Where is Hexagon, and its user base at now?
Rectro
Posts: 35
Hi all.
Im a old long timer, who hasn't been here a while. Just wondered what has happened regarding Hexagons user base, what Hexagon is mainly being used for these days? I dont use Hexagon half as much as I used to, but when I was using it, it was a fast modeller for me.
Thanks Dan/aka Tez
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Hey Tez :)
Nice to see you here and that you haven't forgotten us entirely!
Sometimes I feel I'm the last of the old timers around, although I'm moving more into Blender these days.
Lots of new users - they seem to be mainly interested in kitbashing DS clothing:)
What are you up to and what do you model in these days?
Cheers
Hi Roygee, long time. No I haven't forgot at all, just wished DAZ followed through with bringing Hexagon up to scratch, I was forced to implement new tools where Hexagon lacked, this was found in Modo, but Hexagon in some cases still gets things done much faster, less steps to basic functions you could say. I thought Hexagon maybe going that way, it only makes sense since DAZ studio is their main app. I do wonder where this leaves Carrara, never could work out where that sits.
I went back to study my art, which was a interest in character modelling, and Digital sculpting, Drawing. I took on some really great training with the likes or Scott Eaton, Zack Petroc, Ryan kingslien, Sabin Howard, Rey Bustos, all in order to round my artistic skills to a new level. Its all very time consuming, but I think it all pays off in the end. I figured anyone can learn the tools given enough time, but knowing how to use them creatively to ones best potential makes the tools less important. Blender has moved on leaps and bounds, iv been very impressed with what it has to offer.
What about you, what projects have you been working on?
Dan.
For those who haven't met him, Tez is the greatest modeler of the human form to grace these - or any other, pages. A great teacher, to boot :)
I've been pretty lazy as far as producing anything tangible - mainly been studying up on Blender. Just completed a mech in Hex to keep my hand in - only just solved a 3D painting problem in Carrara, so will be able to finish it off soon.
Carrara's future remains a puzzle - Daz promised a new version first quarter of 2014, but no word yet. They seem to be totally focused on Daz Studio and Genesis to the exclusion of all else.
I'm personally tired of waiting for the functions we really need instead of more e-dolls, hence my move to Blender. The horrid interface is getting friendlier all the time and I'm starting to feel comfortable there.
Hi There Tez. ;) Nice to see you alive and kicking. hehe
Well I'm still using hex once in a while though now my main tool are mostly Zbrush. Also bought C4D and Modo and are trying to get more into those.
like you said, Hex is a nice app that is really fast with some stuff. Shame on daz for more or less discontinue it. :( Still it will be a good app that I'm gonna use in my pipeline. :)
Hi Danny, nice to see you here :)
I've only just picked up Hex recently but have yet to get around to learning it (Not that I'm any good at 3d modeling)
Hex is the easiest to use with the friendliest interface. The allure of things like surface modeling in zbrush really do make programs like hexagon incomparable. But even with zbrush, you'll probably model your base in hexagon then work on the rest through zbrush.
I still find programs like blender and zbrush to have un-intuitive interfaces, especially zbrush. That thing is just frustrating to work with, because you have to switch modes and save models, and edit mode can be locked out entirely forcing you to restart. Then you can reach points where you can't undo what you did. You have to save objects often as a tool and reload them, etc. And then there's the sheer amount of options to choose from in size and strength and type of surface features you want to add, then all the combinations of combining those. Just frustrating.
Way too tedious....but it does make some great details and is more for character modeling, which not everyone does and can take up a substantial amount of time.
Hello everyone.
I follow you.
I understand a little but I follow you.
I see nothing but follow you.
The static in the development of hexadecimal saddens me and stopped me.
We hope for better days.
Ciao
Ciao m_m :)
Ho perso le tue bellissime modelle. Cosa stai usando per modellare adesso?
Roygee, I just popped in to say you've made a great job of the Mech.
As for Hexagon, I think it's a shame that nothing was done to address known bugs and that as operating systems, etc. change then it could become unuseable.
Otherwise it is a wonderful program worth far more than DAZ charges for it.
In days gone by, Amapi, which Hexagon replaced (if I am correct), sold for HUNDREDS of dollars.
I recently bought Silo at a price too good to resist but don't plan on working with it unless Hexagon dies on me (when I upgrade the PC, perhaps).
Silo, is excellent, by all accounts but I always preferred the whole aesthetic appearance of Hexagon.
Roygee, love the mech, good to see Hexagon being used still.
@Ghostman, hows it going, yep im still about. Zbrush/Modo are my main tools of choice, but I have little need to make base meshes from scratch like I used to do, I have a good selection of them already. If I had to make a character base mesh, id go back to Hexagon, I work so much faster in there due to its quick extrude, and multi Universal Manipulator handles. Hexagon could have been taken to do so much better.
@ Wee Dangerous John, thanks man, hope things are going well for you.
@Kaitkbliss. Hi there. Once you get the basic tools down, tuck into a faily large project like a car, bike, this will force you to use, and learn Hexagon to the full, and while you encounter what seems problematic areas, this is the fastest way to learn. Also dont dismiss tutorials out there that where not designed for Hexagon, Maya modelling training can be related to most modelling applications. Dan.
@ user.operator. Back when Zbrush was at version 1.5 just getting on for V2.0 it lacked a great deal in the modelling department, this was the sole reason I went looking for a dedicated modelling application, and that was Hexagon. I made all my base meshes in Hexagon, and while Modo is leaps and bounds ahead for its modelling tools, the core basics like Extrude, Bevel, slice, manipulation are at the heart of all modelling, and Hexagon makes these as simple as you could ever want. Dan
@ m_m_italy, nice to see your still posting, hope your still making cool stuff.
@ Marcus Serverus, yep I had great ideas for Hexagon future, and how it could be made much better. I was hard on the bug reporting back in the day, and with time they could if the developer stayed would have made some good contest out there.
Have DAZ done away with the personal Gallery for good now then? Dan.
Hi there!
I believe the videos I have downloaded recently are yours (Youtube) to learn all the various tools in Hexagon as it's by CGDreams? It's good if there is audio included to have a better understanding of what is going on. Some videos by others has no audio and makes it difficult for beginners, especially for someone like myself starting at age 59! I have made a jacket but something is not quite right which I must try and fix! I will have a look at the tessellation video (need to add more lines on mesh for correctly lined up middle front seam cut which does not texture well) as this seems to be the problem with the jacket. Thank you for all these tutorials!! :)
Laura
Hi Laura. Glad you like the tutorials, thanks. Im sure everyone would agree, the principle is the same for modelling anything in 3D when using polygons. Keep the base mesh simple, clean as you can, then tessellate to retain shape. When I start making anything im thinking "what is its very basic shape, how few polygons can I get away with?" I prioritize the mesh flow first to deformation for animation, then style if the item is to be animated. When I say clean mesh, I mean continuous loops, connecting edge loops that are not interrupted by triangle polygons, poles, Ngons. Keep polygons as square as you can, and avoid putting seams places where you can see them, so its better to have them inside the legs, or arms. Post up for Jacket project, and your soon get some advice on where to take it.
The pic is not a Jacket as your making, but you can see how simple I start this off, and how I only add what I need. I did this years ago.
Dan.
Hi Laura. Glad you like the tutorials, thanks. Im sure everyone would agree, the principle is the same for modelling anything in 3D when using polygons. Keep the base mesh simple, clean as you can, then tessellate to retain shape. When I start making anything im thinking "what is its very basic shape, how few polygons can I get away with?" I prioritize the mesh flow first to deformation for animation, then style if the item is to be animated. When I say clean mesh, I mean continuous loops, connecting edge loops that are not interrupted by triangle polygons, poles, Ngons. Keep polygons as square as you can, and avoid putting seams places where you can see them, so its better to have them inside the legs, or arms. Post up for Jacket project, and your soon get some advice on where to take it.
The pic is not a Jacket as your making, but you can see how simple I start this off, and how I only add what I need. I did this years ago.
Dan.
Just show how one can better yourself over time like you have! :-)
I actually haven't modeled the jacket myself but is working on a resource kit for Genesis by Ghastly from ShareCG and Rendo freestuff. With the help of Patience55 I have managed to learn how to 'cut' parts. But something is still not quite right as you will see in the render done in DS4.6. Patience55 mentioned something about the tessellation lines over here: http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/45212/P15/ The dark grey areas in the render looks like overlapping of some kind she mentioned. This cause the bad texturing and one would not be able to texture the item if it's like this. I saw one of your videos covers tessellation. Hopefully I will figure out how to fix this? :smirk: This jacket is my very 1st try of any kind of modeling or rather in this case, semi-modeling. The jacket itself is fitting the Genesis character perfectly as D. Chacornac has used/tested my .obj of the jacket to draw up a quick tutorial of how to fit it onto Genesis in Hex and DS4 and conforms it with poses, etc. So, nothing wrong on that side, only the front line seam problem. :roll: I have also the Genesis Starter Kit by Fugazi to start clothing in Hexagon but still have to watch these videos by him. This jacket is suppose to be a cyclist jersey but I need to shorten the neck as it's a bit too high for such jersey. In the other forum thread mentioned, I have added images of other cuts I also want to learn using the resource kit.
I saw at your website about free videos for Hexagon, namely "Getting started with Hexagon 2.5. 26 Videos" but nothing there. Are they part of those you have uploaded at Youtube?
Laura
Did you Convert to SubD like I told you to? That should smooth out those lines.
Thank you Wendy, finally I have found the option and it looks great! :-)
Thanks for your reply too Dan! :-)
Ciao Amici.
Scrivo in italiano perchè non conosco l'inglese.
Scusate (sorry)
Uso poco Hexagon.
why?
1
little inspiration
2
I do not see in the software development
3
Studiato blender
then? (quindi?)
Hexagon is a wonderful tool for modeling.
Too bad because it is stationary.
Ciao
P.S.
:blank:
I have written the English
Sorry (scusate)
Hi CGDreams,
great to see you back here .. without your tutorials I never had learned to use Hexagon. I would like to see more tutorials. It's actually a real shame that DAZ does not properly support such a great tool as Hexagon.
If the tool anyway no support from DAZ receives, why are they then not release as open source? I'm sure Hexagon would then obtain a number of new features in no time.
I am using Hexagon to model because It's plain easy to use!
As long as it isn't crashing ;)
Working on several models now and experiencing how far my skills can go with this software :)
Thanks, im glad my tutorials where helpful. With the lack of DAZ3D support, it makes it hard for people like myself to invest the time it takes to produce quality training. I had high hopes for Hexagon 3, and was willing to offer my support to beta test it, and continue to produce quality training. With the lack of dedicated Hexagon Gallery/WIP, it does Hexagon more harm.
Danny.
I still consider myself an amateur and I pretty much scared myself with Hexagon when I began putting this model together because I pretty much didn't know what I was doing but I think the end result came out okay. I still use it and I'm lovin' it.
Hiya.
I still use it. Hexagon was still owed by...Eovia? What that it? I don't know...waaaay back when it was the new kid on block. For me, Hexagon is easily the quickest, most free-flowing "artistic modeler" I use. I am a Lighwave and Softimage (...ex-Softimage since Autodesk killed it...grrrr!) primary user. I also have Carrara Pro...and some others. I'm trying to come to grips with Blender, and I tackle it for an hour or so every week....any more than that and I get both overwhelmed and frustrated with its, shall we say, "unusual keyboard shortcuts". I'm still changing preferences in Blender to work the way I want.
Anyway...I use Hexagon when I want to actually get something done in a timely manner. If I'm in the mood for something more precise or something, then I usually find myself in Lightwave. I really like a lot of Lightwave stuff...but by all that is holy, it has so-o-o-o much "stuff" in it, it usually takes me 5 minutes just to figure out what the heck they are actually calling "Cap Hole" (actually, I still don't know if LW has that...I'm sure it does...somewhere....but it's probably called "Planerize Edges" and sits under "Detail", then "Edges", then "More" and then hidden in that drop-down...byzantine!). If Newtek would just clean up the interface so that I don't actually have to wade through fifteen different tabs and drop-downs just to do something that should be a simple one-click opperation, I'd be using LW more for modeling. They have a lot of really cool stuff (in particular, I really like their "boolean" stuff and the "Rounder" tool).
Hexagon, however, is my go-to modeler. I can whip up whatever I need in a fraction of the time it takes me to do it in other packages. I wish DAZ would either put some serious effort into Hexagon 3.0, integrate it FULLY with Carrara, or at least have the decency to sell it to a company that will do something with it. Hexagon deserves MUCH better than it's got right now...
That was a bit long....I'm off to the doctors office now, then back here to do some more free-flowing modeling in Hexagon! :)
^_^
Paul L. Ming
I too went from Hexagon to Blender. Hexagon crashed so much on my otherwise stable system, I just couldn't tolerate it anymore. Sorry DAZ!
Throwing my gauntlet down here (for the umpteenth time) for DAZ to get back to Hexagon and Bryce development, and to modernize Carrara's 1980's User Interface. I don't care how long it takes, as long as they're working on it!
Both Hex and Bryce need 64 bit addressability so that people can begin developing HD meshes. Don't the PAs at least deserve to have modern tools? DAZ says the PAs are important, yes? Well, modernizing Carrara, Hexagon, and Bryce would go a long way to proving that.
This is my question for the DAZ people in charge of charting the course for DAZ and its products.
I moved over to modo.
Wish modo had hexagons COON and GORDON tools though. Spline patching in modo is similar but not as easy to use.
I just got Modo a few months ago but haven't had the time to use it yet. I had 3 other project that were all ready modeled that I had to finish up. Working on the 2nd now so one more to go before I can start. The wife has already used it and sold the pack to DAZ.