Softimage 2011.5 With LAGOA!!

[Bellsey]

I think the thing to take away here, is not to over analyse all this. In pretty much every case, be it Softimage related or not, the explanation and reason is always very simple and nothing complex at all. No one intends on missing a planned ship date, but sometimes things unexpected can happen.
Unfortunately in many cases, we can't give the background reasons and in this particular situation, I myself can't offer any update because I don't know the full reason myself. But I'm not sweating it and I expect the guys will ship the Advantage Pack as soon as they can. Also note the Premuim Suite also isn't avaliable yet either.

Changing the subject slightly, someone mentioned in an earlier post about Iray and unit measure. Well these are good features, but we prioritise what goes on based on many factors, one of which is customer feedback. We certainly don't pick features out of a hat. Iray is certainly an exciting technology, but personally I don't think it would really benefit Softimage (or Maya) customers right now, in this release. Max and Max design however, well thats a whole different story and also industry. Also we have to ensure that customers can actually work with and use the technology, its no good to anyone to crowbar a feature in with bad and buggy implementation.

Overall though, I'm very happy with the Advantage Pack releases across the board and I think there's some good additions to the software. Mudbox alone has some awesome stuff in there.

[Hirazi Blue]

This page, explicitely dated September 30th, 2010, however, seemingly,
cannot be explained away by Stephen Blairs aforementioned argument:
digitalcontentproducer/briefing room



IMPORTANT edit: see the post two below this one by Bellsey

[gman]

Ah ha! Nice Hirazi!

Not meaning to state the obvious , but today is Oct 1 so we only have a week or so to go before we know for sure what has happened here.

Lagoa = (Portuguese for lagoon, pond or small lake)

I smell something fishy about all this..

[Bellsey]

This page, explicitely dated September 30th, 2010, however, seemingly,
cannot be explained away by Stephen Blairs aforementioned argument:
digitalcontentproducer/briefing room

That date dontes the release of the Autodesk press release:
http://news.autodesk.com/news/autodesk/ ... 0005360/en

And Stephen is probably right. The release was done and primed to go before the the release date and any possible delay became apparent.

[owei]

..well, as already said, this might be a good explanation. But, if this is the case, how could that happen? Doesn´t anyone read those official posts before they are released and corrects them if necessary, even if something that big like "Lagoa" is missing on the feature list? Strange, isn´t it.

cheers,
oliver

[Hirazi Blue]

Thanks for [edit:] trying to clear that up, Bellsey,
I found this a few minutes after posting my "there's no conspiracy"-post,
so I was "slightly" confused...
Maybe this would be a nice time for another soothing "Softimage Message" by Chinny...

[rray]

could be someone up higher in management preferred a more generic description forthe press releases (calling it ICE shaders instead of ICE nodes could support this idea ;) ), ...ah well I guess it can be interpreted to both extremes so it just remains to hope for the best until someone "in the know" makes a clear statement.

[Bellsey]

maybe, but then it might not be able to say anything either.

But its also worth noting that Lagoa is still on Marks blog and also on the Autodesk Youtube channel.

[gman]

I await my autodesk email , unless I hear it hear first. I'm sure all will be fine. After all its just a plugin.

[Hirazi Blue]

And it could simply have something to do with the fact, Lagoa is licensed/third-party technology.
To quote Stephen Blair again:

Did it ever mention Lagoa?
I don’t think Lagoa was ever mentioned on autodesk.com.

source

[Bellsey]

I'm not sure I would call Lagoa 'just a plugin'

[owei]

Polygonizer also is a licenced product and it´s mentioned sometimes, sometimes not. Quite confusing, all this.
Lagoa was offically mentioned at the area at IBC for example:
http://area.autodesk.com/ibc/press#presskit

...in the end, it will end up as a storm in the glass of water, or something ;) We should just wait and see what will happen.

[gman]

Bellsey you know what I mean.. It’s an amazing add-on to be integrated tightly within in Our XSI.
But you could live without it.

[rray]

hehe it's not like it's a "real" baby .. still a baby ;)

[Bellsey]

I don't think you can call something like Lagoa an add on or plugin. It's integrated and personally I think there's a difference. When you mention 'plugin' to someone, then people have an impression of what that is, usually a 3rd party tool/technology that you can purchase to enhance your software. True, Lagoa has been developed by Thiago, who you can class as a 3rd party, but its being licensed and its not quite the same thing as something for example like SlipstreamVX from Exocortex.

[gman]

Ok it was a bunch of compounds that is now integrated with presets.

And just to add Bellsey I am in no way trying to say anything bad about Lagoa! I think is it truly amazing. (what I have seen of it)