SI 2013 sightings

[Hirazi Blue]

@gfxman & @EricTRocks - It's probably best if this part of the discussion ends here. If it doesn't it just would get uglier and uglier. You've both got different views, you both express your views differently & I don't foresee you both agreeing on this any time soon...
;)

One other thing, however:

and you're also a moderator here?

This is a mean thing to say IMHO. EricTRocks is utmost and foremost a member of this community and as such is naturally entitled to express his views. Him being a moderator shouldn't hinder him in that. Sometimes expressing your views does however not necessarily mean following the "Path Of The Moderator".

I myself know from several experiences in the past, that it's hard to the right thing as a moderator, when you're knee-deep in some heated debate. That goes with the job. Sometimes you post as a member, sometimes as a moderator/administrator. That's why the team consists of more than one person. And besides, moderating a forum isn't an exact science.

[EricTRocks]

If anyone wants to continue the discussion I invite you to PM me to keep the threads on track. Also, I've barely used any Moderator "power" other than to delete some spam bot posts. I have never thought that having a moderator role entitled me to anything or any superior standing on the forum. Other moderators are free to step in and draw the line as Hirazi has.

Again PM me if you wish to continue on this.

[McNistor]

Fighting on PM is like circus behind the curtains: no fun at all.

[Bellsey]

I'm not going to go over old ground regarding our demos and feature videos, as there isn't much more I can really say.
But I will make one last point. The new feature videos that get produced, for me, are really only suited to one pupose and thats to support the annual and general release of the products, they're essentially a high level introduction really. Normally many people will want to know more about what they have seen, which is where technical pre-sales, i.e. me, come in, by following up with people after they have contacted us direct or via resellers.

From my view, no feature video will ever be perfect, but for 2013 they served their purpose and we've already had some enquires to see more of Softimage, which is always a good thing. Is there room for improvement? Yes, or course, there always will be and we will try and do whatever we can, if we can, however we can.
I don't want to get into the debate of comparing to other vendors like Adobe, Luxology, Side Effects, Foundry and so on, or trying to compete with them over feature videos. They do their thing and Autodesk does theirs.

The videos have a purpose and they will only ever really show a kinda snapshot. What matters to me is what's next, and how we follow from that in getting out to the field and talking to customers, doing events, webinars, videos, and so on.

[Bellsey]

Getting back on track though..I have already been in contact with some of the new people and in particular Luc-Eric's 'replacement' - for want of a better word.
It wouldn't be appropriate for me to mention their name at this point and whether they would 'dare' and put themselves up in front of you guys, but they are aware of what goes on. If they choose to get more involved on something like this forum, then that would be their choice.

It's not uncommon though for guys to 'lurk' on forums, there are many ADSK people on various forums, but they choose not to post.

Incidently if there's anyone in the UK whose seen this: http://www.bluegfx.com/email/3dtechnolo ... ement.html I will be presenting at this reseller event next Thursday. The main focus will be Suites and I will be trying to show as much of the products as I can. I will be available to talk to people at the event, if they wanted to.

[luceric]

That Area 2013 launch web pages of all M&E apps were terribly incompetent, it's not super helpful to argue. You can't fix it in the forums.

Both Chinny and jen stay away from the forums and mailing list as the user base has not listened to what they say as truth and sincerity. Reminds me of recent threads where even though graham was being honest and as informative as he could, certain people were unsatisfied with his answers and instead of asking who they should contact for better answers, they blasted him and made our seem he was hiding something.

to be fair, Jen is probably not posting because she had not had any involvement with Softimage since 2008. It's not like she's going to jump in a answer an ICE question - she was a girl that organized events and handed out free t-shirts. I think other people have scaled back on the internet since having a family. We're all at that age now. There were something like 6 babies in the softimage team these last three years I think? Would need to check; these little things are popping up everywhere.

[Rez007]

@Luceric - Best of luck with your new endeavors! You will be missed, and thank you for the many hard years of dedication that you gave to us and Softimage!

[ShaderOp]

@Luceric - Best of luck with your new endeavors! You will be missed, and thank you for the many hard years of dedication that you gave to us and Softimage!

I couldn't have said it any better, so I'll just QFA it.

And Luc, I don't suppose we can convince you to plant some sort of subliminal message in Maya? Something like a "USE SOFTIMAGE!" text that flashes for a fraction of a second in the viewport would do nicely.

Good luck, and you'll be missed

[origin]

just swap maya installer with SI one on autodesk webpage

[diissar]

@luceric: I wish you all the best,can't thank you enaugh.

[Kerro Perro]

A: I will miss you Luceric and your super speedy help!

B: i've been happily using 2013 for a couple days now and though yes i thought: no IRay i was still mightlily pleased with it.
The HQ viewport has helped my modelling greatly by detecting flaws in my sub-d surfaces sooner thus already saving me time.

So today i decide to see what other improvements i haven't noticed yet and read some buzz on the boards... man the negativity!
For a moment there i got caught up in the despair of statements like: "2013 will be the last release!" and "Max is so much better now!"... An hour before i was content: sure it's not perfect but what app is? I remember reading a few threads on the NewTek forum last year and was amazed by the near total negativism: i thought it meant the app must really be terrible but now i think it's just a weird thing of jaded users who start to hate software over time.

God i hope this forum doesn't decend into that as i find this the most helpfull and "can-do" board on the net!

[McNistor]

I believe that the negativity on the Newtek forums comes from the fact that Lightwave sucks - it suffered a long period of lagging behind other 3d apps that is.
The negativity on these boards doesn't come mainly from Softimage sucking - it's still a great app - but from AD marketing policies on one hand and present/future development decisions regarding XSI on the other.
But basically the "negativity" you greatly exaggerate it.

[iamVFX]

Ice features and bug fixes of 2013 are great. I think there is so many negative comments because most of the community does not uses ice in the everyday workflow

[Hirazi Blue]

I remember reading a few threads on the NewTek forum last year and was amazed by the near total negativism: i thought it meant the app must really be terrible but now i think it's just a weird thing of jaded users who start to hate software over time.

Bitching and moaning about the product (and its development) is most definitely not the same as hating the software! And all the negativity you mention also mainly is a song-and-dance routine every forum (for whatever software) goes through come release time. A bit of cynicism and harsh criticism goes with the territory I'm afraid. Having to pay a lot of money for the software does NOT entitle you to have a say in the company's policies, but it DOES entitle you (within reason!!!) to bitch and moan a bit about it, IMHO.

[Kerro Perro]

I remember reading a few threads on the NewTek forum last year and was amazed by the near total negativism: i thought it meant the app must really be terrible but now i think it's just a weird thing of jaded users who start to hate software over time.

Bitching and moaning about the product (and its development) is most definitely not the same as hating the software! And all the negativity you mention also mainly is a song-and-dance routine every forum (for whatever software) goes through come release time. A bit of cynicism and harsh criticism goes with the territory I'm afraid. Having to pay a lot of money for the software does NOT entitle you to have a say in the company's policies, but it DOES entitle you (within reason!!!) to bitch and moan a bit about it, IMHO.

Well indeed - within reason - like i said i myself am dissapointed about a number of things but i was referring to rather extreme statements like "worst release ever" and "this is the end of softimage". If that isn't negativity then i don't know what is...

But the real reason i'm whining about the whining was a worry that this board would decend into a big moan-fest instead of place to get advice and feedback from experienced users and people on the dev team. That's all i wanted say - please continue to discuss 2013

[bottleofram]

Ice features and bug fixes of 2013 are great. I think there is so many negative comments because most of the community does not uses ice in the everyday workflow

I don't think it is fair to blame the users for the lack of appreciation. Yes, some people might use the opportunity to flame and complain just for the heck of it, but most users come here to simply stress their opinion. Positive or negative, it should all be treated the same.

Also, about the use of ICE and how that affects the reaction... Last year was all ICE as well and even with the infamous mray bug, there was nowhere near this much negativity. Why? Because even if you aren't using ICE as your primary tool and expect something more substantial to your everyday workflow only to find out you're in for some lagoa, syflex on ice, procedural modeling and serious work on SDK, you can still appreciate it because it is adding a lot of value to the package.

Everyone here knows what a powerful tool ICE is and whenever they expand on it, you see all sorts of clever and imaginative ways to use it, but dont tell me its perfect for everything. If you're an animator, rigger, modeler or even a motion graphic designer, you feel betrayed by autodesk. They are even changing the names of your commands or even the parts of the interface to accommodate people from other packages... I CAME from the other package, and i still dont appreciate it. Frankly, i think its offensive.

But i've got a bunch of work to catch up with and this rambling is just making Kerro Perro's point stronger so im out.

Peace