Is it any good? I tried it a bit some time ago and was pretty impressed with the modeling features. Can someone elaborate on the UV and rendering features?
No rendering features. I think it can bake normal-maps.
For modelling and general quick/fun use, I really like it. You can hammer out a base mesh in no time, and even sculpt on it to test before zbrushing (sometimes you might not need to zbrush at all, although the sculpting is nowhere near as full-featured).
I never really liked the way they handled UVs though. I haven't tried the very latest version, it looks like they've improved it, but it still feels pretty alien to me. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it. Feels a LOT different than Max or Maya.
I pretty much only use Silo for modeling; it's much more intuitive, and it's much faster, doesn't crash randomly, etc. :P The UV mapping takes a little getting used to but it's very nice, you have a lot of control over the UVs and it has some nice built-in features (somewhat similar to Wings3D).
As far as rendering goes I think you can just link it with an external rendering program, I don't think it has an internal renderer other than the viewport. The materials don't support normal maps or anything, so usually once I've modeled something I take it into Max to finish it.
I'd say Silo is definitely worth the money just for the modeling, even.
For modeling, I love it, very quick, light and intuitive. But its not the end all-be all to the 3D packages. Its a modeling tool. It really depends on how intense the modeling is going to be if I really need to fire it up. Most of the time I should be using it, I don't because it is a separate app and I figure why bother just for this, and then about 75% of the way in I wonder why I didn't do it silo I would have been done already.
I'd suggest checking it out and even if you don't buy it, you'll probably go back to 3dsmax or Maya and reconfigure some tools to work harder for you.
I haven't tried out the latest additions to the UV tools, they look improved but I think I'd still prefer to unwrap in 3dsmax. I'm still getting used to Maya and not nearly as fast. I wouldn't use it as a replacement for 3dsmax or Maya but as an additional modeling tool its great. I've said a few times I wish they would replace Edit Poly with it, heh.
i'd hope they would improve the viewport shaders, to accomodate normal maps, shadows and such.
anyways, i like it. cutting isn't gay, like in 3ds max, UI isn't confusing and counterintuitive like blender.
its going to be awesome sometime in the future, when it gets a more full-featured feature set.
and yeah, the UV editor in silo sucks. managed to crash it.
yeah MoP, i was thinking of using it more for base meshes, however if it could do hi-res hard surfaces like max/maya or better, than it would be better choice for me.
yeah i've done some vehicles and stuff, it's pretty good.
the nicest thing is proper sub-d iso editing (when you subdivide something, it keeps only the base mesh's control verts, edges and polys selectable, in the right place on the smoothed mesh, so you can work subdivided if you want).
i feel that the instancing / scene management could be improved a fair bit, so i don't know how efficient it'd be with a really complex scene with lots of objects and instances.
Silo is really good, I was going to be my usual self an be sarcastic but .... It's nice for sub d very easy and good for organic things. I wish it had a few more tools but I'm sure in time it will have them. I open it just to have fun, yeah, i said fun, you can go in an quickly make stuff that would be harder in other apps. I haven't tried the latest uv tools yet.
The new UV tools are very nice, I'll mention a few key features (many available in other packages but were not there before, some new ones):
Mark seams on the 3d mesh.
Unwrap by LSCM
Live LSCM mapping with vert locking (bloody great for organic meshes)
Unwrap by face angles
Unwrap by neighbours (fills holes)
Symmetrical UVs, so edit one side and the other side updates
Mirror UVs along an edge loop (unlike max where you's select and flip)
Mirror UV islands - two arms on your model? It'll overlay them for you on the UV map. You can even cut loops into one arm and it can still mirror them.
I love Silo and use it for base meshes and retopologising mostly, with a bit of sculpting (mostly for refining a base mesh, rather than a full sculpt though). UV tools are getting there, but I prefer to use UV layout still.
Its lack of history/stack and lack of even simple deformers like bend, squash etc. might make some hard surface stuff hard to model. I still have to dip into Maya occasionally to do certain things.
There's a 30 day full-featured trial anyway. If you've got any 3d experience you'll pick up the modelling tools in about half an hour, and most of the default hotkeys are very sensible too.
heh, yeah love the easy switch. scrambled around about 5 minutes, and modeled some boxy blob thing with cutting and extrudes in less than 10 minutes, and without tutorials!
i wonder how it is trying to work this thing from ortho drawings though.
I tried the trial and I was very impressed with the clean UI, nice hotkeys and just streamlined modeling tools... however, there was some really dodgy stuff happening with the selecting of vertices/edges/faces. I can single-select everything fine but theres some pre-selection highlighting thing that doesnt quite work, I put my mouse near 1 vertex, expecting it to get highlight but instead some other vertex on the other side of the model that isnt even in the same edge loop or direction as the one I want gets selected!
This becomes a big problem if I try using the paint selection or area selection as I end up selecting all sorts of random vertices/faces/edges.
The only selection tool that worked was the lasso selection
Yozora Silo can select through the object (like max without ignore backfacing on) and also only select visible (like max with ignore backfacing on). Go to editors/option menu and go to mouse settings and look at the what the left mouse button does by default and what the middle click does by default. I suggest you set some settings and try again. Once you know what the selection tools are set up to do or set them to your liking you'll be happier with the program.
Yozora, you got forced anti aliasing switched on on your graphics card options? In older versions of Silo, it caused some selection weirdness. Not sure what version the demo is at just now.
Silo's great for modelling, though I still feel like it could use a bunch of little improvements. There's no way to hotkey-snap to increments (shift, ctrl, shift-ctrl) when using operations like bevel, etc, which makes it a little annoying to work on mechanical models sometimes, and scale doesn't snap to grid, either. No on-demand rotation snapping, either.
MoP, the 2.1 beta has improved the UV tools dramatically. However, modifying the geometry of a base mesh still hoses the sculpting you've done to the affected polys, which is annoying.
Also, I still get lots of symmetry-related weirdness when I modify the geometry with certain ops (extrude is one of the main culprits).
The new surface tool is really nice, but could use a couple of improvements still.
I agree with vig in that it could use some nice viewport shaders, and also more options for materials (I've been waiting for a long time for an option to display textures without filtering when I'm working with small textures).
Silo's very easy to pick up, and is fun to mess around in. But it still is lacking some basic tools and has no scripting language to change this. things like angle snapping can be done through the numerical editor, but as others have said theirs no on-demand way to do it. it's also lacking the ability to hold selections when switching modes, inserting more then one spaced loop at a time, mirroring has an endless stream of problems, and much more.
It's good for the most part, and you certanly could do hard surface work in it, but still needs more features/functions before it can become a real alternative to modeling in other more established packages.
Polyhertz:
You can actually hold selections between modes (default is Shift+modekey, so shift-A to switch from edges to verts, for example).
Inserting multiple loops is also doable, though clunky, in that you need to pull up the cut option tab and enter the desired number of loops... and then resetting that to 1 so you don't screw up your next cut operation.
Basically, it still needs refinement. But for the cost, it's got a fantastic toolset.
Oh, and it seems the new beta has fixed a bunch of the symmetry problems I mentioned in my previous post... Haven't had a chance to mess with it yet to see how much it got fixed, though.
Yozora, you got forced anti aliasing switched on on your graphics card options? In older versions of Silo, it caused some selection weirdness. Not sure what version the demo is at just now.
ahh yes thanks that was the problem...
But now the edges look really jaggy and ugly (not that it matters for modelling purposes )
Replies
For modelling and general quick/fun use, I really like it. You can hammer out a base mesh in no time, and even sculpt on it to test before zbrushing (sometimes you might not need to zbrush at all, although the sculpting is nowhere near as full-featured).
I never really liked the way they handled UVs though. I haven't tried the very latest version, it looks like they've improved it, but it still feels pretty alien to me. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it. Feels a LOT different than Max or Maya.
As far as rendering goes I think you can just link it with an external rendering program, I don't think it has an internal renderer other than the viewport. The materials don't support normal maps or anything, so usually once I've modeled something I take it into Max to finish it.
I'd say Silo is definitely worth the money just for the modeling, even.
I'd suggest checking it out and even if you don't buy it, you'll probably go back to 3dsmax or Maya and reconfigure some tools to work harder for you.
I haven't tried out the latest additions to the UV tools, they look improved but I think I'd still prefer to unwrap in 3dsmax. I'm still getting used to Maya and not nearly as fast. I wouldn't use it as a replacement for 3dsmax or Maya but as an additional modeling tool its great. I've said a few times I wish they would replace Edit Poly with it, heh.
anyways, i like it. cutting isn't gay, like in 3ds max, UI isn't confusing and counterintuitive like blender.
its going to be awesome sometime in the future, when it gets a more full-featured feature set.
and yeah, the UV editor in silo sucks. managed to crash it.
Anyone done hard surface stuff in silo?
oh and thanks for all the feedback guys.
the nicest thing is proper sub-d iso editing (when you subdivide something, it keeps only the base mesh's control verts, edges and polys selectable, in the right place on the smoothed mesh, so you can work subdivided if you want).
i feel that the instancing / scene management could be improved a fair bit, so i don't know how efficient it'd be with a really complex scene with lots of objects and instances.
Alex
The new UV tools are very nice, I'll mention a few key features (many available in other packages but were not there before, some new ones):
Mark seams on the 3d mesh.
Unwrap by LSCM
Live LSCM mapping with vert locking (bloody great for organic meshes)
Unwrap by face angles
Unwrap by neighbours (fills holes)
Symmetrical UVs, so edit one side and the other side updates
Mirror UVs along an edge loop (unlike max where you's select and flip)
Mirror UV islands - two arms on your model? It'll overlay them for you on the UV map. You can even cut loops into one arm and it can still mirror them.
The new retopologising tools are great too.
Its lack of history/stack and lack of even simple deformers like bend, squash etc. might make some hard surface stuff hard to model. I still have to dip into Maya occasionally to do certain things.
There's a 30 day full-featured trial anyway. If you've got any 3d experience you'll pick up the modelling tools in about half an hour, and most of the default hotkeys are very sensible too.
i wonder how it is trying to work this thing from ortho drawings though.
This becomes a big problem if I try using the paint selection or area selection as I end up selecting all sorts of random vertices/faces/edges.
The only selection tool that worked was the lasso selection
Alex
But I'm expecting this to change as the devs start to cater to the users' wishes of added features.
MoP, the 2.1 beta has improved the UV tools dramatically. However, modifying the geometry of a base mesh still hoses the sculpting you've done to the affected polys, which is annoying.
Also, I still get lots of symmetry-related weirdness when I modify the geometry with certain ops (extrude is one of the main culprits).
The new surface tool is really nice, but could use a couple of improvements still.
I agree with vig in that it could use some nice viewport shaders, and also more options for materials (I've been waiting for a long time for an option to display textures without filtering when I'm working with small textures).
It's good for the most part, and you certanly could do hard surface work in it, but still needs more features/functions before it can become a real alternative to modeling in other more established packages.
You can actually hold selections between modes (default is Shift+modekey, so shift-A to switch from edges to verts, for example).
Inserting multiple loops is also doable, though clunky, in that you need to pull up the cut option tab and enter the desired number of loops... and then resetting that to 1 so you don't screw up your next cut operation.
Basically, it still needs refinement. But for the cost, it's got a fantastic toolset.
Oh, and it seems the new beta has fixed a bunch of the symmetry problems I mentioned in my previous post... Haven't had a chance to mess with it yet to see how much it got fixed, though.
ahh yes thanks that was the problem...
But now the edges look really jaggy and ugly
alt + z for undo selection
alt + shift + z for redo selection
I have it bound to alt + mouse wheel myself for going up and down levels. pretty slick really.