What if Softimage died?

[Morgan Nilsson]

The thing that would interest me, is how long Autodesk will issue "replacement" licenses for Softimage in case of new hardware and such? Will this end when support ends? And if not: how long may we expect it to last? In other words: how perpetual is my perpetual license?

Glad you have a license ... and me, who is using a student license? Should I start to save money to buy 2015 as it launches so I can use it for years to come?

I'm light years of making professional work with Softimage, but if I wait, maybe I'll never be able to buy it and use it. Damn.

Wasn't Autodesk dropping the possibility to buy a version of their software and going with rental only? So you couldn't just buy 2015 and keep that for a few years, you are forced to keep on buying the next version whether you want to or not. (I might be wrong, but there was something going on in that essence, 2015 and on)

I myself is far from making professional work, hence why I am researching what software to stick with, and quite frankly, I don't like the way Autodesk is doing things, buying out the competition and halting development in the field.(Leaving it to people who make plugins and buy the plugins up instead) That is going to end up biting them in the ass with the biggest bloatware ever. At which point they probably will drop the entertainment field all together and stick with what they actually are(architect and design).

But yes, as of now, there are few complete packages to choose out there as of now.

There is LightWave, which is now on the way back from a management fiasco(Core) but the latest releases have been very strong See - http://www.cgchannel.com/2013/11/review ... 0-to-11-6/

There is Blender, which are constantly developing, but have weird ui that takes some getting used to, and is generally seen as a kiddie toy(for wrong reasons, e.g. It being free to use)

There is Modo, which lacks a lot of features and is still growing(Especially bright future with the recent merge with The Foundry), but in a few years it might be up there, but that is a risky chance to take. As of now, it is only seen as a modeling package for most people. See - http://www.awn.com/vfxworld/review-can- ... on-and-vfx

Finally, there is Houdini. A very grown software whos main focus as of right now is VFX work and is never considered something to model with, mainly because it is vastly different with its 100% nodular approach, very hard to get into. But once you are in there, you reap the benefits of 100% procedural non-destructive workflow, if anything ever goes wrong or you realize that you should have done something differently on your model 5 hours ago, you can easily go back and do it.

I want to clarify with my purpose posting all this, it is because I am very interested in hearing where other people from Softimage is looking to go, now when it is pretty clear Autodesk is going to put Softimage to rest. I can see that a lot of people is willing to move away from Autodesk themselves. Any sane company wanting to keep their customers if they still were developing a package they use, would have made an announcement clarifying that Softimage ISN'T being stepped back, there are threads on this subject on every forum I see, and it has been ongoing for quite a while now.

If I missed any other viable alternatives or anything specific to the ones I mentioned please do say so, I am just looking to make a smart choice.

Best regards
//Morgan

There are many factors to what software you should want to go with, be it work, preference or features and so forth. This is not what this is about, since no one knows what the future holds.

[Pooby]

The thing that would interest me, is how long Autodesk will issue "replacement" licenses for Softimage in case of new hardware and such? Will this end when support ends? And if not: how long may we expect it to last? In other words: how perpetual is my perpetual license?

Well if they ever stop proving licences, one has to make the assumption they don't care how you get your product working.

[MauricioPC]

The thing that would interest me, is how long Autodesk will issue "replacement" licenses for Softimage in case of new hardware and such? Will this end when support ends? And if not: how long may we expect it to last? In other words: how perpetual is my perpetual license?

Well if they ever stop proving licences, one has to make the assumption they don't care how you get your product working.

I agree with that.

I myself I'm more than willing to study more and more Softimage and keep using. I like working with this software. In any case, I'm still using 3ds Max also (I guess I like the forgotten ones), because of workshops in character modeling and I'll begin two workshops, one on deeply V-Ray training in Max and one in FumeFX with Allan Mckay that looks VERY cool.

I have a somewhat medium knowledge of Maya with a focus on VFX and it'll stay that way until I have no other options of work besides Maya. And if you take a look at the work of Blur or the work of the Mill on the ape ad (11 artists to create that amazing work), I'm pretty sure that for years I'll be able to work very fine with Softimage.

Let's wait and see what AD says this Tuesday.

[Eugen]

That's right, let's wait and see (given that date is correct).
Some part of me is really looking forward to that day, because that's when the worst shitstorm starts that Autodesk has probably ever seen. Will be fun to watch, and I plan to pick up some poo mysef...
It will take some time for them until they washed off that smell... I'd imagine in 10 years they will still be stigmatized as the ones that killed the best and most artist friendly 3d software of this time for 'corporate' reasons - money, brain drain, monopolism.

I know you read this, AD fellas. Have fun at your place.
(I for my part will not buy Maya. I want to keep my sanity when it comes to 3d software.)

[Manticor]

I realise I am putting my trust in Fabric, but my experience is that they are honest passionate people with whom I have met face to face, and who are transparent regarding roadmaps of where they are going. that's very refreshing and how it should be and we've been starved of that for a long while.
I believe that metaphorically speaking, for me FE will be ICE without limits and I'm excited about that.
Thanks for the advice. I fully understand it, but I feel I know what I'm doing.

Hey Paul ,is there any chance you could do a tutorial on getting started in fabric stuff ?.your scripting tutorials really inspired me to have another stab at it ...and I bought rafs tutorials and 7 weeks later I've written a few tools and a basic exporter for a game ngne .... So thanks for the inspiration fella.

Maybe you could inspire others to dip their toes into Fabric

[Hirazi Blue]

@Morgan Nilsson -
The only serious contender I think you've missed is Maxon Cinema 4D.

I was never able to figure out,
if EIAS could be counted to the group of serious contenders, but somehow I doubt it.

[MauricioPC]

@Morgan Nilsson -
The only serious contender I think you've missed is Maxon Cinema 4D.

I was never able to figure out, if EIAS could be counted to the group of serious contender, but somehow I doubt it.

You know what I would love the most? That in 2018/2020 we are still here, creating some f*cking amazing work with Softimage even though AD killed it at 03/04/2014.

We'll have a new Arnold, FE completely integrated, Mootz tools kicking ass. I believe that this is possible and I'll do my best to continue studying and learn how to program to create some compounds and still be part of the community.

Moderator edit: I've opened a new Fabric Q&A thread and that's where FabricPauls post went - HB

[Pooby]

I realise I am putting my trust in Fabric, but my experience is that they are honest passionate people with whom I have met face to face, and who are transparent regarding roadmaps of where they are going. that's very refreshing and how it should be and we've been starved of that for a long while.
I believe that metaphorically speaking, for me FE will be ICE without limits and I'm excited about that.
Thanks for the advice. I fully understand it, but I feel I know what I'm doing.

Hey Paul ,is there any chance you could do a tutorial on getting started in fabric stuff ?.your scripting tutorials really inspired me to have another stab at it ...and I bought rafs tutorials and 7 weeks later I've written a few tools and a basic exporter for a game ngne .... So thanks for the inspiration fella.

Maybe you could inspire others to dip their toes into Fabric

Thats great to hear, and yes I fully intend to help encourage as many into the Fabric fold as I can through sharing free tutorials. Bear in mind though that I'll be starting from scratch, much as I did with my first ICE tuts, so there will be some floundering around.

[MauricioPC]

I realise I am putting my trust in Fabric, but my experience is that they are honest passionate people with whom I have met face to face, and who are transparent regarding roadmaps of where they are going. that's very refreshing and how it should be and we've been starved of that for a long while.
I believe that metaphorically speaking, for me FE will be ICE without limits and I'm excited about that.
Thanks for the advice. I fully understand it, but I feel I know what I'm doing.

Hey Paul ,is there any chance you could do a tutorial on getting started in fabric stuff ?.your scripting tutorials really inspired me to have another stab at it ...and I bought rafs tutorials and 7 weeks later I've written a few tools and a basic exporter for a game ngne .... So thanks for the inspiration fella.

Maybe you could inspire others to dip their toes into Fabric

Thats great to hear, and yes I fully intend to help encourage as many into the Fabric fold as I can through sharing free tutorials. Bear in mind though that I'll be starting from scratch, much as I did with my first ICE tuts, so there will be some floundering around.

Hey Paul,

Do that please. I also want to learn more about programming after watching your videos on scripting with Python.

[missingkey]

if you only know softimage, then chances are you don't have much experience anyways. picking up a new software pack is only a different fork in the road.

if you have lot's of experience, and only know softimage... what happened? are you generally just not curious about anything?

suck it up or get the F out, me thinks.

[Morgan Nilsson]

@Morgan Nilsson -
The only serious contender I think you've missed is Maxon Cinema 4D.

I was never able to figure out,
if EIAS could be counted to the group of serious contenders, but somehow I doubt it.

Right of course! I have no clue what Cinema 4D got going for itself other than awesome MoGraph so I couldn't comment on it.

[MauricioPC]

if you only know softimage, then chances are you don't have much experience anyways. picking up a new software pack is only a different fork in the road.

if you have lot's of experience, and only know softimage... what happened? are you generally just not curious about anything?

suck it up or get the F out, me thinks.

Or we've tested other software and came to the conclusion the their are worst than Softimage in almost all aspects. I still play with 3ds Max as it's FumeFX and Krakatoa are quite nice. But I would rather make this and send to Softimage to finish it up and render than using 3ds Max as my hub. The same could go for Maya.

Funny thing ... there's lots of people with a resumee of Maya, Max, Modo, Mudbox, ZBrush, 3DCoat, Nuke, Fusion, C4D, AfterEffects, Avid, FCP, Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator and a LOT of crappy work. So take your pick ...

[missingkey]

I think I can agree with most everything you said. I like SI for the same reasons. But isolating yourself within a specific software doesn't necessarily give you a leg up. "testing software" isn't usually enough, as people tend to try and migrate workflows as opposed to learning "different' ones.

software co-dependency leaves you unemployable quick. Diversify, Learn to code, be generally interested in 3D and all things surrounding, and this type of thing won't leave you laying fetal.

[Hirazi Blue]

Your last statement makes a lot more sense than your earlier "suck it up or get the F out, me thinks". You're obviously entitled to your opinion and are even more than welcome to voice it, but statements like the one I just quoted could easily be misconstrued as being deliberately inflammatory, given the context we're in at the moment...
;)

[azurecgi]

Does anyone else think that bellsey and luc erics recent lack of posts in this thread speaks volumes?

One of them is normally pretty quick to jump into this type of speculation with a feeble justification for Autodesks behaviour!

[MauricioPC]

Does anyone else think that bellsey and luc erics recent lack of posts in this thread speaks volumes?

One of them is normally pretty quick to jump into this type of speculation with a feeble justification for Autodesks behaviour!

For me that confirmed thats truth, given their were posting here I think five minutes before someone posted the rumor and than they simply disapeared.

Even worst was some guy from Autodesk popping up in the list, in the middle of the same subject and giving his contacts for people that to transition to get in touch.

Talking about bad timing.

Moderator edit: Although I fully understand the sentiment, let's postpone this part of the discussion until the moment they are able to actually seriously respond (without the restrictions presumably placed upon them ATM). - HB