Golaem has released version 7 of its crowd simulation tool for Maya introducing a new layout tool. The Golaem Layout tool is an independent tool for procedural character layout, enabling artists to easily populate shots by creating something called Population Vignettes.
These Vignettes are similar to a proxy for characters and their animations which can be edited using directable layers such as automatic foot adaptation to the ground, look at targets, the ability to duplicate characters, controllable geometry and shading variations, animation retiming, IK autorig to retake animation and more.
Edits to Vignettes are non-destructive, and performed using a new node-based editor that makes it easy to copy edits to other characters, rearrange modifications, test different stacks of modifications and so on. Vignettes can be distributed manually or scattered in a scene using the Golaem Population Tool.
Also in this release is a new plugin for Unreal Engine which allows the user to load and layout Population Vignettes. The plugin supports round-tripping and the source code is available to users who want to compile their own Unreal Engine version.
To find out more about these new features, visit the Golaem website and watch a demo reel and a new showreel on YouTube.
When are you guys going to release a max version?! You have a very large user base there, Max is now really going for it when it comes VFX in films and the architecture guys will certainly use this for crowd sims, I can name a dozen other reasons form a business standpoint not to mention productivity.
Hi,
There is a VRayGolaem Max node to load a simulation made in Maya and render it with V-Ray, which for example, Blur, is using to create incredible cinematics.
But Max API being what it is, and our team being small, full integration would probably be too much work to do. For ArchViz, we are targeting Unreal which is getting traction in this domain.
Hi Alex thanks for the feedback, I understand that being a small team might be tough on resources.
Unfortunately my small team once considered VRayGolaem at one point but it was too much overhead and workflow changes for us, plus we had to subscribe for a Maya license and then get everything done there before an export at which stage we ended up doing all the crowds with Biped which is something like 20 years old now!
I guess Blur and studios like them can have that luxury but anything on the small size will still not benefit, its too bad since Max has no known crowd sim plugins as competition and i hope sometime you will be able to find a way to bring a temp team on board to handle such a task.
Good luck.
Have you tried Massive for Max? Also tyflow has some cool crowd simulation tools.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqjJXBc-N8U
I have yet to try Massive, the standalone version was such a over complicated mess that its scared us off a little, maybe the recent integrated max version has better UI and smoother workflow, last I checked, it was still pretty expensive, given they havne’t mentioned pricing on their web I don’t know if this is still the case.
TYflow while is a great particle tool it can’t be considered for serious crowds, as it has no behavioral trees for more complicated crowd sims.
I said the exact same thing to you two years ago on the FMX. On 3DSMax everyone is waiting for a good crowd simulation tool since ages.