Hey folks, I don't post here all that much these days, but I review the posts at least one a week.
I absolutely **LOVE** this community-- best on the web PERIOD. Michael provides the single best customer support on the planet-- really. JD Powers should name an award after him.
When I first started using MoI, being used to poly modelers like Lightwave and SketchUp, it was quite a challenge. Even though MoI is by far the simplest and most intuitive interface of any solids modeler, it required
completely different strategies and understandings to create models. Still, with his and this communities excellent help, I was up and running inside a week-- and boy was it fun!
At the time, years ago, I was helping a friend start a great design firm, called argodesign. They are seriously GREAT at UI and UX-- probably top 10 in the world. My friend asked me to help him based on the fact he thought an Industrial Designer would provide an interesting blend to the startup.
As the company grew, I had a chance to work on several ID projects,. I had used Lightwave for concept designs, but then we decided to get a 3D printer and it became clear I needed a solids modeler, and after researching, I chose MoI. Price wasn't an issue. Learning curve and ease of use was. And I was able to create lots of 3D form studies using it, and even designed a Drone Ambulance with it for FastCo.
Finally, after getting ID in place, I left argo and came back to the ranch (I live on a horse ranch in Texas) and another friend called. He was the top strategy guy for a huge international collection of companies. He told me he sent me a Vive VR headset and that he wanted me to develop a VR Labs workflow and stategy for each of the design studios in the various companies. The goal was to create the workflow for getting solid models out of pro CAD systems and into Unity and Vive, with appropriate textures and scale, so the designers can walk around and even "touch" their products. Yes, they even picked them up!
Again MoI was integral to this as it's superior export capabilities allowed the CAD users to export just the right sized poly mesh for import into Unity.
And then I was asked to design and implement a huge AR project. The history of the Alamo was a 2 year long development effort, and I ended up hiring over 20 people. More info about it is at
https://alamoreality.com.
Frenchy had turned me onto a product called Hard Ops. And as I watched the videos, I was transformed and called a buddy who knows everything. He told me the guy, Jerry Perkins, lived here in Austin and so we met and I hired him for the Alamo Reality VR project. He only used Blender and created all the characters and animation. I focused on modeling the whole Alamo as accurately as possible using SketchUp and 3D Coat to add the wear and destruction.
One day, I challenged my buddy, Jerry, to a speed model contest. I figured I would beat him easily as SketchUp also is just so damn fast to work in. He consistently beat me. Over and over. Then we tried to model this in Blender and SketchUp.
Neither of us did very well, so then I jumped into MoI and created this in only a few minutes. Jerry (creator of Hard Ops and Boxcutter) was so impressed and subsequently bought MoI and uses it.
We just focused on the top of it with the understanding it was the most difficult part.
As always, very impressed with MoI's capabilities!
Well, if you're creating stuff for commercial production in Unity, you're best off using poly modelers because of the control of topology and poly count.
So, after talking with Jerry, I decided to learn Blender a couple years ago. About the same time, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I'd much prefer news of V4 shipping! Anyway, I ended up doing 6 months of serious chemo therapy, and it worked-- which I'm grateful for. I still need checkups every 6 months, but as of right now, I'm cancer free.
I took the time during chemo to learn more about Blender. I started off able to spend a few days a week, but by the end it was maybe 1 good day in 2 weeks. Still, IMO, my focus on 3D and learning really helped me get through.
As I learned Blender, I saw where there are so many things in Blender I wanted to do-- and so I started creating addons and tutorials and it hasn't stopped. If you're interested, check out chippwalters.com.
One of the best things about Blender is that you can have a non-destructive workflow, which is wonderful for designers. It's so easy to move elements around after you've created them. And of course the rendering and animation is pretty cool too.
So, I spend most my time in Blender these days. I'm retired now-- lots of side effects from the chemo keep me from being able to commit to a client. I sometimes do something special for a friend. This car I did in a single setting, and there's a lot of non-destructive parts on it.
Creating it (in Blender) was a super crazy workflow and involved booleans and remeshing. I basically created a super low poly version of it an used an addon called Quad Remesher to create a subD cage which was pretty close. I just tweaked the cage and then added some non-destructive booleans to create the details. The people are from Dosch Design.
Anyway, I'm still around.
I still think Michael's dream of creating the easiest to use solid modeler is maintained by his relentless focus on simplicity. And, I still love the program and the community here!
