Robert McNeel & Associates are in decline

So you are saying you would sell Grasshopper for 1.35 billion?

Fine, sell them Flamingo and Penguin. They’ll fit well in their suite. Throw in Toucan if the haggle.

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Hmm, but then there is that ‘thing’ about a cornered animal…

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those f-ers bite too…

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lol
.

No No they will be fine…

Hedging on VR, SAS and and a cloud API that will fix years of disparate code base is a sure fire way forward…
User requirements be damn! I mean if you can get them to pay you a monthly stipend and they write their own tools whats not to love.

I hear I can parse strings all day in the cloud

Are you aware there are less than 5000 total alias seats in circulation worldwide (actually closer to 3800 if you are looking only at auto studio) ? As far as a standard bearer, that is one that is truly in decline. btw I’m level 3 alias trained from the factory and have used both rhino and alias for a lonnnng time. There are massive problems with alias, that they just refuse to fix. (like their trimming math that leaves naked edges on small corners) Alias imho is been dead for years and is only being used seriously by very few car guys who spend a fortune for a tool who’s core was written in the 70’s. F360 is where ADis betting the farm for designers going forward in my opinion.

I’m aware this is a big argument and everyone’s tool is the “best”, I’m not trying to start a “my dad can beat up your dad” argument, just relaying some facts to add to the discussion. Do with them what you will.

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@theoutside

I could not agree with you more actually, which I’d readily admit may not have been evident in my bullets. Seriously!

Personally, I never liked nor took to Alias, and I sure tried. Such is one reason I gravitated towards Rhino years ago.

Historically, however, (going back to the pre-AD Toronto days, forward) Alias has, in my view, represented a gold standard for ID, whether deserved or not. Frankly, I’m with you in thinking not! But please consider that the question was - why would one “pay” a boat load, and I tried to assign a reason. You filled in some color…

That said, clearly F360 is one attempt at the future (I use it daily, which first stemmed from a desire to stay current with T-Splines.)

Rhino has been a fantastic product, from a clearly admirable crew, with what anyone invested must hope (I assume) has a bright future, exemplified by the passion evoked in attempts to shape its future.

A little more history relative to past/present/(possible future) - Alias/Rhino/Surfacing/Sub-D

First paragraph in develop3d link below touches on the historical hegemony of Alias, then speculates on future relative to Alias, Fusion 360, and those ‘few car guys’ still using Alias, relative to decline and/or potential continued hegemony. (To a small subset)

Of note, at the end of the article, notice the interface of Speedform - it is the F360 interface. The internal managerial AD debate on how to ‘milk’ the ‘car guys’, and develop Fusion, has to be hot, presumably.

Of what they own, they can swap whatever they want, whenever they want, into Fusion. How will they differentiate, so as to continue to milk - maintain differentiation. Likely strategy is to try and grow F360 base to the point where ‘milking’ a subset is no longer an effective strategy??? Maybe…Easier than making F360 users apoplectic via extensive price hikes.

Therein lies the continued opportunity for Rhino. Rhino has always been a viable alternative. A world where conceptual design is controlled by one entity is counterproductive.

Rhino, with its own unique (read - effective and controlled by McNeel) Sub-D, and any surfacing improvements (read - simply duplicates of lost capability) continues the provision of an effective alternative for conceptual design.

@ec2638, you convinced me. I’m switching…

I can make all the things with it!




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ouch…:joy:

Hey, we can do those-

-Pascal

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:imp: Sales and marketing guys…

it looks like Fusion 360 can build similar blobs, but more mechanical and more metallic. I need to use that software more. My life will be way better.

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Hiiii, I’m back. My switch was short live. I installed, looked around, went for lunch and reconsider my life choices, so if @pascal continues to fix my scripts I might hang around a bit longer, maybe another 10 years, but that’s it.

BTW, I’m confused. What is Alias Speedform giving me that F360 doesn’t have besides the Wheel Arc? There has not be something else right? Or is it really that easy to get money out of Automotive customers?

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Dark background means a PRO app, everybody knows that!

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Now you are with the program! That is what I am trying to figure out.

If you’d really like to go off the deep end, AD will demonstrate their vision of a designer’s future here - especially including car guys - and including a history lesson. (Hint - the vision is first and foremost a T-Splines workflow)

Different strokes for different folks??? Or perhaps T-Splines for car guys (Speedform) and T-Splines for everyone else (Fusion)?..who sees a strategy…???

And NURBS, well, don’t want to make you suicidal… Keep in mind ‘visions’ and ‘future’…reality takes its own shape.

Alias Speedform Wheel Arch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWNxhRo6AAw