> constantly changing API that doesn’t allow for the extensibility
You pick a (stable) version, and use that API. It doesn't change if you don't. If it truly is a _major_ project, then constantly "upgrading" to the latest release is a big no-no (or should be)!
And these "most people" who are scared of a Python API? Weak! It should have been a low level C API! ;-)
> And these "most people" who are scared of a Python API? Weak! It should have been a low level C API! ;-)
I wouldn't frame it as "scared". The issue is that at a certain scene scale Python becomes the performance bottleneck if that's all you can use.
> You pick a (stable) version, and use that API. It doesn't change if you don't. If it truly is a _major_ project, then constantly "upgrading" to the latest release is a big no-no (or should be)!
This is fine if you only ever have one show in production. Most non-boutique studios have multiple shows being worked on in tandem, be it internal productions or contract bids that require interfacing with other studios. These separate productions can have any given permutation of DCC and plugin versions, all of which the internal pipeline and production engineering teams have to support simultaneously. Apps that provide a stable C/C++ SDK and Python interface across versions are significantly more amenable to these kinds of environments as the core studio hub app, rather than being ancillary, task specific tools.
If you had multiple shows in production, I would expect that standards be set to use the same platforms and versions across the board.
If the company is more than a boutique shop, I would expect them to have a somewhat competent CTO to manage this kind of problem - one that isn't specific to Blender, even!
Also, if the company is more than a boutique shop, I would hope it would be at a level and budget that the Python performance bottlenecks would be well addressed with competent internal pipeline and production engineering teams.
But then again, if the company is more than a boutique shop, they would just pay for the Maya licensing. :-)
Small timers, boutique shops, and humble folks like me just try to get by with the tools we can afford.
On a related note, though: I built a Blender plugin with version 2.93 and recently learned it still works fine on Blender 4. The "constantly changing API" isn't the beast some claim it is.
> If you had multiple shows in production, I would expect that standards be set to use the same platforms and versions across the board.
Considering productions span years, not months, artists would never get to use newer tools if studios operated that way. And it really only works if shows share similar end dates, which is not the reality we live in. Productions can start and end at any point in another show's schedule, and newer tools can offer features that upcoming productions can take advantage of. Each show will freeze their stacks, of course, but a studio could be juggling multiple stacks simultaneously each with their own dependency variants (see the VFX Reference Platform).
> Also, if the company is more than a boutique shop, I would hope it would be at a level and budget that the Python performance bottlenecks would be well addressed with competent internal pipeline and production engineering teams.
That would be the ideal, something that can be difficult to achieve in practice. You'll find small teams of quality engineers overwhelmed with the sheer volume of work, and other larger teams with less experience who don't have enough senior folks to guide them. The industry is far from perfect, but it does generally work.
> But then again, if the company is more than a boutique shop, they would just pay for the Maya licensing. :-)
And back to reality XD
That being said a number of studios have been reducing their Autodesk spend over the past few years because it's honestly a sick joke the way the M&E division is run. It's a free several hundred million a year revenue earner, but they foist the CAD business operations onto it and the products suffer. Houdini's getting really close, but if another AIO can cover effectively everything in a way that each team sees is better, you will start to see the ramp up of migrations occur. Realistically this comes down to the rigging and animation departments more than any other. But Maya will never go away completely as it'll still need to be used for referring to and opening older projects from productions that used it, beyond just converting assets to a different format. USD is pretty much that intermediary anyways, it's the training and migration effort that becomes the final roadblock.
Blender is the go-to for struggling artists/developers, and industry outsiders, like me. I'm stuck at Blender 2.93.18 because I don't have the budget for better hardware, let alone a Maya license! However, even that version of Blender still gets it done for me.
And also, how can you say Blender is not battle-proven? I mean, the big studios use Maya like fortune 500 companies use Microsoft Windows - doesn't mean Linux isn't battle proven.
I haven't used blender much. It's too focused on animation. I mainly make more engineering style things for 3D printing. Even though it can technically do that, the interface just rubs me the wrong way somehow. And i can use Fusion 360 for free.
> I mean, the big studios use Maya like fortune 500 companies use Microsoft Windows - doesn't mean Linux isn't battle proven.
Those are different niches. Not even Apple has managed to budge Window out of corporate environments, though it is a lot more present than 20 years ago.
I imagine it's similar with Blender and Maya: do they fill the exact same space? Or is Blender adopted by different types of companies (probably smaller)?
No sarcasm. Thanks for asking (no sarcasm, again).
You asked the right questions, IMO, and I think they are self evident.
> do they fill the exact same space?
No.
> is Blender adopted by different types of companies?
Yes.
A company or institution that has money to burn will opt for more "professional" suites (Maya, Microsoft, ...). Smaller entities will use the cheaper alternatives (Blender, Linux, ...).
Nice. The game I was hosting kept dying with "Oh no, Something went wrong :(". However, I like the concept. These are good for personal social gatherings, but has great potential for more public places, too (like pubs/bars).
Sorry to hear you had some problems. Can I ask what browser(s)/device you were using? Or what game you were playing? I have a few other exceptions/stacktraces to look into, any extra info would be helpful.
Good idea with the pubs. I also considered approaching places with Karaoke rooms. Like a little private game room party while you are out.
Most of the games are designed to be playable with 3-16 people (even 16 is pushing it for some). Would potentially need to design some games for a larger audience in a bar.
I hosted Canvas Clash in Firefox on Windows 10, with myself, on a Samsung phone, and two AIs.
Trivia games are great for bars - finding/creating quality trivia content, and lots of it, may be the greater challenge.
It would be especially saleable if the UI theme can be customized to the establishment - even just a custom background. The market would be for smaller, independent (non-chain) places that won't pay for, or have access to, the more expensive companies that provide this kind of application to bars.
I would add that the path that AI is going down right now isn't really focused on true AGI (whatever that is), but only the metric set by those who would profit the most by being able to make that claim.
AGI is artificial general intelligence. It is defined in contrast to so-called "narrow" intelligence, which is AI systems limited to specific problem domains. This has always been a well-accepted definition, at least prior to the recent AI boom. In 2006 no one would have questioned this -- you can go find books and conference journals from this time that discuss AGI with this very specific definition.
What happened was: over the 8 years between 2006 - 2014, a particularly vocal and organized group of fringe singletarians promoted the idea that once AGI is achieved (the originally well-defined conception of AGI), it will rapidly undergo recursive self-improvement and emerge as a singularly powerful entity with absolute power and control. The debate was whether this would happen in mere hours/days (fast takeoff) or months (slow takeoff). These nutcases would go on to take founding roles first at DeepMind, then OpenAI, and later Anthropic & other foundational labs.
That they would achieve AGI and then neither of those outcomes come to pass was not in their range of predictions. Rather than admit to themselves that their analysis was wrong, they move goal posts: ChatGPT isn't real AGI. Real AGI would have taken over the world, so that can't be it. It is circular reasoning.
No, it is real AGI. Real AGI didn't cause a singularity because intelligence actually doesn't matter as much as a bunch of autistic smart internet people think it does.
I know what the acronym AGI is, and how that acronym can mean whatever is convenient for that bunch of autistic "smart" internet people (hence, the "whatever that means" part).
Indeed. I still haven't heard a coherent and accepted definition of what "AGI" actually means, so I consider it to be basically a nonsense marketing word with an intentionally vague definition.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master — that’s all."
You'll waste your life chasing dreams of changing the world. You have presented yourself as a solution looking for a problem.
I am sorry if that seems harsh, but you asked.
From my experiences, positive impacts have never been top-down, or from a place of "addressing societal problems".
Innovation (and motivation) comes from laziness, need, and greed. Instead of solving society's problems, in this regard, just look to your own. Then, the question of "worth" is self evident.
Its not just for other developers (when I revisit something I've written months/years ago). But yeah, when I have to review code with Testing/QA, who aren't full time developers, it makes it much easier to step them through what is being done.
--
ps: especially since I'm always sparse on comments...
I'm self motivated and very passionate about continuous improvement. Capable of seeing the big picture, providing a careful plan in the interim, you can rest easy knowing I'm on the case. I care deeply about quality and performance; I want to be proud of what is delivered. Please, let me know what opportunities await and how we'll create something magnificent!
You pick a (stable) version, and use that API. It doesn't change if you don't. If it truly is a _major_ project, then constantly "upgrading" to the latest release is a big no-no (or should be)!
And these "most people" who are scared of a Python API? Weak! It should have been a low level C API! ;-)
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