Bitter sweet Siggraph

[EricTRocks]

It was a bit bitter sweet this year at Siggraph. Softimage got more mentions this year than any other year I've been at Siggraph since 2007.

MPC used Softimage for animating / simulating the air craft in the end battle sequence of Guardians of The Galaxy and obviously Lego was all the rage again.

Also interesting was the State of Animation talks where Dreamworks, Pixar, Disney, Autodesk, and Rythm & Hues talked about their tools. Funny to see only Disney up there using Autodesk products at their main animation package. Kind of insulting that the Autodesk folks put Softimage up in their list of Software they developed only to mention, "... well we don't develop that any more, but we still support it..."

All in all a great Siggraph and it's interested to see how things are evolving in the industry. Seems like studios are wanting to break things back down from a singular package into bits and pieces here and there and take advantage of technology that integrates universally in multiple applications like Alembic, OpenEXR, etc.

[MauricioPC]

Funny to see only Disney up there using Autodesk products at their main animation package. Kind of insulting that the Autodesk folks put Softimage up in their list of Software they developed only to mention, "... well we don't develop that any more, but we still support it..."

Geezzz... it looks like a very bad joke. But it shares some light as to why at the Visions Series for animation they were saying that they're completely revamping Maya for animation, multithreading stuff, creating a standard visual picker for controls and bones, a smoother interface, bla bla bla.

I hope Max users are with their eyes opened (me included), because it's all going to Maya.

And for those, like me, that were wondering where Mark Shoennagel was, here it is!



I guess the main problem is ... if you can't animate on Softimage (because you can't buy it anymore) and you don't like Maya, where do you go?

[Bullit]

You can still animate in Softimage.

Then you have Kraken!

[Hirazi Blue]

Thanks for that video..
Good to see he has found a new home to do what he does best!

[MauricioPC]

You can still animate in Softimage.

Then you have Kraken!

You own Softimage? I don't ... and next year I'll probably won't be able to buy it. So ... Maya because of tools and training.

Yes Hirazi ... I discovered accidentally and I felt good knowing he has a new home.

[EricTRocks]

Kraken is able to be used in Maya too.

[luceric]

There is really no reason for any studio to show up at siggraph and make a presentation on how they're using Maya as their main animation tool for this or that production. Not only boring, it's spoils the magic and is self-defeating. When that does happen, it is usually because there is some sort of deal behind the scene to make that happen. Sometime a client could give a thumbs up to a smaller product like XSI used to be, but there was usually a lot of work behind the scene to get those feature articles. Autodesk has a close relationship with Disney so they are going to talk a bit more about Maya. Lightstorm will be talking about their use of motion builder and on-set visualization. In all cases, there is still an element of "secret sauce" added so as to not spoil the magic. That's how the business works. Studios do not go to siggraph or anywhere else to advertise someone else's product.

[EricTRocks]

There is really no reason for any studio to show up at siggraph and make a presentation on how they're using Maya as their main animation tool for this or that production. Not only boring, it's spoils the magic and is self-defeating. When that does happen, it is usually because there is some sort of deal behind the scene to make that happen. Sometime a client could give a thumbs up to a smaller product like XSI used to be, but there was usually a lot of work behind the scene to get those feature articles. Autodesk has a close relationship with Disney so they are going to talk a bit more about Maya. Lightstorm will be talking about their use of motion builder and on-set visualization. In all cases, there is still an element of "secret sauce" added so as to not spoil the magic. That's how the business works. Studios do not go to siggraph or anywhere else to advertise someone else's product.

Sorry, I think you missed what I was saying. There were mentions of Softimage in various talks at Siggraph this year. Notably on some big projects (Lego and Guardian of the Galaxy). They were quite simple comments and didn't really revel in the fact it was Softimage. Especially Lego. They just mentioned it then went on to show their tech (magic / "secret sauce" if you will). It was just nice to hear it mentioned. Those were separate talks.

The one in regard to the State of Animation was solely to talk about Animation applications.

• Premo - Dreamworks
• Presto - Pixar
• Maya - Disney
• Maya - Autodesk
• Voodoo - R&H

3/5 presentations were outside of Maya. Also to note that a company like Dreamworks decided to create their own upgraded package rather than going for an off the shelf product. They also mentioned that they spent 5 years, $15 Million, and 40 developers, and team of embedded Intel devs to create this product. They stated that they didn't want to be tied to a 3rd Party developer and rather move with the times at their own speed. Their package to date, is the most impressive piece of animation software I've seen. It's blazing fast and has a really great integration with the animation workflow. I don't see anyone out there that will be able to catch up with them for the next 5-10 years.

We've seen Presto before. Nothing really new to see there.

Disney, they showed off some neat evaluation of the graph. Sort of like how Premo was doing it, but I heard some rumblings that it wasn't truly a re-engineering of the Maya core to allow this. Just lots of tricks / hacks.

Autodesk underwhelmed really. Showed some dated material that we've seen from last year / online already.

Voodoo, this was a bit boring to see as it didn't show the interface much for them animating. Just a video that they've already posted on their site.

Hope that clears it up a bit Luc-Eric.

PS: Luc-Eric did you make it out to Vancouver?

[MauricioPC]

Also to note that a company like Dreamworks decided to create their own upgraded package rather than going for an off the shelf product. They also mentioned that they spent 5 years, $15 Million, and 40 developers, and team of embedded Intel devs to create this product. They stated that they didn't want to be tied to a 3rd Party developer and rather move with the times at their own speed. Their package to date, is the most impressive piece of animation software I've seen. It's blazing fast and has a really great integration with the animation workflow. I don't see anyone out there that will be able to catch up with them for the next 5-10 years.

The videos I've seen from Premo are incredible. I do believe that others are not even close to it. Problem is ... it's only for Dreamworks. Imagine that software in the hands of students, be it at Animation Mentor, iAnimate, AnimSchool, etc. How much better would be the animations since the students would focus more on the shot itself and less on the software?

Or in the hands of the independent animator, filmmaker, etc. Hope someday Dreamworks make it available to purchase and free for students. We can dream right?

[Bullit]

You own Softimage? I don't ... and next year I'll probably won't be able to buy it. So ... Maya because of tools and training.

Yes Hirazi ... I discovered accidentally and I felt good knowing he has a new home.

Yes. It depends of what you want to do, what you want to learn.
Houdini Indie is a good, relatively cheap tool. Maybe we should make a topic about what are the most friendly packages for an artist to start.

[MauricioPC]

Yes. It depends of what you want to do, what you want to learn.
Houdini Indie is a good, relatively cheap tool. Maybe we should make a topic about what are the most friendly packages for an artist to start.

If you think about it, with Softimage I didn't need to think all that much. I could model in it because it has great modeling tools and workflow, I could animate in it because is a powerful animation tool, I could do FX and motion graphics because of ICE.

Now the other options always seems like your are giving up one thing for the other.

[Hirazi Blue]

Maybe we should make a topic about what are the most friendly packages for an artist to start.

That would be a rather short topic, I'm afraid. Personally I was under the impression that Cinema 4D - at a price, obviously - offers the user-friendliest generalist package.

[Bullit]

Agreed, but it is comparatively expensive. When i said easier was also including price.

[MauricioPC]

Maybe we should make a topic about what are the most friendly packages for an artist to start.

That would be a rather short topic, I'm afraid. Personally I was under the impression that Cinema 4D - at a price, obviously - offers the user-friendliest generalist package.

I was thinking strongly on going to C4D, but this last release didn't really make me impressed. Again ... no work done on the particle system (for years), the shading capabilities are still inferior to Max/Maya/SI, no improvement on viewport performance for better animation playback or lots of objects (good for heavy mograph or particles).

So ... I'm still at the Autodesk helm deciding between Max or Maya.

P.S.: I'm stupid because it's obvious that Maya should be the place to go.

[talent103]

Yes if you are going to stay with Autodesk stick with XSI and Maya. Max is probably going the same fate as XSI. At least that would be my bet. Any arguments to the contrary would be met with 2 year old videos on the brightness of Softimage's future. I will be learning c4d instead as it is widely used here in NYC for commercials to motion graphics. I already know Maya which is why I am trying to avoid it like the plague.

[EricTRocks]

Yes if you are going to stay with Autodesk stick with XSI and Maya. Max is probably going the same fate as XSI. At least that would be my bet. Any arguments to the contrary would be met with 2 year old videos on the brightness of Softimage's future. I will be learning c4d instead as it is widely used here in NYC for commercials to motion graphics. I already know Maya which is why I am trying to avoid it like the plague.

Everyone needs to stop the talk about Max being next on the chopping block. Max has an enormous amount of installs and use and really out weigh the Maya installs. I think we have an unrealistic view on the Max community, installs, and size in the Softimage community.