vade

[tachy0n]

Ummm better not mention something like that dude, even if this is the XSI forum. You know how touchy the LW camp is these days..

[marci2001]

well, they should not be

[StefanA]

I've seen more and more of LW 2 XSI questions lately so it might be a correct assumtion. But then again... hasn't LW users always had a good releationship with SI users?
I know quite a few LW users that are using LW for their modeling purposes and SI|3D or XSI for animation.

So there might be a change.. or just status quo :)

best regards

.stefan andersson

[terryford]

LightWaver here :wavey:. IMHO, XSI is attractive to LightWave users because of it's mostly text based UI. The UI also does a good job of hiding it's depth so that it's not immediately intimidating to a new user (like me).

Personally, there are a couple of things I'd like to see before I could justify the expense of XSI though; 1. wider use in the games industry, and 2. massive price drop. :)

Regards,
Terry

[EdHarriss]

At the moment Lightwave and XSI users seem to be getting along better than any other "pair of software" users out there. Which really impresses me. But... Like tachy0n said, better not to mention things like this. However I will let this thread continue as long as it stays civil.

Thanks.

[ThE_JacO]

it's always been this way.
most max users adding maya in their pipelines and LW users picking XSI over maya for that.

most complaints from LWers are usually about LW's animation tools and supposedly closed API (both things where XSI has very strong points), and most feature requests in XSI's modeling workflow usually closely relate to some LW tools or pluggies (I very seldomly see anybody asking for MAX features :) ).

I'd really say it's more a matter of having the best of both worlds rather then switching.

it's true that the LW forums' waters are a bit wavy (no pun intended) at the moment, but that happened to every package sooner or later.
Let's wait and see what will happen at siggy.

[paul k.]

I am a very loyal and happy lightwave user, and I owe a lot to New Tek for making Lightwave available to me when I was first starting out into 3D. I have also made much more money using Lightwave than I have put into it, It paid for itself, and most of school, very easily. That being said. I really like the XSI EXP, for it's animation capabilities. I really like the biped and quadroped guides, auto rigging, and strong weight mapping. As well as it's non-linear approach. This is where Lightwave becomes more of an average app. I love animation, and I think this is where a lot of Lightwaver users really have a hard time, they love that there are unlimited render nodes from a fantastic render engine, the best modeler the world has ever seen, and the price tag. However no real compositor built in, and a strong but basic animation tool set fustrates most of us who are animators first and foremost. I wish that XSI was a little cheaper, and that it had a couple of modeling adjustments that are closer to Lightwave's but overall it is a pretty well rounded tool for sure, and I may end up using in the future if it continues to really progress as it has over the last year or two. Also does anyone know if they will show version 4 at Siggraph?

[paul k.]

Also I have noticed a lot of game companies modeling in LW, and animating in Maya. I really hope that XSI begins to have a real strong presence in the gaming market.

[ThE_JacO]

just to make a point...
XSI does already have a strong presence in the game market.

Japan has always been a stronghold of SI first with 3D and then with XSI (sega, capcom, namco etc.), totalling literally thousands of installations barely with the majors.
Small and medium sized shops in europe, where workflow and timing are even more critical to respect then in larger facilities, are waking up and switching by the day.
A sure thing is that the problem isn't in the tools (I don't know of any apps out there with better PDKs or an equally tight implementation of real-time shaders) it's just that gamedev cycles hardly ever upgrade during a production, even harder it is to have them switching, so the turnover takes time, but it's already happening.

I can't think of that many companies wich switched from XSI v2 or later to another app (actually I can't think of any but there could have been one or two), while version by version XSI converts are more and more, things can only get better ;)

[Miyazaki]

Originally posted by ThE_JacO


it's true that the LW forums' waters are a bit wavy (no pun intended) at the moment, but that happened to every package sooner or later.
Let's wait and see what will happen at siggy.
I agree. Let`s wait for sig.
I think a basic problem is that nearly any other company ,except Newtek, has made several and fast progresses in development(or version numbers) within the last months(cinema r8, XSI 3.0/3.5, Maya 4.5/5). So you get the impression that development of LW stagnates(which does not mean it does!!). Furhtermore, Newtek spearly spreads news about LW8, the 'conciliation' update 7.5b was buggy, and several news about lux and Newtek made users insecure and furious. That`s a dangerous mix. And some users(not all) are tired of it and switch or expand their arsenal(of course also because of the strengths of XSI).
That`s my impression and I hope nobody regards this as an afront, it isn`t ;)

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