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View Full Version : Softimage 3D v4 a bit daunting!

dfusion
09-16-2003, 10:49 PM
I'm sitting here at my buddy's desk while he is working on After Effects on another machine. I felt daring and opened up Softimage 3D v4.0 and I have to say it is bizzare! For all the years this piece of software has been used for high end 3D, I cannot for the life of me understand how someone can learn this program. My first impression is that I'm utterly confused. Now, don't get me wrong, I know this program rocks and maybe there is some good training material out there. So far I've poked around a few web sites but even those make it hard for someone to just get started with this program.

Who else out there is using SI3D or has used it in the past? How the heck did you get started with it to the point where things make sense? I even peeked on Amazon and I think there is one SI3D v4 book and a couple 3.7 and 3.9 books? After looking at SI3D v4, it makes XSI look like a breeze!
ggg
09-16-2003, 11:27 PM
nothing beats having somone sit with you and show it, if you know someone who can give you even a hour, it will really get you going with the right concepts, compared to slowly having it gel with manuals and specific tutorials.
dfusion
09-17-2003, 01:28 AM
I watched a tutorial of Chinny making a Scorpion. My oh my, two very important things stand out.

1) Watching somebody who is this talented is VERY inspiring to me. It makes me want to follow, learn, and then ask myself how I can make it BETTER than he did. It's like I'm pushing myself to learn.

2) Another great author, Stu from Xsimple, gave me some advice to watch as many videos as possible before jumping into documentation. He is right on with that statement. Not only is it a quicker way to learn the software but when it comes time to read the books it helped give a head-start to already being familiar with what they are talking about. I don't feel the need to read and re-read five times just to get it.


As I'm playing with SI3D v4 it's starting to make a bit more sense. It's still a but frightening compared to the luxurious looking XSI.
Nick Unden
09-17-2003, 10:34 PM
I have some experience using soft|3D in a production. Just curious what specifically you find so daunting? I admit that over all look of the program is unappealing and intimidating but if you are an XSI user, its just a matter of getting used to where things are. I like to think everything you learn in XSI, you can easily transfer back into 3D. :)
punchatz
09-18-2003, 12:12 AM
You should stick with XSI, soft 3d is Softimage's old product. While its still very capable it would not be worth learning at this point in time. Most (if not all) vis effects houses that used to use soft 3d (like ours) have all switched to XSI at this point.

Greg
roger3d
09-18-2003, 05:24 PM
Hey Greg,

Nice point. You think the same way I think. SI3D is old and it's not worth to learn it, right?

I need to convince my boss to NOT upgrade to SI3D 4.0.

Here is the original treat:
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=89133

I need to say this is not a 3D app war. It's all about don't waist time learning a package that's almost dead.

Thanks for ANY help!


Roger
rougue 13
09-22-2003, 06:31 AM
hell...i just played with it just to learn it for the sake of learning it...this may sound geeky,,but i knew i would never use it but i still learned because ILM used it..its like the model t of 3d programs..It was daunting..but fun for some reason.
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