Apparently Silo is still alive and kicking...

I thought this 3D modeling package has died out, but it’s still alive and kicking (or so it appears to be):

http://nevercenter.com/silo/release_notes/

Not to sound like a huge moron but is it in any way still a relevant modelling suite?
What of its feature(s) would make it more interesting than Blender?

The more options the better, i say

it was a good modeling app, but ‘was’ means in 2005?(I cannot even remember when 2.0 was released) or whenever it was…now, while I always loved it, it is no match for blender in 2017…I still mark this up same as lightwave…people still use it(more power to them) but it is no longer a relevant piece of software, when other software is more powerful and free and runs on more os’es.

It used to be of major interest to Blender users because it had a lot of features that Blender did not back then.

However, the situation now is completely different due to the presence of Bmesh and the many modeling features that came as a result. I do not know if they can fully revive the app. since modeling in general has seen big improvements in most DCC packages.

It’s just been laying low, hiding away from plain sight…

…in a silo.

Was my favourite modelling tool, back in the day. Bmesh add a lot of benefit to blender, i.e. now Knife tool in blender is two step forward compared to silo cut tool; blender had modifiers and a lot of tools not directly created for modelling but very useful.

What Silo still have better are some nice features: i.e. the nice mouse roll over actions (you need only to have cursor over a face, press extrude, the face is extruded, move mouse for controlling extruding, release extruding key to confirm action without a single mouse click) and sticky keys, a features that I like a lot. But only this (and few others) features is not enough for justify a workflow change.

Also I saw no improvement on sculpt side and still no GoZ.

Silo was awesome back in the day. Like Blender, it had a built-in sculpting module.
It’s nice that it’s back, but the loooooong fallow time makes me wary of advocating dropping money on it. What if it’s another huge chunk of time before the next update?

My license receipt if from 2006 :smiley:

I watched the latest update video… I’d say it’s still relevant. It’s very focused and simplified and I think it’s toolset covers 90% of any modeling you’re going to do. It’s UV features are really good as well.

I’m sorry to keep belittling it, but the amount of effort that went into relaunching it was probably one days worth of work for one person…it’s not “back” it’s a weak attempt at keeping it relevant…and yes…it is a good modeler…I always liked it…great snapping too…but it is not as good as blender at this point…weak weak weak attempt to get some revenue without actually upgrading the package in any meaningful way. I am very upset about this.

I’m a Silo refugee.

It was Zen. It had one of the best learning curves out there. Very easy to customize as well!!! I even sculpted in it.
I remember when 2.0 beta was released as a public beta I was already using it in production. And after a few tries on personal projects, I used the Topology Brush coupled with great snapping (although screenspace only, blender is way way better now in comparison) for retopo in production. It was a novel concept at the time. The first time I used sculpting to get an approval on the asset forms/look, and then retopo for the final.

Funny it’s retopo that initially made me use blender, then after Nicholas Bishop made Dyntopo sculpting - that was it. I started to phase out Silo. UVz were the last thing I was still using it for.

I can’t see it’s relevance though. Blender with Pie Menus, lightyears superior Sculpting, superior Snapping, Modifiers, Shapekeys, a proper API (sticking just to modeling) totally trumps it. The one area it still is king though, is learning curve and customization!

Anyone who was into Silo, should try my custom setup! As I was a super fan of Silo, my whole setup was made to help me bridge the gap and be able to use Blender.

There’s a few of us Silo refugees here. Kjartan has made a great script that brings Silo’s Cut Tool efficiency (context sensitive) to blender, Thanks Kjartan :slight_smile: . In my setup - it’s bound to “C” hotkey (like in Silo), try it out.

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There was a time when Silo and Hexagon, two stand-alone 3d modelers, were pitted against each other. And I was more of a Hexagon enthusiast at that time. I thought of Silo as an improved version of Wings3d, which was one of those free apps I spent considerable time with. You know, the right-click menu access similarities.

Overtime I started appreciating UI’s where every item is laid out on the screen and every feature can be accessed while sipping coffee or something. Silo’s is one of those UI’s where your other hand has to be on the keyboard like hanging on for dear life; Interfaces that can never be used on keyboardless tablets or mobile devices.

Silo has it’s benefits, but Wings3d is a muuuuuch better at general modelling.

Really hope blender gets preselection highlighting. [/FONT]

Silo devs pretty much gave up facing the onslaught of Modo back in the day. I doubt it has anything on Blender these days, but competition is good.

double-post

So I downloaded 2.5 and messed around a bit. It’s definitely still a blast to use. Dead simple, very fast iterating time. It’s like a sketchbook.

One thing it still does better than Blender is booleans. Blender can do object level booleans, but with a modifier, which is tedious. In Silo it’s fast and intuitive. Blender has much better sculpting brushes though. Hopefully, those will get an upgrade in Silo.

If you can spend the $100 bucks and you like modeling, I’d definitely spring for it.

? Activate the BoolTools add-on for easy booleans. And in edit mode use “Intersect” + F6 options. Not even mentioning add-ons like Hardops.

Instead of spending your money on a old-fashioned piece of software, for less you’d be able to get a bunch of super-handy workflow-changing addons instead: HardsOps, Boxcutter and DecalMachine.

Agreed. Look in the box before looking at another box.

Hi all, thanks for the detailed and great informations and comments. :slight_smile:

Blender can also do boolean operations with edit mode selections using the intersect boolean tool (look for it using the spacebar search as I do not think there’s a menu item for it).

There’s also an addon (which comes bundled with Blender) that allows you to do a straight boolean of two objects without needing the modifier.