The road to Maya (yes, Maya)?

[Hirazi Blue]

So here’s the deal: as much as it pains me to admit it, I currently see no other choice than to take Autodesk up on their offer to migrate to Maya. As to the why, let’s just say that the decision is purely a financial matter and leave it at that.
As this is the Migration forum I’m sure you all know where this is going: are there any good tutorials
specifically designed to ease the transition of Softimage users to Maya?

[Mathaeus]

So here’s the deal: as much as it pains me to admit it, I currently see no other choice than to take Autodesk up on their offer to migrate to Maya. As to the why, let’s just say that the decision is purely a financial matter and leave it at that.
As this is the Migration forum I’m sure you all know where this is going: are there any good tutorials
specifically designed to ease the transition of Softimage users to Maya?

afaik there's very old one short pdf, from times of our pdfs in different direction, here. Otherwise, Gnomon.

But, if setup is correct, you just need to hear the voice Couldn't resist to add something idiotic...

[FXDude]

If we equate Time with Money, then unless there would be a miracle Maya update,
then transitioning SI users will come to know what that move meant financially.
(objectively by a considerable difference)

Mostly at first, but including well beyond adoption considering each respective apps' track records.

[angus_davidson]

Digital Tutors has some great intro to maya stuff on it.

[Hellomojo]

I know it's boring but I will be doing page by page manual, no thing helped me as much in softimage. 40 page a day! Digital tutors are awesome too

[FXDude]

I currently see no other choice than to take Autodesk up on their offer to migrate to Maya.

Then perhaps we could rename the site to SI-Transition-Community, since SI is no longer usable.

[Hirazi Blue]

@Mathaeus – Thanks for that, but considering it still has an Alias logo on it, I seriously wonder how outdated it might be.

@FXDude – The thing I forgot to mention in my OP is that I am a hobbyist, so I do not necessarily feel the same pressure as professionals. Which doesn’t mean the transition won’t be tough. I’m dreading it. Transition doesn't, however, mean giving up on Softimage. And placing the smiley (dreaming of some friendly tutorials) out of context is a bit strange. At this point in time I see the next year as a year to work with Softimage 2015 and to explore Maya 2015. I haven't committed myself as of yet to Maya for the rest of my life...

@angus_davidson – I turned away from DT when they adopted the “subscription only” model, but maybe it’s worth a new look after all.

@Hellomojo – Going through the documentation “from cover to cover” is something I plan to do, as it is indeed the best way to get to grips with all its ins and outs, although it looks like the book offerings on Maya are way better that with Softimage. They even have an “official press” label...

[angus_davidson]

It was a very sad day when you could no longer purchase the DVDs (we have pretty much all the Softimage ones)

For a single user you can get a backpack which allows you to download videos locally so you dont need to stream them.

http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/1 ... -Maya-2014 for example

[FXDude]

.. placing the smiley (dreaming of some friendly tutorials) out of context is a bit strange

I will agree to that, I think I got carried away to emphasize my point.
And should also have extrapolated what I meant instead of just leaving a sarcastic remark, my apologies.


Otherwise you are of course entitled to your own choices which are entirely up to you.
As you are equally entirely free to voice the choice you made personally.

But saying "I see no other choice" despite that there are clearly various other possibilities,
especially since the lifted restrictions.. while disregarding how it can be advantageous to go-on with SI (speed-wise among other things), (?) would have prompted my response to whoever would have said that, but especially more so coming from the leading SI-Community site Administrator.

No offense intended : )

[Hirazi Blue]

When I say "I see no other choice" then I haven't made such a decision lightly. There are reasons why I decided upon this course, but these are personal (and of a financial nature). Looking at the offerings I could afford, staying on Autodesk subscription sadly seems to be the safest bet. And being a dedicated Softimage user for about eight years now, this doesn't mean I have to solely stick with Softimage until the bitter end. Frankly we have already reached the bitter end in a manner of speaking IMHO. I somewhat resent the implications of your post: I did weigh all my options, based on my own situation and sadly migrating to Maya came out on top. My work as an Administrator here has nothing to do with that. I am still dedicated utmost and foremost to Softimage and this community. Interestingly no one would have protested, had I announced to migrate to some other software...

[FXDude]

Okay. Yet I was not questioning the choice you made, which I'm sure is entirely right for you,
(and not even my business to comment on that)

I was merely pointing to the fact that it is entirely possible to continue with SI (for people in general) t'il something more comparably performant came along.

I equally would have objected at a statement saying that there is no other choice than migrating to Modo .

[Hirazi Blue]

Okay, the wording was wrong. It should probably have read "no other choice for me at the moment", although I felt that was somewhat implied...
;)

[Mathaeus]

@Mathaeus – Thanks for that, but considering it still has an Alias logo on it, I seriously wonder how outdated it might be.

Not 100% sure, but I think this very very short list is valid today, too.

[FXDude]

@ Hirazi:

Fair enough

[luceric]

I have a digital tutor through my employer. I love it, I love the all-you-can-eat model. I've watched it on the computer, or the ipad, on the treadmill.. I've looked at maya training, UDK, Unity, etc.. That said, it's 45$/month, I would probably be too cheap to pay that on my own.
The only problem I find with DT is that there are too many courses! It's hard to find "the good one" in the lot, the search function doesn't seem to return what you would want. (For example, a search on Maya Fluid returned crap, but there is a gem or two in there) I recommend reading the weekly or monthly newsletter to see the courses they are are trying to push. Anyway, if you decide to use DT, for whatever product you want to learn more about, I would say think in terms of getting a six month or one year subscription.

I know it's boring but I will be doing page by page manual, no thing helped me as much in softimage.

can't do that on a treadmill, but IMHO this guy is completely right.

[sonictk]

So here’s the deal: as much as it pains me to admit it, I currently see no other choice than to take Autodesk up on their offer to migrate to Maya. As to the why, let’s just say that the decision is purely a financial matter and leave it at that.
As this is the Migration forum I’m sure you all know where this is going: are there any good tutorials
specifically designed to ease the transition of Softimage users to Maya?

Hello! I would say I don't really like most of the DT stuff (digital tutors right?), it's really basic and not really what most people use in production most of the time (I stopped watching their stuff last year, so possibly they could be a lot better now? But probably not Most of the Maya rigging tutorials they showed were really basic)...anyway:

I'm in crunch right now, but I'd be happy to help answer any questions related to workflow in Maya VS XSI and I'm sure the more experienced TDs here would be willing to help out as well! I'm hoping to get some free time after GDC where I can compile all the odd XSI/Maya mixed workflow blog posts and tips I have lying around that I learned from so many people over the years into something more readable for humans...but until then I'm always lurking around here and the mailing list so if there's something I see that no one else has answered then I'll try to answer as best as I can

Ask away!