Where is the community?

[nuverian]

Hello,

So I was just wondering where did the community disapeared. There are so far less posts here regarding anything. The fact that AD announced XSI EOL, doesn't really mean that out of a sudden XSI is not production usable or still good. It is and it will be for quite a few years ahead.
Software don't need to get a new version each year to be good. That is just a AD trap we all went in for and some people still do.

A good software doesn't need pointless updates each year, so I don't get why people suddently stop using it (judging from the number of posts made here versus JUST a while back)

Just my thought and point of view

[Pooby]

I know. Mind you it probably seems comparitvely worse when compared to the massive flurry of activity when the EOL was announced.

I still check in every day, but haven't got much to post about. Maybe I'll do some new ICE tutorials.

[Hirazi Blue]

While the "EOL frenzy" was obviously rather extreme, our daily "post count" had, especially after the demise of the xsibase, increased significantly to settle on a nice average, that obviously lies much higher than now. What goes on here now really is a mere shadow of our former glory and even in those times we never came close to the "post count" of the xsibase. That said and I happily repeat myself: to keep the community alive, participation is mandatory. Everybody should play his/her part, that's not something you can leave to a select group of fanatics...

[Tekano]

sigh!

still suffering a depression I guess, it was announced in March and now only November, its going to take a while and for some its a clean break and move on.

others not so, this still is the defacto place to go visit for xsi related stuff so there can be some pride in that. and long may it continue. so as long as there are folk around to listen and respond I wouldn't say the community is dead per se. just suffering some devastating news and keeping on the down low.

out in the wild there are still a lot of folk who use Softimage and will continue to do so until a decent alternative appears who are not forum dwellers and do not want to do 3d in spare time and just want to go home to the kids or tv whatever. but sure enough in thier working day and stuck on a task or other and the answer can be find here.. again is good and the community is still there. just not enough thumbs up buttons on posts or something.

[FXDude]

Maybe the community is just upset and would (understandably) rather not write anything than reiterating complaints. (aka: to 'bitch')

[FXDude]

Upset perhaps because the header of the following page (edit: absolutely) remains true to this day..



Used to make a video for a song ironically called "Can't Get You Out Of My Head"

(warning: low low low-cut cleavage)

[Mathaeus]

Few weeks ago, found myself, trying to connect Softimage ICE nodes in Houdini way ( two clicks instead of drag and drop). No one other 3d app caused the accident of this kind, in last two or three years of trying the other solutions. I tried every of five alternatives. Itself it tells nothing, everything negative I told about H is still standing... but, well, at least I think I know where I'll be in near future.
Of course every day I'm checking this site, anyway.

[FXDude]

I guess we all share the same pain/dissapointment..

Anyone having moved to anything, apart from learning curves, more often than not has had to lose quite a bit in doing so in one way or another,
losing either ease/straight-forwardness (not just for learning but every day) => Maya/Houdini,
and or 'power'=> Modo/C4d
but enough to sometimes leave me astonished at the (at least 'perceived') importance of 'status' when people make choices.

The fact of something not being 'dead' sometimes ranks up pretty high in the list of priorities considering the sacrifice some people are making.

Missing things like ICE alone, but so often among so many other things in either C4D, Modo or Maya or almost 'anything else'
(specially when doing more or less custom or elaborate stuff),
or dealing with Maya altogether, or resorting to 10 different things to compensate shortcomings..
(although I understand in many cases, but for any that don't 'have to'?)


But anyway.. I think Soft will continue to have a strong yet silent presence (some shops refer to soft like "we used 3d Software" lol)
as long as it continues to have highest proportions of friendliness vs. 'powerfulness', (really hands down by a considerable margin)
things that are almost contradictory in terms and almost never go together

And everything seems to indicate that that will be the case for more than just 'a while', OR until something fresh (and comparatively friendly & capable) is introduced, maybe BUF software? (supposed to be particularly both friendly & capable) but time will tell..

Also it's not as if soft hasn't or won't continue to be updated (quite a few 'updates' actually) through shared tricks in magic bags ;)
and it having a literal built-in trick/feature maker also surely greatly contributes to that

[xsi_fanatic]

I'm actually busy everyday with Softimage, still working on my animated short.

[NNois]

me too, checking forum every day, working on soft every day, and very sad each time i hit the save compund button, not much anymore reusable, would love a converter to houdini, so not much to ask here as every learning effort will go on houdini/blender.

[MauricioPC]

I'm always here, trying to post news I see online about the CG community and mostly C4D, which is where I'm at right now.

Since I only had access to a student license of Softimage, it made sense to change for something I could buy in the future for commercial work.

In any case ... I agree with Hirazi.

That said and I happily repeat myself: to keep the community alive, participation is mandatory.

[MikeM]

I still use Softimage and check regularly on the forums, although I never was very active in here and there isn't much I can bring to it myself as I mostly use Softimage for creating videogame assets and here most users seem to use it for highpoly & cinema/vfx production but its still great to see what people are up to.

[Draise]

I'd love to see your game assets!

[Hirazi Blue]

Okay, in the recent past there was talk about the different software Softimage user could potentially migrate to and we tried to cater to that need by opening our software-specific migration sub-forums. These have turned to not be terribly successful, but as they serve a clear purpose, they should continue to exist IMHO. The problem however is that we still primarily are a Softimage community and even though many of us are starting to move or already have moved on our primary “mission statement” should IMHO still be to keep this poor EOL software and the community alive for as long as possible. How? I haven’t got a clue, quite frankly. But maybe we can change the tune from “where is the community?”, a valid question, into a “where will this community go from here?”. Any ideas are welcomed, obviously.

[nDman]

I still use Softimage and i trying to learn it better and deeper. I check this community multiple times everyday.

I feel so sad in all that moments i work with Softimage It's looks like (i feel like this) i'm only rider of a big ship, but how much i can continue this?




Currently i trying to change field of my work from Animation to Game.
I spend lots of my time to learn Scripting/Game designing/Game engines/... and i don't have much time to learn another big DCC software like Houdini.
This EOL of Softimage is a big pain in ass for me I hate you Autodesk

[AceMastermind]

I still use Softimage and check regularly on the forums, although I never was very active in here and there isn't much I can bring to it myself as I mostly use Softimage for creating videogame assets...

Same here, i'm just a hobbyist using XSI Foundation 5.11 and Softimage Mod Tool 7.5
This is my current project:

Hidden content: [ Show ]

It still needs a bit of tweaking and more detail added here and there.