Alias|Wavefront to Support Linux 79
Steve Rojem writes "This press release at Yahoo details the porting of Maya et al to Linux." Very cool, and probably one of the first of many similar announcements we'll be seeing this week with LinuxWorld going on (though as an astute reader pointed out, this one was due to SIGGRAPH, which is also going on presently). Maya should show up in December, and it won't come cheap (US$3k).
Can you PLEASE post Linux info within Linux topic? (Score:1)
I could puke! Therefore, I have selected to
exclude Linux articles from the index page
it doesn't work, because people keep posting Linux
related articles under different topics. For
example, just today there were three Linux
articles showing up
under "SGI."
It's pretty simple: If the article is about Linux,
it goes under the Linux topic. If the article is
about a program or game being written or ported
to Linux, it *STILL* goes under the Linux topic!
Why? Because unless you use or like Linux, you
don't care that Game "X" being ported to Linux. Or
that SGI's Maya software is being written for
Linux.
If the people posting articles don't want to take
the time to correctly categorize the articles,
at least consider providing us more powerful ways
to filter... e.g. regex's on the body of the
article. Then I can allow all topics, and just do:
!/linux|microsoft/i;
-WW
--
Why are there so many Unix-using Star Trek fans?
When was the last time Picard said, "Computer, bring
correction: Avid=Microsoft ;-) (Score:1)
Reflexive Mac-bashers hold your tongue please. The majority of non-linear video editing (read: Avid's customer base) is "still" Mac based.
After the customer base revolted Avid has been falling head over heels - following a 30% stock drop! - to make up and reverse that decision somewhat.
In my humble opinion SI is a piece of shit. I use the software quite often, and on NT even...
Microsoft ditched SI because their customer base was switching to Maya anyhow. You see, as part of Microsoft's "war against open 3D stardards", they had to buy smart people to help develop their closed 3D API "DirectX". To do this they diverted considerable resources from the SGI flavor, and poured resources into the fledgeling NT port.
Once all the SI customer base was screaming "I knew it [ms would hose them]" they had to get rid of the product or watch it wither. SI on NT was a tremendous HACK even as far as NT standards go. Microsoft never bought SI to make a direct profit off of... they just wanted to embrace and extend OpenGL and capture one of the leading IRIX applications (giving the customer base the shaft if they stayed on SGI).
SGI was very smart when they brought down the price of Maya to within reach of SI, MAX, etc.. and one more thing you'll NEVER see MAX on Linux. It's way too tied to NT code-wise and uses a lot of licensed code too (maybe you'll see the MAX distributed render client...). Given SGI's healthy attitude towards Linux I think it's a matter of months before it's announced for Linux. This makes me very happy
Re:Microsoft doesn't own SoftImage anymore... (Score:1)
The Animation and Modelling package is amazingly powerful, though.
Re:Good stuff. (Score:1)
On the other hand, I used an early version of Wave front circa 1990, and it was way cool even then. Making an object run along a spline was pretty easy, having an large number of them doing this was also easy.
I can only imagine it's much better now.
You have seen the product of this package, unless you haven't seen TV in 20 Years.
I have always hoped the Linux world would come out with something as easy to use for free or cheap.
Re:Just the renderer :P (Score:1)
B) Because Photoshop on SGI stops at version 3.0
Re:why even? (Score:1)
Really.
Re:Can you PLEASE post Linux info within Linux top (Score:1)
Re:Just the renderer :P (Score:1)
Sorry, but one-button mice and no multitasking has to *go*.
Re:Can you PLEASE post Linux info within Linux top (Score:1)
suggestion to improve the site. Unlike you...
Why bother offering any options at all to get
rid of articles that appear on slashdot? Obviously
either Rob is bored, or slashdot readers are
requesting this.
Obviously I don't have to read the entire article,
but most of the time the entire article appears on
the front page anyway. 3 out of the 7 or so
articles on the main page were about Linux and
thus un-interesting. I'd rather have only the
articles that appeal to me show up on that page...
which is why the "exclude" feature was created in
the first place.
So unless you have something meaninful to add...
go away.
-WW
--
Why are there so many Unix-using Star Trek fans?
When was the last time Picard said, "Computer, bring
ummm... (Score:1)
we had some game announcements that had some linux info and we had some new sgi software announcements... its was labeled sgi properly... some of us are interested in sgi announcements...
you are incorrect...
now reboot again...
maya renderer (Score:1)
its is not open source, but ALL or nearly ALL of the software is in MEL... you can just open up and text files and read them... much can be done with this software... (the gui, object/surf manips, all of it)
I use it on old indy/indigo sgi's and the new NT 540... it is stupid fast on the 540...
MentalRay is less and less talked about nowadays... lost of ground has been lost due to delays in their "next generation" product...
And it doesnt really matter... if you really are going to do any "real" rendering, you are using Renderman... and if that is the case, you export RIBS in maya...
Wohoo (Score:1)
Now if only they give us some of the nice kernel multithreading that Irix has, and that 4dwm-zooming-filemanager...
Re:SIGGRAPH, not LWE... and ONLY the renderer. (Score:1)
I am not familiar with this application. If they only porting backend then it make sense. There is really not that much support for accelerated GL on the front end ( Vodoo and maybe one more
why even? (Score:1)
Good stuff. (Score:2)
Snigger. What the hell does that mean?
Sneers aside, this looks like a Good Thing, particularly with SMP. I've read a few pieces that say Linux is ideal for multimedia, but I've seen little evidence in the software.
And $3,000 for a renderererer? Truly Linux has come of age.
Microsoft doesn't own SoftImage anymore... (Score:1)
Its a start (Score:1)
Announcement (Score:1)
My work has had a tight relationship with A|W and
we kept pushing for the Maya port. Now it has happened. The way I see it, porting the renderer is a big deal. Having the modeler to use under linux would be nice, but it is not needed. With current hardware support for 3D still comming arround, a high powered modeler for linux might still be a bit slow.
Having the renderer for linux allows people to put togeather cheap render farms. Knowing that maya renders about as fast, or faster on dual proc NT machines as it does on O2 or Octane boxes, a cheap, fast linux solution is awesome. We are looking at beefing up our render farm, also migrating some from the SGI platform to the Intel, but we were waiting for the port to be official.
Not really that big of a deal... (Score:1)
You'll still need an NT or SGI box to actually model anything, so don't plan on converting your shop over anytime soon. The only people this really matters for are people who have big render farms - and at the price per copy of Maya, there aren't a whole lot of people who do.
Just the renderer :P (Score:1)
Maybe I shouldent be griping, if my favorite modeler/renderer/animation package, Hash's [hash.com] Animation:Master released a render client/server for linux, I'd be one happy puppy, cause the less time I spend in MacOS and the more I spend in linux, the better.
-Ben
Not to burst the bubble... (Score:1)
We're a product deign firm who would love a couple more seats of Studio. Linux is the obvious choice in OS (nt - ha!), particullarly with SGI supporting it. But if we still need SGI MIPS hardware and IRIX, I don't see us adding any more.
Now if Parametric Technologies would port ProEngineer to Linux.....
Just the renderer... for now... (Score:1)
Alias released the renderer for NT about 3-4 months before the full Maya toolset. It was worth the wait. Of course, I'm more interested in seeing the good bits of Irix move to Linux. The release of SGI Linux 1.0 was more significant to me. If SGI put 1/10th the effort into Linux that they did Irix, NT would die quickly.
Re:why even? (Score:1)
It's simple economics. If it takes two programmers 1 year at $50,000 per programer per year the cost of production is: $100,000 If the product is only going to be bought by 1000 people it would have to cost $100 a copy just to break even. If it was bought by a 100,000 people.. well it would still propably cost 100 bucks.. but it would make a heafty profit.
The point is if the cost of production is high and the number of prospective buyers is low then the purchase price will have to be high.
Ex-Nt-User
Re:Not to burst the bubble... (Score:1)
Re:still behind side effects (Score:1)
People are working on enhancing the Gimp for film work - including 16 bit per component support. This work is coming directly out of the LA effects community. I think information is at ;
http://film.gimp.org
but I can't connect at the moment ...
Re:What is Maya? (Score:1)
Re:Good stuff. (Score:1)
Re:Wohoo (Score:1)
Broken warez copy on my Celeron (Score:1)
Just because an artist uses a broken warez copy of a piece of software on a Celeron means that he/she can't create cool artwork.
Hell, if i got paid to do this stuff, then i would have no problem buying a loaded SGI box running IRIX + Maya etc.
but check it:
http://www.spunk.co.nz/tux.gif
http://www.spunk.co.nz/ork.jpg
http://www.faultline.gen.nz/dwarf001.jpg
but as it is, i'm stuck with a warez copy of LW and an overclocked Celeron. The warez copy of Lightwave works perfectly, and my Celeron performs identically to a P2 of the same clock speed.
Of course, there are a lot of people who warez the software, and never actually *use* it.
But creating good artwork with this type of software comes from hard work and talent. Nothing else. Warez never is, was or will be a substitute for the above, and just because i 'borrowed' my tools, doesn't mean i don't know how to use them.
How do you think anybody actually learns to do this stuff?
Magically loaded workstations just fall out of the sky into the laps of 'those that are worthy'?
Re:Gotta love the commentary... (Score:1)
Re:Its a start (Score:1)
Hold on - is this Maya or just the renderer? (Score:1)
ONLY good for renderfarms? Or is this the whole
Maya 2 Complete package, meaning you don't need anything else? I'm suspicious because of the price - Maya 2 normally goes for around $7500, doesn't it, with other versions going up around $16k...
Re:What is Maya? (Score:1)
Re:Its a start (Score:1)
About the Mental Ray being better than Maya's render engine. I don't know how much of a difference there is. My studio chose Maya based on two things, the modeler and MEL, the Maya scripting language. I think that both put out very good images, getting to that stage is the important part. Plus, Maya can export to renderman, with a small amount of work.
still behind side effects (Score:1)
Re:Can you PLEASE post Linux info within Linux top (Score:1)
If you don't like how things are done on Slashdot,then get lost. No one's asking you to stay.
This post of yours has to be one of the most idiotic things I've come across. *You* sir are in no postintion to dictate to *ANYBODY* how they should go about posting any sort of message. If you don't like seeing this message too fucking bad (for *YOU* that is)
Maya's Rendering engine (Score:1)
Re:Can you PLEASE post Linux info within Linux top (Score:1)
::shrug::
-WW
--
Why are there so many Unix-using Star Trek fans?
When was the last time Picard said, "Computer, bring
Re:Can you PLEASE post Linux info within Linux top (Score:1)
please as many people as possible... more eyeballs
== more ad revenue. This includes people that are
not interested in Linux (believe it or not).
--
Why are there so many Unix-using Star Trek fans?
When was the last time Picard said, "Computer, bring
Re:What is Maya? (Score:2)
logo (Score:1)
Re:Good stuff. (Score:1)
The "Maya" product, as a whole, consists of multiple packages. The renderer is only one of them. In order to make a complete development package, the user needs to have "Studio aka. Power Modeler", StudioPaint, and several plugins. F/X comes standard, but plugins like Live, Cloth, and Artisan are usually added (at extra cost).
The "real" cost of Maya is somewhere in the $40,000 - $50,000 range.
The A|W offering above only has the renderer, which allows Linux to assist/control a render farm, but doesn't support the animation development environment.
Using Maya as an example of Linux's multimedia capabilities is premature. Certainly, this can be used as an example of Linux's ability to handle computationally complex tasks, but that ability has been proven already.
-Jeff
You have no idea what this can do (Score:1)
I wish I had the URL... if anyone knows it, post it! The last place I saw it, it was on Alias|Wavefront's site...