I don't know if anyone has already made a post about this, but I've recently seen the demo hosted in LA, and was very impressed!
The 3d painting programme seems to be an ideal standalone piece of kit, mostly used for the texturing of "Massive projects".
The programme was developed for films such as District 9 and Avatar, and has now found its way into mainstream texturing. Brought to us by the same company who gave us the 'Nuke' software, The Foundry appear to have given us something really user and manageable here.
I won't go into details, but being specifically designed for 3d texture painting (and animating textures for that matter) in theory it should stand head and shoulders above any 2d application like Painter or Photoshop. I am eager to give it a try.
Take a look at this first part of the tour. I'm sure it has its limitations, and doesn't look like an 'easy' route, but perhaps could be useful from time to time.
Does anyone have any experience with it? I know it currently only operates on linux but I think I'm also right in saying there has recently been a windows 64bit version released too
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/mari/
Hi Elliot
ReplyDeleteNice post. Check out Bodypaint also.
Yes its for Windows
ReplyDeletehttp://thefoundry.s3.amazonaws.com/products/mari/releases/1.1v2/Mari_1.1v2_ReleaseNotes.pdf
Recommended System Requirements
•Quad-core processor
•Windows 7 64-bit, or a Linux 64-bit operating system (Fedora 12 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4)
•250GB disk space available for caching and temporary files (or a minimum of 50GB if you're working on a small project)
•At least 4GB RAM
•Display with 1680 x 1050 pixel resolution
•An NVIDIA graphics card with at least 1GB of RAM and OpenGL 3.0 support (see Recommended Graphics Cards below).
Recommended Graphics Cards
•NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480
•NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800
•NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M
•NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800
•NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800
•NVIDIA Quadro (Fermi Series) 600
•NVIDIA Quadro (Fermi Series) 5000
•NVIDIA Quadro (Fermi Series) 6000
Thanks Alan, I'm somewhat familiar with Maxon's Bodypaint, I used it (if you could call it that) as a plugin with Cinema 4D, some time ago, and grew fond of its UI very quickly.
ReplyDeleteWOW, needs a bloody terminator just to run the thing by the sounds of it. I've got the 3800 waiting in a post office somewhere in Lanacashire as far as I know, as if the Christmas post wasn't bad enough without snow!
If you don't mind me asking, where do you stand on programmes such as these? or do you prefer the traditional route of texturing? I ask, as being a student, I'm still left in some darkness as to what the industry actually use during a pipeline these days.
They are necessary part of the pipeline. A version of 3D painting has been around since 1994/5(ish)with packages like Deep Paint. Bodypaint, Mudbox, Zbrush, Photoshop CS4/5 or Mari do exactly same and we wouldn't have the detailed texture painting we do today without them. Maya even has a very basic version "Rendering / Texturing / 3D painting".
ReplyDeleteHowever they are all useless unless you learn how to paint properly first (Artisctally). Then it just becomes a matter of tools, interfaces, and personal taste.
Oh I see, so it (or even one of its counterparts) is definitely worth becoming familiar with? I think it's always good to know what programmes are useful, as after watching tutorials or doing any kind of source research online, you tend to find there are hundreds of plugins or even standalone applications, that always seem to offer some kind of 'short cut'. Perhaps this is all well and good, until a project for a company has to go through a pipeline which has to be done to specification. One of these 'short cuts' I seem to be hearing a lot about is Pixologic's 'UV Master'. I've tried my hand at it, and still had to pull the UV's back into Maya, and alter them for the best part of what would usually take.
ReplyDeleteThere is a rule for Plug-in's. They are short cuts for a process you need to know well first. Or in other words you need to know what you are skipping and why. UV's are a good case. Whether it Pixologic, or Headus UV (Best), or older plug-in's like Pelting Tool's they are there to speed something up you already know how to do. They are all variations of a theme and knowing the foundation means you are always ready to pick up a studio's choice of software when employed.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of amateurs out there who fill up Blog's, Forums etc with their 'opinion' about what you should use. There's also a lot of studios and software companies who tell you what you should be using. The key is to establish exactly what you need to do and find something professional that suits you.
That seems like the most sensible approach. Otherwise, what is the point of going through the motions, each part of the process should get as much attention as the next. A fantastic texture artist is only as good as his ability to layout UV's.
ReplyDeleteNever fear, I'm all too familiar with the rule of online info ''belive half of what you see and none of what you hear''. I'm extremely keen on trying out Mari, and will let you know how I get on with it (in the assumption that you don't get there first)