What if Softimage died?

Falam · Post by **Falam** » 02 Oct 2013, 14:44

El Burritoh wrote:Speaking of the Foundry... I'm interested to see what turn the toolsets and job titles take in the next few years as Comp and 3D become even more blended than they are now. With Katana and Nuke, the Foundry is pretty much the only entity seriously able to start merging these two stages. AD doesn't have anything here.

I agree, I never mentioned this, good point. It's the cost of the other compositors that contain most of the power that is the issue. You end up relying on composite \ After Effects.

angus_davidson · Post by **angus_davidson** » 02 Oct 2013, 16:08

Its also partly why the lack of development in the fxtree is such a travesty. If they had kept up development you would really have had a 1 stop application. No mucking about with scripts to get camera positions, etc *grrrrr*

Rez007 · Post by **Rez007** » 02 Oct 2013, 16:24

angus_davidson wrote:Its also partly why the lack of development in the fxtree is such a travesty. If they had kept up development you would really have had a 1 stop application. No mucking about with scripts to get camera positions, etc *grrrrr*

I love the FxTree and I use it a lot - just wish it had some more modern updates, but it still gets the job done.

Rez007 · Post by **Rez007** » 02 Oct 2013, 16:29

azurecgi wrote:
gonebadfx wrote:
xsisupport wrote:Because Softimage is Subscription with Advanced Support, and the Maya price is for Subscription only (aka Basic). If you add Advanced Support to your Maya Subscription, then the price is about the same, or a little higher, than 850.
Thanks for that info. I always heard complains about the price difference but in that case it makes sense.
What doesn't make sense is that Softimage users aren't even given the option of a lower cost subscription!

I wonder how many users have actually used this additional support we are forced to pay for. I've been using Softimage for 6 years and have never needed it (and I'm not sure it would help if I did). When I need help with a problem I normally turn to the community first.

I have used support numerous times and both Steve and Manny are really helpful, and they don't give up until they find a solution to your issue. For that I have no issue with the slightly higher price, but it would be nice to give alternate options as well.

What I do have an issue with is what is being used for the base price of the Subscription...here we get neglected time-and-time again, and things not being delivered as believed to be.

benoit81 · Post by **benoit81** » 02 Oct 2013, 19:03

they don't give up until they find a solution to your issue

You are lucky. I do not know if it's because of my poor English or because I'm not a good customer (only 2 subscriptions), but I'm very disappointed with the customer service.
In the latest issue : I understand that they do not want to fix the bug because I'm the only one to report it ; but they do not answer my question either : How can I use accelerate GPU Ambiant Occlusion introduced with R2014; and if it speed up AO texture backing too (Rendermap).
Anyway I really hate Autodesk behavior with Softimage now. Unfortunatly I bought a 3 years subscription, but now I stop paying for no service/no usefull feature. Enough is enough, they do not like Softimage, they just bought a competitor.

The big question though is do we start our Game design students on Soft as well, or do we go Maya LT or even Modo

For game industry good exporter is the key feature, Softimage is very poor in this area : old filters, poor FBX, strange Collada. Few game engine are optimized for Softimage assets. It's a nightmare if you do not have your own import/export scripts. This is the reason why we also have a 3ds max copy (If only Autodesk would be able to exchange assets from Softimage and 3ds max in a reliable way...)

Falam · Post by **Falam** » 03 Oct 2013, 05:02

Softimage life wouldn't die overnight anyhow, 2015 will be the indication of it's life.

Does Autodesk want to shift ICE into Maya, as talked about, nothing is impossible. Does Softimage have a aging U.I ?

satyajit · Post by **satyajit** » 03 Oct 2013, 06:09

Watching this thread for a while now. Hoping someone would come up with some ideas that would be really helpful for ADSK, for Softimage. The notion of Softimage is dying is getting too much repetitive throughout the forums and social networks. But really, no one has any concrete idea on how it can be saved. Including me. It's like standing hands down and helpless beside a deathbed.

It's clear from the feedback that we won't find the workflow elsewhere. And SI as it is now would be relevant as a tool for at least 5 years from now. Most of us are content with the features which were available with XSI 7.

All of us fine people worried about SI and not a single concrete idea? So, how would you expect ADSK to come up with one. So, beating them up is not really justified. Let us think from their seats once again. If you were to profit with SI, what would you do?

If we hijack the tone of this thread to that brainstorming, it may yield something. Any spark, idea, anything would help and aid SI now. I know we are not M&E marketeer, but we can try if we care.

Here's mine... If I was ADSK and have $100 to spend for SI development to make it successful. What would I do?

NNois · Post by **NNois** » 03 Oct 2013, 07:42

Well, i don't know but i face many time with somes ridiculous limitations on softimage, they need at some point to fixe the core, all this things have been already talked on the mailing list or here.

I just don't think it's a viable situation to only fix bugs...
On the Autodesk side everything has been semi-unveiled, softimage will never benefits about one serious step forward. So this is why in my previous posts i've started talking about how we can make things better in the other package

Falam · Post by **Falam** » 03 Oct 2013, 10:09

Can $100 save Softimage, quite a small amount expected to save a program. It's not what Softimage needs to do to be saved, it's giving subscription members more bang for their buck. Bug fixes are great, don't forget there is a list of things people have requested for a long time.

There is no support for Modo, and very little for Blender. Houdini and Max/Maya are clearly the next front runners. Will these results help Softimage, that is unknown.

satyajit · Post by **satyajit** » 03 Oct 2013, 10:15

Falam wrote:Can $100 save Softimage, quite a small amount expected to save a program. It's not what Softimage needs to do to be saved, it's giving subscription members more bang for their buck. Bug fixes are great, don't forget there is a list of things people have requested for a long time.

Oh, the $100 is a thing to understand the distribution percentage of effort. I didn't think that'd be hard to understand. Of course didn't intend any pun!

given the circumstances SI is going through.

Falam · Post by **Falam** » 03 Oct 2013, 10:21

I hear some strictly refer Softimage as Softimage ICE, as though the whole program is ICE, that is the branding that has become. If one moves to Maya, Max or Houdini and more then 60% of their work is coming out of these packages, it's what they felt comfortable with, how many seats will an average studio have for Softimage, excluding some in London or Montreal, maybe, a couple, or nothing.

angus_davidson · Post by **angus_davidson** » 03 Oct 2013, 11:14

Excluding education and bundles where Softimage is along for the ride does anyone think there are more then 5000 commercial subscriptions to Softimage out there. 2 -3 years ago I would have said no problem. now I am not so sure.

In order to keep it current for more then a few years it does need a pretty serious overhaul. As the computer tech leaps forward and the requirements increase both from a hardware and what a client expects point of view there is a finite time that Softimage as it stands can be competitive. Even if the work flow is great thats only part of the equation.

Rez007 · Post by **Rez007** » 03 Oct 2013, 15:35

satyajit wrote:Watching this thread for a while now. Hoping someone would come up with some ideas that would be really helpful for ADSK, for Softimage. The notion of Softimage is dying is getting too much repetitive throughout the forums and social networks. But really, no one has any concrete idea on how it can be saved. Including me. It's like standing hands down and helpless beside a deathbed.

It's clear from the feedback that we won't find the workflow elsewhere. And SI as it is now would be relevant as a tool for at least 5 years from now. Most of us are content with the features which were available with XSI 7.

All of us fine people worried about SI and not a single concrete idea? So, how would you expect ADSK to come up with one. So, beating them up is not really justified. Let us think from their seats once again. If you were to profit with SI, what would you do?

If we hijack the tone of this thread to that brainstorming, it may yield something. Any spark, idea, anything would help and aid SI now. I know we are not M&E marketeer, but we can try if we care.

Here's mine... If I was ADSK and have $100 to spend for SI development to make it successful. What would I do?

My previous post might have been missed, but what Autodesk needs to do is pick a field/media and go for that. I am hoping they push Softimage towards the GAMES industry, as that would be the best field in terms of growth, not just for user base, but also technology.

Bellsey · Post by **Bellsey** » 03 Oct 2013, 16:36

Rez007 wrote: My previous post might have been missed, but what Autodesk needs to do is pick a field/media and go for that. I am hoping they push Softimage towards the GAMES industry, as that would be the best field in terms of growth, not just for user base, but also technology.

Games? Really? Is that really a smart idea when Maya and Max are so widely used across the industry as whole. Dislodging those users from both packages would be very hard. And I think it's clear from the work we've already done around DX11 viewports, .NET SDKs for Maya and the launch of MayaLT, where our focus might lie.

Rez007 · Post by **Rez007** » 03 Oct 2013, 17:10

Bellsey wrote:
Rez007 wrote: My previous post might have been missed, but what Autodesk needs to do is pick a field/media and go for that. I am hoping they push Softimage towards the GAMES industry, as that would be the best field in terms of growth, not just for user base, but also technology.
Games? Really? Is that really a smart idea when Maya and Max are so widely used across the industry as whole. Dislodging those users from both packages would be very hard. And I think it's clear from the work we've already done around DX11 viewports, .NET SDKs for Maya and the launch of MayaLT, where our focus might lie.

My reply was on thinking/hoping on how Softimage might survive, because as of right now it seems far from a stellar performance. From previous statements made of recently, it seemed like Max was going more towards the Arch Viz route and of course Maya is used widely on film. On my previous comment, a couple above, I did mentioned that MayaLT throws a wrench into the mix of my idea. From a technology stand point, games pushes the fastest, and Softimage holds a lot of seats in Japan - most of whom do games - whether it be better rigging, an updated viewport, more advanced shaders, whatever really. I am not saying you have to convert everyone from Maya and Max over, but if you focus on a field, especially one where the most seats are being held, it could deem better results...I am not the one running things at AD, otherwise I would have done changes a long time ago. I think focusing solely on ICE is a mistake for the future of Softimage.

ojo3D · Post by **ojo3D** » 03 Oct 2013, 17:14

That's why I prefer advertisement. Softimage could take Cinema 4D every day. ICE it's way powerfull and with a build in motion tools, it would attract new users.

Since Maya is the focus for Games and Film, will AD push Max for viz only?

With such great plugins, it would be a loss.

What if Softimage died?

Softimage is unofficially dead what would you do ?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?

Re: What if Softimage died?