I have gone thru it a couple times now and I cannot find anything Softimage related in the GDC presentation scheduled on any day!!!

What the hell? Softimage is huge in games!

well apparently is not that huge to fit in? i dont know

Calm down calmasacow I know nothing of the games development market in America, nor how 'huge' Softimage is regarding this either now or in the past, you could help by demonstrating how big it actually is or meant to be in comparison? Is there a website showing which autodesk software that games studios use? Obviously AD do not think its that significant, and seems for GDC to be concentrating on something called 'middleware', whatever that is? heres a link from them today about GDC. I dont see Max or Maya here either I have heard Softimage is big in Japan for games though !

Softimage didn't get much play at Siggraph either and seemd that AD is pushing that middleware more and more.

ok, no drama here or snub. For this years GDC, Autodesk have focused on their Gameware (aka Middleware) folio and product range, as they are all being announced at the same time with new versions across the board. We have also created a game called Hyperspace Madness, that uses most (if not all) of the Gameware and DCC tools (Maya, Max, Motionbuilder, Softimage and Mudbox), showing how you can use all these things together.

In terms of what's being shown on the booth, the main theatre presentations are showing how the DCC tools were used to create some of the content for Hyperspace Madness. The game was produced in a very tight timeframe and so we used contractors to help us out. As it happens, they used more Maya/Max than they did Softimage, but there's nothing really that unique about the assets that would of stopped Softimage being used.

As for a Softimage presence, I am on the boots pods, showing the Maya Premium Suite which includes Softimage, and Mark is spending alot of his time on the Intel booth showing Softimage. You should see the workstation that his running stuff on, its a beast with something like 16 cores if I recall correctly. His scenes are running really well.

Not as big as I would like to but it seems that it's bigger than it is in the states. In the game industry where I work, Softimage is bigger than 3DSMax, Lightwave and others, but Maya is still the king.

I didn't know this but it seems that Softimage Entertainment Suite is a Japan exclusive package. I don't understand why they don't do the same in other countries. I mean, you don't have to create a new software, only pack a new bundle and sell it. But well, Softimage isn't even listed in the main product list in Autodesk websites (not even in Japan).

And this will be case while it is under AD. It seems that AD just does not want to present it as direct competition to 3dsMax or Maya.
We should just accept that in live with it. There were ton threads like this, and rarely it change something, so what is purpose ....

Something GDC's army of students/your future customers will never know.

Yes, I realize soft is present, but far too often have it been sidelined in favor of those two. If it was a case of a salesman hiding a gem in the backroom reserved only for the special customers, that would have been great. That would've worked. However, producing a copy of a software cost virtually nothing, so there's no uniqueness to it. When a person sees you tucking it away, have no doubt, hes immediate thought is to look elsewhere.

I'm sorry, Graham, you've been listening to lot of whining lately, but this sort of things just adds to the feeling that ADSK doesn't know what to do with softimage nor why they bought it and how to deal with having 3 similar applications under one roof. When you say you are the company people love to hate, i say no. They'd love to love, but they are never given a reason to do so.

Cheers
Alex

Interesting, it has been mentioned that the lack of exposure on the main Autodesk site and marketing in general was related to numbers of seats sold and Softimage, being in the minority, is such a tiny blip in the scale of things it doesn't deserve the same level of 'attention' that Max / Maya possess. eg Softimage is seen as a companion to Max or Maya. in other words, not good enough to head its own suite. which is downright ridiculous - but that's another issue entirely...

This only available in Japan 'Entertainment suite' indicates the Japanese market being of a different hierarchy, which should at the very least be reflected on the Autodesk Japanese Web site? if 3dsMAX is in the minority in this instance - why is it still prominently advertised / accessed on the front page at autodesk JP ! I still don't get why Softimage is a third class citizen , it really is insulting to long time Softimage users whose entire studio and pipelines are based around Softimage. sometimes the ignorance displayed by Autodesk Marketing strategies really annoy me.

I sincerecly hope that the recent doubling of Softimage maintenance subscription is in no way related to paying for extra 'Marketing' the product, because AD's strategies so far for Softimage, frankly, Suck. must try harder! make the Softimage entertainment suite just like there is a MAX and Maya one, you fools.

What do you mean when you say "Japan Exclusive". I can still buy the max/softimage entertainment suite. Or do you mean a softimage entertainment suite without max and maya? Now that's kinda interesting.