Road map for Medium?

[Marthius]

Just a general question about the long term goals for medium which I cannot find an answer to in the FAQ.  I'm wondering if the plan is to continue to add complexity to medium to make it more capable of high end modeling (things like hard edges and deformation tools for example), or alternatively to maintain is primarily as a kind of 3D sketching tool more aimed at beginners and/or concept work?

[bhsharp]

We didn't post a roadmap because making promises about the future is a dangerous thing. 🙂

The real answer is, we have a list a million items long we'd love to do, everything from big stuff to small stuff, and some of it mutually exclusive - taking the app in one major direction vs. another - but since we just shipped, it makes more sense to wait and see what the community does with it and use that to help us decide on direction.

The artists we worked with in beta before launch taught us a ton of often surprising things about how to use it, and changed the direction in ways we wouldn't have anticipated.

So it's mostly humility - we don't pretend we know best what will be the most impactful directions to take it.

I know this is basically a complete dodge of your question, but it's also the truth. 🙂

[GenetixStudio]

Great response, I'd gladly pay $20 or so in the future for a major update that added new tools, content, customization, etc. Such a great program already!

[Marthius]

Fair answer, please don't take my comment to be disparaging.  On the contrary, after trying out medium I love it so much that I want to include as much of my work flow into it as possible, thus my question.  Wherever you guys take this, count me as a supporter!

[Roaster]

I cast my vote for complexity even if it makes the program harder to learn.  Tutorials are valuable to help noobs get a handle on things.  As an example, look at 123D Design. Very powerful and easy to learn if you look at a few tutorials to get started. 
My point is, you need a certain level of complexity to make it usable. Less than that and it's useless. Like how often do you open Paint after acquiring a good graphics program? Don't make Medium the new Paint.

[bhsharp]

@Roaster I think it's contextual, though. "More complexity is always the right thing" is obviously an overgeneralization. Sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not. As for comparing Medium to Paint... I mean, not to toot my own horn here TOO much, but: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157869493515704&set=a.10151762107370704.860454.845640703&type=3&theater

🙂

[Roaster]

I didn't intend to hurt feelings, just hoping for the best tools to simulate real-life sculpture, blended with the attribute controls one gets with Photo Paint or something. I should wait to GET MY CONTROLLERS before commenting.  Just being paranoid about the app being dumbed down for some reason. Before being able to use it. Premature speculation as it were. 
I'm restoring a 3D printed 1/6 scale Venus De Milo at the moment and it makes you appreciate the craft. I am blasphemously fixing it in certain areas.  I want to import the file and do it in Medium too.  If I had the controllers.
What I really want to see is the left foot. 

[bhsharp]

Hahaha no worries, feelings are intact.

Yeah, I started taking sculpting classes (water and oil clay) after I started up the Medium team, figuring it'd help me make Medium better if I knew more about traditional media. And then you get that empathy thing - I remember being at the Boston MFA and seeing Houdon's marble bust of Thomas Jefferson. I just STARED at it, like got super close to it, and just looking at every detail and visualizing him carving it... it's really intense.

I also probably looked kind of unhinged, craning my neck to stare wide-eyed at a sculpture from inches away like a madman.

[Roaster]

Clay is fine, but out here in the perimeter we use stone.  Immaculate.

Seriously, the point I'm getting at is that the tool affects the outcome.  IRL we make tools to suit the job, to manipulate the medium to the best effect. Whether it's a brush shaped like a fan, or a chisel shaped like a V, or the hacksaw blade I used to shape the curve of the fender on my car. One needs flexibility to achieve what you imagine.

What I learned working with oils is that one of the hardest things to do is get the paint off the brush and onto the canvas in the way you want. The method becomes very prominent in the results. The tool shape and characteristics become the thing.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Roaster said:

I didn't intend to hurt feelings, just hoping for the best tools to simulate real-life sculpture, blended with the attribute controls one gets with Photo Paint or something. I should wait to GET MY CONTROLLERS before commenting.  Just being paranoid about the app being dumbed down for some reason. Before being able to use it. Premature speculation as it were. 
I'm restoring a 3D printed 1/6 scale Venus De Milo at the moment and it makes you appreciate the craft. I am blasphemously fixing it in certain areas.  I want to import the file and do it in Medium too.  If I had the controllers.
What I really want to see is the left foot. 

Re: dumbed down - don't worry too much. Medium reminds me of sculptris in that its super simple but also super powerful. As opposed to mspaint which is super simple but practically useless. Its not full-pipeline like z-brush but for rough initial design, just blasting forms down and damn the topology,  it blows the competition clean out the water.

I'm not saying there arent first-version niggles but none of these are showstoppers in my view. Give it a go and you'll see what I mean