VIZ 5 Announced

[Tim Nelson]

Just got out of a Discreet presentation for Max. They announced that Autodesk will be releasing VIZ 5 on April 4th of this year.

 

Should be just like Max w/ Mental Ray rendering etc.

[Iain Denby]

Woo Hoo!

[czoog]

Any word on file linking with revit, adt or acad 2004?

 

thanks,

 

Z

[mtutaj]

yes, linking with 2005 is what I have heard, don't count the days for the release date, I've been told that they are still having some problems in beta

[Vince Paske]

:???: Hmm...what will they call it, Viz5, Viz6 or Viz 2005? :ngesleep:

 

My guess is that it will support file linking with ADT and acad 2004 as it was just announced that Max 6 will add those capabilities, plus Viz is marketed at the AEC industry which relies heavily on the venerable .dwg format. Revit...I don't know much about it to speculate, other than it looks like what ADT should be in the first place (from the demo's I've seen).

 

Here I go, sorry for spinning the topic ( and I know this has been discussed in these forums to death) but...

 

I'd like to think Autodesk/Discreet have a plan regarding the fate of Revit and ADT, or maybe... they don"t and they're letting us figure it out for them as we bitch about these issue's in forums like these, which is cool (in a democratic sort of way).

 

As someone who has never used Revit in a professional, deadline driven way, I can't say which is better in terms of being a Single Building Model paradigm.

I can say that I think ADT is still kind of clunky and needs way too much "up front" management. You really need an extremely proactive cad manager to set up all the wall styles, curtain wall styles, door styles...etc for you to benefit from it. You really have to commit to it.

 

Revit probably has a similiar "up front" committment, but from what I've seen demo'd - it looks like a more natural extension of designing on the computer, which is what it's all about to me.

 

So, long story short, czoog, I hope they have a plan to support Revit in the FLM of Viz and Max. It makes a big difference working in a cad environment but needing high quality visualization tools. :angesigh:

 

[ March 02, 2004, 10:05 PM: Message edited by: calvino56 ]

[Bhanu]

Viz 5.0 would be a good release if they incorporate better radiosity engine that Viz 4.o.

It would go again cut down version of Max 6.0.

File linking with ADT and AutoCAD would be definitely available.

[bigcahunak]

Thought they were planning on calling it VIZ 6, which would make sense for not mistaking with all the plugins support...

[STRAT]

i've been told by an official dealer it's to be VIZ 5

[bigcahunak]

Any announcement links?

[STRAT]

i doubt it's official just yet as autodesk haven't done a press release.

[czoog]

Originally posted by calvino56:

:???: Hmm...what will they call it, Viz5, Viz6 or Viz 2005? :ngesleep:

 

My guess is that it will support file linking with ADT and acad 2004 as it was just announced that Max 6 will add those capabilities, plus Viz is marketed at the AEC industry which relies heavily on the venerable .dwg format. Revit...I don't know much about it to speculate, other than it looks like what ADT should be in the first place (from the demo's I've seen).

 

Here I go, sorry for spinning the topic ( and I know this has been discussed in these forums to death) but...

 

I'd like to think Autodesk/Discreet have a plan regarding the fate of Revit and ADT, or maybe... they don"t and they're letting us figure it out for them as we bitch about these issue's in forums like these, which is cool (in a democratic sort of way).

 

As someone who has never used Revit in a professional, deadline driven way, I can't say which is better in terms of being a Single Building Model paradigm.

I can say that I think ADT is still kind of clunky and needs way too much "up front" management. You really need an extremely proactive cad manager to set up all the wall styles, curtain wall styles, door styles...etc for you to benefit from it. You really have to commit to it.

 

Revit probably has a similiar "up front" committment, but from what I've seen demo'd - it looks like a more natural extension of designing on the computer, which is what it's all about to me.

 

So, long story short, czoog, I hope they have a plan to support Revit in the FLM of Viz and Max. It makes a big difference working in a cad environment but needing high quality visualization tools. :angesigh:

Thanks for the input. As a long time revit user in a production environment, I can tell you that revit is definitely the future of building information modeling, in fact I believe in it so much I started a web forum like this one devoted to revit (http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums). :ngesmile:

 

Anyway, the reason I was asking is that viz can currently read the dwg files created by revit and combine stuff by layer, but UVW maps have been a problem for me. Plus there ins't enough flexibility in revit dwg output.

 

In my conversations with various revit developers at autodesk is that as of revit 6.0 (latest release)the program includes "Xdata" attached to objects in dwg files that it exports. Supposedly this xdata includes material definitions and mapping info on objects. So I was wondering if there has been any mention of it by the viz folks.

 

I do not expect that viz will be able to directly link .rvt files anytime soon, they are just that much different than .dwg.

 

I would keep using the included accurender engine, but I am starting to push the limits with it and render times are incredible slow, especially for animations. Sooooo... I'm hoping that viz or max will included better linking with revit!

 

 

cheers,

Chris

[vizwhiz]

hi There Timmatron and All

 

This was posted over at the Autodesk VIZ newsgroup

 

(legal disclaimer goes here, i dont know, i dont know anything, really i swear i dont know anything about anything)

 

but,

 

****

 

"Michael Woodcox" wrote in message

news:43A5008B8443560D0C4E8770822C0D97@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

I am trying to be as forthcoming as I can be. Normally we are not allowed to

discuss future product plans for reasons related to accounting rules and SEC

regulations, but in the case of VIZ 6 (we are most likely going to skip

using the number 5 in order to make clear the relationship to max 6) we are

making a rather dramatic exception. VIZ will have File Linking. What I

cannot reveal is when it will show up in max. I am probably at risk of

breaking the rules by saying it should be available before max 7 - but I

didn't say that.

 

What we are working on now for VIZ 6 will most certainly be a big

improvement over the File Link feature in VIZ 4

 

****

 

for general Info i Think that Michael Woodcox is someone who would know what is going on

 

dont quote me, dont blame,

even if This is TRUE, like i said above

 

(illegal disclaimer goes here)

 

Thanks

 

Randy

[bigcahunak]

Vizwiz

Thats what I thought, and it makes sense, but... was there a date next to this quote of yours?

[jucaro]

If I remember it right, didnt Autodesk say they will discontinue Viz in order to make Max the all around visualization solution --architectural included. They even toute better support for DWG file format in Max 6, but in reality, crippled the File-link feature to put it over for subscription.

 

IMO, with the upcoming release of Viz Version whatever, Autodesk is just trying to say, "well, its time to milk the cows again..."

[salf]

Originally posted by jucaro:

If I remember it right, didnt Autodesk say they will discontinue Viz in order to make Max the all around visualization solution --architectural included. They even toute better support for DWG file format in Max 6, but in reality, crippled the File-link feature to put it over for subscription.

I hope that doesnt happens, im not expert, i guess fo the esperts out there theres millions of differences between VIZ and MAX, but the biggest difference i see, and the reason on why i use VIZ and not MAX is this:

 

"VIZ is lighter"

 

On my home i have a AMD athlon XP 1.7 512 DDR (soon to be 1 gb), and i have both MAX 5 and VIZ 4, i can load VIZ do renderings while surfing the web, using photoshop, vhatting on MSN, or watching movies, and i can not do that with MAX.

 

If i use MAX, i practically cant use other applications at the same time, MAX consumes all PC resources, and even after i close MAX, i have to reboot my PC cuz everything is sooooooooooooooooo slow.

 

Thtas why i use VIZ, more lighter for not highend machines.

[kingeldar]

and even after i close MAX, i have to reboot my PC cuz everything is sooooooooooooooooo slow.

try to get KILLMAX application

cause when u close max u only close 3dsmax process but max is running 5 or 6 process at the same time who keep RUNNING AFTER U CLOSE MAX

killmax is the best way to IMMEDIATLY KILL all max applications (without hurting windows...)

it'sa very good freeware

(if u can't find it let me know i'll send it to u via email)

[mbr]

I have never used VIZ (a Max user) and know some of the basic differences. But I am doing some contract work for an office and they are debating setting up a 3D station.

So, Max or Viz? I am a Final Render user, and would like to set that up, too, but it adds up quickly (new workstation, etc., etc.).

 

Will Viz5 really be out in April? With Mental Ray? I've never used that, either (my copy of Max is 5.1).

 

It's a lot of cash. I know they'll want to do some animations, but probably simple stuff.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks.

[Vince Paske]

I would go with Viz, if they need the extra features of Max, then they can trade in their license and get Max at a reduced price (crossgrade).

Viz will have MR.

Out in April? I guess that remains to be seen.

[czoog]

Update: I heard from a reseller that Viz 2005 (yes, that's what he called it) will be out April 20th.

 

ARS 2 will be out april 16th.

[Tim Nelson]

Update: I heard from a reseller that Viz 2005 (yes, that's what he called it) will be out April 20th.

 

ARS 2 will be out april 16th.

 

Thats what I just heard too. April 4th came and went without any announcements at all & that was a little dissapointing.

 

The vendor I know has a copy of it in his office right now, but for unknown reasons the realease date has been pushed back to April 20th or even the 28th. But who knows, could be next year!

[bigcahunak]

OK, now that VIZ 2005 released, I went to read the PDFs on their site. The MAX compatibility topic says that there is a comparison chart on their white papers page that shows the exact differences.

did anyone find this chart?

[Bret Bullough]

Is it just me, or Does Autodesk seem a bit lost? First they thought of killing Viz, then renaming it Viz6 to appear to be in cadence with Max6, now they've shifted development from Discreet to thier design platform devision. This shift seems to widen the gap between max development and viz development. And now they speak of annual updates? No matter how frequent they release Viz 2005, 2006, 2007, and so on, it will always be Max's little brother. With our client base I find the need to keep up with current CG technology. Viz Doesn't seem to offer this. CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHY I SHOULD UPGRADE TO VIZ 2005?

[Fran]

Hi Bret,

 

If you already own seats of VIZ 4, I highly recommend the upgrade for at least some of them. VIZ 2005 is compatible with AutoCAD 2004, and has file linking (much improved). Not only that, but aside from max-only object types, a file can be created in Max 6 and opened in VIZ 2005 (and vice versa). VIZ has always been a scaled down version of Max. Now they also will play well together and VIZ is an even better fit in various other industry pipelines.

 

What's the big deal with the name thing? It looks like current reasoning would suggest more beneficial use (and clearer intent) of the product to align it with AutoCAD and it's new naming convention. To me, it looks like we're getting max and AutoCAD compatibility in the same package along with timely upgrades to keep them in cinque. VIZ 2005 is current technology every bit as much as Max 6 is.

[Brian Cassil]

"CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHY I SHOULD UPGRADE TO VIZ 2005?"

 

Yeah... That's a really good question. I use Max at work anyway though but I teach classes in viz.

 

From what I've read here are the "upgrades"

 

Modeless layer dialogue - ROFLMAO!!! I can't believe this is even mentioned! This should be something included in a free patch. Not a highlighted feature in an upgrade!

 

Light lister - even more absurd to be a highlighted feature on an expensive upgrade.

 

Architectural materials - Well, I suppose some people can make use of these. Personally I prefer to make my own materials using other methods.

 

Light Assemblies? - (allowing manufacturers to assemble digital lumineres). I'm not certain what this is really, but I'm sure it's nothing I'm interested in. Sounds like using real world data with photometric lights. I used to try and do that myself untill I realized It was faster and better to just focus on makeing a scene look how I wanted it to look and not worry about whether this was "phiscally accurate" or not.

 

Mental Ray photon mapping - I was a little excited about this when it was included in max but now IMHO, if you have "any" rendering plugin, use that instead.

 

Render to texture - I haven't tried this in max yet and have no idea about the reliability of this. So, could be good but I'm skeptical.

 

If there are other "features" please, someone let me know.

 

P.S. Two things I've been shouting about since the very first release of MAX are: Why can we not have reliable booleans, and how about an edge fillet feature? Both things are available in plugins so I know it can be done.

 

edit: Hi Fran! You mentioned one good thing about the "upgrade". Compatability with max 6. It's something that I thought was a major pain in the past and since I do work in both will be welcomed with open arms.

[abicalho]

"Light lister - even more absurd to be a highlighted feature on an expensive upgrade."

 

Brian, There was no Light Lister in VIZ 4 and it was a common request from customers.

 

Keep in mind that the new features compare to VIZ 4, not to MAX.

 

Alexander

the guy who wrote the Light Lister