Midphase

The new title is quite good...if you're a fifth grader. Congrats?

Would it be too much to ask the OP to change the click-bait title to something that more clearly describes the issue?

Redshift will apparently need Big Sur due to some AMD driver stuff. Assuming the typical Apple release cycle, that would be late September/early October at the earliest.

Well...wouldn't you know it? OTOY managed to actually deliver on their promise of an OSX Metal version of Octane. I know many C4D users prefer Octane to other options, as well as working in OSX. Now they can have both. It will be interesting to see how this shapes things up, particularly with upcoming AMD GPU's, as well as in the future with ARM based Macs (which supposedly Octane is also already compatible with). Here's a link to the official announcement: https://home.otoy.com/octane-x-pr1/

I thought Camera Mapping in Houdini is quite doable. There is however a severe lack of tutorials on it. Also, check out the brand new SideFX Labs Trim Texture.

Same here, it's a bit like visiting an old friend that you don't really hang out with anymore, but you still care about knowing how they're doing.

An even simpler solution -- create Blendercafe.com!!!

I'm curious as to what your favorite way is to send files back and forth between Houdini and Blender? I tend to use Alembic since FBX gives me issues with Blender Z-up vs. Houdini Y-up as well as the different scale.

For those interested in modeling in Houdini, there is this 3rd party product that makes it a lot more feasible:

ODForce seems weirdly semi-abandoned lately. The Discord server is pretty active: https://discord.gg/b8U5Hdy

Redshift for Metal official preview?

I think that's true for most industries. Everyone is (rightfully) afraid that their value will be diminished as more and more people enter their particular trade.

True, but the thing about Houdini (and I'm not trying to convert anyone here) is that it doesn't have to be that way. It can operate just as well through basic functions as it does through the more complex test cases. One of the things that drove me nuts (it still does) about the "old school" Houdini community is its aversion to the so-called Shelf Tools. These are basically presets of sorts that can get you very good results at the click of a button. There is no need to understand what is happening beneath the surface -- unless you want to; then it's all there for you to inspect a

Hello Dave, Thanks for the sympathy. I understand perfectly well the difference between a subscription and a so-called "maintenance plan" which in other industries involves being able to make a phone call to a technician whenever you please to solve whatever issue you might have -- not an option with RS. As I said, for all intents and purposes, since quite often RS will release a version with missing functionality/incorrect functionality, the end user is tied to the "maintenance plan" regardless making it effectively a forced subscription whether they want to call it that or not.

I guess someone should tell that to AVID and many of the other companies that allow you to do just that. Also, can we stop calling it a "maintenance" plan whatever that means? It's a subscription, paid in full for the entire year! Sure your license will continue working after the maintenance has expired, but what's the point if the version you have is riddled with bugs, or is now incompatible with the software or hardware that you're using? So whether you like it or not, you're still bound to having to pay the maintenance plan year after year. I'm on OSX -- RS promised a Metal ver