Hexagon instability
bernoullilemniscate
Posts: 10
Does anyone know if DAZ plans to upgrade Hexagon or at least perform maintenance on it to improve its stability?
Also the documentation is in desperate knee of revision>>:(
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Agreed, and I don't know. There is a hexagon chat area that I found many answers, and came back with many more questions.
Hexagon was purchased from another company, so updates may be far and few between (If Ever). It is still only 32bit, not a prob here, tho I do understand having something a tad more stable on newer computers.
It may be the OpenGL interface settings. as I discovered.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/48053/P15
OpenGL optimizations set to “No Optimizations”.
I still use it but I don't think there's ever going to be an update.
It crashes too much for me to make much progress with it, so I switched to Blender.
I love it, it's my 2nd most used program next to DS... but no idea if or when they'll update it.. Really wish they would. I t seams to have good and bad days, sometimes it will work flawlessly, other days it will crash for no apparent reason ever 10 to 30 minutes. Get used to saving >a lot<</p>
From memory. Hexagon was part of an acquisition by Daz3D, It is fairly certain that Daz3D only got the program, and not the developers (the Programers). Thus getting an update for Hexagon will take an Act of as Londo Mollari put it "Whatever Gods You Worship", lol.
As for saving as you go, I figure it is just good practice. You never know when some idiot will take out a telephone pole with there vehicle. Or a tree falling on power lines, lightning, earthquakes, tornado, flash-flood, landslide, etc.
Daz did update it at least once after they bought it, but it was a long long time ago.
Though Hexagon hasn't been updated lately and may never be, it does offer a large range of tools and functions.
However, what I like most is that they integrated the 2-way connection between DAZ Studio and Hexagon (probably with that "only" upgrade mentioned previously).
DAZ Studio function: Send to Hexagon
Hexagon function: Send to DAZ Studio
For beginning 3D modeling enthusiasts, this makes for a good pairing to start learning from before moving on to bigger (better?) things.
I've yet to figure out how to convert that XYZ numbers (Klingon Kellicams or something) into British Imperial or Metric units, lol. So I've stuck with making primitives in studio at exact size (0.4 D x 0.8 H inches for a Capacitor, etc), sending it to Hexagon, and gluing the pins onto the component body there, then sending it back to studio as a single unit.
It's cumbersome, yet it works. :)
And the results are far better then what PovRay gives me from CAD, as an example, lol. PovRay vs Canon A560 Photo.
In fact there were several updates from DAZ.
I absolutely love Hexagon and it's such a shame that Daz is willing to let a vertex modeller with an awesome interface languish in the dust. It deserves much better. I'm fortunate in that it runs relatively stable on my Windows 7 lap top but I'm dreading what it going to happen when I upgrade my computer next year.
I know at $20 it's not much of a gamble whether or not it will run on your system but seriously Daz. If you're not planning on ever upgrading it then at least sell it to someone who will or make it open source so that it can continue to be upgraded. It's too good a program to treated this way.
I ran it fine on a new win 8 laptop this summer, not so good on my father in law's older win 7 laptop last christmas. I think a lot of it has to do with the video card. The new machine has an nvidea card the older one just had the onboard crap.
I think I read somewhere that there are plans on a Hexagon update from DAZ. I think Spooky or Rob mentioned in in one of their posts perhaps in one of the beta DS threads a little while back. Can't remember past that glimmer of info.
I never even bothered to install it when I got this current computer. I've used NVidia cards for years and years (since I started using DAZ Studio actually) and Hex crashed on me all the time. So I gave up. I'm looking forward to the update for ZBrush which introduces classic modeling tools which it's needed so happy about that.
I had read that too but I did not see it directly from Daz3d.
Hex was a stability issue for me as well when I tried it out, but some report if you go at it slowly it will behave, however I lost my patience along with many WIP's so I'm a big fan on Blender these days.
...wish I had the resources. From what I've seen, both posted in threads and products created with ZBrush in the store, looks like a fantastic programme. If it is going to now have traditional modelling tools, all the better.
Still waiting on the SIlo 64 bit update for Windows as that is more in my budget.
As to GPUs, I've been running with an Nvidia 460 (1GB GDDR5) in my workstation and still get frequent crashes in Hexagon. Looking to upgrade to a Radeon 7950 (3GB VRAM and more compatible with LuxRender) which a friend gave me when he upgraded his gaming rig. Actually he gave me 2 with the Crossfire link but running dual GPUs really does little to nothing for enhancing performance for 3D work as VRAM does not stack even in OpenGL (viewport) mode.
Well that's what DAZ tells you in their promos, isn't it... lol
Some time in 2008 when Hexagon 2.5 came out DAZ said that Hexagon 3 (and Bryce 8) were being work on. Then the economy went south and nothing more was said about it. It’s been a long time and there’s only been silence on that front. I don’t think we’ll ever see those updates.
...that's why I've been looking at other modelling software options, but there aren't many that fit the budget.
Sad, because I still really like Hexagon's uncluttered and well designed UI over anything else I've looked at.
I hear Silo is the closest in terms of cost with ease of use... but I think you said you were already looking into that one.
...more or less waiting for "go code" that the Windows 64 bit version is live.
Already evaluated the original 32 bit trial version and while I did like it's no nonsense UI, I crashed it after about fifteen minutes when I caused it to exceed it's memory limit.
IIRC from what I remember Hex was also to get the 64 bit treatment. I think there is newer technology that allows more memory to be accessed in the 32bit systems from a bit that Paulo mentioned in the Reality thread when I was asking questions. So I think Reality 4 will be getting that. It's just too bad that DAZ can't or won't allocate at least one programmer to bring Hex up to date. Such a good program but such a shame that it's just sitting there with most folks giving up on it. Not even sure why they offer deals on it. As far as I'm concerned they should just retire it.... Wings and Blender are both free and are far and away more stable. Silo is getting a 64 bit update soon and yea, the ZBrush tool set is being updated with traditional modeling tools. So as much as I love the IDEA of Hex apparently DAZ doesn't think it's worth their time. All in all it's money out of their pocket. Update it DAZ, I dare you. You might make a few more bucks off of your investment. :-)
...of the alternatives, at least ZBrush has the GOZ bridge with Studio.
I still think it's odd and sad, the two programmes they set up to dovetail with Studio (Hexagon and Bryce) are the ones being neglected. Crikey, there's even a new public Beta for Carrara available (which has no bridge with Studio).
Well it comes down to profit! That's always the bottom line in business. I'm sure it's nothing personal but still stings a bit when it happens to be a program you like!
As well as competition - the big evil in the business world. If people would cooperate instead of compete, things would look different.
As well as competition - the big evil in the business world. If people would cooperate instead of compete, things would look different.
Well said! :-)
I use Hexagon on Win8 and its still my primary modelling application but it does crash unexpectedly, and occassionally user error is not even involved. Incremental saves are your friend. Still the best $1.88 I ever spent, because the return on investment has been phenomenal.
I've been using Hex a bit more recently and have imported a complex model into it. Weirdly enough, it didn't crash. However, it crashes when I model in it. Maybe there's something to that. *shrugs* I model in Max, but tweak in Hex after the model has been UVed. Hex is a great program, and it's sad to see that its bugs aren't being worked on. :down:
In my experience it crashes most often when working with poly faces so I try to do my modeling as much as possible with the lines and verts. It's also very ornery when dealing with UVs and switching back and forth from uvs to normal if you have both views open. Particularly, if you UV map first and then use Hex to assign material zones if you select the polys on the UV view and try to make a matzone from them it is extremely likely to crash.. if you select them on the uv view, then right click on the 3D view to get the focus back on that view, then left click somewhere blank on the edges to clear the pop up from right clicking then you can make the matzone with much better odds. But generally I find it much better to assign polys to matzones with uv mapper classic if I need to. (or even DS, but uv mapper is usually easier with how I lay out my mapping) I do actual uv mapping with uv layout. (which can probably assign matzones too, I just haven't bothered figuring out the 10 hotkeys it would likely require)
But yeah.. I payed $2 for Hex years ago and it pays my rent and feeds my family.. I really can't complain.
...I paid $149 for it. :P
But then it is the first and only modeling program I've ever used so I'm good...
At the time all those gobbled up acquisitions became part of DAZ I was afraid it would end this way. They took too big a bite and choked on it. :-(
I had hoped that an organized and thriving whole would come out of them but there were too many problems, too few developers, too little cash, too much competition. Nostalgia seems to be what's keeping those ancillary products alive at all. I still use Studio and Carrara but my Bryce and Hexagon aren't even installed anymore. (and what ever happened to Mimic?)
...I paid $149 for it. :P
But then it is the first and only modeling program I've ever used so I'm good...
I paid a good deal for it too. Wouldn't mind paying $50 or more for a bugfixed 64 bit upgrade.