The problem with Bifrost

[Anonymous]

While I assume that Bifrost is probably the revolutionary framework tool that some have claimed it is (I only spent about 100 hours into learning bifrost so far) I still see a problem that needs to be pointed out.  Bifrost is mainly useful for big studios who have the budget, time and r&d resources to actually benefit from it. Nobody else does because no one who spent their own cash, time and talent on developing new tools will share that with the community. In other words while Bifrost is great on paper the Maya community in general doesn’t profit from all the dev time that goes into it at Autodesk at all. Our user experience isn’t changed our heads are not blown. If AD doesn’t soon spend some of their own dev time to create useful community tools and applications based on Bifrost then this is why Maya will soon lose all relevance to the normal user who can’t sink hundreds of hours into learning how to make proper use of Bifrost. Someone else said it best here on the forum: If I want Houdini then I’ll just download it. What’s important to most users is a great user experience and powerful ready to use tools not Lego bricks to make parts of tools. If there are devs providing them to us great but don’t just put a box of nodes in front of us and call it a day. Don’t get me wrong, I think Bifrost is great and necessary but use it to create ready to use tools and applications that change our perception and experience to the better. As shown above we can’t trust on big studies handing their developments down to us. It won’t happen 

[1006138663]

Yes, that's my point. Maya has gradually lost its users because it doesn't care about the update of user experience all the year round. Now Maya's learning is very unfriendly. Almost all different tools have their own operation logic. It's like a collection of plug-ins. The development of Bifrost is not satisfactory. Three years later, the function of Bifrost is still not perfect. At present, they are totally unfriendly to artists. I can do everything in Houdini. Why waste time in Bifrost for MPM.

[wuhailu]

Bifrost has no API and no comprehensive documentation. I think only TD users can master it, and it is very unfriendly to ordinary users. The function of the particle system is very weak and the performance is poor, and the general users of MPM can't use it at all!

[Anonymous]

@1006138663 @wuhailu yes sadly thats also my experience after trying my best to deep dive into it. The user experience is not good as an artist in fact I would call it awkward at best. Autodesk really needs to start to steer the ship around and bring it on course again. I'm fine with the ongoing development of Bifrost but for gods sake please get some people on board to advise you on how to to make things artist friendly and satisfies the needs of the community 

[wuhailu]

Without powerful out-of-the-box features, new users cannot be attracted.
The only advantage that Bifrost can claim is visual programming.
But I don't agree with some people boasting that Bifrost visual programming can replace C++ or surpass C++ performance. It may be TD-friendly.
There is VEX in Houdini, and Bifrost does not have a script node, so it cannot attract these users.

Everyone knows that there are basically no companies that use Maya to make cutting-edge VFX, and they all migrate to Houdini. Therefore, if Autodesk wants users to return to Maya VFX, they must increase their investment in Bifrost.
In the next two or three years, if Bifrost does not have a particularly big update (rigid body and broken and fluid), then Bifrost is only a niche tool in the Maya circle.

[Anonymous]

The main issue with maya is workflow.
It still is not friendly. There are great improvements under the hood, but not very intuitive how to use it.
For example I was able to quickly do something with some of the provided scripts, but not easy to connect the graph with the rest of the maya objects in the scene.
It takes a while to download scripts and not sure what they do.
I would really like a tutorial which shows on all examples how to connect objects inside maya scenes with the bifrost graph.
I was able to quickly figure out what to connect to generate particles. But it was hard to connect geometry from scene file and not clear how to easily export stuff or do simulation.
Same as with liquid simulations, need to keep on switching from one object to another and hunt for the options to switch (create mesh on and off, the resolution of the sim, emit on off etc.)
I'm really looking forward to learn bifrost, but I really feel the whole process could be much easier.
Please provide those scenes from the demos.
We need a lot of examples, this would make learning much easier.
Also the bifrost forum seems to be locked, not sure why.
Is there some user group on discord or facebook or elsewhere to exchange knowledge on bifrost ?
Please help us to unleash the power.
And also allow everyone to buy the indy version worldwide.

[Alexx31]

It was more reasonable for me, to use and learn tyflow in 3dsMax to achieve missing effect possibilities (it’s an independent plugin by a genious single developer with monthly updates) than to start learning Bifrost. 

I have just seen the first effects and they haven‘t been that convincing realistic (e.g. snow ice or fire in a trailer), just my impression two years ago, I’m using also Phoenix FD. 

To me Bifrost is a redundant tool, because I found my own toolset in other softwares.

and since MASH wasn’t developed any more, I stopped trusting into Maya developments. Because further development is what I demand, if I spend my rare time on learning something. 

If you imagine, what 5 years mean to a young user (I‘m not young), it’s incredible, how much effort got wasted for a PR project, which only few people/studios will need.

It‘s like a country, where all money goes into building a new palace for a few rich, while the huge rest of the folks starve in hunger. 

I don’t care about new features, I would like the existing features being up to date. It’s for example for me a daily pain to work with nodes in the bad Hypershade UI…

Once a developer predicted here (in order to calm us down) that all knowledge from Bifrost will lead to a new better Hypershade and Node editor. This was a few years ago 😞

[aerys.bat]

Basically they need the equivalent of SideFX Labs with a lot of ready-to-go solutions and user friendly tools to make the core development useful for indie users & small teams

[MicroCell3D]

Genau meine Meinung!
Wie bei einem modularen Synthesizer muss man erst zig Kabel stecken, bevor ein Ton rauskommt? In diesem Fall ist der Weg nicht das Ziel.

Exactly my opinion! As with a modular synthesizer, you first have to plug in umpteen cables before a sound comes out? In this case, the path is not the goal.