100 things Maya should have

[McNistor]

As we might bite the bullet some day and switch (according do luceric) I think Maya should have quite a few things in order for XSI users to switch to Maya and not other package.

I will start with a few things that I'd like to see in Maya in order to just consider switching to it.
Please keep the format of the thread by continuing from where it's left (if last post has #10 you should continue with #11). Also please keep it as off-topic as possible and try to not repeat things. Inevitably, since not all users here are also Maya users, some proposed features will already exist, but that's fine, just keep'em coming.
Here we go:

#1 ICE like system
#2 Explorer like feature (the current solution is very poor compared to XSI's explorer)
#3 solid, predictable and stable selections of objects (in XSI if I enter point mode, there's no way I get out of it unintentionally)

[Bullit]

Please no more Maya here... or should i start a Cinema 4D, Houdini or Blender too?

[Draise]

I've been following the past couple of blogs on debates about 3Dmax and Softimage 2014.. and... Um.. I agree. I would prefer we shy away from the software/tool wars. A hammer is a hammer, it's only the builder who limits what he can create...

It would be good to see more artwork, techniques and methods to achieving some good art and animation out of XSI, being an XSI forum. I think that is what really drives the software and technology, the product. Lot's or great artists use Maya, yes, but I am sure there are many who use XSI, and other software included, maybe a varied pipeline. It is a waste of air discussing which hammer is better than the other, instead of building something. All in all, it's the artists who get the fame in a production, not quite the software.. a software is nothing without the artist or technician who uses it well.

So if XSI seems not so popular, or better to some, I think the artwork and the artists should be the ones to be praised, encouraged, discussed, and learnt from, with their techniques using the wide armament of tools out there. And here, I think the SI community should probably encourage that, share artwork, techniques, create tutorials, share what this software can really do, because it is more than capable in many things, and it would look less dismal if we see what XSI really does.

Just some random rant..

[Superpositivo]

I agree. No Maya wish list on Softimage Community.

I think an XSI Softimage Community should encourage Softimage, instead, and for everyone is approaching the forum even by chance.

Actually too many times SI users are complaining about SI in a way that is almost like saying " don't use Softimage!". It's a bit strange, even because Autodesk doesn't listen to a few of complains in a forum. It simply can't. They don't even add the name of Softimage in the dropdown menu on the website as they don't respect what the Softimage name is.
The increasing community is what it counts.

But because Luceric said "maybe you have to bite the bullet for the switch" now it's all doomed?". But Softimage users are biting the bulllet every year since the acquisition.
You know what? Even on XSI Base or around the forums, when he still was an SI dev (and with all the respect and thanks for this jewel of software) I felt, anyway, Luceric was almost against Softimage, and pretty harsh too many times (but maybe it's me).

He said last year "...Softimage devs are the double than before...", "...in 2 years we did a lot of interviews to find the best people to go on Softimage Development". Then he says "...maybe you might bite the bullet.".
Chinny said "The SI future is bright!". Then he moved to meet Thiago.
Thiago spent a lots of time creating Lagoa. Then he moved and created his own company (that now changed name in LAGOA).
Mark said "the korean guys are already doing an impressive job". Then he disappeared with his Volkswagen (we hope to hear from him at least for the SI 2014 release, just to be sure he is alive.)

All these things don't happen in one day. The acquisition of Softimage by Autodesk is surely happened in a longer time before than the night we went to sleep and the morning we saw that terrific advertising "Autodesk acquires Softimage!". Pratically for everybody it was unbelieveble. A nightmare, maybe. Some Softimage Devs said it was the best thing happened to Softimage.

So, who do we have to believe to?

But, internally, they discussed it longer before, maybe in a cave in front of a firecamp and some steaks.

Everybody would like to hear some new nice "SI future is bright!", but that was Chinny and I don't think someone else would dare to say it again, because nobody would believe it anymore, anyway.

The only thing I'd suggest is to support Softimage as it has to be, increasing it's popularity if ever one really cares, because even if it's just a million lines of code, it's what people invested their life in, it's lost time, sleep and girlfriends ("you love your computer, not me!"). And also because SI users know what working on others 3d softwares is. Not right the same thing. Some better, most worser.

[Jesse]

The operator stack. To me this is a hidden but fundamental reason I love Softimage. The ease through which I can see and control the order of operations via the operator stack enables so many of the other things I use soft for.

Moderator edit: After a PM by mister Luc-Eric Rousseau, I am "forced" to reopen this thread...
And to prevent more misunderstanding: "forced" was deliberately placed between quotation marks - HB

[Nizar]

I think Luceric kidding...

[luceric]

IMHO it's the Open Discussion forum, one thread on stuff you miss from Softimage when you have to use Maya (whether by force or not) should be fine.
It shouldn't the forum; look at the other threads in this part of the forum, it's essentially all non-Softimage except one.

[Bellsey]

If people really do want to provide feedback about what Maya should or shouldn't have (Softimage feature or not), then really the best place is the public Maya Feedback site: http://mayafeedback.autodesk.com
There's 2 sections, one for SAT - Small Annoying Things, and another for bigger ideas that will probably require more thought and also work.

And before anyone asks - where's the Softimage one?...well we're looking into that, but there's no ETA.

[Letterbox]

And before anyone asks - where's the Softimage one?...well we're looking into that, but there's no ETA.

That in itself tells a story.


But there's a flip side to it, I believe that the future is bright because of us, not because of Autodesk, far from it.

But from all the people that share their ice compounds, all the development done by users, Legoa, Momentum, Implosia, Alembic, SPH on the GPU, the section on here were people post wip compounds, the ongoing work done at rray.de, all of the stunning work done by Eric Mootz, the fabric engine integration, the Exocortex integration, the Arnold integration, the Vray integration, the Maxwell integration, the lux integration, the BA shaders.

Lets not forget the mailing list where daily people help each other out, no matter how large or small the problem.

Last but not least all the softimage vimeos out there that show the capability - both the raw and excellent results plus it's potential, including all the the making of's, and the large array of learning materials available.

If Luceric says switch, I'd reply, why would I want to loose all of that, and a sense of community (which really should be more positive, irrespective of what AD does or does not do), just to get a feedback site - no thanks.

PS And my apologies Stephen, Stephen Blair's excellent blog, and his continued efforts to help people, even thought he is no longer a staff member.

PPS Apologies to anyone else, who I unfortunately forgot to mention, you see there are so many

[owei]

..Ok, to be honest, I don´t get the point of this thread in an Softimage forum. As Bellsey said, post you stuff at AD, if you want to, but if you like, feel free to post here...what´s next? What does anybody expect from Softimage users to comment about?? We use Soft, not Maya. My experience with Maya is asking Maya artists, if there is something like this, and that, like in soft..the answer mostly is "no"...So make Maya 100% like Soft, even better...
Maya offers NOTHING to me, right now, and as far as I see, I won´t ever do so. AD has no experience in developing their own software. No innovation coming from AD, they can only buy and integrate 3rd party stuff..that´s it. May sound harsh, but convince me of something different.. ;) Look what former Softimage developers do...that will be the future...not Maya

cheers,
oli

[luceric]

We use Soft, not Maya

fair points, but actually a lot of people use both..
a few people made very good points about what they say they miss in Maya on the other thread. I can help relay that with some context to the Maya team

Maya offers NOTHING to me, right now, and as far as I see, I won´t ever do so. AD has no experience in developing their own software. No innovation coming from AD, they can only buy and integrate 3rd party stuff..that´s it. May sound harsh, but convince me of something different.. ;)

Nucleus (nHair, nCloth, nParticle, etc), Maya fluid, Viewport 2.0, Neucleus, scene assembly, animation feature (heat map skinning, motion trails,humanIK..) etc, all the architecture work, none of this are third party plug-ins.

[Nizar]

And before anyone asks - where's the Softimage one?...well we're looking into that, but there's no ETA.

That in itself tells a story.

agree

But there's a flip side to it, I believe that the future is bright because of us, not because of Autodesk, far from it.

But from all the people that share their ice compounds, all the development done by users, Legoa, Momentum, Implosia, Alembic, SPH on the GPU, the section on here were people post wip compounds, the ongoing work done at rray.de, all of the stunning work done by Eric Mootz, the fabric engine integration, the Exocortex integration, the Arnold integration, the Vray integration, the Maxwell integration, the lux integration, the BA shaders.

Lets not forget the mailing list where daily people help each other out, no matter how large or small the problem.

Last but not least all the softimage vimeos out there that show the capability - both the raw and excellent results plus it's potential, including all the the making of's, and the large array of learning materials available.

If Luceric says switch, I'd reply, why would I want to loose all of that, and a sense of community (which really should be more positive, irrespective of what AD does or does not do), just to get a feedback site - no thanks.

PS And my apologies Stephen, Stephen Blair's excellent blog, and his continued efforts to help people, even thought he is no longer a staff member.

PPS Apologies to anyone else, who I unfortunately forgot to mention, you see there are so many

Agree with all, but any software I think has something like this. Many plugins (3dsm and maya outperform softimage in quantity and sometime in quality, also Maya has Arnold and a Day Lightwave and 3dsm will have their Arnold plugin), many resource and a more or less community (and softimage one seems one of the little around). So, I think, from this point of view we all (maya user, 3dsm, atc) are in the some boat.

In any case, I think softimage will not disappear, all sighs are against this doom. What can worry is what and where the ADSK will drag the development.

fair points, but actually a lot of people use both..
a few people made very good points about what they say they miss in Maya on the other thread. I can help relay that with some context to the Maya team

somewhere, in any Maya or 3dsm dedicated forum, does others developer asking what they miss in softimage and would like to be implemented?

[Bellsey]

And before anyone asks - where's the Softimage one?...well we're looking into that, but there's no ETA.

That in itself tells a story.

No, not really. The feedback sites for Maya (and Mudbox) have only been in place for approx. 6 months, so it's not as if Softimage has been missing out for that longer time. The Max equivalent has been in place for while, but that has acted as the pilot really for the whole scheme.
There's resource and processes that we need to do, in order to set these sites up, so we can't just flick a switch. Cory did mention this at the London event.
Personally I think they're a good thing and they do have a direct impact, whether anyone believes that or not, that's peoples prerogative.

[bottleofram]

Ok, to be honest, I don´t get the point of this thread in an Softimage forum.

I'm surprised you haven't locked it yet.

I mean, how insulting is it that Softimage feedback users posted here got ignored almost entirely for so many years, but now the si-community is asked to make its Maya wishlist? The absurdity of situation is frankly hilarious.

[owei]

@bottleofram
LOL...yes, it was locked ;) and yes, you are right ;)

[Lord Futzi Voldemort]

There ARE a hundred of things Maya should have, let´s just leave it at that. ;)