Spoiler Alert: NO SPOILERS ANYMORE

[mirkoj]

Softimage can already do things 10 times faster than most of others... still that change didn't happen. so...

[bottleofram]

It's just what happens when someone owns the industry.

Todays perspective can be a compelling convincer, but Autodesk don't OWN the industry.. All it takes is for something to come along and truly show that a system can be employed that enables work to be done 10 times faster and for those studios using that to start making headway, and things will change.

Isn't XSI the very evidence against your statement?

As for studios - those that matter - they are on Houdini headway and only side routes they'll be taking are occasional visits to mayaland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUHijHSUgmE

[McNistor]

Greed is usually shortsighted and AD doesn't seem to know that their current best chance "against" Houdini is XSI, they care only about the fast money. Or maybe they know but they're placing their eggs in Maya's basket by trying to recreate ICE. Should "the industry" move into Houdini's direction in the meantime, AD's egg basket will be their downfall. In M&E of course.

[bottleofram]

You must consider that AD might be satisfied with the way things are at the moment. As we all known for a while now, this is not a lucrative business to be in. What sense does it make for AD to compete with Houdini? That software has a long history and an academy award winning team of engineers. But they never really took maya out of the game and it doesn't look they will ever try that. For all its good sides, Houdini is still a niche tool.

I dont see the incentive AD would have to further develop ICE, nor to truly, on their own, reinvent maya in a way most are hoping they will.

[McNistor]

If that's an accurate description of reality or not, AD is on borrowed time (like the Universe itself) and the only thing that will dictate how many are those days is what are they doing now and in the near future. My bets are on a small number.

[iamVFX]

Off topic: that's what I call High Quality viewport!

[McNistor]

that's amazing

[mirkoj]

but EVERYTHING is already implemented in AD software don't you know? that is why there are no more big improvements.

[Bullit]

I think the problem with ICE is how it was/is implemented. Not as Lego pieces with a design for universal nodes that can be used in 99% of situations but instead it has several nodes that only work in some circumstances. This is what kills ICE for most people. You need to sleep with ICE to get build something useful from it.
To get a piece of the mess, one have only to check the propose built command Kinematics>effects>transform objects by particles
which is unable to transform objects by particles in many situations...

So probably Blender will came up with something much better...then Autodesk will spin off and ditch Media & Entertainment...

[Pooby]

I think the problem with ICE is how it was/is implemented. Not as Lego pieces with a design for universal nodes that can be used in 99% of situations but instead it has several nodes that only work in some circumstances. This is what kills ICE for most people. You need to sleep with ICE to get build something useful from it.
To get a piece of the mess, one have only to check the propose built command Kinematics>effects>transform objects by particles
which is unable to transform objects by particles in many situations...

So probably Blender will came up with something much better...then Autodesk will spin off and ditch Media & Entertainment...

Totally disagree with this but can understand the view. It only becomes apparent why when you start to understand ICE, but believe me, it's a very clever design and has to be how it is, to be so user friendly.
I have noticed you saying this same thing many times and , in the past, offered to show you, on a one to one, but I suspect you are not really committed to learning. If you are. Then take me up on it. Otherwise, it's just a perpsective that you would prefer to hold rather than to give up in pursuit of knowledge.

[Chris_TC]

Not as Lego pieces with a design for universal nodes that can be used in 99% of situations but instead it has several nodes that only work in some circumstances. This is what kills ICE for most people. You need to sleep with ICE to get build something useful from it.

How exactly would that work? Can you plug 99% of render tree nodes into 99% of render tree ports? Of course not. Do you get upset when your node based compositor won't let you plug a vector mask into a time frequency port?

If ICE were still just a particle system, you probably wouldn't be having much trouble with incompatible nodes. But it's a lot more now. And if you do want to use it for kine, topo or deformation, you will have to spend some time learning the differences. However, there are tons and tons of nodes you can use everywhere (except in the render tree), for example pretty much all the math nodes.

[ace63]

I think the problem with ICE is how it was/is implemented. Not as Lego pieces with a design for universal nodes that can be used in 99% of situations but instead it has several nodes that only work in some circumstances. This is what kills ICE for most people. You need to sleep with ICE to get build something useful from it.

Sorry but you don't seem to understand how the system works at all.
Once you understand how contexts work and why they make sense, you won't have ANY problems with it.

[Bullit]

I know how the system works, some is good but also many it is an unnecessary waste of time. I also list examples when i make my critics, like the kinematics issue i posted.

How exactly would that work? Can you plug 99% of render tree nodes into 99% of render tree ports? Of course not. Do you get upset when your node based compositor won't let you plug a vector mask into a time frequency port?

99% like that is not my point. But following your example that a time frequency can be applied to any other effect making that could have a frequency with preferably just one node.
For example lets call it a time frequency node could be applied to an emitter to emit particles at a certain frequency and also say a deformer to make waves in a mesh. It is my opinion that ICE should strive for nodes with broadest application possible.

[iamVFX]

Off topic: that's what I call High Quality viewport!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OTOY

On October 20, 2011, OTOY announced a partnership with Autodesk to create a cloud rendering platform which integrates OTOY's cloud rendering technology (including Octane Render and Brigade) to deliver real-time photorealistic 3D graphics in the web browser.

[mirkoj]

so soon web pages will have better "viewport" than Softimage

[t4d]

2014 what happened ??..

what about more compounds for ICE, simple drop and connections for users learning ICE ( this is a easy thing users can do But why aren't paid Autodesk employees doing it.. ??)

the hyper Viewport BS the first installation was half bake in 2013 (pretty useless )this version it still didn't get touched ? wasn'tthis the first step to a great future ?

and then there all the cool stuff in other Autodesk software
we got the view cube But
Where's the motion builder rig that Maya's got? or the character studio system or CAT rig ?
Where's paint effects in softimage ?
Where's the Normal Lazy trick of buying a third party plugin and give that to us ?
- Momentum
- ImplosiaFX
- Species
- mbFeatherTools
- Alembic file format
- Etc etc...

nice on Autodesk..