Frequently Asked Questions

How do licenses work? Do I need a license for every machine that renders from Massive?

Massive is sold as a floating license. Massive can be run on any machine in your network, but the number of licenses you own is the maximum number of machines that can be running Massive at once. The number of processors running on that machine do not affect the count.

The renderer plugins (massive.so, run_program.exe, massive_mray.so etc.) do not require a license to run, so if you are doing software rendering on a render farm, you would not need additional Massive licenses on the rendering machines.


Which video cards do you recommend?

Please see System Requirements.


How many agents can Massive simulate at once?

Massive can produce a final simulation of as many agents as you need. With very simple agents, millions can be run in one pass. Large numbers of more complex agents, such as typical humanoid agents, can be done in multiple passes, by simulating agents in groups of around 100,000 with each subsequent group able to see and react to the previously simulated groups.


How close can Massive agents be to the camera? Is Massive only good for distant shots?

Massive is useful for any kind of agents from simple boxes to high–res hero characters, and has often been used for hero level characters in films. Massive agents can used blend shapes for detailed facial animation. Ready–to–Run agents come supplied with geometry that is suitable for viewing from a moderate distance, and their geometry can easily be replaced with higher resolution geometry by the user if the camera needs to move closer to them.


What are the machine requirements to run Massive?

Please see System Requirements.


How does Massive work with other 3D packages?

Massive is a standalone program, but can import and export files from other 3D packages. Skeletons, animation, geometry, animated lights, animated cameras can all be imported via FBX and Maya Ascii. Geometry can also be imported and exported using the industry standard Wavefront .obj format. Massive integrates particularly well with Maya production pipelines. The proprietary Massive file formats were deliberately designed to be hacked, and Python support in Massive provides more options for integrating into studio pipelines.


How do I render from Massive? Does it work with ______ renderer?

Massive scenes can be rendered using Pixar's RenderMan, Air, 3Delight, Mental Ray, V-Ray and Arnold. Massive also has it's own Velocity GPU accelerated renderer.


How can I learn to use Massive?

There are many schools around the world teaching Massive. Here is a list some of them: www.massivesoftware.com/education. If you want to learn online you can go to www.fxphd.com