BrianKitts Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 I've always been a fan of Onyx, but since it really hasn't changed in four years and you have to purchase the new plugin with every release of max, I'm considering abandoning onyx & treestorm. The other benefit I see to changing plugins is opening up to new libraries for different standard species. I'll keep the onyx stand alone apps for making custom trees, but I'm considering moving to another package as my direct plugin to max. So my question is this.... Is there anyone who's left onyx for other tree plugins, and what is your opinion, as a former onyx user do you like something else better or do you feel that onyx is still the best choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 hmmm... interesting. I was thinking of starting to use ONYX. Right now we use the Xfrog libraries but they aren't really usefull because they are soooo high res. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neko Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 I've always been a fan of Onyx, but since it really hasn't changed in four years and you have to purchase the new plugin with every release of max, I'm considering abandoning onyx & treestorm. that is a big issue, isn't it ? i was surprised when i figured that out myself after updating MAX. they really should do more for existing customers, but it doesn't seem to be their way of doing things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudio Branch Posted August 1, 2008 Share Posted August 1, 2008 you have to purchase the new plugin with every release of max. This is new and disturbing information to me. I just had Max 2009 installed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tayrona Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I was in the same situation when I changed to max 2009, and tried xfrog, and was not usefull (lot of crashing and slow operations)... and I did not find any other solution, so I got a new license of onyx.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchrender Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 ya i agree, i am a little fed up with having to update all the time. They must have been delighted when autodesk sub scription came out. Our budget is all for updates of plug ins every year now. If you find a better solution please let me know. thank you phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billabong Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 This is new and disturbing information to me. I just had Max 2009 installed! Quoted for agreement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudio Branch Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 I suppose I will just suck it up and take it then. I have had nothing but success with Onyx. I'm not interested in changing anytime soon. Hell, I can just use Max 9 and proxie-out whatever I need or just use the tree generators and export to 3ds files. I probably don't even need TreeStorm. V-Ray proxies now support animated geometry and I use Advanced Painter for tree placement anyways. There are almost always work-arounds for any CG challenge... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkletzien Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Wow, Brian...are you gonna ask them to take your work off their website too....It'd free up a lot of space on their server, as you're work has always been featured prominently. I don't really mind paying for the updates, they actually make a good base product that no one has really improved upon in ten years - which is unbelievable - and if MAX's architecture demands that they update their plugin than they have no other source of income...since they aren't soaking us with a dubious update annually on their base product (aka autodesk). But I am saddened by the predicament, I like supporting a small software developer...even if they have a monopoly...but their small staff just isn't up to the task of supporting their users, updating its functionality, and everything else that we've come to expect in this day and age. Plus the loss of the replace leaf feature in their latest plugin build is a bad sign for any software maker in my mind....removing functionality instead of fixing it? The argument I think has generally been moot as it doesn't seem like anyone has had a reasonable replacement...but I think that that new Exlevel plugin is really gonna give Onyx a run for its money. And I think that for the first time, folks at Onyx are gonna need to decide if developing software is really what they want to do, they want to sell to Autodesk, or they want to just hold on as long as possible. So, I'm sticking with it for now, but I see some obstacles for them coming up. And I am definitely looking at that Exlevel product as a possible replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSpaulding Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I'd say, learn to live w/o Treestorm, and you'll save yourself some money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neko Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 The argument I think has generally been moot as it doesn't seem like anyone has had a reasonable replacement...but I think that that new Exlevel plugin is really gonna give Onyx a run for its money. And I think that for the first time, folks at Onyx are gonna need to decide if developing software is really what they want to do, they want to sell to Autodesk, or they want to just hold on as long as possible. So, I'm sticking with it for now, but I see some obstacles for them coming up. And I am definitely looking at that Exlevel product as a possible replacement. exlevel does looks promising ($500) - thanks for the info...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianKitts Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 Wow, Brian...are you gonna ask them to take your work off their website too....It'd free up a lot of space on their server, as you're work has always been featured prominently. well.... they took me off the home page and I'm now buried in the gallery so I'm done with them.... (totally kidding) I still love onyx, and I have been working with it lately not even touching treestorm. I've been working in the standalond progs and importing as 3ds to max, converting to vrayProxy and saving into my personal foliage library. To be honest, I work out of my personal library so much that the more I think about it, I really don't use treestorm as anything more than an importer since I'm always customizing the parameters in the standalone apps. I hadn't heard of growFX till the last version came out and someone posted about it. I gave it a try and only had mild success (I only played with it for a half hour) I didn't see the video tuts on their site, so I may have to revisit the ap. Thanks to everyone for sharing........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Anyone else thinking about Vue 7? I took a good look at it at Siggraph last week and the integration with max seems really solid. I realise it is much more than trees and plants but it could be used for only that if you wanted to use it that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudio Branch Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Anyone else thinking about Vue 7? I took a good look at it at Siggraph last week and the integration with max seems really solid. I realise it is much more than trees and plants but it could be used for only that if you wanted to use it that way. Hey Brian, this was also brought up in another thread. I had the Vue guys run 7 for me as well. Not exactly rigorously though. I did like what little I saw though. Do you have any prior experience with Vue 6 xStream? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanSpaulding Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Word of warning before you buy Vue 7 xStream...find out if it works or not first. E-on likes to state things work before they actually do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cassil Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Word of warning before you buy Vue 7 xStream...find out if it works or not first. E-on likes to state things work before they actually do. Agreed. Which is why I kind of ran them through the ringers at the booth. I am still a little skeptical but it appears to be pretty solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sketchrender Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 Evermotions new collection, will be a purchase i will be making . http://evermotion.org/shop_display_item.php?item=306 it has all the trees you need, and set up for vray, ready to go. I think this will help a lot of people. I generally use one or two tree types from Onyx tree anyway and proxy them. phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianKitts Posted August 18, 2008 Author Share Posted August 18, 2008 (edited) Evermotions new collection......has all the trees you need....... I wouldn't say it's all you'll need......not when you have landscape designers expecting specific species of foliage. That's why I always liked onyx because you can find something close then customize it to get exactly the plant you need. that being said though it's a nice collection and I just may end up having to get that one for filler trees. Edited August 18, 2008 by BrianKitts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeC Posted August 18, 2008 Share Posted August 18, 2008 I think I'll be sticking with Onyx, I've found it particularly useful in creating Australian trees that don't really exist in generic library's that are for sale. I can't say I've really found a comparison yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danb4026 Posted December 1, 2008 Share Posted December 1, 2008 What about Bionatics? Does anyone use it here? I have OnyxTree but then upgraded to max 2009 and they wanted $95 for the upgrade. I just haven't bothered to do it yet because I am not working on a project that need it right now. I thought I would pose some questions on here before hand to see whether I should upgrade or go with something else: Onyx, GrowFX or Bionatics? Pros and cons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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