ZBrushCentral

I Just Got Back From Macworld

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#1

I took the train up from Philadelphia to the Macworld Expo. A friend told me a really cheap way of getting up there which came to about $34 dollars round trip, as opposed to the $98 dollars Amtrak charges. But that’s beside the point. I got to see them demo some of the features of the new version, such as the Zsphere and alpha skinning. I also got to meet Pixolator, Jaime and Davey. They all did a great presentation. Davey basically did the presentation while Pixolator was doing the ZBrushing which was showing on a big flatscreen t.v.

Anyway, the big bonus was before I left for the day, Pixolator told me that because of my recent ZScript work that it might be good to have me as a member of the beta testing team (at least I think that’s what he said, Davey was announcing the next demonstration at the time and I had trouble hearing Pixolator) that he was going to have Jaime place me on the beta testing team and sent me home with a copy of the Premier edition which I guess is the same or similar to the beta. Woohoo! :slight_smile:

Anyway it was really nice meeting some of the Pixologic staff and I wished them good luck at Siggraph when they go.

In addition to Pixologic I personally give Hash, Inc. (Animation Master) an award for having the the loudest presenter :smiley: and Carrara for the most comfortable booth who had yellow bean bag chairs on the floor that you could recline on while watching their demo. :smiley:

Afterwords I went to the Empire State building and went through the grueling process of waiting in line to go to the observatory floor. :rolleyes: After that I walked around some more took lots of pictures and when my feet couldn’t support me anymore I went home.

#2

Wow. I’ve NEVER seen a software company prerelease to a select group of customers and leave the rest in the dust.

This is actually starting to tick me off.

Congratulations for being chosen WO.

#3

I know what you mean Kathy!

#4

It’s still an incomplete version. All of the customers will get the complete version at the same time when it becomes available.

#5

WO, no offence, but this is not industry standard prerelease practice.

I’ve beta tested, this is NOT beta testing.

Normally, a soft hires and pays testers, and locks them in a room with a list of to do’s.
There is a start date and an end date.
There is a controlled environment.
Only the development team sees the screenshots, error messages, and notes of testing.

This is just rude marketing. Period.

#6

Rude marketing? I find spending hundreds of dollars for a product then them having a major upgrade within a year and asking for more… Even at half the price others pay, I usually can’t afford it. That’s rude… I like seeing what’s coming and we’ll all get to play with it soon.

#7

delete repeat

#8

Of course, upgrading a soft when you don’t need the upgrade is silly.

But that’s another subject.

I’ve not seen Maya, Discreet, SoftImage, Adobe or any of their peers “picking” current customers out of the pack to “play with/test/use a while” while roadshowing a different demo.

And then allowing those select few to post “look what I can do” posts. BUT asking those people not to answer questions.

YET during the roadshow pass out brochures to people who haven’t even invested in the company yet.

But hey, that’s just my take. Who am I? Right?

#9

Wow, congrats WingedOne! :slight_smile:

Since it’s only tiny bit away I won’t complain to much about not being a beta tester… :wink:

#10

Congratulations, Winged One!

Kathy, :frowning: Do you KNOW beta testers for Maya, 3DS Max, SoftImage, Lightwave, Cinema, Rhino, Adobe, etc, etc, etc? How do they BECOME beta testers? I really WOULD like to know!

#11

On the other hand, it’s my understanding that it IS industry standard for software developers to have special offers and premiere editions at the major shows. It’s part of the incentive for people to go to these shows. A premiere edition of version 1.5 was available for sale at MacWorld, and will be at Siggraph as well. It is not the final release of the version – there is still more to be added, and the people who purchased the premiere will still have to download the final release in a very short while.

Believe me, Kathy, I do understand your frustration to an extent. I would probably feel a little of the same if I was on the other side of the fence. But I would also understand that people who made the special effort and spent the bucks to travel to and attend a show might get something special for that. From what I’ve been told, this was the case with WingedOne – not only has he made excellent contributions and been a Z-pioneer (which is not to say that you haven’t!), but he went out of his way to be there.

As far as beta testing is concerned, did you volunteer for it? I never saw the list of those who did, so I don’t know. But even if you had, it’s my understanding from things that you’ve told me that you’ve been seriously busy with paying projects as it is, and would probably have a tough time finding the time to really test the software. Was that a mistaken impression?

#12

Congrats WingedOne,

I wish I could visit Macworld… :rolleyes: . This is one disadvantage of living on an island, specially an Island so far away like Sri Lanka…Not a single (Well known) Software company has a branch here… :frowning:

#13

Hi Winged One!

Apparently I just missed seeing you by about half an hour. I got to the ZBrush booth at about one o’clock. I’m sorry I missed meeting you but I heard that everyone else enjoyed meeting you. Aside from the ZSphere, I think the highlight of the show was that guy at Hash, I think they use him as reference material for animations. Davey BTW, is the Sir Laurence Olivier of demonstrators (literally! :wink: ) The 10 minute presentations featured as many of the interesting aspects of ZBrush as possible and most people in the audience seemed to be in silent awe of what they were watching.

I can understand why WingedOne was given the premiere disc. First of all, he travelled to New York specifically to meet these people on a very hot and muggy day no less (I hope you didn’t get caught in the rain like I did!) Kathy, I don’t know what other companies you’ve ‘beta’ tested for, but it’s hard to compare Pixologic to other companies. You have in a way already participated in the beta testing by posting great images and ideas over the past year. Ofer sees everything we do here, and I get the impression that he makes upgrades based alot upon what we like, and need, and are frustrated by. When they say “Happy ZBrushing” they really mean it because they thrive on our happiness, which is good for everyone. I think most people here have never participated in real beta testing like you have Kathy, which probably is a very interesting an exciting experience. This waiting period is frustrating indeed, but will soon end, and after that, much happiness indeed. 1.5 is worth waiting for :smiley:

#14

I’ve done lot’s of beta testing for companies such as those and/or others. Many companies handle it by providing the betas to a select group of professional users who are in that group by paying a fee. That fee provides the ability to receive the betas, and provide feedback and make feature requests during the development cycle.

Others behave EXACTLY like Pixologic has, and determines a beta group based on lot’s of criteria - previous professional results, pushing the envelope, providing useful developer feedback, or people known to be able to give a specific area of the software a real work-out.

I currently have betas for at least 3 professional applications on my Powerbook - supplied directly to me by the company which authored it.

I can’t say that I’ve ever been part of a beta group of the “focus group” closed-door style (nor would I be.)

Every software I know on the market has been provided to select groups determined in one way or another. Development of these tools does not happen in a vacuum - ever. Companies always put tools into the hands of proven developers in advance of general release. The feedback provided often makes the difference in a good release and a great one.

Wait a minute… what??.. SOMEONE ELSE GOT A COPY OF 1.5?? HEY !! I WANT MINE !!

Seriously though - what Pixologic is doing is VERY standard practice, to be expected, and totally OK.

#15

Winged One and Zoid…You lucky ducks!!
It all sounds so exciting to be in the center of it all! I am pleased that Winged One was asked to Beta test…go for it! I know we can’t all be testers so I am practicing patience and planning new projects for 1.5.
Sorry that you are disappointed Kathy. You too, would be a great tester! I get the impression that Pixologic is a small company that is growing fast. Sometimes small companies don’t always do things in the orthodox way. However, because this is Pixologic we are talking about, and they make the software that I am hopelessly addicted to, and because they are kindly going to give me a FREE upgrade of Zbrush; they can do whatever they want. :wink: They, long ago, won my undying respect and gratitude.

#16

Of course I’ll have to put my two bobs worth in to this debate.

For my part I’m still exploring all the functions in ZBrush. Once could spend a year in the material modifiers. The more you explore the deeper it gets.

Also having experienced the trauma of having an excellent program (Painter) ruined by a never ending list of bugs, I can certainly appreciate thorough beta testing.

I don’t suppose there are any rules to beta testing apart from do whatever you have to, to make the product bug free.

I’m pretty impressed with the bug freeness of ZB so far, so I’m happy to let the pixologic team do whatever they feel is necessary to keep the product up to the high standards they have set.

besides I’ve just got a new digital camera so I’m not much interested in zbrush at the moment anyway. It’s got neat software that automatically makes 360º seamless quicktime VR files.

Chill everybody. After all you might not wake up tomorrow.

#17

Winged One, thanks for the trip report, especially the little details like the yellow bean bags at the Hash Inc booth

I wish I had sense to save vacation time and money so I could attend things like Siggraph, Worldcon, magic conventions, restaurants in japan, etc.

hmmm … maybe i need a different job :wink:

#18

Kathy, Alias Wavefront does the same thing. Just check out 3D links.com and look for the article on maya 4.5 for MAC OSX or something like that. I know everyone is begining to become some what impatient (including yours truely), but just be patient. Pixologic does not have to give a free upgrade. They don’t have to tell us anything. If your company was soley betting on using mac’s with Maya, but all their customers used pc’s, would’nt, you want to know how the beta testing was going with the new mac version of MAYA? (Which allows MAC and PC version to interact equally). I know I would. I believe that pixologic is being pretty fair with what their doing. I have been patient for a long time wating for this new release. We are all so close to it that I just hope everyone can wait.

#19

My two cents for what it is worth. I think that the idea of having the testers whoever they are posting images on the forum so close to the release date was a BAD move, as it only served to further frustrate the members. However, it is their company and they have the right to do as they please, I just do not have to agree with it.
In the selection of the testers, I would have thought that members would have been picked who showed special interest or talent in different areas of the program instead of all modelers. Despite what is said, I think that the future direction of Zbrush is in 3D modeling and so that is what is being pushed.
I for one will wait, at my age every day I can play with the current version is a good one. Frankly there is so much of this version I know nothing about as yet so a new version or not I am still learning, and that is important to me.

#20

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> I think that the idea of having the testers whoever they are posting images on the forum so close to the release date was a BAD move, as it only served to further frustrate the members. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I can certainly understand people getting frustrated with not being able to post “see what I can do posts”, an understandably human response. However, I would bet most members are happy that the beta testing is in the experienced and capable hands of Mentat, Southern et al.

I find the thorough and methodical approach of Pixologic to be most reassuring. However I will say that I would have preferred that they didn’t announce that it would be released “in a few weeks” about two months ago. :wink: