Asian Retirement POV?

[Hirazi Blue]

Could anyone from the Asian side of the world perhaps shed some insights on the way this whole retirement news has affected the communities over there? We always hear that Softimage was the biggest in Asia (probably mostly Japan), but I have never been able to figure out, where its users go to forum-wise and so where to look for their opinions (and Google Translate them)...

[EricTRocks]

From what I've heard, the tent pole studios in Asia that have stabilized Softimage's future dev, have since moved to Maya because of missing features.

[azurecgi]

From what I've heard, the tent pole studios in Asia that have stabilized Softimage's future dev, have since moved to Maya because of missing features.

Yup! Maya has plenty of missing features!

[EricTRocks]

Apparently not those that the former Softimage studios were looking for. Who's laughing now?

[Firebird]

Just a crazy Idea but AD could have developed the features they ask for. No??

Ah sorry AD and development in the same sentence doesn´t work.

[azurecgi]

Apparently not those that the former Softimage studios were looking for. Who's laughing now?

None of us Softimage users obviously! If anyone thinks Maya is the answer to the loss of Softimage then good luck to them, but for my studio it simply isn't. I've had a really good hard look at Maya (and Max ) due to this transition option, but for what I do I find it severely lacking.

I need ICE, Strands and a good robust Passes system, Maya has none of those things!

[Hirazi Blue]

Come on people, I started this thread out of a genuine interest in the mood in Asia. Plenty of threads to voice your own discontent. Let's not derail this one before its time.
;)

[Bullit]

Softimage doesn't have a comparable viewport to Maya viewport II, of course it depends of course how much fidelity it gives for games so would be nice if some game developer say something about that.

The case in question is that Maya LT was build for game industry. It is of course one more evidence they intended ditch Softimage long ago. And many persons in Softimage management were lying.

Concerning studios it just depends promotions that Autodesk gave them. There is no competition so they are at Autodesk mercy.
I am not seeing Japanese companies picking Blender and investing in it to turn it in a game platform.

[luceric]

I'd love to see a reply to this thread from Japan, but I think language barriers and cultural difference may prevent that.

Most of the revenue of Softimage has traditionally come from Japan, from a handful of studios (less than 10). Not so much "Asia" as whole.

In all my years at Softimage, I've never directly, or knowingly, spoken to a Japanese user. I recall once or twice being in an hotel room at Siggraph, presenting a feature to a group of something like ten employees of one of those companies. The group was totally silent. Once or twice they would quietly whisper between each other for a few minutes and eventually the translator spoke one short cryptic question. It was a bit like in the movie "Lost in Translation".

The last time was at the Autodesk Montreal office and I was development manager for Softimage by then. Someone just told me to stay quiet and not talk, and take any business card with two hands, and read it carefully, if someone handed one to me (a classic inter-cultural advice). These guys seemed to be a bit more chatty, but I've left the people in Consulting handle that meeting. Being married to a Chinese, I think I can handle China, but I may be the only guy at the company who would actually turn down one of those company trips to tokyo. I'd feel like an like an elephant in a porcelain shop.

[mc_axe]

In the petition:

佐々木 悟 東京都, JAPAN about 12 hours ago Liked 1
Softimage is my life.
---------
杏 汲 HEFEI, CHINA about 13 hours ago Liked 1
love
---------
om shrestha INDIA about 15 hours ago Liked 1
one of the best tools ever made.. dont know why such huge company couldnot find the potential of xsi and sell it to market.
---------
Satoshi Matsushima JAPAN 38 minutes ago Liked 0
I`m sotimage user for 15 years. This is very very useful soft.
---------
大悟 白江 JAPAN about 1 hour ago Liked 0
I use at work and softimage.
I am troubled software is eliminated.
---------
Akinori Nozaki JAPAN about 1 hour ago Liked 0
Even designers can make customTools by using
universal script-langage and ICE system.
Moreover, Schematic and RenderTree is Best UI.
Max and Maya can't substitute for XSI.
---------
hiroshi ishikawa JAPAN about 3 hours ago Liked 0
undo.
---------
akihiro miura JAPAN about 9 hours ago Liked 0
I will never forgive　AD.
---------
首藤 諒 JAPAN about 9 hours ago Liked 0
署名します
---------
Mitsuharu Okita JAPAN about 9 hours ago Liked 0
Since the order of work was received as a main tool, work becomes impossible.
---------
Hideaki Sakurai JAPAN about 10 hours ago Liked 0
I love Softimage!
---------
Ryuichi Hayashi JAPAN about 10 hours ago Liked 0
There is no other tool that can do great about this workflow.
---------
Shigeyuki Itoh JAPAN about 10 hours ago Liked 0
Softimage is Best CG Tool and my Life.
---------
Eiji Kawata JAPAN about 11 hours ago Liked 0
I want you to live Softimage!
---------
kai tian 长沙, CHINA about 12 hours ago Liked 0
it a beset softwave
---------
Seishi Watanabe JAPAN about 13 hours ago Liked 0
I am Softimage user for over 10 years,...
I love Softimage.
---------
ohno yoichi JAPAN about 14 hours ago Liked 0
softimage is very useful software.
---------
Sushanta Chakraborty INDIA about 14 hours ago Liked 0
Because my friend is a designer and he earn his livelihood from this software.
---------
Nguyen Bui JAPAN about 14 hours ago Liked 0
It's amazing software so leave it and sell it so it can live on! Autodesk Sucks!
---------
noriko sasaki JAPAN about 14 hours ago Liked 0
I'm a Softimage user. I love ice and GUI of Softimage.
I need to use the advanced 3D software such as Softimage
---------
hiroyuki kudo JAPAN about 14 hours ago Liked 0
I need ICE !!
---------
Tsuyoshi Arai JAPAN about 14 hours ago Liked 0
We need Softimage for operate.Because,non-destructively,Operators in history stacks can be re-ordered, removed or changed at any time.We need ICE for Create image.ICE can access All nodes.ICE can build up Every expression's possible.It is not possible with CG software other than "Softimage".
---------
Haruka Shimura JAPAN about 14 hours ago Liked 0
I'm one of user
---------
Gerard LEE TAIPEI, TAIWAN about 15 hours ago Liked 0
Softimage is a very nice 3D software, we should't give up on it
---------
kazuyuki kamada JAPAN about 15 hours ago Liked 0
my best tool is softimage
---------
kwangcheol chae 고양시, 경기도, 대한민국, KOREA, REPUBLIC OF about 15 hours ago Liked 0
It's the best CG software ever I've used for all my life.
---------
byung whee kim 서울특별시, KOREA, REPUBLIC OF about 15 hours ago Liked 0
it's so sad that such a great program is falling down.
---------
keshav sharma INDIA about 16 hours ago Liked 0
Help me in my video game development projects
---------
Masoud Zangi TEHRAN, IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF about 16 hours ago Liked 0
I Love Softimage
---------
潤樹 本間 JAPAN about 16 hours ago Liked 0
This beautiful software deserves being a world heritage. The most logical and efficient 3DCG software ever.


and many more...

[mc_axe]

[Maximus]

AD has lost their fuc*kin mind in my opinion, they will regret this.

[xsi_fanatic]

AD has lost their fuc*kin mind in my opinion, they will regret this.

They never had a mind to begin with. Karma will take its turn sooner or later.

[angus_davidson]

AD has lost their fuc*kin mind in my opinion, they will regret this.

They never had a mind to begin with. Karma will take its turn sooner or later.

Had an Image of the green bus used is so many training video with the XSI logo instead of the VW one and Karma written on the side ;)

[Cacoman]

Seeing all this videos of amazing work...

All those memories will be lost in time like tears in the rain...

[sonictk]

Well, I'm not really a production artist and my education for CG has been at DigiPen in the US, so I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment in here...but I guess since I'm posting so much these days...might as well!

As a Singaporean, though, I know XSI was used at OneAnimation in Malaysia for quite some time, and I had the chance to intern at one of the larger VFX houses in Singapore that had 2 XSI generalists who were really nice and willing to teach me extra stuff about XSI that I never knew. One of them had to animate something in Maya along with me and a few others, though, so I would sometimes help answer a few questions from him how to animate in Maya and work with Maya's UI in general (though to be honest, he picked up stuff really fast, I'm not sure I could have in his position) and he hated it throughout the process.

But they both knew that eventually they'd have to transition to Maya sooner or later in order to remain employable...although we still used to make a lot of jokes with the other guys (in the office at least) about XSI being superior all the time. (There was one time where I brought up the 'doritos' state hack problem and the 3ds max guy refused to back down until he managed to get a similar proof-of-concept working in 3ds max as well...was really funny! And I got to learn in the process as well.)

I know a few other game companies in Singapore (Temco!!!) had some licenses of XSI as well, how many I don't know, but I'm guessing not a lot. And in the company I was at, they were all on 2012 anyway, so I doubt they were a major customer or anything like that. Another company I interned at before it closed down was all Maya, and a few years before that while I was a small nobody contract graphic designer at Lucasfilm Singapore they were all Maya, ILM Singapore (which was basically next door) was all Maya as well. I think Malaysia probably has more XSI users than Singapore, ironically.

Oh, and I almost forgot: Last time I had a former colleague go to Polygon Pictures in Japan and I think he's still there. They all use Maya now. =/ I know some studios in Hong Kong still use XSI though (Treehouse Studios comes to mind), and my friend working at one smaller game company says a few artists are modeling in XSI. Haven't heard from him since the news dropped, though, but I expect they'll be switching to Maya. Asians just flow like water