Where is the community?

FXDude · Post by **FXDude** » 23 Nov 2014, 21:02

Hey AceMastermind, I remember a great car that you did.. do you still have that around?

And I aslo wanted to say thanks so much for having taken the time to do all that involved preparing and uploading the wealth of XSI tutorials up on Youtube!

cheers

Draise · Post by **Draise** » 23 Nov 2014, 22:17

I'm currently working on a shortfilm - kinda like some kind of "self taught" thesis. I've just finished the Animatic - now learning some minor particle things - and finetuning animations.

Soon I hope to start rendering and lighting.

Maybe.... posting WIP's more often and asking more questions to strengthen the knowledge and know-how of the software from experienced to not so (like me) would prolong the life in this? It's just a tool right now, but it's the masters who know how to use it teaching it to the next "generations" prolongs the use of such tool.

It clearly is a capable software - and I think it's ICE particle system is by far the funnest I've tried thus far.

gaboraa · Post by **gaboraa** » 25 Nov 2014, 08:09

As an independent game development studio, we are using Softimage heavily in our pipelines. All sorts of animation, rigging and assets creation (Maya also another one involves in assets creation) is being done with Softimage. I am happy with SI and I will use it until it doesn't work anymore.

nDman · Post by **nDman** » 25 Nov 2014, 15:39

gaboraa wrote:I am happy with SI and I will use it until it doesn't work anymore.

Long live SI, long live SI-Community

druitre · Post by **druitre** » 25 Nov 2014, 17:35

I'm here too daily. Great stuff is being made, great tools are being made available, in fact SI itself feels more alive than ever. If I didn't know better, that is.
I'm also working with SI every day, I'll post what I'm doing in a short while in WIP section. I feel the forum serves a function still, I'd hate to see it die.

Shredder565 · Post by **Shredder565** » 26 Nov 2014, 17:36

nuverian wrote: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

yeah.. this place seems far less active than I would like it to be. but since there arn't that many sites devoted to CGI creation like this, i'm glad it's still around

McNistor · Post by **McNistor** » 20 Dec 2014, 15:57

I'm not out to shit on people's moods or happiness and I'm sorry (not really

) if I'll manage to do just that, but in spite of the Soft's awesomeness there's one thing nobody can contest: XSI's days are numbered.
Sure everything dies, but just like a patient being told they (because "he" is no longer PC) have cancer and they have approximately 'n' amount of days left, Softimage has also its days numbered. It can have a great time until that set day happens, but the fact that we know when that happens is what depresses and drives away many if not most users.

Like I've already said, no 3d app or piece of s/w is out of the termination woods and chances are some 3d apps will bite the bullet even sooner than XSI (just take a look at The Foundry related recent news which doesn't equal termination but gives a pretty good idea regarding the turmoil this industry is in). A healthy person might die tomorrow hit by a truck but you won't see a healthy individual engulfed by the gloom of impeding death like a terminal illness person would be.

In this light, it's easy to explain why lots of users run away from certainty to uncertainty.

Draise · Post by **Draise** » 22 Dec 2014, 03:17

Valid..

Paper and pencil aren't outdated, and cease to be improved. I kinda look at SI like that for now...

Any software is.. essentially.. that - minus the cool added evolutionary aspect of "alive" and "developing" software.. But not necessary.

SamHowell · Post by **SamHowell** » 22 Dec 2014, 10:53

I don't post much. I never have. But I have always been a lurker. I check in here most days to keep tabs on things and see what people are up to. To be honest I always found the non Softimage topics the most interesting (even when Softimage was still alive and kicking).

Is the post count really that low? I visit other small CGI forums quite regularly and they seem very quiet compared to here. Some of these forums consist of almost 100% technical question and answer threads. You can't really call them a community as such, more of knowledge base. At least this forum has a broad spread of CGI topics and discussion. It feels friendly, like popping into a familiar pub for a quick drink on your lunch break.

Pooby · Post by **Pooby** » 22 Dec 2014, 11:23

Personally, I will just continue to use the best tools I have available. I'm in a fortunate position to not have to have my software dictated to me.
I looked at Houdini, but ultimately decided that there is NO DCC that is appropriate for my next move.

I miss the flurry of excitement of watching all the new ICE experiments coming out almost daily. That period was at its peak about 2 years ago.
Being able to make extraordinary stuff happen with ICE is even more fun than the a box of Lego Technic I had when I was a kid. ( and I was obsessed with that)

The promise of THIS overrides any concern I have for the future https://vimeo.com/114902164 (Fabric Engine's Visual Programming 'christmas card' sneak peak)
As Far as I'm concerned, Fabric is the Phoenix of Softimage. Way ahead of the curve, as XSI was/is in so many ways. I can see the same genius in Fabric that I saw in XSI. And for most users, its free.

Once their visual programming is released, I'm going to do the same I did with ICE. A series of tutorials for people who might think themselves incapable of working on something so technical, and demonstrate that it can be fun.

As an example of its power, ICE has been great to play with ideas related to image processing and compositing, but with Fabric, I could make an actual standalone compositor if I so wished. That kind of potential excites me a lot.

I hope this Forum is still around so we can have a section for anyone interested to follow and share questions about Fabric. In the meantime, I'll still be using XSI and ICE as its the only way of me getting my work done at the speed required.

Hirazi Blue · Post by **Hirazi Blue** » 22 Dec 2014, 11:31

@McNistor - As much as I dislike the cancer analogy for personal reasons I think the one thing to run with is the idea of the "fighting chance", we can keep Softimage more or less alive as long as we can keep our spirits up and keep fighting. In the end we will fail, it's true, but until then it's probably still worth it to make the effort.
(Add a "ho ho ho" for good measure to keep in the upbeat festive spirit...)

@SamHowell - Complaints about "low' post counts are obviously always only relative to "former glory" and most importantly the rather sharp drop quickly after the "announcement". The drop itself was to be expected, the suddenness and the especially the speed with which it happened surprised/frustrated me personally. But since the beginning of this thread I've noticed a slight increase in post counts again, so that's a good thing I guess...
;)

SamHowell · Post by **SamHowell** » 22 Dec 2014, 12:10

@ Pooby: I have very high hopes for Fabric 2.0 also. The mind boggles at it's potential. I just worry about the time scale of it's development. I have jumped into Houdini in a big way in order to stay employable. I think it's amazing what they are doing but I simply can't take the chance waiting for it. After an initial normal period Softimage jobs seem to be dropping off (at least in London). 2015 will be a very important year.

@Hirazi Blue: I guess that's to be expected. If Fabric 2.0 could to be the spiritual rebirth of ICE as Pooby suggests then Si-Community seems like a good candidate for future discussions on it development.

forton · Post by **forton** » 22 Dec 2014, 13:25

+1 about fabric.
Fabric as a valid successor of ice is what I hope for.
I just hope they keep si fully supported.

forton · Post by **forton** » 22 Dec 2014, 13:45

I'm also waiting for a non autodesk dcc supported by fabric.

Pooby · Post by **Pooby** » 22 Dec 2014, 14:28

Any App is potentially supported by Fabric, but obviously the Splice part needs someone to write it.

This doesn't have to be done by Fabric themselves. I guess they started with Soft Maya and Max because they are the most used by studios that write their own tools. It wouldnt make so much business sense to start with Modo for example.
However, personally I think, if they got Fabric Splice to work with a non AD app like Modo, It would clearly demonstrate the power of it. Somehow, a rig or deformer working in all the AD apps (amazing as that is) Its still less impressive than having it work in what might be percieved as a less powerful application.
I'd like to see Fabric for Fusion, Nuke or After Effects etc too.. Then it would get very interesting. If they can find a way of having Fabric Powered Plugins for a multitude of Apps, it would be amazing for developers.

Draise · Post by **Draise** » 22 Dec 2014, 14:41

I'd die happy if they spliced it into Blender - man that'd be the day.

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