Shade 9

[Wася]

I see people from Shade development team on this forum. I have some questions about v.9.

Рarticle physics & hair are supported even in Standard version. That's cool.

But what about path tracing and photon mapping improvement? Are all this things concerned with Callisto2 and Radiosity Pro in Shade Professional only? Or Shade 9 Standard will render 3.5 times faster also?

[juanmanuel]

I would guess they are for the standard version, as photon mapping and path tracing are already quite tweakable in Callisto. If that is the case, this can be huge.
However, if this is the case, there must be a parallel improvement in Callisto, so it maintains the status quo of being more advanced and tweakable that the standard render modes, right?

Either way, Shade9 looks as if it will bring lots of very nice things. :D

[Thomas]

I confirm, it's in Shade 9 Std

[juanmanuel]

Wow, that is excelent news! So now I need to save for the upgrade price, mmm

[mykyl1966]

Where are folks seeing info on Shade 9? Sounds interesting.

Cheers

Mike R

[Wася]

Thomas
Thank you,

mykyl1966
Look at e-frontier Japan web-site
http://www.e-frontier.co.jp/
and use this
http://translate.google.com/translate_t

juanmanuel
I've always been amazed by Std render capabilities, and I always was curious about Callisto features. I see, you are learned at first hand. Could you explain Callisto advantages, please? Does it really bring higher level of image quality and rendering speed?
If european prices will be comparable with japanese ones I will think about upgrading to Pro version.

[juanmanuel]

Thank you for your kind words.

The most important difference I see between Callisto and the standard renderers is that you have much more control over things in Callisto. For instance, you can tell individually which lights affect GI, and to what degree. That is, for example, how many photons per light. Which light does not cast photons. Etc.
Or for example, define independently the scene background from the IBL. Callisto is a lot about tweaking in so many ways.

So in short, with Callisto you have control. So with a little maneouvering, you can get very good results with decent speeds, that to get those results in the standard renderers would involve brute force pathtracing and hours and hours of render time.

Now that I read my own answer, it sound somewhat vague. But Pro in general, not just with Callisto, is all about control and tweaking. I guess that is why there are different versions of Shade. For most people, Standard is ok. But if you want to tweak your work to the next level, then Shade is for you.

[Wася]

ok, thank you for your answer
Yeah, exactly - "brutal force"
Path tracing gives really amazing results, but indeed is too CPU-consuming.

[Wася]

ok, friends
here
http://66.249.93.104/translate_c?hl=...php%3Fcid%3D24
you may downoad trial version of Shade 9.

The installator will speak Japanese (and the documentation, and python scripts names of course, are in Japanese also), but if you don't speak Japanese - don't worry. All the menus and toolboxes are in English. (Splash screen is in Russian for me ).

[Pigumon]

Hmm that link is only for Shade 9 Pro right? I couldn't find standard. I talked to someone at E-Frontier a while back and they said they MIGHT support Displacement Mapping in standard version 9 and up theri overall Poly support, so I'd like to get a copy and find out. Anyone know if it was added or not?

[Pigumon]

Hmm I guess editing a message deletes the whole thing?

Anyway, I wondered if displacement mapping was added to version 9, but I found:

http://shade.e-frontier.co.jp/9/new.html

and unfortunately it was not added. But Parallax Mapping was added which is something at least. I just dont like how it doesn't affect silhouettes. It's still pretty useless as far as textures for people.. like importing from Zbrush to render.

Hair Salon looks cool and it's for every grade of 9... well at least in japan.
It looks like there is no difference between the Standard and Pro versions of 9 in japan!!! I assume this wont be the case when it comes here, even though you still get all the pro things from 8 that you dont in standard 8.

If you use the google translation, it does a pretty good job except for [heasaron] = Hair Salon, and Strengthening = Improvement

[Wася]

As I know, Shade 8 trial is also restricted Pro version only.
Speaking about modeling the "auto smooth / interpolate" is still Pro only feature. Many differences in rendering.
Comparison table here:
http://66.249.93.104/translate_c?hl=...9/compare.html

[Wася]

Oh, no
why don't I speak Japanese!

http://shade.e-frontier.co.jp/traini...de9school.html

you may also download sample video clip about Hair Saloon (the last picture on the page)

[juanmanuel]

I studied japanese for a semester, but not nearly enough as I should. Basically I understand about 0.05% of the anime I see And while I have learned some phrases from the anime, I think that if I use those phrases in real life, I'ld sound like a grownup with an elementary school's vocabulary
I hope that hair salon makes it to Shade9 in English. I would love to see if it can be used for making grass!

[Wася]

I understand about 80%. Do like I do - use English subtitles.

It's your lucky day, because it can.
Look at the last picture at the bottom of the page
http://shade.e-frontier.co.jp/9/ichimoku/061201-05.html

[juanmanuel]

Originally Posted by Wася

It's your lucky day, because it can.
Look at the last picture at the bottom of the page
http://shade.e-frontier.co.jp/9/ichimoku/061201-05.html

wonderful!!!!

[Wася]

Bad news.
As I see, CALLISTO does not see hairs. Raytracing and PathTracing - do.
At least, in 9 demo version.

[juanmanuel]

That sounds sad indeed. Let's hope there is a "convert to polygons/curved surface/something" function. You are working on the japanese Shade9 version?

[Wася]

I tried it. Shade gives the option "convert to mesh", but after that all the hair guides disappear. And they are lost after export to OBJ.

Yes, I do work with Japanese trial. And you coud do also. Because only the installer will speak Japanese. But the interface at most is in English (on English Windows XP). In some places (Poser Fusion dialogue, export dialogue, maybe others) you will find Japanse, but at least you could start.

http://dl.e-frontier.co.jp/trial/Sha...ional_DEMO.exe

[transient]

I've been playing with the Shade 9 demo and while there have been some improvements, I'm extremely disappointed about the lack of displacement mapping for uv mapped polygon meshes.

I've had a look at the parallax mapping feature, but it isn't really a replacement.

This is a bit of a widowmaker from my perspective, as it gravely limits my ability to import media from other software. It's real shame, because in most other ways Shade is excellent.

Hopefully e-frontier US will rectify this for the english release, or at least offer a plug-in or something. I know Shade is generally seen as an architectural/design tool, but this still sucks.