Blender vs XSI

[alona]

First, the usual disclaimer: you can't really compare any two apps. What works for me may not work for you, everybody has their own goals and preferences, etc. Trite but True. People get wonderful results out of any one of the leading tools.

Second, another disclaimer: It would be a joke if I claimed I have "experience" in either XSI or Blender. I'm little more than a newbie in XSI, and I used Blender even less.

But, I did use them both, and my impression is that XSI is far more user friendly and will let you get more sophisticated work done more quickly. I absolutely admire the Blender community and the way a free app has become so incredibly deep, but still, XSI is miles ahead in almost every aspect - if nothing else, consider Mental Ray. It's a top notch renderer that is very tightly integrated with XSI; Blender still cannot compete with that.

With the recent price offering of Foundation, I think that's a price/performance that is very hard to beat - even for a $0 app! :D

My 2 cents,

AA

[MJV]

I don't know much about Blender, but I imagine it's focus is not character animation, whereas character animation is the focus of XSI. So I guess it depends on what you want to do.

[SheepFactory]

You cant possibly compare a freeware app like blender with a production proven beast like XSI. I suggest you work with your demos and pick whichever one you like to pick cause quite frankly if you are at a junction where you are undecided between blender and xsi that means you are not in a position to take full advantage of xsi.

I would recommend downloading the foundation demo and going through some tutorials at ed harris's site , there are some nice beginner ones there that'll get you up to speed. or you can model the same object in both blender and xsi and see which one you like more.

[MarGera]

Ok i am new to 3d and i had been playing with 3d max for a while, but i never found that it clicked for me i.e it didn't feel user friendly.
SO i picked up XSI foundation and am going through the manual as we speak, and i have to say the user interface seems very good, and things appear to be where you would expect them to be. So, so far everything seems very good with XSI and i would recommend it to you.

Also what is ed harris's web address?

[titaniumdave]

Miggs since you have the demo just play with it. Do the tutorials and you'll be able to decide for yourself which one you like better.



Also what is ed harris's web address?

http://www.edharriss.com/

[miggs70]

Thanks for the reply everybody.

I am starting the tutorials from Ed Harris's site now. That is the thing that amazed me about XSI is the community support I have found and all of the different tutorials. The Blender community is amazing in its own right, but I would think I could get much more stability from an app such as XSI.

[Atyss]

I once gave a go to Blender, strongly encouraged by a former pro-OpenSource colleague that was also using the Python argument to push me in the arms of Blender. I just couldn't get around the viewport navigation, too bad my colleague even had to admit that it was too tedious.

Still, the Python script to export to Flash seemed nice (although at 4000 lines long, there was just no chance I was gonna try to port it to XSI).


My two cents
Bernard

[alona]

(although at 4000 lines long, there was just no chance I was gonna try to port it to XSI).
Bernard

Well, that's a shame... :sad: Would it make sense to export an animated scene from XSI to Blender just in order to export is to Flash? I guess what I'm asking is whether you know if the python exporter is more complete than swuff, and if there's a decent format for exporting XSI->Blender...

AA

[Atyss]

Well, that's a shame... :sad: Would it make sense to export an animated scene from XSI to Blender just in order to export is to Flash?

The length of the script was not the only problem.
The script imports many modules that are specific to Blender, the "Blender" module being the first one (wich probably exposes features of the Blender SDK to the coder). At that point it would be just better to write one from scratch, wich is not certain given the tools used for the Blender version may not exists in XSI world.

All in all, I think that would be a pretty herculean task and I just have no time to such something like that.


EDIT: to answer straightforwardly your question, it makes absolute sense since there are not that many alternatives. Sorry for the bad news.


Cheers
Bernard

[RayenD]

I use Blender for LCSM unwrap. Nothing like that in XSI, at least I didn't find it.

[Atyss]

Can you please elaborate for us clueless non-Blender users?


Thanks
Bernard

[JDex]

http://www.blender3d.org/cms/UV_Unwrapping.363.0.html

It is really cool... but the blender workflow makes it too tough to utilize... at least for me.

[MyAMeE]

I have used both, and it’s like comparing a race horse to a donkey. Both may get you to were you want to go, but one may be more proficient and graceful at it than the other. For one thing the “Net Browser,“ in XSI, have you used it’s functions yet ? not to mention the countless capabilities that Blender can’t even dish up. Animation clips, Animation mixing, and the Render map: This is no way a dis to Blender, but I could not pass up the opportunity to purchase XSI Foundation. It may lack the full capabilities of XSI Advanced , never the less by using and learning XSI Foundation will help to build just as it’s called a foundation in XSI in my opinion.

My goal was to make a Anime movie in Blender . I had made some really nice test toon renders in Blender that astonished me. Though they where good I scrapped every thing to just focus on XSI.

In a nut shell , XSI breaks ground to build on it’s foundation.

[alona]

All in all, I think that would be a pretty herculean task and I just have no time to such something like that.
Of course... did not occur to me to even question that.


To answer straightforwardly your question, it makes absolute sense since there are not that many alternatives. Sorry for the bad news.

No need to apologize, it's not your fault :) I just wish erain would revert their decision to stop supporting XSI (I believe this is the case).

I'm still not sure if there's any format I can use to export animation XSI->Blender...

AA

[Atyss]

http://www.blender3d.org/cms/UV_Unwrapping.363.0.html

It is really cool... but the blender workflow makes it too tough to utilize... at least for me.


Ah yeah I see, aka "automatic UV pelting", or simply "uv pelting". Isn't ironic that Action Synthèse paid the mega bucks to develop a tool for this (Unfold3D) while there is an OpenSource alternative that odes the same thing? LOL


Cheers
Bernard

[RayenD]

Bernard,
I think you should have good idea about LCSM after checking that link JDex posted.

I can't really explain quickly how to do it (maybe I should write a tutorial for XSI users).
The closest thing in XSI is Unique UV feature, but I couldn't get comparable (to LCSM method) results even after cutting the mesh.. maybe I do something wrong, probably algorithm is very similar.

Anyway I do 90% of UV mapping in Blender because it is fast and easy and rather accurate. I get VERY good results even on complex meshes (like hands or heads).

[TonyEdwards]

For one thing the “Net Browser,“ in XSI, have you used it’s functions yet ?

My first couple of weeks with Foundations it was just a $500 browser. :D

I just wish erain would revert their decision to stop supporting XSI (I believe this is the case).
It's not in Erain's hands anymore. Its up to software developers to license the technology and develop the plugin themselves. It would be Softimage's decision now.

[sundialsvc4]

If you haven't looked at Blender very recently, you should definitely look again.

As far as which product to use... if you are seeking to learn about tools, both Blender and XSI should be on your to-learn list. If you are seeking to get production work done, you should look at the total project in all of its aspects and use the tool that services the greatest number of those requirements. Tools are cheap; your time is not.

I definitely consider Blender to be a production-level tool and it happens to be the one that I happen to use most often. But I didn't make that decision "because I like Blender." It services my present requirements satisfactorily. When a more technically challenging contract comes along, the decision of what tool to use for it will once more be subject to impartial review. After all, I do this for money.

[imashination]

Can we see some examples of this production work? I havent checked out blender in a while. Last time I did, it had some 'interesting' interface which I was assured by a very foreign chap on the blender stand was still very much under development, but that was back when they had a big stack of money to do CG trade shows and stuff (4 years ago I think), I still have a blender keychain somewhere :-)

[MyAMeE]

My first couple of weeks with Foundations it was just a $500 browser. :D

I am talking about the ability to drag functions from the net browser on to a scene. Though I have never seen XSI Advanced Net browser, but the $500 was well spent in comparison to XSI EXP version 3.5 net browser that I played with. I suggest that you may want to play with the diffrent modules in the net browser.



Yes Blender has some nice capabilities. It was used to do some post production work for Spider-Man 2 movie. The thing is lets say you were commissioned to do some work for a company, and you are very familiar with both tools. That person will have to distinguish what app will help cut down on production time, this is were XSI come in. If I wanted to do 3d as a hobby and take my time, then I would defiantly use Blender, this is a no brainier. It won't cost a thing.
I use to use 3ds max and I know of a site that sells version 7 for just under $800 until the 31st of this month with no student id required. I am not going to plug this site here, nor can I plug blender here. Bottom line here is the choice and preference, and mine is XSI.

[Per-Anders]

Just a small correction, Blender was used for pre-vis, no post production work on Spiderman 2.

Honestly, having used the latest Blender, it's interface is still "interesting", or rather it feels like it's a flash website put together by someone who's just learnt actionscripting and is out to get as much mileage as possible from that.

It's not a high end or pro level app, it is a mishmash of the various inputs that have occured over it's lifetime, but then what do you expect for free? For the price it's good (though it's not an examplar of the best freeware/opensource). It is however an ok (if you're not offput by the interface too much) way into the world of 3D, and at least it's never going to be one of those expensive mistakes.

As far as comparing XSI and Blender, that would be entirely up to the user in question, their needs, and their personal preference. If you are looking to down the line get into a 3d studio, then you should make sure you at least know XSI and Maya even if you don't use them day to day, Blender is unlikely to bring you much in the way of jobs unless you're a freelancer and the clients don't need access to the assets (in which case you can use whatever you want), it's also going to give you a harder time in terms of trying to work around limitations, on the other hand many would see this as a good thing in your personal learning curve.

[mr Bob]

i thought that that sony image works did the pre viz on spiderman 2 , and who is this guy who did it apparently with blender ???.. could it be a case similar to animal logic claiming they did the matrix when really they did the title sequences and 1 shot....

answers on a postcard

B

[Strang]

people from all corners of the forums coming out. :)

[MyAMeE]

mdme_sadie: thanks for correcting me on Spider Man 2 pre-vis. You can read more at http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=151
and http://www.anthonyzierhut.com/html/samples_anthony_zierhut_storyb.html .

Not necessary a plug for blender. http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[R10k]

Just wanted to add that in my mind, Blender is so far from XSI is just isn't funny. On the surface it may look comparable because of the odd tool here and there, but what's under the hood of XSI simply blows Blender away. There are about 50 aspects of XSI's power I simply didn't even realise were these until I got into it, and based on what a lot of people say about Blender compared to XSI, I doubt they know they're there either.

If you want to muck around, use Blender. If you don't, go with XSI.

[fritzman]

It depends on you. What do you need, what do you expect? You didn't tell us so the answer is: You can drive from A to B with a bike or with a car. :scream:
The other answer is: If you really don't know the answer to your question go for Blender. And then if you come to the limitations of Blender (e.g. when doing char animation you will be back real soon if you're not playing only) check out the XSI demo.You likely won't be disappointed.


All the best, FRitz

[miggs70]

It seems I opened a can of worms that I didn't mean to. For myself I'm looking at a tool for Arch Viz type work. I know Max would probably be ideal for this but since I don't have a few grand to throw around I started to look at other options.

I ended up with Blender for one project, but then I found Softimage and the price of Foundation with everything I need. I am also looking at doing things like walk throughs fly by's etc.

So far with the tuts I have found I am very impressed with Softimage especially for the price. This will be used in conjunction with AutoCAD.

Thanks for all of the different views and sorry for starting the heated discussion.

[titaniumdave]

Only listen to my post miggs, everone else is crazy. ;)

[fritzman]

Hi miggs,

no problem, this can of worms seems to be normal when this topic is being discussed. :shrug:

Two things are important for your work:

1. Good render quality above all, and
2. Versatile modelling tool set with a good workflow.

1. I recommend then that you check out some galeries of XSI made stuff. Why not start at

http://www.softimage.com/community/Xsi/Galleries/v3/Gal_Mar05/Gal_Mar05.asp

and check through the different months. There are some arch viz pictures and sometimes links to peoples sites with more arch viz stuff.

2. The modelling tool set and workflow is really cool in XSI. Check the demo to see if it fits you style.

So in my opinion you can become a very happy XSI user. :applause:


All the best, FRitz

[Levitateme]

I have a modeling friend who lives in romania, and for somereason he started in blender. he has messaged me several times how amazing xsi is. i didnt know anything about blender at all though. but he is someone who i really trust, a great sculptor. and my experience is not with blender its the monster MAYA, and imo xsi is YEARS ahead of maya. i spent 2 years working in maya, and when i left my job friends convienced me to go to xsi. it truly is amazing how incredible xsi is in a lot of ways to maya, maya has...a few things i like, but overall...bigtime overall i would prefer xsi. that is my comparison to another big package anyway. yeah get xsi, the dvd's that come with it are really nice, it has been a while since i watched them, but i learned a ton.

[topmegacool]

Ah yeah I see, aka "automatic UV pelting", or simply "uv pelting". Isn't ironic that Action Synthèse paid the mega bucks to develop a tool for this (Unfold3D) while there is an OpenSource alternative that odes the same thing? LOL

Cheers
Bernard

LOL ? Really ?

Shame on you Bernad you even don't know what you're talking about.

If you can't make the difference between Blender and Unfold3D that confirm you're not professionnal at all. You just talk without knowing

things.

Yes we spent time and money to create a tool because there's still nothing in the market that can to do the job as we can do it now. If only

you would have tryed and compared both Blender and Unfold3d UV features (of corse on other things that a cube) you would have seen by

yourself... but you just didn't, instead you prefer to affirm indirectly that we are silly.

The worse thing is you're saying bad things and laughing about a company that paid you to work. images/icons/icon14.gif


Renaud

[R10k]

I just thought I'd add to this thread, after spending a few days learning Blender (thanks to the new video tutes). Well, it's a strong package to use now... and for free, it's downright impressive. It could really use N-gon support, but you can get quite a bit out of the package, both render and model-wise. Of course, compared to XSI you've pretty much got no control at all over anything, but for software you can stick on a thumbdrive and use on almost old computer... it rocks.

My conclusion- if you want the absolute maximum in control over what it is you're doing, and you love having a million and one options available to you, pay for XSI. If you want to do a decent enough job without having to worry about a million and one controls, Blender is worth getting into.

[Atyss]

...



Posted edited (no time to waste with kids)

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