Luxology on the move...

[Mark L. Pederson]

in case you missed it -

http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=192478

my #1 Apple acquisition target for NAB 2008

[Gordon Prince]

???...

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I don't imagine Apple will try to acquire Luxology there's just no need for it.
Considering the growing popularity of Modo on the other hand a step like this isn't the least bit surprising at all. It'll be interesting to see if they ever try and add some animation tools to the app, though it is possible that they are only interested in working on the perfect modeling app.

[Priyesh P.]

I don't imagine Apple will try to acquire Luxology there's just no need for it.
Considering the growing popularity of Modo on the other hand a step like this isn't the least bit surprising at all. It'll be interesting to see if they ever try and add some animation tools to the app, though it is possible that they are only interested in working on the perfect modeling app.

modo 301 already has basic animation capabilities in it, full ca tools are definately coming!

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I don't count turn table renders as animation.

[Rob Lohman]

I hope Modo & Luxology stay a separate company. I haven't checked on them for a while, but I was impressed with them when they started out.

[Mark L. Pederson]

I don't imagine Apple will try to acquire Luxology there's just no need for it.

The future is 3D. Apple don't play that ... yet.

[Hrvoje Simic]

I'm not sure how would Apple's closed doors policy affect Luxology's open minded mentality, but 3d object support in Motion would be very nice.


It'll be interesting to see if they ever try and add some animation tools to the app, though it is possible that they are only interested in working on the perfect modeling app.

Available in 301 but basic, plus graph editor needs improvements IMO, to achieve the functionality and intuitivity of After Effects or Motion graph editors.

[Steve Tammi]

Seems like pmG's messiah would be a great way to acquire some robust CA tools very quickly.

Steve


modo 301 already has basic animation capabilities in it, full ca tools are definately coming!

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I'm not sure how would Apple's closed doors policy affect Luxology's open minded mentality, but 3d object support in Motion would be very nice.


Apple doesn't need to purchase Luxology for this to happen not by a long shot.

Personally I don't see a powerful need for 3d object support in motion unless you wanted to do temp graphic mockups or something maybe lower thirds really quickly.

[Emery Wells]

in case you missed it -

http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=192478

my #1 Apple acquisition target for NAB 2008

You've been saying this for years Mark! I too think it's a strong possibility though. Would be a great move for Apple and Luxology.

[Graeme Nattress]

At the very least, Apple need some 3d strategy!

Graeme

[Mark L. Pederson]

Personally I don't see a powerful need for 3d object support in motion unless you wanted to do temp graphic mockups or something maybe lower thirds really quickly.

It's not JUST about Motion ... it's about the new, forthcoming COMPOSITING APP ..... but those are only rumors .... right?:matrix:

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

You've been saying this for years Mark! I too think it's a strong possibility though. Would be a great move for Apple and Luxology.

More Apple than luxology, Luxology has alot of windows customers which would feel more than a little annoyed.

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

It's not JUST about Motion ... it's about the new, forthcoming COMPOSITING APP ..... but those are only rumors .... right?:matrix:

Shake 5? How much 3d support does it even need?

[M Taylor]

Couldn't they do what Maxon and Adobe have done and work together on integration between their products then do some joint promotion and leave it at that??

[M Taylor]

At the very least, Apple need some 3d strategy!

Graeme

Apple rep: "3D you say, we like Modo it integrates really well with our apps..." ;-)

[Jason Murphy]

Shake is EOL. The new app was, as far as I know, code-named Phenomenon. Haven't heard anything new about that in a long time.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I don't count turn table renders as animation.

Take another look - does a lot more than turn-tables. ...That's so Modo 201. :bleh:

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I really hope Apple has a new compositing app ready around MacWorld - for sure by NAB.

As for them acquiring Luxology, I kinda doubt that will happen. Such an acquisition seems to go against the whole philosophy that Brad and the guys have. But that doesn't mean Apple won't buy them out and still let them do their own thing. I do wish that Modo's development pace was faster though...

[Jim Arthurs]

I don't count turn table renders as animation.

I'm new to Modo, but I just finished a full job from model to animation for a client using Modo... it has full item animation (scale, rot, translation), deformations and can import and use MDD files for per point object motion. So, things like logos, walk-throughs, etc. are fully possible with Modo.

That said, the network rendering is very 1.0 ish and buggy. It was pure torture keeping all the render slaves up and running during the nights. And, I was the first person to discover that you can't have image sequences in your project or textures and network render... how lame is that? All issues sure to be fixed, there's already a patch touching on some network rendering issues that I haven't had time to test yet.

[Emery Wells]

I really hope Apple has a new compositing app ready around MacWorld - for sure by NAB.

As for them acquiring Luxology, I kinda doubt that will happen. Such an acquisition seems to go against the whole philosophy that Brad and the guys have. But that doesn't mean Apple won't buy them out and still let them do their own thing. I do wish that Modo's development pace was faster though...

Brad happens to love Apple. Sure they deal with Windows and support it well but deep down I just know he wishes he could forget about windows.

[Hrvoje Simic]

Apple doesn't need to purchase Luxology for this to happen not by a long shot.

I'm aware of that.



Personally I don't see a powerful need for 3d object support in motion unless you wanted to do temp graphic mockups or something maybe lower thirds really quickly.

Oh, but there is so much more...


It's not JUST about Motion ... it's about the new, forthcoming COMPOSITING APP ..... but those are only rumors .... right?:matrix:


Heh heh. I can't wait.
"Pipeline" ? :shiftyph34r:

[Mark L. Pederson]

Heh heh. I can't wait.
"Pipeline" ? :shiftyph34r:

Omen - you pay attention!!

But ... Pipeline is not Apple.

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

Take another look - does a lot more than turn-tables. ...That's so Modo 201. :bleh:

I took a look last night, looks really interesting to be certain.

[Priyesh P.]

I heard bad news about the so-called "phenomenon"-compositing app, like it's developers were moved to other areas like motion and aperture...

[Curran Giddens]

I haven't been paying attention to any other forums like macrumors.com since I got hooked on reduser. What is "Pipeline" ?

[Mark L. Pederson]

I haven't been paying attention to any other forums like macrumors.com since I got hooked on reduser. What is "Pipeline" ?

Not Apple.

Shhhhhhh ..... soon ..... loose lips sink ships .....

[Mark L. Pederson]

I heard bad news about the so-called "phenomenon"-compositing app, like it's developers were moved to other areas like motion and aperture...

you just can't believe everything you hear .... I know some guys that haven't "moved anywhere" in a LONG time - and they are .... coding SOMETHING.

[Emery Wells]

you just can't believe everything you hear .... I know some guys that haven't "moved anywhere" in a LONG time - and they are .... coding SOMETHING.

I know some from the old shake team that have moved. A next generation compositing app was surely a struggle for Apple internally. Shake was a big financial disappointment for Apple (and Steve specifically), but what it did offer them is marketing. Apple loves to tell people Lord of the Rings and King Kong were composited in Shake.

There just isn't much of a market for high end compositing. I don't doubt Apple is building something, but what and when it will be released is anybody's guess.

[Emery Wells]

Additionally, Ron Brinkman (one of the original creators of Shake) recently left Apple and joined The Foundry to work on Nuke.

The guys are the Foundry are absolutely brilliant and with Ron on board it surely is well positioned to take over the compositing market. It's already completely cross platform, has a small but very strong user base, been battle tested on some of the biggest visual FX films over the past several years (before compositors even used graphical interfaces) and now has new momentum and commitment from The Foundry.

I wouldn't count on apple to invest too heavily in the very small (yet very prestigious) high-end compositing market.

But just to make my prediction clear: I DO think they are working on something... Im just not holding my breath.

[laguun]

The future is 3D. Apple don't play that ... yet.



i supposed that you were finishing only under windows xp?

[Mark L. Pederson]

Im just not holding my breath.

But Emery ...

You only have to hold it for 5 more months ....

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

If Apple needs to buy anything it's a quality video game studio not luxology.

[I Bloom]

What will the elemental Apple title for modo be? "Sculpt"... "Form"...

Anyone tried this software? Like it?

IBloom

[Casey Green]

Man, what a small world.

We've sure come a long way since Videoscape and Modeler. :)

[Ben Feuer]

Avid has XSI and Avid 3d, it's the one area of their business that Apple hasn't yet cannibalized. I'd say they need a 3d app.

That said, there are an awful lot of options right now.

[Emery Wells]

Avid has XSI and Avid 3d, it's the one area of their business that Apple hasn't yet cannibalized. I'd say they need a 3d app.

That said, there are an awful lot of options right now.

There are an awful lot of contenders but Luxology is the premiere up and coming 3D app powerhouse. It has a highly modern code base that was built from the ground up using Xcode. Lux built a Dual Binary literally minutes after Apples announcement of switching to Intel and Apple continues to use Luxology as a benchmark for 3D performance on the Mac.

If any of you havent tried Modo yet, I highly suggest you do. It has one of the best UI's of any application I've used, ever. The complexity of a 3D application is staggering yet I find it funny that it starts up in about 1/50th the time it takes Photoshop to start up. I LOATH Photoshop btw. Of every application that I use on a daily basis, Photoshop has to be my least favorite.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Speaking of mythical apps that are under tight wraps I'd heard a bunch of people were nabbed from the shake/phenomenon team for Combustion 5 as well.