Lagoa Launches, Blows Minds

I was invited to the beta of Lagoa.com (then called TeamUp) several months ago, and even in that early stage it blew my mind. As I toyed with a test scene, I couldn’t help feeling that I was staring into the future of CG — or at least a very interesting aspect of its future.

So what is it?

At it’s core, Lagoa is a cloud-based, photoreal CG renderer. In the simplest possible terms: You upload a scene from your favorite 3D package, hit render and watch the magic happen. With incredible speed, Lagoa produces photoreal imagery in seconds.

It’s incredibly satisfying to watch physically-based light glisten through your crystalline objects in about as much time as it takes to microwave some popcorn. (Or less.)

But wait, there’s more

Lagoa is really a comprehensive, shared CG workspace. There’s a functioning node editor, a robust material system (bring your own or use Lagoa’s), an asset browser, an integrated chat room — all in your browser with no plug-ins required.

You can invite team members to collaborate in real-time or give you feedback on renders. I saw this happen during my testing period, and it reminded of the first time I collaborated edited a Google Doc. Except in this case, it was a 3D scene, which only made it that much more astounding.

Questions?

Lagoa’s not paying me or Motionographer to write this. I’m genuinely impressed by the software. But I’m also not a super demanding CG professional; I’m (at best) a hobbyist.

So I’m curious: What do you guys think about this? How would you use it? Do you have questions for the Lagoa team?