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Thinking Particles Drop 7 released
Cebas has announced the latest version of Thinking Particles is now available. Drop 7 include several new features including an enhanced fluid solver with improvements to stability, predictability and speed.
“Fluid and rigid body interactions have been improved with Rigid bodies now showing better buoyancy and interaction with fluid simulations. Transfer of momentum between fluid particles and rigid bodies is resolved much faster and more accurately. Objects engulfed within a fluid will start to rise or sink depending on their specific physical properties.”
On the subject of fluids, this release also sees the introduction of SurfaceForce for creating forces to generate effects like waves; plus a new WaterLevel generator to spawn particles, for example, to populate an entire landscape with puddles or lakes.
A new OpenVDBShape operator promises fast surfacing with multithreaded capabilities with several filtering options and a new ShapeDeform operator enables the user to procedurally deform objects withing Thinking Particles.
Boolean tools have been added in the form of ShapeCutter, an operator to create full boolean effects on sims that are automatically converted to a true 3D volume to ensure the results are always watertight.
Volume Diffusion allows any value attached to a particle to be diffused within a volume in a way that is physically accurate and fully procedural to create effects that simulate the spreading of heat, colour, or similar properties.
Additionally, Multi-Physics sees improvements in the ongoing project of unifying all Thinking Particles’ physics solvers in a more refined and controllable way.
Thinking Particles is compatible with Max 2017 to 2019 and is available for annual subscription at $660 per year. Educational licenses are available for students at $145 for three years. To see a full list of the improvements in this release, visit Cebas’ website.
Awesome tool for people who like to rent software and stay with useless projects when subscription ends.
i find this subscription is okey because they need a stable income. 660$ per year is not much.
I’m usually against rental, but I agree. If you can’t pay 45 Euros a month for a software like TP, you shouldn’t be using TP in the first place.
Looks like a solid update. Looking forward to see Eloi review of it.
Bartosz,
Hello, last chance to register and learn some really cool TP FX setup with David Adan, who will show us today how to re-create the missile launched from a bike scene as seen in Jumanji – welcome to the jungle.
You can register @ https://tinyurl.com/ychvf9kj
Await for the confirmation email that includes your Unique login ID for the Live Webinar.
Date : today November 23
Time: Pacific 12 noon / Eastern 15:00 hrs.
The cebas FX Webinar Marathon is a rare opportunity to learn from real experts from the industry.
You can see the announcement on facebook.com/cebasvt (follow)
Previous Webinar LIVE Recording by Hristo Velev and Augusto Lombardi are posted @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/thinkingparticles/ and vimeo.com/cebasvt
Is OpenVDB just used for Fluid Meshing? Or is ShapeCutter although based on OpenVDB? I would love to have a deep OpenVDB integration (like in Houdini or C4D).
Is actually pretty good. You have an OpenVDB mesher, (for fluids, or wathever). And Booleans you can choose between mesh booleans, or VDB booleans, where you have all the power you get in C4D, for example (addition, substraction,intersection, relax,…) but in top its totally procedural, so you can go crazy with it.
That sounds great. I will really love this option to procedurally merge, cut and smooth with VDB in 3ds Max.
Thanks, Eloi for clarifying that.
Powerful new tools for high-end VFX work! This TP 6.7 has some killer new features!
Renting is the new, dominant sales model – even Houdini does it. Don’t want to pay? Apply for the Student/Academic version of Max & TP.
1. sidefx still provides permanent licensing
2. it has extremely affordable yearly rates
3. it has a very capable free option.
and how can you apply for academic license if one is not, yknow, a student?
As per norm, Technomancer, the info@cebas.com works if you email /apply for the educational license.
thanks. understand that my question was not at all cynical.
academic, student, learning and indie version seem to be used interchangeably by some which leads to confusion.
fwiw, i wont be applying for any edu licenses. as much as i want the developers to thrive, and i do burn alot of money on software, the SAAS systems are extremely poor value for money and i am permanently boycotting any company that offers subscriptions exclusively.
adobe is the sole one i cannot shake yet, but i am definitely ready to go out of my way to fight practices i find blatantly unfair.
for me, the SAAS has become a litmus test on which companies actually care for their consumers, and which ones do not, simple as that.
one can yap about affordability of a yearly rental fee on single case basis, but the issue is accumulation of service fees. add in 3ds max, add in adobe cc, and then any of the multitide of software or services.
what you get is a bunch of money out the pocket no matter if you use it or not, no matter if you make profit or not.
i cant unterstand how this is acceptable for anyone, but hey you do you.
I see no real progress this time in TP (these drop updates are very poor).
X-particles is making much more progress and do i need mention Houdini 17 wow – every version since 14 they have make these awesome “upgrades” houdini is mother of upgrades :). (And they x-particles and HoudiniFX have rental and permanent license models – users have freedom of choice: which one suit better for you – rental or permanent. And free version for students)
Also Blender’s progress is so much faster and stable than TP’s – and its free.
You guys are comparing XParticles and Blender particles with TP? This must be a joke.
There are films done today with probably Houdini that look worse than 2012, which was done long ago with old Max and TP.
Just remember that Houdini costs 2.500/year. Only Indie is actually cheap and you cannot use it with big clients or studios.
“There are films done today with probably Houdini that look worse than 2012, which was done long ago with old Max and TP.”
You are probably right, but this is a silly comment. The quality on these films will have nothing to do with what software is used, but with budget, time constraint, poor supervision, last minute changes etc etc. One could also argue the opposite. There are older movies made in houdini that look better than the ones made now using TP.
I agree on the comment about comparing blender to TP tho, that’s just nonsense
I agree that comparing Blender directly vs. TP is “nonsense” but i thought i made it clear that i was comparing the development speed and price – which one is more affordable and which one will be more productive some day in future. TP isn’t standalone software 🙁
And new features for x-particles looks amazing. And how about Houdini, wow.. their progress is really worth of their price – especially indie version. There is no indie version from TP or AD products. I see that those TP features were mostly updates – improvements but no real big features like 6 version itself was and it was 2014 these drop updates are small comparing to that or next X-particles or this new Houdini or new Blender update 🙂 In my opinion. I respect your point of views and i agree that this is not good comparison but i just wanted to bring my point: cebas progress is quite slow like it always has been. But sure its better get done right in the first time. But time is also money. Houdini comparison is also different thing sure because its All-in-one solution. TP and X-particles is mostly the thing what can be compared or tyflow. That thing (tyflow) is making real progress and its fast… fast… incredible speed imo. I can’t wait what TyFlow will be in future – i wish all best for tyflow.
I am comparing the progress speed, quality and price.
And Houdini perpetual license cost for artist
“NODE LOCKED PERPETUAL $4,495 USD” (375$/month) and it can be used as long as you need/want and your hardware/OS support it – it might last 10years – which will something 38$/month.
With TP you will need also 3DS MAX/Maya rent price.
With Houdini and Blender you can do all you need and even with highest Houdini license it will be more affordable in long term. But sure if you need upgrades then it will be something $2,495 USD per year which is (208$/month).
TP is $540 per year + 3DSMax or Maya = 1505$/year. So after one year you have spent over 2000$ and license ends if you don’t continue it, after 3 years you have spent over 6000$ and you got nothing if you stop paying. The money has burn in the air even when it could be possible to have that perpetual license model. Rental model in software business is just money milking – its not technical innovation.
So this why I see much more affordable the Houdini perpetual license which might work 10years without need to upgrade. There is also indie version which is enough in most cases and also rental price model. I also see that SideFX gives freedom to their users. Houdini users can make choice between license models – how about autodesk users? AD users are more dependent from software developers fast choices and new agreements (like dropping support from OS or some hardware when new version is released or any other agreement: new policy for copyrights – maybe need to pay from rendering and render time and pay license for using final render? unlimited possibilities without possibility to plan / what to do if want to keep using software.).
With Blender – the progress is fast, its free and it has very good particle engine inside but its not that easy to use than TP. But Blender is getting better and better each year while TP get these small updates/fixes. But I prefer Blender + Houdini combination.
X-patricles need C4D sure but its making really very fast progress and it has much better liquid and gas solvers than TP and it has also perpetual license.
And about indie version: why not you can’t use it with big clients? If you are freelancer/indie artist/entrepreneur and you make all work and you don’t need to interchange files directly in houdini format then you can use alembic, usd or maybe just renders? I don’t see reason why it couldn’t be used for big clients/studios if you have right workflow.
Because with indie you have a limit of seats, and a limit of income per year. As simple as that. If you are a medium freelance artist, having a decent income, you can not work with an indie version.
What I don’t get is this talk of using the same software for 10 years. Maybe 4 years is really pushing as you start lacking new technologies (be it Alembic, USD, etc). There hasn’t been that long since Softimage was EOL and you can already see it’s starting to be dated as it doesn’t support some important new tech that came around.
TP is a VERY specific tool … for what it does, I think it’s great. And I think it’s leaps and bounds ahead of X-Particles. Eloi has been able to do with TP (those insane videos on his vimeo). TP is very powerful and we have two guys, masters of the craft (Eloi and Joe Scarr), saying that TP is amazing for FX. And yet people still don’t believe, vote his comment down and say just Houdini is the bomb.
Houdini is great and I was very impressed about v17. But it doesn’t mean that TP is crap. Specially since Cebas is a very small company compared with SideFX, with a software that costs $540/year while Houdini costs $199 for indie and $4k for commercial. That’s a LOT more money into a company.
Want to complain about Autodesk? Fine. But I think it’s not fair to bash the third party Max devs, who do a lot of hard work for us.
There are much more great TP artists around. And a lot of them they use Houdini as well. And most of them they will agree that Houdini is great for some stuff, TP is greatter for other stuff. What I dont get is why we have always over and over this cross fights where people comments everything except the great news of new tools added in TP. (And they come mostly from people that actually doesnt use the software).
For some, TP could be the salvation of their 3ds Max experience and license. It´s a great tool from a small third-party developer. For an affordable price.
Of Course, Houdini is the Master, but for quick and generic visualizations 3dsmax is still one weapon of choice.
“but for quick and generic visualizations 3dsmax is still one weapon of choice.”
So you mean all of the high end vfx scanline does are quick and generic visualisations? 😀
Check it out really. This update is one of the best updates we saw in TP (or 3dsmax in general for FX) in a long time.
-VDBs implementation.
-Procedural booleans, mesh based and VDB based.
-New Pselection features, plus UniqueIDs.
-Improvements on SPH.
-Forces based on mesh velocities.
-Procedural Skinwrap.
Thats for 500$ a year. You get more stuff in Houdini? well, you are paying 3000$ a year to have this fancy things.
And I will not make comments about blender. XD
although I agree that TP does a lot of things and this last update brings cool stuff to the table, comparing 3000$ vs 500$ is not fair, as you also need to add the cost of 3ds max on top of that, which in total goes over 2100$
Im comparing money you pay to a company, for things they develop with this money, I think its totally fair. Also TP Drop 7 is like 7 month after the latest update.
Me too – I am also comparing the price of features and I also think it in long term – you never know what kind of license agreements AD/Cebas might request in future (long or short term) or how their license / price model will change. Or will they discontinue supporting old OS version or hardware etc.
Okay this comment made me smile a bit.
I mean…I dont use TP but I thought this are some cool features and it seems to be a great update. And personally I think 500 a year is kind of ok for such a develop process.
But compare this features to a fully Houdini FX license and asking if you get more stuff in Houdini is ridiculous.
“You get more stuff in Houdini?” – Yes!
“you are paying 3000$ a year to have this fancy things” – its not only for this things!
You are comparing a full 3D App with render engine, unlimited render licenses, instant developer support….( I will not list all features now) with a 3ds Max Plugin. Of course you have to pay more money for that 🙂
Jon
a full 3D App? Houdini?
unlimited render licenses? Even Entagma guys are not using Mantra.
Half of FX on ‘Last Jedi’ was rendered in Mantra, which
outperforms other renderers when used with knowledge,
thanks to incredible 2-way integration with houdini itself.
Entagma are not making FX. They use a renderer which is the easiest
to teach and easiest to learn.
btw: are those question marks an indication for sarcasm or ignorance?
Wasn’t really planning on joining this discussion, but just wanted to throw in that I am one of the users now using Houdini as a full 3D DCC package and rendering a lot with Mantra. Producing technical animations and marketing material. Not saying it’s for everyone, but feature-wise it’s not missing anything.
mantra is a mature render that is used in big productions for mature films there are also small studios that are using it.
entagma are doing advertising stuff and there setup is workstation based and they don’t have a renderfarm (was in one talk mentiond). they don’t have any complex stuff to render compaired to movie productions.
when you don’t know how to use mantra doesn’t mean mantra is bad it just means you can’t handle it.
a nice example is from mr.post it’s done in 2013 and renderd with mantra: https://vimeo.com/80796564
Maybe I didnt express myself in a good way. Obviously with Houdini you get more stuff, and is normal is more expensive, and we are comparing apples with pigs. My comment was just about people here comparing TP directly with Houdini without remembering the big price difference between the two.
Its very difficult to compare, my only comment, is that this Drop 7 is great, there is a lot of cool stuff to do effects never possible before in 3ds in a very easy way. It expands a lot what its possible in 3dsmax.
I simply will like more people commenting about the article, not doing the same discussion over and over during last 7 years, that nothing has to do with what we should be talking about.
I am interested to know how big the user base is. some of these features are amazing.
Would recommend you find the tool that works best for you AND makes income, not whatever is popular.
For sure, I am was just wondering how many people were still using it. In the small to medium studios that i work its rare to find people using it.
Pieforme; Eloi already have a good video posted about 3dsMax studios. https://youtu.be/Uz8cMq-bQro
It all depends on where you’re looking and what you’re looking for. At the end of the day, it’s your skills, not the software you know that will get you hired. At least if you aim for the top dogs. If not, research your local market.
Hello all, cebas admin here.
Slight editorial error on the press : tP commercial subscription is $660 / year inclusive of all upgrades therein. For Europe buyers it is Euro 540 – 570 depending on currency exchanges (so not $). Please note that you can also get the educational license if you are in-training, self-learning at $145 / three years, inclusive of all updates.
Thanks for the correction. We’ve updated the article with the correct price information.