Who else here is excited for Blender 2.5?

[WytRaven]

I've decided that I'll try and learn blender, when 2.5 is released.
Modo is the 3d software that gets me most "excited", but if I spend the necessary time learning blender, I can spend the money on beer and cheetos

I keep hearing about this modo and so had a quick look last night to see what all the fuss was about. Haven't tried a demo but from screenies it looked to me like blender, lightwave, and zBrush had a wild night together and conceived a child

I think the thing that most caught my eye was the texture painting system. Mmmmmm nice! That of course inevitably led to me looking at other 3d software including silo (seems to be good on feature lists, less good on delivering listed features competently) and zBrush....I must admit zBrush is very tempting

Must....put....down....credit card......must....save......for....mac......pro..........

..."oh look there's an intuos4!" *ka-ching!*...oops

[Stromberg]

WytRaven: Just to support your case, modo is great
I do use it myself quite often, and it's the best modeler i have tried (and i have used some)

[Stinkie]

They -Luxology- got pretty good (and cheap) training as well. Handy for perpetual noobs like yours truly.

You guys seen the Modo 401 reveals? Pretty interesting stuff ahead!

[neo0.]

Not many 3d modelling packages also never make a serious commitment to a decent renderer. Instead, most 3D apps simply tell you "for rendering, go elsewhere."

Could modo 401 render as good as indigo?

[benn]

wytraven what about a hackintosh? you get way more jiggawatts for the monies. could make a nice core i7 for the price of a mac pro.

[Stinkie]

Could modo 401 render as good as indigo?

I wouldn't count on it. And trying to get close, would probably be a long and complicated process.

Though obviously it also depends on WHAT you want to render. Modo does good product shots - but cr*p archviz.

All in all ... though I don't really like modo's render output, I think it's a lot of app for the money.

[WytRaven]

wytraven what about a hackintosh? you get way more jiggawatts for the monies. could make a nice core i7 for the price of a mac pro.

Not for me sorry. Don't think I didn't consider it though. I did a lot of self build comparisons against the Apple and in the end the Mac Pro is remarkably good value vs a home brew equivalent when all things are considered...plus I just love the design of these things and that's worth what little premium there may be

I will be ordering this within a week or two:

• Mac Pro 2009
  • CPU: 2 x 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
  • RAM: 12GB (6x2GB)
  • Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB
  • HDD: 640GB Western Digital Caviar Black
• Apple Cinema Display (30" flat panel)
• Apple Care Mac Pro
• iWork 09 Family Pack (wife needs an upgrade too)
• Adobe CS4 Production Premium Mac
• WACOM Intuos4 Medium
• 1 x Western Digital Green 1.5TB WD15EADS (Backup)
• 2 x Western Digital RE3 1TB WD1002FBYS (RAID 0)

All up just a shade over 16 grand (AUD). That should do me nicely for the next 5 years

Now some may say that this is extravagant for someone that doesn't earn a living using the thing but trust me it's just a matter of perspective. Computers are my life and have been since I was about 8; some people buy sports cars because they have a passion for them, this is just my passion so it's good value to me.

This thing will form the heart of my little home creativity studio replacing the home built water cooled Athlon FX62 system that has done me proud the last 4 years.

I am so excited after many many many months of researching/planning/comparing/saving that I will finally have this dream realised....and I don't really do "excited" very often

[CTZn]

Mate, borrow the last statement or you might have to upgrade for a new wife too...

I beg your pardon if the joke was bad

[WytRaven]

Mate, borrow the last statement or you might have to upgrade for a new wife too...

I beg your pardon if the joke was bad

[Zom-B]

I did a lot of self build comparisons against the Apple and in the end the Mac Pro is remarkably good value vs a home brew equivalent when all things are considered...

oh oh oh... You took the blue pill

[WytRaven]

mmmmmmmm....blue pill....mmmmmmarargghhhh....

[handsomedave]

All up just a shade over 16 grand (AUD). That should do me nicely for the next 5 years

Ouch!!! I could build my dual quad 3.2GHz for about $4000 less than that.

Damn Wyt you must really like that Mac Pro.

Don't get me wrong they are beautiful machines, just not $4000 beautiful to me.

[WytRaven]

All up just a shade over 16 grand (AUD). That should do me nicely for the next 5 years

Ouch!!! I could build my dual quad 3.2GHz for about $4000 less than that.

Damn Wyt you must really like that Mac Pro.

Don't get me wrong they are beautiful machines, just not $4000 beautiful to me.

If you wanna just talk about the machine (including all hard drives and 30" monitor) without any of the software or other extras it's $12,417.00. Funnily enough about $4000 cheaper...told you there wasn't all that much difference between hand built if you build to the same spec including using ecc ram that sort of thing. The machine just by itself without monitor and extra hard drives is $9070.00. Starting to sound more realistic now?

[handsomedave]

ecc ram is a giant waste of money in anything less than mission critical server.

$4000 less was with 2 4870 X2 with 2GB of vram each.

You can easily match or beat the hardware performance of a Mac Pro for significatly less money.

It just doesn't look as pretty or come with apples rotten OS.

[pixie]

ecc ram is a giant waste of money in anything less than mission critical server.

$4000 less was with 2 4870 X2 with 2GB of vram each.

You can easily match or beat the hardware performance of a Mac Pro for significatly less money.

It just doesn't look as pretty or come with apples rotten OS.

You compare apples with apples, otherwise one might get a far fetched setup which has nothing to do with what's being compared. As for coming with an apple rotten OS, it is usually one if not the reason to buy an Apple machine DESPITE being able to run Windows NATIVELY...