Softimage2014?

[graphmode]

I do not want to see the Softimage never like Maya. I did not mean it.
Modo can be like. new and simple example.

[Bullit]

Steven Caron in mailing list posted information that shows if correct that the camera sequencer is much more than a camera sequencer - maybe they should change the name of it ...

'editing' is only one aspect of this tool. the idea is you can now view
time in the scene out of sequence from which you are normally used to.

you have two people in a car, driving, arguing. you have 2 cameras, which
you cut back and forth from. sometimes you want to show the reaction of the
passengers face to something the driver is saying. thing is these happen at
the same time, but you want to see them one after the other. the sequencer
will allow you as an animator see the two shots in context of each other.
softimage will play the scene forward, then jump back, switch the camera,
and play it again. now you want to add another shot, where the passenger is
holding a weapon down by their side of the seat and just as the passenger
reacts to the driver's comment, we get a slow mo shot of their hand raising
a gun to the driver's head. the sequencer can handle the slow motion too.
this works really well for mocap performances because the actor's are doing
all of this on the stage in realtime. when you get the data back you can
decide how to 'shoot' it after the fact.

no more constraining a camera to 3 cameras and animating the blend weights
(which breaks if your camera's frames overlap), having to extend your scene
frame range to account for three shots in one scene file, and you can do re
times/time warps with very little effort.

[Letterbox]

If he's right, and from the video it looks like it could be that way.

That's why I posted up the general principle it becomes more like 'inline editing' where you can do exactly what he says and a whole lot more.

Which is why I mentioned the Light using this methodology, as on a set lights can get reset per shot. You can always drill down in the mixer to get to the animation editor and change the curves, add keyframes etc to give you even more flexibility. With the benefit of using workflow you hopefully already know.

From the script you posted bullit, people could probably pull out just the few necessary lines that make it context/camera switch.

So again not to discredit the new tool itself, but at least for people who use older versions, or for whatever reasons don't upgrade, it gives you options, and don't feel left out in the cold.

Plus lets not forget, it's a great learning experience in using the animation mixer, the connectivity to the animation editor, as well as the scene and model structure. A simple bit of scripting and you too can have it. Sometimes there is a feeling of great achievement when you made it yourself. I wish you luck with it.

Cheers

[Letterbox]

and here our Japanese friends have done something similar and extended what I mentioned, but not only for Softimage but Maya and After effects too.

https://vimeo.com/jcgs

[Lord Futzi Voldemort]

Camera Sequencer Js. I got it from xsibase, if you want i can send it to you.
I also think camera switcher ICE compound does it. http://xsisupport.com/area-softimage-co ... d-plugins/
Also this https://vimeo.com/52976656 and this https://vimeo.com/51907668

The camera sequencer is more advanced and integrated than those. Actually it's a great addition, maybe not for commercials, but for film, series, previs, game cinematics( realtime or not).
It's a faster way to setup and edit animatics shot sequences, and time is money...

Cheers
A.

That´s why I use the send to maya function, where I have the sequencer for almost 2 years now. And Viewport 2.0 for all that matters. I hope there will be more than shifting tech between apps in the future.

[graphmode]

Before I forget ...
File/picture etc. when you open the browser "previous file position" and "file history" is very good to remember. It's really very easy and necessary thing.

[Letterbox]

You know what would be really nice with this sequencer...

is to get back the AAF export that used to be in SI up until 7.5, and since the code is/was there it should be easy enough to put it back in.

Why? Because Maya now has intoruced it, and from the page below* it would be incredibly easy to export to smoke, Avid media Composer, Final Cut, etc.

*http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/discreet ... g_workflow

I hope it's not too late for someone to see the potential it gives customers. (SI ones that is).

[luceric]

the aaf code in softimage, which we don't have the rights to, was only used to export a master clip (i.e. a mfx file made from the render images), there was no timeline or anything. It was like quicktime support, just another movie file format. I cannot recall any user asking for it back, which suggest that no one used it.

IMHO you won't see NLE interop workflow in the Softimage camera switcher. It's a LOT of work, and hard to justify. The camera switcher ended up there for the companies in japan that create in-game cinematics in XSI (ex: metal gear solid 4 was done this way). They do not send that stuff to Avid or FCP; it would be exported to a custom format and sent to play real-time in the game engine. Now, while you can download a script or something that does something similar, the point is that these companies outsource work and want all the partners to use the same tools, and they don't want to have to share, maintain and provide third party support internal tools. That's why they push to have these things built-in Softimage, they want every partner to have the same thing.

[Eugen]

A little late on this, but anyway:
since Nurbs have been mentioned before, and if they are "deprecated" these days or not... please let's distinguish between Nurbs curves and Nurbs surfaces!

Curves are of course 2D geometry (although their points can be in 3D space), and they are an essential building block/basis for 3D modeling. Show me any decent 3D-application that does not support curves (ironically, 2D drawing apps like Illustrator or even AutoCAD used in "2D mode" do nothing but curves, basically).
There are many ways of deriving 3D geometry from curves, and for the stuff I do it is completely out of question if they are useful or not. They are and will remain so, period. It's basic and boring like bread and butter.

Surfaces are another matter. The whole subject is huge, and the algorithms and math behind it is among the most complex stuff you will encounter in 3D graphics.
So it's somewhat fair to say, leave this to the "pros", the monstrous CAD packages, Rhino, whatever.

BUT: Nurbs surfaces have their place even in a DCC app like Softimage. Not much any more for organic but for geometrical modeling, and variations in between, like furniture, or various technical shapes, and for rigging.
The parametric characteristics of surfaces have undeniable advantages, so at least a subset of surface modeling tools are worthwhile - SI definitely has some that are usable. A good part, though, is total crap, and an even better part is missing.
Nurbs in general became victim to almost complete ignorance and carelessness (like quite a few other parts of the software, sadly), including the Nurbs parts of the SDK, and attempting to write 3rd party Nurbs tools has major quirks (I know from experience).

It became somewhat consensus now that ICE modeling is the de facto "replacement" for tools written with the traditional SDK (a very questionable decision, since both approaches have their strengths).
Now with that said, why the HECK does ICE modeling still have no way of creating/editing Nurbs curves or surfaces - not even reading them properly?? (where are the SubcurveIndex and SubsurfaceIndex ICE attributes?). Like if that would be much of a problem...

For the sceptics: like with any feature of a general purpose 3D application: some will use it, others not. Those who don't shouldn't care, and hopefully not vote against it.
There are many who WOULD care for better modeling tools, and that must go hand-in-hand with better Nurbs.
At the moment, regarding Nurbs or Nurbs related workflows, we are stuck with missing tools, foul compromises and restrictions people used to other applications can only laugh about, and this is going on for too many years now.

Yet bugs have been reported and requests have been logged, so let's happily wait for the miracle a bit longer - being SDK fixes, ICE Nurbs, and general improvements how Subcurves and Subsurfaces are included in modeling workflows.
If in doubt, start with Curves...

By the way: I believe Autodesk should hire more Softimage developers. (are you laughing?)

Best,
Eugen

[Letterbox]

the aaf code in softimage, which we don't have the rights to, was only used to export a master clip (i.e. a mfx file made from the render images), there was no timeline or anything. It was like quicktime support, just another movie file format. I cannot recall any user asking for it back, which suggest that no one used it.

IMHO you won't see NLE interop workflow in the Softimage camera switcher. It's a LOT of work, and hard to justify. The camera switcher ended up there for the companies in japan that create in-game cinematics in XSI (ex: metal gear solid 4 was done this way). They do not send that stuff to Avid or FCP; it would be exported to a custom format and sent to play real-time in the game engine. Now, while you can download a script or something that does something similar, the point is that these companies outsource work and want all the partners to use the same tools, and they don't want to have to share, maintain and provide third party support internal tools. That's why they push to have these things built-in Softimage, they want every partner to have the same thing.

Shame you lost the rights for softimage, but maybe not a big loss, as from your comments it was obviously lacking.

Maybe I was just expecting that the AAF / FCP / XML code for which AD does seem to have the rights in Maya, would get transported over to this new camera sequencer in Softimage making it a more worthy tool.

It's hard to completely evaluate the SI tool and it's capabilities based on the limited video shown. Yet, with those formats included it might make smoke etc more worthwhile to look at. I thought one's marketing would see that aspect.

For Reference here is the Maya camera sequencer that was uploaded 3 years ago. I was/am hoping the softimage one would be comparable in terms of a) workflow b) external application integration.

[McNistor]

I'm very curios if FR has taken the FXtree's way to oblivion.
Perhaps not long before we'll know.

[angus_davidson]

Personally I think its a real shame they didnt pay more attention to the FX tree. I have always liked it and we stil use it a lot just for the students to get an idea of how combing the layers work, without having to take them to another program. It also reminds me of Shake for which I still have very fond memories. To me that day they start doing decent update work on the fx tree is the day they finally start taking SI as a whole seriously, and not just ICE.

[Bullit]

There already have been some examples of connection FXtree-Ice.

[Chris_TC]

To me that day they start doing decent update work on the fx tree is the day they finally start taking SI as a whole seriously, and not just ICE.

Is it too far-fetched to think they will at some point merge all the node-based stuff into one unified system? Render tree, FX tree, ICE. I always thought that that's the way to go. Maybe also add all capabilites of the animation mixer into this node system as well.

[nixx]

...and not just ICE.

I 'm taking angus' quote as a general example. I 'm not sure I agree with the "...just ICE" comments/complaints. ICE is not just a single tool, that they 're focusing on, at the expense of other tools.

Think about it : it started mainly as a particle system. Then it moved to deformation and other types of simulation. Then it essentially became a general framework for all sorts of different tools, way beyond its initial scope (look at what Paul Smith 's been doing with it; from rigging and mocap control to image processing, compositing (!) and tracking). And now it's making good progress into modeling as well.

I 'm not making a direct comparison here, but as an example, to me it's a bit like saying that SideFX is only developing Houdini's node networks, and not "the rest of the application".

So it's not like they 're "only developing ICE". The way I see it is, they 're "developing SI around ICE". And if that's the case, I for one like where this is going.

[gustavoeb]

Maybe integrated with a more useful schematic view? One can dream... but I would not bet on it...