Where is Rhino 6?

Its been almost 2.5 years since Rhino 5 was released and my understanding is there is major version release every two years.

Where can I find the roadmap for v6? Has the release date been announced? Is it going to happen this year?

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That understanding is incorrect… Major releases are every… “when it’s ready”.

Rhino 5 was about 5 years in the making.

The general consensus is that was far too long, so the intention is to reduce that considerably - the common desire is about a 3 year cycle max…

A Rhino 6 WIP version does actually exist, but it is not available to the general public yet. That will be later on in its development, pretty much only when it goes from WIP to Beta (in my understanding).

HTH,
–Mitch

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I would love to use this politic with my customers , when ? " when it’s ready"

Seriously i think it’s too long , where concurrency update their program every 1-2 years with new features , new improvements, new tools, Rhino freeze , and the gap growing.

May be we should change the name Rhino to Turtle… :smile:

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O, yes - like Autodesk! Do You really thing that such a complex software can ride every year with “new”’ features, maintaining stability and compatibility? Autodesk proves this wrong! And Rhino releases 11 updates since its intro - so development never stops!

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One of the reasons we love Rhino is exactly because a new buggy version is NOT released into the wild every 11 months or two years or whenever the “other” guys do.

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The 11 updates are bug fixes, not (major) new development.

Yes i think so, Zbrush is a perfect example.

really ?

Do you think Rhino 5 was released NOT buggy … in to the wild ?

Even my toolbars can’t stay in place after 11 updates.

Mcneel seem to be trapped in bugs corrections since amlost 3 years, may be they should put more energy in new development.

Don’t get me wrong, i like rhino, but i often have the feeling to work with an old software .

A “new” version of software every year can be a revenue strategy.

As a modo user, I consider Rhino to be a rock solid performer. Unlike modo, Rhino never crashes, never loses my files. No complaints here.

may be every 2 years will be a good compromise.

One day At Mcneel :

Bob : " Ok guys, Rhino is stable , no crashes !! don’t touch anything ! switch off your computers !! "

employee : " Hum Sorry boss, what do we do now ? "

Bob : " nothing, it’s too risky, we can create bugs"

employee : " and for Rhino 6 ? "

Bob : " just change 5 to 6, and we will launch a beta testing during 2 years to be sure "

employee : " Ok boss, but that’s not real improvments…"

Bob : " ( thinking … … … thinking again … ) OK ! i have an idea !! we will create a new revolutionnary tool, and we call this tool … SWEEP 0 ! Hahaha ! "

employee : " and what this tool does boss ? "

Bob : " imagine, you can create surface between two profiles without rails !! ahahaha i’m so genius"

employee : “…”

employee : " hum sorry boss, but … we have already developed this tool in the past, he’s name is LOFT …"

Bob : " … Damned ! why nobody told me !! "

employee : “…”

Bob " OK … what do you think about … Sweep 1 ?! "

employee : " already done ! "

Bob " REVOLVE ?"

employee : " already done ! "

Bob " SURFACE NETWORK ?"

employee : " already done ! "

Bob : " toolbars moving ?!"

employee : " already done ! and working well … "

Bob : " Twist, Bend, Flow, Blend, extract, Merge, Match, cap, extrude, Split, trim !!???

employee : " All Done Sir !!! "

Bob : " ( thinking … … … thinking again … )"

Bob : " OK, This tool is perfect ! why we do improve the perfection ? "

Employee : " (hopeless) … You are the best boss … "

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you can’t come up with a better story than that? i was hoping for at least a little chuckle by the end.
:smile:

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I found that “story” slightly insulting. No one likes to have their job taken as a joke.
Especially in a company that not only develops and is constantly improving a tool, but daily attend hundreds or thousands of customers for each and every request, doubt and error, in a matter of hours.
Yes, there are, however, issues that are still present after several updates.

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and fictional as well… i’ve been to the office and it was nothing like described.

i wouldn’t get too upset over falfa’s ‘analysis’ ; )

I actually found it complimenting. Wake up on the wrong side of bed much?

English (as myconfused writing sugests) isn’t my native language, and I may have missed the joke because of that…
Anyway, replying to @numan, I agree with him, some of us are enthusiastic about Rhino and like follow its development if possible.

I don’t want to relearn how to use my right and left hand every 2 years. Rhino 5 was a huge upgrade from 4, just like 4 was a a big improvement over 3. I’ve kept to only updating with stable updates and have been very happy with the results. Complaining and composing borderline insulting stories about what McNeel does during office hours does not help anything here.

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Rhino is a solid product, and incredibly powerful with its ecosystem of plugins such as RhinoWorks, T-Splines, Grasshopper, MadCAM, etc.

I certainly hope McNeel doesn’t take threads like this too seriously. Adding obscure new features just to release version 6 is silly and leads to bloat-ware.

Please continue the excellent support for the current version. I hope it will be many years before a new version in released.

I don’t agree with any what Falfa said, but as I think I can at least feel where he’s coming from. Of course there’s the business models you guys mentioned, with yearly costly updates for marginal additions, maintainance fees etc. Falfa’s comparison case was Zbrush though. Looking at the evolution of this particular software one may either ask how they do it – or how the others do it.

Pixologic hasn’t charged a single penny from existing users since 2004 and since then two full releases and countless point releases added very substantial, sometimes even groundbreaking new features to their software. The recent update from .6 to .7 came with 200 pages of documentation alone + several dozens of demonstration clips. The outcome has at all times been an extremely solid product.

That just to give some background on Zbrush… but also quite in general in the arena of VFX software peoples expectations for frequent substantial updates and them being presented in cool video clips seems a lot higher than among CAD-users. Just have a look at the way even the free program Blender presents any of its frequent point releases!

Agree with hifred, Zbrush pixologic is perhaps the most “active” in term of software development. R6 to R7 is a big leap and they always come up with awesome tools. When i say tools, tons of tons of tons of tools… (search zbrush summit 4R7 subD feature, u all will be amazed)
I hav been waiting for rhino 6 mainly because of SubD tool addition in version6… They said they have added subD tool but only limited to basic operation. On the otherhand, MAYA, (rhino counterparts?) has perfected both SubD, NURBS, poly, scUlpting, VFX, dinamics, animation,etc for long time. With each year update of enhancement and impressive tool. So Rhino really needs to change to “cheetah” if mcneel wants to survive in the far future. (As soon as Autodesk brings Grasshopper-like feature in 3dsmax or MAYA, rhino would be in a serious trouble. Which i believe they had already started from some hint i got on autodesk forum)
We cant blame Mcneel for that because obviously Autodesk is much bigger company and therefor they have more people and resources. Rhino 5 is a big leap from 4 so I wish 6 will become a game changer since we have waited too long for this.