Delineator Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Trying demos of both EIAS and Modo. For the next four days Modo is discounted about 40% which makes it the same cost as EIAS (actually $2.00 USD more for a single license). Modo has a huge tool set but the learning curve appears somewhat daunting. It renders quickly but considerably slower than EIAS when the poly count is high. Since speed is so important for my architectural visualizations I am leaning toward EIAS. I model in trueSpace 7and plan to import as .3ds. In viewing the gallery over the years I have always been impressed by the inherent warmth of renderings produced by Camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJoly Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 EIAS is a very powerful tool, a must in your toolbox! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phungus Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 A couple of things to take into consideration. First, you have a lot of tools in Modo that you lack in EIAS, which you have to solve through other apps or plugins. Which means additional costs. Modelling, instancing/referencing, Sub-D surfaces, just to name a few things. Add to that something like the Preview Renderer which is something you' ll never consider working without when you have experienced it. And you also have thirdparty renderers in Modo. Octane plugin is in the works, and so is V-Ray, the defacto standard in arch-viz business. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Egger Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Ola Phungus, All external renders which you need to buy too :) Thanks Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delineator Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 All good things to take into consideration. I would like to purchase both EIAS and MODO but right now can only afford one or the other. The preview renderer in Modo is quite a feature and could no doubt become indispensable. I was very enthused about V-Ray a few years ago, but expected too much in the way of speed. Perhaps it was integrated with the wrong program. Camera, on the other hand, simply blows me away! The speed and quality of fine detail is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phungus Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Off course, Thomas :) But if you can afford to fork out for features that comes integrated in most apps you can afford to pay for render engines. Modo's renderer is great and might suffice so you might not have to buy V-Ray......but in the end you have more options and a bigger toolbox. But it's not my choice to make...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomas Egger Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Ola Phungus! Need to be the user decision as always :) Thanks Tom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Purcell Posted December 19, 2013 Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Well i thought i would chime in here. i used EI v5.5 and just updated to V9 but i also last year got modo 601 £400 and this year upgraded it for £181 to 701 also (note that modo has issues with mavericks now) so if your on a mac don't use osx 10.9 but modo has linux support and windows. i have no used modos network rendering yet (also unlimited) but EIAS renderama is just too easy to set. both modo and EI v9 will sort you out in terms of rendering for arch vis work. EI being faster but modo having viewport rendering is a big workflow enhancement. so if both apps can render what you want just fine both have unlimited render nodes. (as far as i am aware modos network rendering use's all cpus on 1 frame at a time using buckets) so if your doing animation work EI should be even faster. modo offers loads of extra tools that EI does not have yet but thats not saying the guys are not working on them. its been a year since v9 so 10 should be well underway. EI has tomas who responds to almost every single tread ever posted and even helps debug your scenes if he can thats amazing support. i know EI is lacking in many places but since you make models in turespace and seem to be looking animation/renderer EI will be the fastest. it just depends on if you need the other tools that comes with modo. i would love tomas to get EI modeller back in the game and some other updates. i would love to sell EI more and more but i also use modo messiah lightwave silo EI just depends on how I'm feeling any given day to what i would like to play with. i would say get both XD but then i know for some people that is not possible. and i would just like to ask since i used turespace back in v5 and 6 how the hell are you still using that. i found truspace crashed on me 20+ times a day. man that gives me nightmares though i was found of the interface. XD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delineator Posted December 19, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2013 Great insight Joe...thank you. So much to weigh and consider. Doing architectural work I am more of a polygon modeler, and that is why I use trueSpace 7. Nothing I have ever tried comes close to the ease with which one can model quickly and to the third decimal point. tS7.6 seldom crashes like previous versions did. However, Caligari was bought by Microsoft a few years ago and then dropped into oblivion.They have been out of business since 2009. Just a small group of supporters are left. So modeling tools are not as big an issue right now for me as is speed and quality of rendering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delineator Posted December 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 I would learn Blender if I was called on to produce organic modeling. trueSpace works fine for me now, but its rendering engine (Lightworks) is slower than molasses, especially when specialized lighting is selected. So importing objects as 3DS into Electric Image and applying materials and rendering has been a long time dream. If EIAS revives and improves its modeling features then I would certainly try to model with its tools. Some nice work has been produced with ubernurbs in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJoly Posted December 20, 2013 Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 EIAS is developped by a very small team of extremly dedicated people. While updates never come out as fast as they whish, EIAS is in constant development and improving year after year. As I said earlier, a very nice addition in your toolbox. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buggsy Posted December 20, 2013 Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 Most of my work is architectural also but I use ArchiCAD in my design business which plugs in nicely with EI. I had heard a little while ago that they were going to drop the EI export function but it's still there at the moment. I am also looking for another modelling program as the upgrade costs for ArchiCAD are ridiculous and I have fallen a little behind in versions. ArchiCAD can't do a lot of modelling functions that are important for pushing models past that ridged polygon boundary hence the other reason I want to find a modelling program that works with EI. I have been using EI since version 2.9 (early 2002) and the development has seriously ramped up since Tom & The Igor's took a hold of the ship. Prior to that it was a difficult thing to get support or answers from. The community has always been great but the brand seemed to be run as a business for the sake of business rather than a tool for its customers. I have vivid memories of watching Tom's Rapper video and the work that Eridia did in the early days which caused me to buy in. I guess in all this time I've never been more hopeful than now that we'll end up with functions and solutions that stay ahead of all the other technologies trying to draw us away in the hope of faster production times and shallower learning curves. I feel like I have almost got my head around EI and totally agree that if EI had a dedicated modeller it would be very hard to beat. Michael 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sander Posted December 20, 2013 Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 I am doing feature VFX work, which requires architectural, plus space ships, monsters, ghosts, set extensions, you name it. I have been using EI for 16 years (!!!!!!), and am still learning things. I recently invested in ZBrush and FormZ for my modelling, and while I consider myself a novice at modelling, I have determined a solid workflow between my modellers and EI to create some very interesting material indeed. Decisions about which platform, which program to use etc boils down to personal taste, combined with getting the right tool for the right job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delineator Posted December 20, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2013 Great renderings, Michael. Love the lighting effects! And David, your print art for motion pictures is stunning! My renderings are in need of the kind of photons and GI that EIAS can produce, as you can see by viewing my digital renderings page. http://my.spinsite.com/TVART/index/mn27253/digitalrenderings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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