pMG Messiah for $10? But wait....

Lamont · Feb 2011

Check it out:

http://projectmessiah.com/x6/shop.html

But...

Rules: Everyone can only receive their license when the goal is met. That's your incentive to spread the word and share the offer.

This offer is open to: Individuals, small businesses, hobbyists, starving artists, the unemployed, schools, students, CG studios, game developers, plugin developers, architects, tinkerers, compositors and aspiring movie makers, in any country. Limit 4 copies per customer, mix and match.

Zpanzer · Feb 2011

So, if they don't reach their goal, you're 10$ or 40$ bucks down?

Lamont · Feb 2011

I am pretty sure they will reach the goal. It hasn't been going on long and it's 10% there. Also, to get $1200 seat of software for $40.

Would you do the same thing if it was Adobe? Discreet?

Zpanzer · Feb 2011

I would, but seeing as neither animation nor rigging is my current occupation(and 40$ still is a good deal of money when I'm on my intern salary) I just want to make sure I got anything right before throwing money after it

rooster · Feb 2011

does it say anywhere what they're measuring to reach the goal, or what the goal is?

Ben Apuna · Feb 2011

I'm interested but I'm wondering how well it will export animations to various game engines.

From briefly reading through their forums it seems that a few people have had varying levels of success getting FBXs with animation from Messiah to Unity. So it looks like it will "probably" work.

Ah, here's a thread with quite a lot of info, looks like there will be a patch to fix many Unity/FBX related problems.

Has anyone used Messiah with UDK or any other engines?

I also wonder if the Pro version could be used for rigid body simulations for things like making piles of debris.

I'll probably pick up the basic version just to have the option available, as my primary app Modo has no skeletal animation ability at all.

Andreas · Feb 2011

Whats messiah got that other packages may not? I might put 10 down if theres cool retopology tools or something along those lines.

Ged · Feb 2011

rooster wrote: »

does it say anywhere what they're measuring to reach the goal, or what the goal is?

this!
seriously it could take a million dollars or they could just keep moving the goal posts and you will never know!

Justin Meisse · Feb 2011

Getting $1200 software for $40? Is it really worth $1200 or is it $40 software that they normally sell for $1200?

wailingmonkey · Feb 2011

call me a sucka, but I just took the leap of faith.

(nice to have another rigging/animating/rendering option for *hopefully* such
a good deal)

James Edwards · Feb 2011

It's actually a pretty good little package. I had a license for a couple of years and really enjoyed it. I may buy a mac and pc license just to have again, it's so damn cheap. It only does rigging/animation and rendering though. It is not a full software suite.

The bar length has tripled over night since I first clicked the link. Here's hoping they meet the goal.

Arkadius · Feb 2011

"In the event the goal is not met, we will simply refund everyone."

No faith needed.

I just put down 40 for the render. I heard the render is based on "Arnold" can anyone shed some light on that?

Lamont · Feb 2011

Justin_Meisse wrote: »

Getting $1200 software for $40? Is it really worth $1200 or is it $40 software that they normally sell for $1200?

pmG used to ONLY do character rigging and animation and it was/is awesome.

If you don't have an animation solution, get it.

It's about 20% now and it's been a few hours.

Michael Knubben · Feb 2011

"unprecedented viral test marketing campaign"

This is actually extremely common in other industries, particularly those surrounding audio. Plugins, sample-sets, presets...

Edit: Not to keep picking apart their marketing material, but 'now one of the fastest growing CG packages on the market.'?
I always thought it was losing interest, not gaining it (it was very popular for a while, but seemed to have grown more obscure lately), which this marketing stunt only seems to confirm.

rooster · Feb 2011

I wonder how many people are like 'hmm, I dunno doesn't seem like a sure bet. I'll wait till the bar reaches 90%'

Cyrael · Feb 2011

rooster wrote: »

I wonder how many people are like 'hmm, I dunno doesn't seem like a sure bet. I'll wait till the bar reaches 90%'

lol. Pick me! Pick me!

Ben Apuna · Feb 2011

I bought the Basic version last night. I'm pretty sure I don't need all the Pro features. I don't even need a animation program 99% of the time, but at $10, why not?

I'd say if you want it just buy it, it's not going to get any cheaper. Also if you wait till the 90% mark you might just miss out, not to mention you'll have to waste time checking on the progress from time to time.

Cyrael · Feb 2011

Ben, you're absolutely right. The basic version for 10 is a steal. I'm kind of waiting to hear some more feedback from some people who have used it, because I do animate quite a bit... and the 40 for pro is probably the purchase I'd end up making... I just kind of want to justify making it.

uneditablepoly · Feb 2011

yeah, definitely a good idea on their part. it generates interest that wasn't there before and creates potential future revenue with upgrades and such in doing so. anyways, no real risk so i'm definitely dropping $10 to get the basic version, and i would easily drop $40 for pro if i needed those extra features

tanka · Feb 2011

I forked out my $40. I'm keen to see what this thing can do. It might be good for a lazy rigger like myself.

Entity · Feb 2011

I remember way back when Zbrush was starting to pick up steam and seeing Taron doing some amazing displacement blending with Messiah.

Drakon · Feb 2011

Im in! 40$ paid. Just couldnt resist, call me an impulsive shopper :P Also if this program does evolve into something bigger and better in the coming years, i'd rather pay for an upgrade instead of buying the whole shabang for way more bucks.

skylebones · Feb 2011

We used it at an animation studio I worked at a few years ago. Had to give out my $40.

dogzer · Feb 2011

I paid $40 for pro! hope it we reach the goal soon!

Lord McMutton · Feb 2011

I coughed up ten bucks, but out of curiosity, how much better is this thing than Blender?

Fang · Feb 2011

I put my $40 into the pool for Pro Edition. Hope they reach their goal

Mongrelman · Feb 2011

Got the basic myself, always been curious about this program.

Have a look at this WIP on the forum. The model and textures are from head scans by Infinite Realities, but the rigging, animation and rendering are in Messiah.

http://www.usefulslug.com/files/Xerxestest5.mov

Thread here
http://setuptab.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=ad150c75da2f3aa3e080d7a132ca3e73&topic=2321.0

Muffinking · Feb 2011

Put down my $40... let's do this baby!

bejkon · Feb 2011

Thanks for sharing!
Just picked up the pro version and it was even cheaper then expected cause at first I read 40 euro and the dollar must be superlow now.

Curious how powerfull the autorig is and the "point animation module" looks really badass.

Entity · Feb 2011

Just picked up a basic license for my little nephew and a pro one for myself

Can't wait for this to fill up.

rube · Feb 2011

I picked up the pro license. I don't animate that often, but I figure for $40 I can't really lose.

pior · Feb 2011

Just bought it - I am curious about their FBX pipeline. I would love to be able to build rough FBX rigs quickly between this and Mudbox ...

Muzzoid · Feb 2011

I REALLY cant afford this right now... But i guess im going to transfer the money to the card and do it...

Using some screenshots i worked out it jumped up 1% in 20 min, but i think it only jumps up in full 1% blocks, so i'll have to keep watching it if i want to work out a speed projection for how fast its going.

Also isnt this front page news worthy?

TheBat · Feb 2011

I also ordered a basic and a pro one. Let's hope we indeed reach the goal soon!

Muzzoid · Feb 2011

Yay its past the 50% mark

.

Lamont · Feb 2011

The unlimited render nodes will come in handy. I can't wait to get my mitts on it.

r_fletch_r · Feb 2011

I just put down the cash for the pro license.

I like the tongue in cheek humour

Autodesk MESSIAH!!!

Entity · Feb 2011

From what I've seen so far the render engine (a modified Arnold) is really fast when it comes to simple GI and displacements..can't wait

rumbox · Feb 2011

I put down $40 for a Pro edition. I'm just wondering if its worth putting in another $10 for a basic version so that I have a copy on a machine dedicated to animation, and whether I should have the Pro copy on a machine for its unlimited rendernodes etc?

I'm familiar with Messiah's animation and rigging abilities, but am not familiar with its rendering setup.

Ben Apuna · Feb 2011

No need for multiple licenses, unless you want to have Mac/PC/Linux.

I think you lock the license to a USB thumbdrive or hard drive. So moving a license between PCs shouldn't be too difficult.

Here's more info:

http://forums.luxology.com/discussion/topic.aspx?id=53825&page=10

Luxology Forum - ManFriday's post wrote:

Their licensing scheme is a little weird. It involves tying a license file to a standard USB thumb drive.

The process is basically as follows:
You put a thumbdrive in your computer.
you run an .exe they provide which gets the hardware ID of your thumbdrive.
you email that number to PMG, and the email you back a license file.
You copy the license file to that thumbdrive.
That thumbdrive is now essentially a dongle.

The cool thing is that you can also run messiah from that thumbdrive, so the APP becomes portable. You can take it to work with you, stick it in and just run messiah straight form the usb drive.

rumbox · Feb 2011

Thanks for the info Ben.
But Im assuming that if you want to have 2 copies running simultaneously on different PC's then you will need 2 dongles?

Ben Apuna · Feb 2011

Yeah 2 copies simultaneously (not just rendering) would probably need two licenses/dongles.

pior · Feb 2011

60% there ... I wonder what their target number actually is. Maybe they'll just magically bend the numbers at the end to reach the target more easily

Ben Apuna · Feb 2011

I figure they don't really have any target set in stone. Sort of like throwing out a net to see what they catch.

They're probably not making much money off the promotion at all, rather trying to increase their user base to improve their community and therefore value of the app. Sort of like what Unity did with their free version.

Not to mention sew the seeds for potential upgrade income in the future.

rumbox · Feb 2011

Ben Apuna wrote: »

I figure they don't really have any target set in stone. Sort of like throwing out a net to see what they catch.

They're probably not making much money off the promotion at all, rather trying to increase their user base to improve their community and therefore value of the app. Sort of like what Unity did with their free version.

Not to mention sew the seeds for potential upgrade income in the future.

Agreed. If it wasn't for this promotion I would't have considered Messiah in my pipeline because I'm not a money bags McGee. I think this offer will help a lot of people to expand their pipeline with better tools and at the same time drastically increase Messiah's user base.

Rick Stirling · Feb 2011

They are also raising their profile with a LOT of free advertising. It's all over most CG sites, most tech sites and Facebook. Paying for that amount of advertising would cost a fortune, and digital downloads won't cost them very much to process, so it's a cheap and effective way to advertise the company as well as increasing the user base.

As well as that their software is REALLY good.

...I wish Photoshop wasn't so well known.