btb appears to have some competition

James Capper · Feb 24, 2012

Just came across this. Check it out it appears BobsTrack Builder has some competition...and it appears as though its nearly complete and due for release in the next month or so
But I dosn't mention whether it's free or if you have to pay for it make up your own mind if it's useful or not
http://www.racedepartment.com/2012/02/trackmaker-alpha-preview/

Lars Brugman · Feb 24, 2012

It's free from what I have read.

RichardHessels · Mar 5, 2012

First see how easy and reliable it will make your track/dreams come true.
From what i have been reading, most people did not pay for Bobs either.

Senad Subasic · Mar 5, 2012

Richard Hessels said:
From what i have been reading, most people did not pay for Bobs either.

...and that's what killed it. Kudos to most people.

Anyway, seems that this will be under a creative common license, but you'll still need Maya.

FerrariMan96 · Mar 6, 2012

There is no free alternative to Maya/some way to run it completely free?

EDIT: Legally of course.

R Soul · Mar 7, 2012

A brief google search found this mention of Maya7 personal edition. One limit is that it cannot export. If we're lucky this track tool will have its own exporter, but that's just speculation on my part.
edit: Just read some more pages. Maya PE doesn't allow plugins, so that option is binned.

The author does say he plans to port the tool to other programs or make it standalone. I'd be happy with a Blender plugin because Blender is free, but that's wishful thinking at the moment.

FerrariMan96 · Mar 9, 2012

R Soul said:
I'd be happy with a Blender plugin because Blender is free, but that's wishful thinking at the moment.

Thats what I was thinking of before.

Ghoults · Mar 10, 2012

Imho that looks more like an alternative to maya or 3dmax than btb. Great job and effort but imho it does look much more complex than btb imho.

WorkerBee · Mar 19, 2012

Besides that this tool looks far from being finished, you still would have to pay 'round EUR 4000+ for the Maya software, depending on the license, to make use of it.

The plan to sometime implement a standalone app to use the plugin without the commercial Maya stuff for sure is a too daunting task for a developer still learning C++.

I suppose this will be a nonstarter.

Stealthy · Apr 2, 2012

Bjorn I wouldn't call a noob. He's works for a game company in Sweden I believe. And this is a project he's been working on in his free time

Brian Johnson · Apr 11, 2012

A new video has been posted on Bjorn's youtube channel. the sames video and alot of other information about the project can be found at trackmaker.wordpress.com

Kennett Ylitalo · Apr 11, 2012

Looks good..

Johannes Rojola · Apr 23, 2012

You can download free Maya as educational licence from Autodesk site. It is fully functional, but obviously you cannot make commercial work with it.

...you don't have to be real student

WorkerBee · Apr 28, 2012

Johannes Rojola said:
You can download free Maya as educational licence from Autodesk site. It is fully functional, but obviously you cannot make commercial work with it.

...you don't have to be real student

Sorry guys, but this is definitely not legal.

Test and educational versions may only be used for these purposes and not for publishing tracks to the community.

So as long there is no way to run this track tool standalone this is a no go.

Raido · Apr 28, 2012

As long as it's non-commercial and publishing tracks *can* be seen as being educational, I'm not so sure it's "definitely not legal" at all.

WorkerBee · Apr 29, 2012

Educational for the track creator himself.

Not for hundreds of online users. That's the point.
If you publish your "educational" work, you should have paid for the software.

Kennett Ylitalo · May 1, 2012

That's actually sad but true.. If you use edu versions to make track you can only use them yourself. The moment you share them, it becomes a whole different issue.. Personally, i have no problem with it but legally it's not possible.. Someone should study the edu versions EULA first thou..If one uses the edu version to create the geometry and then export it as collada/3ds format to 3dsimed, there could be a loophole but like i said, we should study the EULA pretty carefully.

Johannes Rojola · May 1, 2012

Educational Institutional Versions of the Software may not be used for commercial, professional, commercial training or other for-profit purposes.

That's how it states in 3ds Max EULA. I found nothing that would prohibit the use as non-profit modding tool. Of course, "educational purposes" is matter of definition, but you can see such (modding) usage as personal learning. This is excatly what Autodesk is after with its free edu licenses, to make todays "students" paying customers of the future. It only happens if students are able to use and learn the software.

However, you could see modding as indirectly increasing sales of the parent software, e.g. rFactor or any other game. Then it can be seen commercially profitable work, but who takes the responsibility, modder or the game company?

James Capper · May 2, 2012

If you read his site he tells you that if it works out with maya then he will either create versions for other programs and or possibly a standalone version at some later date.