Thanks Memag, already know that addon

What actually would help me is a better Mental Ray integration that doesnt lag every render region and implements all the features of this render engine, a unit system, a DWG importer, a revamp of curve tools, better Unfold and UV tool, better Shader presets system, more modeling tools, more presets, more viewport feedback, more deformers, an update of the UI, an update of the FXTree.


Max

Hi Max.
While you wait you can try:

-3delight free version
-Curve Tools by Eugen Sares
-Curve Tools by GOTETZ

I don't think unit system and UI will change.
I also think that the future of SI is very exciting as it gained some extra muscle through ICe.
Folks at SI did a marvelous job on a "freaking new particle system" that was demanded years ago.
Who knows how the new modeling tool set would look like, when we compare ICE to a particle system.

I'd like to see more viewport interaction.
Also, price is very important factor.
Things are certainly in motion.

Interesting mailing list thread

Cheers!

Thanks



Well, I'm starting to take a look at SI and ICE, just a few tutorials. The first steps seem pretty easy to follow but I'm sure the hard part will come when I'll look for more complex stuff.

Softimage is moving to the TD and visual effects path...ICE is the only improvement AD is doing, im trying to move from max to SI but this makes it complicated and risky

You cant just talk about ICE as if its a feature.

Indirectly speaking, Softimage have enabled to be brought to us, the users, An Unprecedented amount of useful and powerful totally integrated additions to Softimage in the last few years. If these features were listed out of context of ICE ( 2 good hair systems, numerous new constraints, blendable skinning between linear and Quaternion, dynamic weightmaps, many new deformers etc. The list would be very long ) and added by Autodesk themselves, people would be rejoicing, yet to the end user there makes no difference, unless you ignore them because you think they'll probably be too complicated, because they're to do with ICE. As the user you have all these tools up your sleeves.

Also it is incorrect to say that ICE is not the only area of development, There was a recent post from a developmer on the Softimage mailing list about this . I cant remember the exact figure but It makes up something like 20% of development resources.

So, why are you moving from Max to SI if there no improvement?

It's really not all that strange, that people perceive Softimage development to be totally ICE-centric, even if it technically speaking is not. Look at what Luc-Eric Rousseau calls "Main Themes" in this post over at the Mailing List. Looking from the POV of an outsider, it isn't hard to see, why some people might think SI2011 wás ICE Kinematics, SI2011.5 wás Lagoa and SI2012 wás/ís ICE Modeling.
And as we all know, especially in this business, it's all about perception (not necessarily about the cold hard facts)...

im moving bacause 3ds max has a lot of problems now, especially with bugs, in the office the team have decided to move to other package that resolves the issues. We had projects in 2011 that cant work in 2012 and the bugs are now fixed after 2 HF and 1 SP, in UI is slow also.I begin to test other software, like maya but SI has a great UI, smooth, fast, few bugs people say( noone that i have found) and very powerful and makes it a good choise...but im afraid that SI is moving to TD seat, and AD is trying to convert SI in a TD-VFX software to complement maya and 3ds max..In my office we use one software or try to do it for all the staff and we dont want to use the Entertainment Creation Suite (4 in 1)

I hope that Softimage will work out for you.
And I wouldn't be worried about TD specific and "doom" rumors.
To say it's TD specific could be considered a compliment, cause ICE is that powerful, but at the same time SI is available to common people and artists.
And the "outdated" tools are still pretty much capable for a job. It depends of your 3d needs and skill.
However there are always updates to other corners of the software.

I hope they will never stop pushing it further, until Max and Maya are merely an ICE compound. >:)

Good luck and welcome.

Can I just add, the company where I work as a freelancer here in London, Studio AKA, has about 30 Softimage seats and about the same again for the render farm and has used Softimage for everything (except maybe compositing which it still uses AE) since before it was owned by Microsoft way back in '98. Out of that 30 or so folk there are only one or two ICE users, (myself included) the rest are modellers, animators, TDs, Lighters etc. So in no way at can Softimage be called an FX app only....