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Silo seems to be back in development

Bonnie2001

Extraordinary
Does it do anything better than Maya or Max? Just wondering before I'm tempted to buy, as Silo looks like very good value compared to Autodesk rentals.
 

Bonnie2001

Extraordinary
£92 in UK Sterling (approx 102 Euro) to buy. I would need to be sure of what it offered before i shelled out two weeks dog walking money. :)
 

Glitterati3D

Dances with Bees
Does it do anything better than Maya or Max? Just wondering before I'm tempted to buy, as Silo looks like very good value compared to Autodesk rentals.

Sorry, never used Maya or Max, so I can't answer your question, but it it a very capable modeler.

I started years ago with Hexagon and moved up to Silo, mostly for the uv mapping capabilities. I use Silo for a base map and take it into UVLayout for refinement.

I have Hexagon, Silo, 3DCoat and still prefer Silo as my base modeler.

Silo has a trial version........download it and see if you like it.
 

Lobo3433

Admirable
I have Maya LT but my main Modeler is Blender so is it worth investing well it goes on sale very often especially around the holidays where it has gone down as low as $29.00 US. My main reason for putting up this thread is I know many still use Silo as a Modeler and development on it has been slow coming and some of the feature updates have been long over due like support for FBX I have Silo as part of my tool set but again Blender pretty much does any thing that can be done in Silo I know there are a series of Video tutorials at Rendo for using Silo to create content for Poser and some free tutorials on Youtube and Share CG maybe watching them might give you some idea of Silo's strengths before buying hope this helps
 

seachnasaigh

Energetic
I love Silo! :wub: All my stuff is made in Silo.:coding:
One nice thing about the licensing is that you can install it on any three machines (mixed Win/Mac OK). You can also have more than one instance of Silo open at a time, although I only discovered that by accident, having opened Silo when I already had it open (but minimized).
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Like Lobo, my main go-to modeler is Blender, but I also have Silo, which I had downloaded and tried a year or so ago and liked, but as has been mentioned, it hadn't been updated in quite a while. I also found the sale price Nevercenter usually offered was more than I wanted to spend. Luckily, someone had posted on the old RDNA forums that another site was offering it at a very inexpensive price, so I grabbed it.

I happen to like doing my UV Mapping in Blender, no matter what software I use to model in, but the one thing Silo has, that I haven't seen anywhere else, is a 3D view of the UV Map. I found that very good last year when I was having a problem texturing a piece of clothing someone else had created, and it was in the 3D view of the Map that I realized the edging around the top of the bodice, and both sides of the shoulder straps, were turned in to give those edges a finished look. Unfortunately, the UV Map that came with it didn't show those turned in edges. If I hadn't opened it in Silo's 3D view of the Map, I never would've known what was wrong.

I also have a 3 year Educational License for Maya, and I've been playing in it, but considering it's probably the most expensive 3D modeling app out there, I doubt I'd ever be able to afford it. It was just something I'd always wanted to try, and this was the best way to try it, as a 30-day trial version wouldn't even give you enough time to learn the UI, as it's quite "busy", if you know what I mean.

That all said, I can do all kinds of props and environment pieces (like a castle I've been working on for the past 5 years) in Blender without a problem, but I find Silo easier for modeling clothing. Not sure why, but it just seems easier. Also, the UI is a very simple, clean UI, so some folks might find that easier to work with, than Blender's or Maya's UI, which are, as I mentioned above, busy.
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
For those of you who might own Silo seems they are back in development just got a notice that there is a new Beta release available this is the second beta release this year so if are no aware of this you can get further information here Silo - Focused 3D Modeling | Nevercenter
Well, I never do Beta releases of software, but the list of improvements looks really good, so I hope it doesn't take too long for them to get it to a Service Release version.
 

Lobo3433

Admirable
SmithMicro actually had it on sale at time for like 29.99 and saw sales posted a few times in the Daz forums and it is also sold on Steam but would avoid steam version. I have own all the tutorials by Fugazi1968 at Rendo for modeling clothing in Silo for Poser and Daz and can highly recommend them. But honestly Blender is my go to with out question and after viewing a webinar if I would get into clothing modeling Blender can do it as well. again not taking anything away from Silo it is still a reasonable good modeler but would wait for a sale to invest in it if you do not have it
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Yes, I saw the version on Steam, but at that time it was one SR lower than what was at Nevercenter. I don't do that kind of gaming, so didn't want to have the Steam software on my laptop.

I wound up getting it at MacHeist, which was having a bundle of like a dozen games and Silo. So I bought it, gave the Mac games to a friend's son, and went to Nevercenter to register it, and get an updated S/N. As it turns out, I tried the S/N on the trial version, which I hadn't uninstalled yet, and it worked. Lucky me, I paid $19.99, and I checked, it was back in July 2014, so just 3 years ago.
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
Fugazi at Rendo and also has some at Daz iirc uses Silo for creating clothing. I've followed some of his tutorials using Hexagon and it looks like a reasonable modeller. I picked it up for $20 through MacHeist a while back which also gave me access to the pc version.
I'm still learning to use Zbrush more fully so haven't really explored Silo properly.
 

RAMWolff

Wolff Playing with Beez!
Contributing Artist
Silo is a very modeler, one of the first I ever used that I was actually able to make stuff in I liked. I haven't used it much over the years but it's a very robust modeler and UV creation product so forget about the "big boys" with their big price tags, between ZBrush and Silo you will have a very good setup for creating just about anything your heart desires. Plus keep in mind that ZBrush does have ZModeler built in so there's that option as well.
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Fugazi at Rendo and also has some at Daz iirc uses Silo for creating clothing. I've followed some of his tutorials using Hexagon and it looks like a reasonable modeller. I picked it up for $20 through MacHeist a while back which also gave me access to the pc version.
Yes, I have several of Fugazi's Silo tutorials, and found them very easy to follow, with nice results.

Sounds like you got your Silo during the same promotion I did. ;)
 

Lobo3433

Admirable
I got Silo because of Fugazi's tutorials they seemed to be the best ones especially7 after development for Hexagon dropped to the way side. Still think Silo can do allot and it's interface is not as intimidating as Blenders can be and if they are developing it again fixing some of the bugs and improving it that is great since there are few options for the hobbyist when it comes to 3D modelers
 

RAMWolff

Wolff Playing with Beez!
Contributing Artist
They released a youTube vid showing what's in the current beta... looks awesome!

 

RAMWolff

Wolff Playing with Beez!
Contributing Artist
It's a really good program. I think in the past year or so with them getting behind the project again it's bringing more new users to the table, which is a relief. It's sad when programs like Silo and Hexagon just go by the wayside and then we are left with complicated freebie modeling programs or super expensive ones to choose from. Silo is an amazing project and I'm glad it's getting some new life breathed into it!
 
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