Hi Softimage users,
I am using Softimage XSI since V1.0 and although this first version had more bugs than features, I loved the UI, workflow, the Render Tree, the operator stack and so on. It's still the only 3D software that gives me that kind of cosy "being at home" feeling when I open it.
3 years ago I got an offer from my reseller to renew my subscription 3 years in advance for the old price, because after that the price would be increased. I decided to accept this offer, because I could save some money over the coming 3 years and I hoped, after increasing the subscription price, Autodesk would use this money to boost development of Softimage. I spent nearly 2000 € for this 3-year sub renewal just to see development falling asleep during these 3 years and finally getting a punch in the guts from Autodesk like "Thank you very much for your money, we used it to move the Softimage developers over to the Maya team and will now bury your favorite 3D app including ICE, Lagoa, Facerobot, just because some numbers where not high enough. Have a nice day".
What I got for 2000 € was basically CrowdFX which I never needed and an unusable, slow and buggy HQ viewport. Wow.
All of my feature requests were ignored, I never felt being treated seriously as a customer.
The product I want from Autodesk is Softimage XSI, not Maya and not Max. If they cannot deliver it anymore, I am finished with them forever. No Softimage, no deal, it's as simple as that.
My subscription expires in August 2014 and I will definately not renew it. Instead I will spend money for innovative 3rd-party products from passionate and helpful developers, like Redshift.
The good aspect beside all the sad facts is, that I am more free now. I am finally not longer dependant on that kind of "company".
I am just a poor freelancer, no big business here, just have to get small projects finished in a quick and efficient way with a good looking result. Like many others I will continue using Softimage, hoping that the competition outside the evil Autodesk empire will offer a true alternative to Softimage within the next few years.
I want to thank all the people who donated their time, knowledge and passion to make Softimage what it is today
Someone suggested to create some fundraising to develop an open source Softimage, similar to the way Blender is founded now. I think, a more realistic approach would be to take a closer look at Blender, using it for small jobs, joining the community behind it, donating money for it, giving the developers feedback to really bring it forward within the next years, polishing the UI, improving workflow. Blender is quite "feature complete" already, add an ICE-like system, Animation Mixer and some nice auto rigging tools to it and it will blow all Autodesk products out of the water.
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