[macray]

Hi Nicole, NL and whoever knows something more of the new plugins,

is there a date when we might expect this updated 1.5 Plugin or the completely rewritten one?

I'd like to try 1.5 but up to now I'll stick to 1.1 until the issues are fixed. The few tries I gave it didn't work and I'd like to have something to work on. I asked Maxon for an offer for Cinema. Not because of Maxwell only working with > 9.6 but for other personal reasons. So maybe I can use it soon.

Nethertheless I'd like to know something about the new - future - plugin. Can you tell something more about it's functionaltity, what it will bring and support? How will it be implemented in Cinema? Does it make sense to only give support to C4D > 9.6 in order to give a better compatibilty? Are there other reasons to let the support for older versions die?

Can you give us a little more insight in how you plan to go on? Do you have a production schedule that you can reveal or at least give us some very rough outlines of, so we can see how it is going on?

Thanks for your effort and work you do here, Nicole!
Looking forward to hear from you, guys.

[Kabe]

Hi Macray, I cannot speak for NL here, but I can give you a little insight about
what makes more and more developers move to 9.6 if they develop for
Cinema Mac.

The 9.6 Cinema SDK was the first SDK release that allows to build Universal
plugins for the Mac. It does so by using a different compiler (XCode/gcc
instead of CodeWarrior, which is not developed any further. The last
CodeWarrior build is from 2002, and it doesn't even support the G5, not
to start thinking Intel Macs.).

You can't support R10 on Mac with plugins compiled with pre-9.5, you
MUST use the 9.6 SDK. That's btw the reason why all your old plugins
won't run in R10, when you're on the Mac.

Unfortunately both the Cinema SDKs and the compilers differ in a number
of aspects, starting from calling conventions inside the plugin to numerical
differences between XCode/CodeWarrior.

To support older branches would mean to create two quite different versions
of the plugin source code, not just different in terms of a line here and a
line there... even the suppport for the Mac 9.6 PPC version takes extra
work because of compiler differences.

The transition is hard, but it was not just NLs decision alone. Maxon has
not provided an easier path to R10, and I doubt that they had much of a
choice either.

Kabe

[Becco_UK]

Historically, Next Limit have never quite managed to make a satisfactory Cinema4D plugin for software of theirs I use - RealFlow3 and Maxwell Render. The RealFlow Cinema plugin was in development for much longer than its Maxwell counterpart and that never made the grade.

Always feels like Max and Maya get preferential treatment.

The Maxwell 1.1 Cinema plugin came close to being almost fully useable and now look where things have gone with the Maxwell 1.5 Cinema plugin!

[nicole]

Hi Macray,

Let me try to give you some details on the current and new C4D plug-in (well, i cannot tell to much as usual - sorry!).

We will release a Cinema 4D patch fixing many of the issues in the coming days.

Regarding the new plug-in: like you say, it will be completely re-written. Maxwell Render will be fully integrated into Cinema as if it is a native render, like we have done with the Max and Maya plug-ins. This includes for example fully integrated materials. As you know, it is always very hard to give release dates or schedules. All I can say is that yes: of course we have an internal production schedule. Depending on the development, we hope to have this ready in about 2 months. But as always: it will be ready when it's ready.

I hope this helps a bit - I wish I could say more, but I can't.

Cheers,

Nicole

[Maximus3D]

Gotta scuttle in here for a sec.. this is interesting

Thanks Nicci for the info, it's appreciated as always

The new patched plugin you said should if all goes well be out in a few days, i'd guess sometimes in the beginning of June. Which isn't that long to wait, that's just around the corner. But then you mention something which is somewhere around 2 months or so away.. is that the displacement update thingy or something else ?

/ Max

[macray]

Thank you all for the answers.

Would be fine to be updated on a regular base. Let's say 2 weeks to get an idea if the timeschedule is still the same or stretched... that might not be nice for us to hear this but we still get an impression that there is something done in development.

I was pretty surprised by the version poll because I thought the plugin published with 1.5 was ready and the 2nd would just take a week or 2 more finetuning and then it would be published and replacing the one delivered to us.
At least that was how I understood the statement when we were told that there is a completely new cinema plugin in development.

So it would be fine to have an idea where you are in the production schedule:
Did you already start programming? Are you waiting a few more days for the version poll to reach a certain numbers of participants? Is there already a decision that you are programming and the course is set and you are sailing on full speed, or is it still criscrossing and waiting for results from the poll?

It would be great if you could give us a regular insight in how it is going on and what the current state is. During the alpha and beta phase there was a lot of information from NL. Sure you need to keep some secrets to yourselves, but there should be a statement now and then telling us how it is going on...

Sorry to bother you, but until a few weeks ago this forum was totally quiet and almost lost. Noone had an impression that there was any more development in the cinema sector. It would be fine if the C4D thread wouldn't be abandoned again because we don't get any info.

edit: @ Maximus3D
there are 2 plugins for cinema in development.
#1 - the updated plugin issued with 1.5 to remove some errors
#2 - a completely new plugin to be published in ca. 2 months to replace the one issued with 1.5

[nicole]

Hi guys,

Maxi, the patch for the C4D plug-in is almost ready.... we hope to release it tomorrow or Wednesday, but as always we gotta be careful with dates: you never know what problems might show up.

Regarding the complete revamping of the plug-in: right now this is all the info I can give you...I will try to keep you updated as much as I can. We are completely aware that the C4D plug-in has issues now, and it's our top priority to fix any issues asap and to provide a plug-in of Maya and Max level as soon as possible.

More news on the patch, hopefully tomorrow

Thanks,

Nicole

[Maximus3D]

macray: Doh, ok now i get it. Two separate plugins. I thought they were only working on one and then feeding us with continous updates as issues are takes care of down the road.. either way works i guess thanks for the info.

Niccy: Now that sounds just like sweet music in my ears! better go easy on releasing any types of dates, it's baaaaad, reaaal bad if it's missed.. but you know that already. Can't wait to see and hope that the new plug will work better as i haven't touched Maxwell 1.5 since i noticed it was filled over the top with bugs and problems ..i hope the new plug makes 1.5 usable.

Keep up the good work Niccy

/ Max

[Fernando Tella]

Thanks Nicci for the info,...

Hi guys,

Maxi, the patch for the C4D plug-in is almost ready....

Niccy: ...

...Keep up the good work Niccy
/ Max

Maxi, Maxi,... bad boy.

[Becco_UK]

Maximus3D: Lets start betting that the nice new Cinema plugin (not the one currently being fixed) will be released with the Maxwell core version that supports displacement - Nicola has said 2 months away so that is when we also get Maxwell 1.6 or whatever number is being allocated.

It would seem pointless releasing the proper new Cinema plugin for the current Maxwell core only to have implementation of displacement based materials mean a return to all the problems currently being experienced.

We know about the ususal small delays that crop up so I'm placing my money on a July/August of Maxwell 1.'6' with a much better Cinema plugin!

[Maximus3D]

Fernando: Hehehe yea, bad baaad me.. i just can't help it.

Becco: Nah i don't think it's safe yet to bet on something like this, but perhaps they aren't planning on implementing support for MPD in the plugins until the core is finished and then in approx 3 months release updated plugins + updated core engine all at once. I really don't know..

/ Max

[mmhnemo]

ah give them another year or two - just don't wait for it

[Tyrone Marshall]

Maximus3D: Lets start betting that the nice new Cinema plugin (not the one currently being fixed) will be released with the Maxwell core version that supports displacement - Nicola has said 2 months away so that is when we also get Maxwell 1.6 or whatever number is being allocated.

It would seem pointless releasing the proper new Cinema plugin for the current Maxwell core only to have implementation of displacement based materials mean a return to all the problems currently being experienced.

We know about the ususal small delays that crop up so I'm placing my money on a July/August of Maxwell 1.'6' with a much better Cinema plugin!

Please no speculations about a future release of maxwell and what that might entail for cinemaxwell.

[nicole]

Hi Ernest and everyone,

We will definitely continue to support Cinema 4D 9.6 with the upcoming new plug-in.

As Kabe explained in his post earlier in this thread, it is very complicated to support pre 9.5 versions of Cinema 4D, but from 9.6 on there are no problems.

The 9.6 Cinema SDK was the first SDK release that allows to build Universal plugins for the Mac.......To support older branches would mean to create two quite different versions of the plugin source code, not just different in terms of a line here and a line there... even the suppport for the Mac 9.6 PPC version takes extra work because of compiler differences.

etc...

Thanks,

Nicole

[mashium123]

Hi guys,

Maxi, the patch for the C4D plug-in is almost ready.... we hope to release it tomorrow or Wednesday, but as always we gotta be careful with dates: you never know what problems might show up. ...

... patch coming today?