What if Softimage died?

[angus_davidson]

I'd probably stick to Softimage till the end. I think I tried all the main 3D packages and neither of them come close in having UI and workflow that'd fit me like the Softimage does.
Cinema 4D is nice for creating some quick motiongraphics though.

talking about workflow there is a very good video by Andrew Price on what is wrong with the Blender UI. Breaks down the reason for things in UI's and in a lot of ways shows just how successful Softimage has been in capturing a really good intuitive workflow. This is an example as well of how developers can interact with their customers.

http://www.cgchannel.com/2013/09/video- ... is-broken/

[MauricioPC]

So ... money aside, if you could pick the perfect companion to Softimage, what would that be? Maya, Houdini, C4D, Modo, Blender? I mean in a world where Softimage will continue to grown.

[Shredder565]

I started out in max 2.5, then migrated mistakingly to animation master, before I found the wonderful softimage.

My workflow was NEVER as good in max as it was in softimage....and I've found it easier to learn..Recently installed Maya trial just for the hell of it, wondering how touh it would be to pick up. I got old cold feet and stopped in my tracks like a deer in headlights.

So long as I can use my old softimage software, [...] official support.. i'll use it till I get bored with it ;o).

I think I'm too old to get back into the swing of max, or figure out how to use maya or zbrush

Moderator edit: [...] - HB

[mirkoj]

there are 2 perfect companions for Softimage: Arnold and Redshift

Btw it seems that developers that are pushing how Maya is great and stuff are forgetting one thing.
It is not important how good code is... but how good final software is to users.
All talk is how great Maya is as platform, to build upon and so on and so on.... What actually it matter how good it is to USER and WORKFLOW.
It is good to be easy and good under the hud to be able to upgrade and so on BUT even perfect scalable code or whatever is NOTHING
if final software that is actually made by is is pure crap.. or close to it.
Car that could speed up from 0-1000000kmh in a part of sec may be perfect dream for engineers.. but driver crushed to death by acceleration wouldn't appreciate it...

Hope that got's through what I actually am thinking about

[Bullit]

Yes, the only thing improved about Maya is viewport. Other than that it is the same as what always has been. Even discounting Softimage superior interface, ICE is much more than the Maya viewport. What would users prefer Softimage with Maya viewport or Softimage with ICE? for me it is clear.

[angus_davidson]

Yes, the only thing improved about Maya is viewport. Other than that it is the same as what always has been. Even discounting Softimage superior interface, ICE is much more than the Maya viewport. What would users prefer Softimage with Maya viewport or Softimage with ICE? for me it is clear.

Been playing around with the new modelling tools in the 2014 version and they are very good. A massive increase in usability from where Maya was.

That being said it was a plugin that was integrated into Maya, Similar thing for Shader FX for the LT version. My feeling is that Maya will be their platform for development going further. (max and soft will go into maintenace mode) To me its no co incidence that their new tech showcases have been done within Maya first.

Given the backgrounds of the current Softimage dev team. To me it was incredibly telling that the Viewport got no love. Think of it. If Softimage had the Uber viewport there would be no reason for all the game studios to switch to Maya. AD$K might not be the best at PR but they know very well what it would take for a big studio to switch from the one to the other (after all we keep telling them)

[Bellsey]

If people think that the only new thing Maya has got is the viewport, then they're very much mistaken. There's actually been alot of stuff go into Maya in recent versions. Some of it might be under the hood and not so sexy, but there's been some good stuff.

As for the modelling, I've never been a subscriber to this notion that Maya's modelling tools have been poor, or unusable as some have said. They've always been very good, and personally at the time of the Softimage acquisition I would of put Maya, Max, and Soft on a fairly even keel modelling wise. Then Max got it's Graphite Tools, which kinda edged it ahead. Maya and Soft kinda got nips and tucks really.
The addition of the new modelling toolkit in Maya (Nex) has seen some long overdue improvements and in the recent extension release, we're built upon that with more improvements, with hopefully more to come.

As for ShaderFX, we haven't just dropped a plugin in there. For those who didn't know, ShaderFX was a Max plugin developed by Kees Rijnen. Kee's has since joined Autodesk and been working on some new stuff. ShaderFX in MayaLT is the just the first stage of hopefully more stuff to come.

[Falam]

Bellsey - What would you choose Maya or Softimage ?

[Nizar]

Continuing the maya promotional posts...

downloaded the trial to day, messing a bit with the new modelling tool (nice), but to be honest I don't see nothing worth learning from scratch a new application, and don't forget the money, I have not incentive to spending so much money for a software like maya.

[Kzin]

ok, interesting poll, but let me throw a couple of possible hypothetical curve balls in there.

What if Softimage continued as normal, but it was channelled and focused into being a more specialised package for something. Kinda in the same light as something like a Mudbox or Motionbuilder, which are good at doing particular things.

And before people start saying - 'yes but Softimage can do loads of stuff, etc, etc'.......we know that, but lets just say that you're faced with two stark choices, either the product has to die, or it continues but with this particular focus. I'm not saying what the focus might be and it might not be to everyone's liking, but it would suit Softimage and it would mean the product lived on.

Btw, just to be clear here, I'm not trying to conduct a secret poll/survey for Autodesk, I'm just throwing something out there in the light of this thread.

would be the only chance for si to survive the next year. the question is now in which direction it should go. i have no awnser for this, only some thoughts for game dev as an example.
ice is dead with bifroest on the horizon. so i would not waste resources here, except all the game studios out there are using it. that brings us to rendering. no one is interested in the current situation, for games dev, it is not needed so also skip this. that brings us to the viewport. that would need a whole overwork. but, from my pov, why i should use si for this then maya has it already and as a base tool you find many artists very fast, a big problem for si. that is the main question, why i should use si when max and maya are doing a better job? why improving si in this area when max and maya already have the features? i have no clue in which direction it should go because you have other software that fills the gap already. it must something max and maya does not have or only at a basic level.
and at least, when concentrating in one direction, there is the risk alot of users will left si and going to the competition.

[Nox]

Because there is nothing really worth switching.

NEX is still just a plugin stacked on top, not an integral part of Maya.

P.S. What's about all that viewport debate? Why it's so crucial?

[Nizar]

P.S. What's about all that viewport debate? Why it's so crucial?

is crucial because is a very good tool for next generation console videogame development (xbox one and ps4)

[Falam]

This thread needs some Maya users input, someone call some over here What do they think of Maya ?
I sense encouraging news with Softimage, especially the poll results, also sense some doubt.

Bellsey could be right, Softimage may not RiP, but it may only specialize in a few tasks. Autodesk doesn't want it's packages competing with each other, but they want the revenue. If development is going to be reduced with Softimage, and only bug fixes will be the norm, why charge what Autodesk is charging for Softimage ?

Where do you spill the big cash, Maya or Softimage, we can't expect new bells and whistles every year, unreasonable, yet paying the high subscription fees can be unreasonable for many users as well.

ICE has brought us some tools Maya had to add with extensions. Weight the pros and the cons between Maya and Softimage, then I think we'll have our clear answer.

[Nizar]

Some years ago Maya users was pretty sure all development and attention diroctated by ADSK to 3dsm. I hope that we find ourselves in the same, temporary situation for what concerns Softimage

[oglu]

NEX is still just a plugin stacked on top, not an integral part of Maya.

not true... big parts are new code... and this is still goin on with the original nex devs...
take a look at the extension....

[Falam]

I'm hoping Autodesk reads this thread, from my understanding Autodesk only listens to Subscription members, if there is not enough ranting from Subscription members, they simply ignore it. Other subscription members maybe ranting about bugs, or what have you, viewport enhancements they may not even be complaining about, they may not even be making a chirp. If you want viewport enhancements, we hope Autodesk is reading this, or the latter.