At the Orpheum theater on 2 August 2005, Luxology announced it’s next release of it’s fabulous character modeler, Modo 201. Luxology also divulged how it can generate complex new applications that integrate fully together though an effort they called Nexus. Using the Nexus application engine, Luxology is able to combine modeling, rendering, and in a future release animation. Expect Modo 201 before the end of the year.
On Intel white boxes, the structure of the chipset is well understood and documented, however on the Apple Power Mac G5, Linux cannot be fully implemented and has many gaps in service. As of today, neither audio nor Mac-on-Linux work. I do not believe the latest crop of dual 2.3 GHz is supported at all through the GNU GPL, and only through Terra Soft Solutions paid subscriptions to Linux, currently priced at $30 with no manual, or $60 with a manual but without support, and finally $90 with 60 days support, can it install at all.
This makes Linux very price prohibitive to even attempt to run on my test bench. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger costs at retail around $115 on an individual license, and just $180 for a five seat license (just $36 a seat) for a family. If compared to a full blown Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger model, then Linux would make a financial difference ($430 each license for 10 client Mac OS X Server). In my analysis, even though the operating system originates as open source, your ability to install and support that OS may make the initial “free” license very expensive. This does not include the niceties of having a multi-billion dollar company further developing the OS and bundling excellent applications for free like iTunes, iDVD, iCal, and GarageBand.
I will stay with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and Mac OS X Server 10.4 Tiger until Linux is fully support on my test bench platform. It was a very short test, that ultimately ended without any experience in the Linux operating system.
To a capacity crowd gathered at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in Los Angeles, CA Apple Computer extolled the benefits of Mac OS X in the field of animation, motion graphics, and advanced compositing. Showcasing the latest release of Shake, version 4, experts from South Park animation, Luma Pictures, and the Shake team walked us through the rich feature set.
Apple’s presentation was artfully orchestrated using a full high definition presentation system, which allowed the artists work to shine. Luma Pictures educated the crowd on the ease of deploying advanced PHP web applications to monitor and track visual effect shots for enterprise collaboration.
On 2 August 2005 Apple announced its first ever multibutton mouse, called the might mouse. Expect a full report later on this week on this singular product.
Apple Computer and Autodesk showcased their latest offerings in compositing at Siggraph 2005. Apple hosted a Shake User Group Meeting, while Autodesk premiered 3ds Max version 8 along with other applications in their suite of visual effects applications. Apple Computer used the Siggraph event for major news on application development and hardware releases.
Sunday 31 July 2005, at the annual Alias Global User Association (AGUA) meeting in Los Angeles, CA, Alias announced its next release of Maya, version 7. Alias, along with partner companies HP, ATI, and Intel filled the historic Orphium theatre with driving bass rhythms and spry visual effects to the sometimes astonishment of the large crowd. With full body kinematics, realistic floor physical interactions, and more responsive user interface, Maya is once again headed to become the de facto modelers and animator on the Mac OS X platform.
Various presenters from ILM, Sony Electronic Entertainment, and other Maya veterans wowed the crowd with visual effect animations and jaw dropping demonstrations. After the AGUA 2005 rapped, corporate sponsors held a reception, where the Maya faithful talked, laughed and ate a hot meal. See you next year at AGUA 2005.
Please review more pictures from the AGUA 2005 presentation.
