I think the one think that people forget is that for Cory Mogk, who may not be flying in a an European passport, is that it's not as easy to bounce around Europe at will. Going through customs and passport control once at Heathrow is probably enough, twice in a week is a nightmare.
That said, it's a shame that so many people are left out.
Last week alone we had contact from people in Japan, Russia, Germany, Namibia, China, South Africa, Mexico, Greece, Algeria and many other locales. I'm sure that all of them would too be interested in knowing the products future, if for no other reason than they will be the ones investing in it. Let alone the people that already have.
NDA's and SO regulations aside, I'm pretty sure that posting something positive would directly impact the majority of people who can't attend, let alone give them faith in that it's not going to end up like an undeveloped Toxic.
Which in the long run has surely got to be in Autodesk's interest too.
SIC_London - Cory Mogk
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angus_davidson
- Posts: 583
- Joined: 20 Dec 2012, 04:13
- Skype: ithacapellin
Re: SIC_London - Cory Mogk
I think we are all very aware about unveiling specific features. Most of the people I know dont really care about additional features at this point. They just want some form of direction as to where soft is heading. They want to know if they can continue to use it in their pipeline. Currently there just isnt that 100% confidence.
Folks want to know as to where soft fits in. Is it going to be up there with Maya playing in the movie space , or is it going to be limited mainly as a vehicle for effects via ICE. Given the composition of the new team, a heavy games focus is not totally out of the question. Problem is we havent been tossed a friggin bone for nearly a year now.
5 or so Years ago (3 months before they were bought out) when we dropped Maya from our teaching (mostly because of issues it had on our hardware, and other issues that even a visit from their techs could not resolve) there were a few options open to us. At the time when we looked at the options Soft was the clear winner because it had both a history of being very stable and a very good vision for what it is they wanted to do with the software. Software like Electric Image was discarded because it didnt know where it was going. (Funny enough EI has just resurfaced and should be interesting to see where they go)
Its not just about what it is we use soft for now. whether your in education or business you always have to looking at whether the tools you have are going to be able to do, what you need going forward. Right now soft is one big grey area. The fact that Autodesk cant see that is very concerning. I am assuming that with MAYA MAX and XSI in their stable they assume you will use one of them so they have you money either way.
You just have to look at this way. Why do a lot of production houses now use render software like vray, arnold. Mental ray can do 99% of what they do, and its effectively free with Maya , Soft etc. So why after its been quite a while since they have been separated out so that they can focus just one getting updates out etc do people not use Mental ray all the time. Most of the people I have spoken to use other renderers because they are very effective at communicating with their users. Whether it be a technical query, feature query, or future query they are very efficient at letting people know what is what. When you are looking at spending future money things like that are very important.
There is a lot that can be said without compromising themselves that would go a great way to reassuring people. The fact that what they are announcing is under NDA in the first place is somewhat worrying.
Folks want to know as to where soft fits in. Is it going to be up there with Maya playing in the movie space , or is it going to be limited mainly as a vehicle for effects via ICE. Given the composition of the new team, a heavy games focus is not totally out of the question. Problem is we havent been tossed a friggin bone for nearly a year now.
5 or so Years ago (3 months before they were bought out) when we dropped Maya from our teaching (mostly because of issues it had on our hardware, and other issues that even a visit from their techs could not resolve) there were a few options open to us. At the time when we looked at the options Soft was the clear winner because it had both a history of being very stable and a very good vision for what it is they wanted to do with the software. Software like Electric Image was discarded because it didnt know where it was going. (Funny enough EI has just resurfaced and should be interesting to see where they go)
Its not just about what it is we use soft for now. whether your in education or business you always have to looking at whether the tools you have are going to be able to do, what you need going forward. Right now soft is one big grey area. The fact that Autodesk cant see that is very concerning. I am assuming that with MAYA MAX and XSI in their stable they assume you will use one of them so they have you money either way.
You just have to look at this way. Why do a lot of production houses now use render software like vray, arnold. Mental ray can do 99% of what they do, and its effectively free with Maya , Soft etc. So why after its been quite a while since they have been separated out so that they can focus just one getting updates out etc do people not use Mental ray all the time. Most of the people I have spoken to use other renderers because they are very effective at communicating with their users. Whether it be a technical query, feature query, or future query they are very efficient at letting people know what is what. When you are looking at spending future money things like that are very important.
There is a lot that can be said without compromising themselves that would go a great way to reassuring people. The fact that what they are announcing is under NDA in the first place is somewhat worrying.
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Technomancer at Digital Arts
Wits University
Technomancer at Digital Arts
Wits University
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Bellsey
- Posts: 688
- Joined: 19 Apr 2010, 09:50
- Location: London, UnitedKingdom
Re: SIC_London - Cory Mogk
Paul has nailed it in terms of the rules we have to adhere to. And I know that I will sound like a broken record by repeating about the rules we must adhere too.
Also I don't know if people really quite understand just how restrictive they can be and the fine line we have to walk, and it is very very fine. I do read that people will say not to worry about mentioning specific features and instead give a 'general' idea. But, we have to very careful, even with something as simple as that. Even the most seemingly simple piece of information can be misinterpreted and taken as a confirmation of something. Many companies have been stung at least once by this, and because the financial penalties can be severe, you sure as hell make sure it doesn't happen again.
Also I don't know if people really quite understand just how restrictive they can be and the fine line we have to walk, and it is very very fine. I do read that people will say not to worry about mentioning specific features and instead give a 'general' idea. But, we have to very careful, even with something as simple as that. Even the most seemingly simple piece of information can be misinterpreted and taken as a confirmation of something. Many companies have been stung at least once by this, and because the financial penalties can be severe, you sure as hell make sure it doesn't happen again.