Enscape 2.5 (sketchup especially)

    I am just wondering if I am the only one that actually think that the development of Enscape as pretty much been about Assets the past two versions. I don't want to start a riot or anything but I'll say it anyway here is the 5 logical new features I believe would have been logical to see in an actual new version, and I guess I'd be pleased if the majority of daily users like me was thinking the same, or even had more or better ideas, anyway here is some of which I think could have been worked around instead of cars...


    - Displacement and glossiness supported map (could be only on rendered images and not video at first if it helps)

    - Accurate Mirror and Metallic reflections (I think no one would mind an extra 2 seconds for a better render)

    - Boxes next to sliders for accuracy

    - Better light management and efficiency for example: Hide light shapes from reflections (rectangle, sphere) / better results with reflected lighting on surfaces line or rectangle / maybe even a new layout only for lighting which would allow easy editing

    - Finally, render elements (reflections, AO, shadows, etc.)


    I'm just saying because I see great cinematic improvements from Lumion, great UI improvements from VRAY and even their prices makes sense. Just felt like we didn't stepped much.. What do you all think?


    Gadget  Steven Garubba  Sergio Fernando  tas_1985  Finn  jason_HU  Micha  Herbo  Solo  Demian Gutberlet  Thomas Willberger


    ** sorry in advance if you think I wrongfully tagged you


    Best regards,

    I have a long list of bugs and wishes, been with Enscape from the very first Sketchup version, I have come to the realization that Enscape is all about VR first, everything else is secondary, I have to pony up and get the new L9 if I want my needs fulfilled, or I can make a request on trello and hope the features lotto favors me. I too am disappointed that the new version is just an extended library I do not need and none of my bugs and issues were addressed.

    I've noticed this is a common theme with pretty much all pieces of software today. The die-hard users (ie. those speaking out on the forums) are never satisfied, no matter how much is being done to develop the software, and there's always something that doesn't work or needs to be implemented. It never ends. Humans are great at taking things for granted. In my opinion, Enscape is near the top in terms of quick development cycles and responsiveness to user requests, much better than most companies. This doesn't mean we shouldn't keep requesting things and advocating for improvements, since we all want to see Enscape get better, but I get the impression you all don't appreciate it as much as you should. I think the new asset content is great and worthwhile, and while they haven 't released it yet, they've also been working on RTX implementation, which in my own biased opinion eclipses all of the requests above ;) I'd love to see displacement and rounded edges too, but understand that not everything can be done at once.

    Quote from TowerPower

    I've noticed this is a common theme with pretty much all pieces of software today. The die-hard users (ie. those speaking out on the forums) are never satisfied, no matter how much is being done to develop the software, and there's always something that doesn't work or needs to be implemented. It never ends. Humans are great at taking things for granted. In my opinion, Enscape is near the top in terms of quick development cycles and responsiveness to user requests, much better than most companies. This doesn't mean we shouldn't keep requesting things and advocating for improvements, since we all want to see Enscape get better, but I get the impression you all don't appreciate it as much as you should. I think the new asset content is great and worthwhile, and while they haven 't released it yet, they've also been working on RTX implementation, which in my own biased opinion eclipses all of the requests above I'd love to see displacement and rounded edges too, but understand that not everything can be done at once.

    TowerPower


    I just want the functionally that has been promised and paid for, bring all of the plugins up to the same standard BEFORE releasing new features is my main gripe. I understand that the developers cannot satisfy all user requests and i am not asking for that, but selling me an incomplete versions for the same price is just wrong


    JUST UPDATE IT SO WE HAVE PARITY nothing more nothing less

    I can see all the improvements since version 2.3, even if they are small. First of all, there has been an improvement in the overall rendering effect, as well as a huge improvement in the animation rendering speed (which LUMION and VRAY cannot achieve). Secondly, it has added a high-quality asset base

    Quote from Nuge

    TowerPower


    I just want the functionally that has been promised and paid for, bring all of the plugins up to the same standard BEFORE releasing new features is my main gripe. I understand that the developers cannot satisfy all user requests and i am not asking for that, but selling me an incomplete versions for the same price is just wrong


    JUST UPDATE IT SO WE HAVE PARITY nothing more nothing less

    I feel your pain - I'd be frustrated if that were the case too. There was a time not so long ago when Sketchup didn't have a material editor either yet Revit did. Sketchup folks were clamoring for Enscape to release one, and while it took awhile, it was worth the wait when it finally came out. We were paying the same price then as we are now for less features than Revit, just as you'll still be paying the same price when they release a material editor for ArchiCAD. I suppose the alternative is they could simply have not released an ArchiCAD version at all, and waited until they had time to develop the material editor, but would you want that either? Last I heard Enscape had over 30+ employees, so chances are there's someone working on the material editor currently. And while it's nice to think that if everyone at Enscape dropped what they were working on currently and just focused on that it would be done in no time, I'm not sure that's how things actually work. Too many cooks in the kitchen, as they say. Things take time, and you can only accelerate them so much.


    Full disclosure - I haven't been following the developments with ArchiCAD closely, so it's possible I'm way off base here, but I suspect it isn't going any slower than it did for any of the other software.

    There are many good things going on, and Enscape estimates that they have their considerations and ideas, and while there is still some room for improvement, it is understandable.

    In any case, Enscape has brought a lot of help to the work, or hope to get better and better.

    benjaminriendeau I feel the same as you about the times to expect some differential and not happen, this last week I was anxious to wait for the new version but the news had already been shown, but what I miss are the reflections of glass and mirror that has been improving each more but still must, a faithful control of opacity that would help in cases of curtains, but that even with a little patience I managed to do something acceptable, in the case of displacement and rounded edges with the help of plugins and even other software we can do, simpler ways of creating lights would be good, I have a group of users from my country and many ask for the addition of hairs as in the new version of lumion but honestly I do not think priority, a gram that could be placed vertically would be very good too , but I trust the team that is working well in this software that since the first time I met I did not leave more, but we will continue making our requests and with certainty will be attended one day. Hug.

    I've stated my opinions on several occasions:

    - I think the asset library is a mistake: a satellite add-on that diverted too much resources away from core developments. There are dedicated asset businesses that Enscape should have partnered with. And until you can change the materials of the assets, the majority of them are pointless for one-off use. To have a function beyond any other manually added proxy asset they also need to be more natural to insert and each asset should have several sub-models with slight deviations. (Again, there are dedicated plugins/developers that specialise in this.)


    - The scenes, panoramas and video modes should all be combined for a slicker uniformity in UI where all the view settings saved.


    - Numeric values should be able to be typed in from all sliders.


    - The grass has several developments that could improve it from "good" to "Fantastic!"


    - The lighting placement, editing and UI could be greatly improved.


    - Graphically there are a few things I think could polish Enscape; Bumps deforming edges, emitters not in reflections, weathering of materials, particle effects, stained glass, underwater caustics, procedural textures,...

    I think we need to give the developers a break. They are by far the fastest developers i've experienced, and it is my understanding that they do take the community very seriously. i'm missing a lot of features too, when i look at my wish list, but i know its all down to priority. I wasn't the biggest fan of the asset library as well, and my fear was that it would take way to much focus... But i'll have to admit that i can see the benefit of it here at the office. It has enabled our MANY revit users to easily increase the level of renders they can produce directly. so even though i dont use it alot myself, i'm glad it is there :-)


    Hopefully the development of the asset system itself is more or less done by now, so new features can get some focus as well :-)

    I think the new RTX support will sort out many of my current issues (reflections and GI), and i cant wait to try it out, and the only REALLY big wish i have left is support for parallel Projection, so we architects can make real elevations, sections and plans :-)

    Quote from Herbo

    I think we need to give the developers a break. They are by far the fastest developers i've experienced, and it is my understanding that they do take the community very seriously. i'm missing a lot of features too, when i look at my wish list, but i know its all down to priority. I wasn't the biggest fan of the asset library as well, and my fear was that it would take way to much focus... But i'll have to admit that i can see the benefit of it here at the office. It has enabled our MANY revit users to easily increase the level of renders they can produce directly. so even though i dont use it alot myself, i'm glad it is there :-)


    Hopefully the development of the asset system itself is more or less done by now, so new features can get some focus as well :-)

    I think the new RTX support will sort out many of my current issues (reflections and GI), and i cant wait to try it out, and the only REALLY big wish i have left is support for parallel Projection, so we architects can make real elevations, sections and plans :-)

    well so if i want what i am paying for i need to buy another thing ??

    I appreciate your open thoughts on this matter. While I don't think that it's useful for you if I go through every reason why we scheduled something, I want to provide you an insight.

    There are two things that have changed: Our variety of features and the number of (different) users. Every feature deserves to be improved over time - this has been our philosophy from the beginning. We rather want to put an emphasis on quality and detail than a bunch of immature features. But also, the range of "how" people use Enscape differs increasingly - maybe just in a subtle way but that still changes the perceived importance of certain additions. In the end, we have a group of users who perceive that this feature is most relevant for almost every feature.

    We draw two conclusions: First, we will continue to increase our implementation speed. We grew our team quite heavily in the last quarters and form various teams to focus full time on different parts of Enscape. Second, we will maintain our focus to carefully pick areas where we're confident that we can maintain, improve and compete in those regions.


    TL;DR: I can't help you immediately, but I can tell you: There are many people in the Enscape team that read and care about what you write. We work towards getting better - sometimes it just takes a bit more patience!

    Quote from jan1

    well so if i want what i am paying for i need to buy another thing ??

    Well, i guess you cant expect realtime raytracing on a photorealistic level, without having the hardware to back it up ;-) I would have loved to be able to play Crysis on my old commodore, but thats unfortunately not how it works ;-)

    in my opinion Enscape has already provided much more quality (and raytracing to some degree) than one could expect from an easy-to-use realtime software :-)

    Quote from Herbo

    Well, i guess you cant expect realtime raytracing on a photorealistic level, without having the hardware to back it up ;-) I would have loved to be able to play Crysis on my old commodore, but thats unfortunately not how it works ;-)

    in my opinion Enscape has already provided much more quality (and raytracing to some degree) than one could expect from an easy-to-use realtime software :-)

    and guess what , i got second fastest nvidia card and dont want buy another one only because nvidia, i want buy features only because enscape !

    We do not force you to buy new specific hardware. That's why our real time raytracing also runs on current generation AMD and NV even without RTX. RTX will allow a few more rays here and there for obvious reasons.

    Quote from Thomas Schander

    We do not force you to buy new specific hardware. That's why our real time raytracing also runs on current generation AMD and NV even without RTX. RTX will allow a few more rays here and there for obvious reasons.

    i know that , but some people just want to opposite and this is what i dont want , i want to be free with using enscape , thats all .....

    Firstly this thread is very natural, developers should be more concerned if a thread like this does not happen, with every release there will be acceptance, praise, disappointment and rejection, no company can make everyone happy at the same time. This release makes more people happy than it disappoints as it does include a very nice and growing library of assets and one can clearly see Enscape is a progressing software with a hard working team behind it. I'm a daily user, a "power user" I guess, my needs are different than the average user, it does not make my opinions more important as I'm just one of many users, but my voice and a few other dissenters here serve Enscape as a checks and balance, discussions like this are healthy for growth and direction.

    Secondly, Enscape has come such a far way and pretty fast too, I remember the first SU version that lacked pretty much everything, no material editor or emitters, animation was a single path only, and we like this rate of improvement, one of the endearing qualities of Enscape is their attention and participation.

    I also need to understand there are users unlike me that need an asset library, I may have years of collected assets but the average user may not.

    So in conclusion, both opinions are valid just the fact that you took the time to express them serves Enscape and every non participant user. Enscape has come a long way, lets keep them on that track with both praise and accountability.

    I think some of you guys are way too harsh for the development team. I've been part of a lot of beta programs, and I've never seen a team that's more responsive to feedback.


    I understand that for Sketchup users, the asset library wasn't high on the wishlist, but for Revit (and to some degree Rhino/Archicad users), being able to add entourage without tanking the model performance is enormously important. We had it on #1 on our wishlist for over 2 years. And there's still work left to be done (custom assets for example).


    So for all the Archicad users complaining about feature parity: you guys are getting things way faster then the Revit/Sketchup/Rhino users got. Sketchup users had to wait more than a year for a material browser if I remember correctly. Revit is still waiting for custom proxies (which Sketchup has had over a year). I'm not saying this to complain but to give some perspective.


    Also, it would be a very bad strategy (not to mention unfair to other users) to just halt development until Archicad has achieved 100% feature parity.