Autodesk retires Softimage

[angus_davidson]

Someone needs to ask Foundry (or perhaps Adobe?) to try and acquire it..
At least Microsoft/Avid had fucking the decency to put their baby up for adoption instead of abandoning it to die.

Well brad peebler at thefoundry has already picked up on the poll from the SI Mailing list.

[angus_davidson]

Wearing all black with my Softimage XSI hoodie tshirt... In mourning. I've got 3 other tshirts (Siggraph red spiderman one, the v7 ICE one, and my favorite the XSI + 64bit = 3D Love) to round out the week.

Never got me one of those hoodies , but did manage to get of of the SGI ones back in the day. Was a very sad day when the wife finally won the argument to throw the frayed remains of a very well worn t-shirt away.

I did get a commercial version of 7.5 at one of the roadshows. It still works and uses a dongle for the license ;)

Autodesk are gonna kill Doras backpack! That is just not on!

[gaboraa]

Hey Autodesk you &%+^/(%^'^+ I am happy to cut the ties with this stupid piece of dung ass hole company, maybe this is the only positive aspect of the announcement...

[IslandDreamer]

Struggling to understand what this clause means...

"Please note that the right to use the Softimage license will terminate at the end of the transition period if you are still on Subscription. You will be transitioned to the latest release of either 3ds Max or Maya depending on your initial choice. If you want to continue to use your Softimage license after Feb 1, 2016 you should not renew your Subscription contract for a period beyond that date. You will be able to continue to use Softimage but will forfeit any future updates to either 3ds Max or Maya."

Does this refer only to 2016 subscriptions or does this affect my 2015 renewal decision?

[Hirazi Blue]

I've opened a RETIREMENT Q&A thread to ask questions (and hopefully get answers) concerning today's events, away from understandably emotional threads like this one.

[ctedin]

I've made the switch to Houdini a while back. It's not optimal, especially in the area of modeling. Not a deal breaker. I can model in Modo, or Clara.io for that matter. Blender, if I had to. Or, just keep using Soft for as long as I can, and export the obj files into Houdini. I really love the ability to go fluidly from NURBS curves to a polygon, do more editing with additional poly operators in Soft. I'm really going to miss Softimage. In the meantime, I think there will be some real pressure from Softimage users to "help" Houdini to add some nicer immediate organic modeling features to their newer releases.

[Dwindleflip]

What pissses me off the most, is that Autodesk has been lying to everyone for 3 versions now... (4 this year).

This was always the plan. They didnt respect the customer enough to tell them their product would not be developed further, instead they told us development was moving overseas and told us to wait while the new team got up to speed.

Unfortunately that speed was FUCKING ZERO. NOW all the softimage artists have to pick up maya and begin to learn it. Luckily many of us have used it, some still do but most of us havent touched it since version 5 because we went to xsi.

Autodesk killed a legendary brand, but more so a very good program that if it were in the hands of a GOOD COMPANY, it would have progressed and developed over the past 4 versions. But instead... autodesk lied to everyone.

DONT MOVE TO MAX, I suspect it will be dead next. The one thing I know is when you see an autodesk program switch dev teams to an overseas developer for cheaper wages... its because they want to kill it and milk its customers for as long as they can.

They should NOT HAVE BOUGHT THE FUCKING PROGRAM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

[Bellsey]

Now we’ve gone public with the official announcement, I can stick my head above the parapet.

Breaking the news to a loyal user base that their preferred software was being retired was never going to be easy, and Autodesk knew that. Rumours had begun to surface in the last few weeks, but myself and others were remaining silent so agreed plans and communications could be finalised. It’s unfortunately that some of our partners couldn’t honour these plans in same way.
I’m just really sorry for how it was done, because it was not quite what was originally intended.

I’d always intended on posting some thoughts and observations, but don’t want to get into a lengthy debate, so I’ll keep this post as short as possible, say my piece and get the hell out.
It’s sometimes hard to defend history, so I won’t try to. People will no doubt call BS at me and others over things said in the past, and that’s totally their prerogative. But personally I have always spoken in good faith and I’ve never deliberately misled anyone and I’ve always tried to be as honest as I can be.


On a personal note (takes Autodesk hat off), one thing I’d like to say is that I’m genuinely gutted and sad to see the end of Softimage.
I maybe be just another Autodesk idiot to some, but I’ve also been a customer and user. I joined Psygnosis in 1996, which was my first job in games development and where I cut my teeth in games. It was also where I was introduced to a 3D package that I would come to love – Softimage 3D. And from there my Softimage journey to this point would begin.

My wish and hope now, is that some of the amazing goodness from Softimage, (be it people, features, workflows and philosophy) continues in some way, shape or form. Some of that is already happening right now within Autodesk, and that (imho) can only be a good thing. Because the more of that goodness that gets out there, then the less room there is for some of the crap.

Finally I’d like to thank you guys here, because through this community and others throughout the years, you guys made the product what it is. Sure you guys give us a hard time, but personally I wouldn’t have it any other way as it helps keep us on our toes. I have had some debates with some people here and si-community, but my goal has never been to antagonise. I’ve always tried to be as open and as up front as possible.
I really hope that communities such as the list and si-community don’t die off as that really would be a shame.




If you want some more information around the transition plans and our products, then Maurice is posting on the list, so let him know any queries you might have, as some of you already have.
If you want to ask me questions around this announcement, then of course pvt mail me off list. I’ll try my best to answer any queries.




Graham

[iamVFX]

Get out of here, Graham, until it's too late

[Dwindleflip]

.Nevermind

[Pancho]

Probably Graham can say a word to this subscription switch deal and the exorbitance that one then looses the right to use SI (if one chooses to swich).

Everybody is complaining about Putin, but man, what's the matter with your management, Graham?. Is there ANY sense and decency left in them?

[Hirazi Blue]

@Bellsey - thanks, a courageous act to show up here!

[Lord Futzi Voldemort]

Happy, now all you believers?

[IslandDreamer]

@Bellsey - thanks, a courageous act to show up here!

I certainly don't hold any ill feelings toward Graham. He's always seemed to be a stand-up guy. I actually feel sorry for anyone forced to defend Autodesk management's rapacious edicts.

[biOss]

My wife said that "something wrong with you". XSI somehow personalized in my mind and I feel I lost a people who is so close to me. How can I explain this to her.
By the way Hirazi, could you add another segment to the board for "retired" softimage users. i mean for solidarity with the switchers (to houdini or any non autodesk product). I really like this board and don't wanna lose you too.

[Lord Futzi Voldemort]

Now we’ve gone public with the official announcement, I can stick my head above the parapet.

Breaking the news to a loyal user base that their preferred software was being retired was never going to be easy, and Autodesk knew that. Rumours had begun to surface in the last few weeks, but myself and others were remaining silent so agreed plans and communications could be finalised. It’s unfortunately that some of our partners couldn’t honour these plans in same way.
I’m just really sorry for how it was done, because it was not quite what was originally intended.

I’d always intended on posting some thoughts and observations, but don’t want to get into a lengthy debate, so I’ll keep this post as short as possible, say my piece and get the hell out.
It’s sometimes hard to defend history, so I won’t try to. People will no doubt call BS at me and others over things said in the past, and that’s totally their prerogative. But personally I have always spoken in good faith and I’ve never deliberately misled anyone and I’ve always tried to be as honest as I can be.


On a personal note (takes Autodesk hat off), one thing I’d like to say is that I’m genuinely gutted and sad to see the end of Softimage.
I maybe be just another Autodesk idiot to some, but I’ve also been a customer and user. I joined Psygnosis in 1996, which was my first job in games development and where I cut my teeth in games. It was also where I was introduced to a 3D package that I would come to love – Softimage 3D. And from there my Softimage journey to this point would begin.

My wish and hope now, is that some of the amazing goodness from Softimage, (be it people, features, workflows and philosophy) continues in some way, shape or form. Some of that is already happening right now within Autodesk, and that (imho) can only be a good thing. Because the more of that goodness that gets out there, then the less room there is for some of the crap.

Finally I’d like to thank you guys here, because through this community and others throughout the years, you guys made the product what it is. Sure you guys give us a hard time, but personally I wouldn’t have it any other way as it helps keep us on our toes. I have had some debates with some people here and si-community, but my goal has never been to antagonise. I’ve always tried to be as open and as up front as possible.
I really hope that communities such as the list and si-community don’t die off as that really would be a shame.




If you want some more information around the transition plans and our products, then Maurice is posting on the list, so let him know any queries you might have, as some of you already have.
If you want to ask me questions around this announcement, then of course pvt mail me off list. I’ll try my best to answer any queries.




Graham

Any idea what happens to the suite owners? Will there be a replacement, because my maya needs it's companion....