Softimage2014?

[Maximus]

You should contact chris.chia@autodesk.com or Cory.Mogk@autodesk.com asking them to join Softimage beta. Also yes create an account as luceric said.

[ace63]

how to sign up for the beta has been all over the community a few month ago.
you need to create an account on https://beta.autodesk.com
don't enter garbage info, you'll need to agree to an NDA, too

I have had a beta account for about 3 years now - even updated my details regularly and have multiple platforms.
Guess normal users just get ignored if they don't contact the responsibles directly.

[luceric]

I have had a beta account for about 3 years now - even updated my details regularly and have multiple platforms.
Guess normal users just get ignored if they don't contact the responsibles directly.

it's worth trying again. the softimage new team does things differently; the past team (i.e. softimage 2013 and before) used to limit the beta tests to a small group of the same people and didn't really use the beta.autodesk.com platform at all.
also, don't enter garbage info and follow the instruction.. many people in the past asked to be on beta but never followed up on the NDA requirement or used fake names.

[talent103]

I logged in with my subscription login and details and I submitted at least 2x before today making it 3X. I even have the creative suite. So go figure.

[TwinSnakes007]

ditto for me too. I tried to get into the Beta with (real) contact info.

...nada!

[EricTRocks]

After you apply I believe there needs to be an approval on your beta application as well. Not sure if they are taking more testers for this current beta right now.

[Maximus]

I said couple of post before who you should contact for Beta.

[Hirazi Blue]

A few questions:
1) How large is the beta testing group for Softimage currently? Is this a fixed number or does it vary?
2) Although I personally don’t really like the idea all that much: will there ever be a uservoice site for Softimage?
Or alternatively: will Softimage ever try to more actively reach out to those users not on the beta list in some other manner?

[luceric]

A few questions:
1) How large is the beta testing group for Softimage currently? Is this a fixed number or does it vary?
2) Although I personally don’t really like the idea all that much: will there ever be a uservoice site for Softimage?
Or alternatively: will Softimage ever try to more actively reach out to those users not on the beta list in some other manner?

the product teams will add people to their beta when they feel they are not getting enough feedback, and hit the breaks if they feel they are having trouble keeping up with the volume. There is no fixed number, it depends on the level of participation of the people that are currently on it. That said, I heard on Friday that these months may not be the time of year when they let in new people - Chris Chia is probably the guy to contact.

Autodesk didn't want a User Voice for Softimage last year because the ones for Maya and Max come with an internal commitment to fix a certain percentage of issues, and they weren't ready to add that to the plan for Softimage. (In other words, don't put a web site without scheduling dev time to do something with what shows up there) I am hoping/guessing they will put one up eventually.
note that there was a Small Annoying Things thread on the xsi mailing list and I think the team has logged the suggestions

[Bellsey]

A few questions:
1) How large is the beta testing group for Softimage currently? Is this a fixed number or does it vary?

I don't have the exact numbers but its healthy and the 'usual suspects' from the Softimage community are there.
Beta membership can vary, but it really depends on how active people are willing to be. The key thing is, is get an account with the Feedback Community (as Luc-Eric has mentioned). That doesn't change, it's only a persons actual participation in a particular Beta program that can change, and that's down to the respective Beta and QA guys to manage. As Luc-Eric has said, its worth trying again. People are more than welcome to contact me and I can maybe help. I'm not responsible for running Beta, but I can help point people in the right direction and join the dots, so to speak.

2) Although I personally don’t really like the idea all that much: will there ever be a uservoice site for Softimage?

I can't confirm anything, but this has been discussed internally. And, (if I can recall correctly) Cory may have raised this at the London usergroup. Personally, if the guys can get it going, I would like to see it happen.

Or alternatively: will Softimage ever try to more actively reach out to those users not on the beta list in some other manner?

We have already been doing this and the visit from Cory and Daniel to London was one aspect of that. There are other things we can do and I've been spending time talking with Softimage customers (whenever possible) in my geo. Any feedback that I receive, gets forwarded to the team.

[Hirazi Blue]

First of all, thank you both for your replies.

There are other things we can do

Please elaborate on that. I would really like to know what your thoughts on that specific topic are. I think highly "secretive" and exclusive meetings like the one in London might help Autodesk a lot (and might be highly informative to those who are able to attend), but a large part of the user base will no doubt be feeling left out. While talking about future developments might be impossible (without NDAs), a more open discussion with members of the team (which would require a slightly more visible team) on the current state of the software might not be restricted thusly, I guess. And such a discussion could even conceivably be held online. But that's just a vague idea, I have to admit.

[Bellsey]

Well to be honest, I don't have anything specific, but I have been discussing things within my team and also the sales guys about how we can try and make sure that we don't loose too much momentum from the recent meeting of the product guys. I have mentioned in previous posts that this was one area that had seemed to drop off, so I hope we can keep things going.

We know that it wasn't everyone to attend the London meeting, but users shouldn't feel that that can't try and contact us. I've mentioned to the our sales guys if they get any questions of queries from people, then they should at least contact me and I might be able to help them. Time and resources probably won't permit me to literally travel around EMEA seeing people all the time, but it's always possible to try and maximise my time, when I am travelling.

I'm not sure its going to be entirely practical to suddenly have direct lines of communication to the developers, but many (if not all) of the team are on the mailing list and forums such as these, so there is some visibility. Stefan unfortunately wasn't able to visit with Cory, but it might be possible for him to come over at another time. That's not my call to make, but it's not impossible.

[luceric]

a more open discussion with members of the team (which would require a slightly more visible team) on the current state of the software might not be restricted thusly, I guess. And such a discussion could even conceivably be held online.

"members of the team". From what I see is being discussed on this forum, I don't think that means any of members of the development team. They can help with API questions and technical questions, but that's pretty the extent of it. They don't decide the product's future or direction and can't answer anything about that. That's the program managers.

At Avid, we weren't just programmers or QA. We were pretty much able to decide whatever we worked on, designing features, etc. It was like having a dozen managers. I didn't really have to ask permission to add features like the fxtree and influence the priorities of the UI team (which I ran), Halfdan decided everything rendering, ICE completely came from the programmers that wanted to write it. There are actually big problems with that seemingly awesome approach (ex: nothing necessary but that no one wants to do ever gets done, egos collide, inconsistent results when more than one area is concerned, randomness, etc) but when you chatted with one of us you were talking with someone that actually had a hand on the wheel.

The point is, those chaotic startup-like days are over. Now you need to talk to the product manager and feed the data correctly in the system. Customer visits, betas, and browsing the public mailing list should be enough for a manager to know what the users care about. Also, I guess it does make sense to go through people like bellsey for sending feedback

[Rez007]

It looks like Softimage will be announced on March 26-27th.

On the Area at the online "Unfold Event" or in person in Montreal.

http://area.autodesk.com/2014unfold?mktvar002=541601

(I didn't know if I should have created a new thread for this, so I just put it here. Feel free to move it if you need too.)

[McNistor]

Looks like in a month we'll be seeing what the new team has been cooking.
Notice how Softimage has been grouped with the other underdogs (Mudbox and Motion-builder).

[angus_davidson]

The point is, those chaotic startup-like days are over. Now you need to talk to the product manager and feed the data correctly in the system. Customer visits, betas, and browsing the public mailing list should be enough for a manager to know what the users care about. Also, I guess it does make sense to go through people like bellsey for sending feedback

It would however be nice if said product manager was a bit more visible. Bellsey does a great job, but at the end of the day there is only so much he is able to divulge. I do take your point that the devs need to be able to focus on getting stuff done. However Cory does need to be seen more. His last SI comment on the area blog was in October of last year. Was nice to see the Zambezia stuff in the M & E round up though. SA shout out ;) Perhaps he needs to start posting here as he feels this is where all the SI people hang out ?