example, when to use certain nodes that do not necessarily correlate to a material effect (eg. math nodes) and why I need to use them (eg. do I always need a blackbody shader with an emission node?). So while powerful, I would imagine that the learning curve is somewhat steep...at least until you wrap your head around it. Are there any "nodal system" best practices out there as a Cycles tutorial? I would imagine that any Cycles tutorial would be sufficient as not much was dropped in the C4D implementation. Also, while the Cycles road-map is impressive, does each release mean a change to the Cycles-4D plugin or can we just download the new Cycles release and see what works? That is, is the Cycles 4D plugin tied to a specific Cycles release? When will the Cycles 4D demo be available? Will the price be going up any time soon (is this a release special right now?) or will the discount for X-Particles 3.5 customers be removed in the future? Thanks, Dave

Nigel, Glad to know that you are okay along with the other New Zealanders on this thread. My thoughts and prayers go out to you all. How is your house? Any cracks or loose pipes? I ask because we had a 3.0 earthquake in New Hampshire (the 'Granite State') and there was a hair line crack in the drywall and a PVC drain pipe joint cracked loose. So I can only imagine what happened to your property when it was only 250 miles from the epicenter of a quake that was 100,000 times stronger. You did say the house rolled a bit which is just frightening. There was also a 6.0 quake in Venezuela this weekend as well. Makes you wonder what is going on! Plates are definitely shifting around a bit. In any case, take care of yourself and keep us posted. Dave

IMHO - You have raw natural talent with modeling if that is the level of work you can accomplish by being self-taught. If getting a paying job doing CG is the goal, my advice is to focus on being a specialist and developing a really good demo reel of your modeling. I agree that the competition is tough out there. While I have never looked for work in the CG field, I would imagine that the level of competition is lower for a generalist but there are many, many more people to compete with at the generalist level. Conversely, there are fewer specialists but the competition is tougher. You already have a pretty good start being a specialist character modeler so I would stick with that. Maybe purchasing MILG11 tutorial at HelloLuxx might push you to the next level as it appears to explain the "why" as well as the "how" behind certain techniques. Understanding the "why" is always advised as it provides a base from which you can develop additional techniques. Also, it does not matter how you obtained the skills. What matters is quality of the work so don't let yourself be imitated by those who have a formal education. It is also important that you can create models that other specialists can use (riggers, texture artists, etc), so understanding the proper techniques is very critical which is another reason why I would suggest MILG11. In addition to the finished work, your demo real should also show the mesh, highlighting key areas where intelligent polygonal flow stands out as well. Finally, focus on sculpting and retopology next. Get away from cartoon shapes and try to create realistic creatures (real or imaginary). Study anatomy and fill the models with high levels of realistic, anatomically correct surface details. If you can create something that looks absolutely real, even though it is un-shaded, poorly posed or flatly lit, then your work will most definitely stand out. I have always been inspired by the works of Neville Page so start their to get a sense of what "form language" really means in a model. Now, this may push you more into Z-Brush than C4D, but you need to also master the tools that the industry depends on for character modeling, and I would imagine that C4D is not at the top of that list. But, if you can't afford Z-Brush, don't let that stop you as it is the work you create rather than the tool you used to create it that matters most. Agreed! Never give up on your dreams! Never say never! Case in point: about 15 years ago there was this young kid (around 16 to 18 years old at the time) on the old trueSpace forums from Norway. He was creating outstanding work in trueSpace which had about 10% of the capability that C4D had that time (and probably 1% that C4D has now). Like yourself, he was a natural talent and self-taught at the time (though he did go on to get formal education in CG). He and I struck up a pretty good email relationship and I recall him saying that his dream was to bring ILM level of SFX to the Norway film industry. Honestly, I kind of chuckled at that and said that he had a better chance of working at ILM than creating his own studio in Norway....I mean, how big is the Norwegian film industry let alone the Norwegian VFX industry? Well, we fell out of touch over the years and fast forward about 15 years and I am watching some pretty neat movies on Netflix with some really outstanding VFX. Movies like Troll Hunter, Bolgen (or "The Wave"), and Ragnarok. All these movies were Norwegian made with English subtitles and were really good! As I am watching the credits, up pops this kids name (ALF M. LØVVOLD) who is now the General Manager and co-founder of a VFX company in Oslo called GimpVille . I was really surprised and reached out to him again just to make sure that he was the same person! He responded...yep, it was him! We have since renewed our email relationship and he admitted that it wasn't easy, filled with hard work and some very scary days that always come with starting your own company, but he persevered! Go to the site and watch their demo real...really impressive. Gimpville did the VFX work for the Oscar nominated Kon-Tiki (best foreign film), so their work is up there! They also won a national "Pioneering" award given to Norwegian businesses....probably because they did exactly what Alf set out to do: bring state of the art VFX to Norway. So never give up! Keep pushing yourself because talent and hard work will always find a way. Dave

There is so much to learn in this field that it really comes down to an early decision to be either a generalist or a specialist. There just isn't time in any one lifetime to master "everything"! Unfortunately, as this is just a hobby for me, I have accomplished just enough to keep me interested. Small wins on certain WIPs that encourage me to keep turning on the computer but not enough for me to ever be considered a "specialist" in anything. For me, it will be a life-long pursuit but never a destination and at times, I do identify with this graph: Right now as I am within a decade of retirement, computer graphics is (for me at least) the perfect "retirement" activity as I strongly believe that you need to keep firing the left side and the right side of the brain during your retirement years. CG will definitely do that...it requires your entire brain if you hope to be any good at it. And nothing comes easy. It all takes hard work to really master. That's why I love C4D because this stuff is hard enough and C4D's logical interface and stability at least keeps the energy on improving your skills rather than fighting the program. ...yeah...that's called raw natural born talent. Consider yourself very lucky! Dave

Really outstanding work. I was just watching some of the free sample tutorials from MILG11: Hard Surface Modeling in C4D (found here) and your work really exemplifies everything that can be done right with polygonal flow. Whereas that instructor (Toby Pitman) rigorously pushed himself to be a tremendous modeler with daily exercises, etc., I somehow get the sense that for you it is just natural. Especially when you say "It didn't really take that long...it was fun!" for something so complex that mere mortals would die in frustration before they even roughed out the shape of her hair. Any stories of about your training, 14 hour days at your computer, self-sacrifice and personal struggles to get to where you are today in your modeling skill would be really appreciated right now....because if that level of modelling came from natural talent, what hope do the rest of us have? ;-) Dave