Autodesk Signs Agreement with Avid Technology to Acquire Softimage

#521

They’ve simply got to kill off one of these apps right? How can there be any hardcore innovation when you are developing three separate three dimensional applications?

#522

I don’t think it’s a comparable situation, Maya had a larger share, was widely used in effects and Max always had the arch/viz market to cover if they were going to retarget their apps.

3 3D apps seems a lot for a single company to have, and it’s not as if we’ve seen much make it’s way from Maya to Max - no nucleus for example. It’s mainly just been some fbx work and the tonka toy that is viewcube/steering wheels so far.

Looks like Max will get CAT back where it started, which is not exactly going to be hard to implement.

I don’t imagine much will change for XSI for a while, but I can perfectly understand why XSI users would be more nervous than Maya users were when Autodesk bought out Alias.

It looked like XSI was making a resurgence with ICE, but now - I’m just glad I held off on buying XSI with this news.

Must be pretty wearing for Autodesk employees to get this constant negative feedback though.

#523

Anybody know if Softimage is now losing it’s name and the product will be renamed to Autodesk XSI? Or will it be Autodesk Softimage-XSI (like Avid Softimage-XSI)?

And will the development team remain separate and remain to develop independently more or less or is Autodesk going to dictate the progress and features now?

#524

great surprise .

Autodesk = a biggggGGGG black hole :slight_smile:

#525

the growing speeed of this topic is more interesting than the main news for me! 

but to not being off topic: WOW! I can't believe man! [img]http://www.pic4ever.com/images/4fvgdaq_th.gif[/img]

mim,

#526

OMG, I started this thread yesterday afternoon , now there’s 521 posts and 35 pages! Can i get a medal for fastest thread starter or something :buttrock:

I was thinking that in one way its great, being under EA at my work you have huge resources and immense knowledge to learn and make things better and stronger - now the maya, max and xsi teams can all learn more from each other, under one essentially large roof.

#527

guess I’ll have no use for this logo any more

#528

3 Packages, 1 company. 3 Huge teams. They will cut each of those teams down to key departments. Take all the best elements of each package and create 1 app to rule the CG Film and Game industry. Look at AutoCad and how many industries use it.

#529

What’s really funny is the purchase price…$35 million? jeezzz…there are houses that are more expensive than that:curious: …I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll never make that money in my lifetime, but Alias was worth 10 times more when it was purchased…

I was really looking into XSI as an alternative to Maya, but now…

Overall it makes me unconfortable when too much control is given to any one entity, there’s usually abuse to consumers…you guys wouldn’t believe what I’ve gone throught with Autodesk licensing, all I can say is that it wasn’t fun…

Many countries stop companies from gaining market share like this in order to stimulate competition, but corporations have to much power in this country.

Didin’t they have over 50% market share already?
What’s autodesk’s goal? to have 80% market share?..

LAME!

#530

Awww Dude thats a shame, that is just awesome, coming from another Arvid, My names Kai Arvid James Pedersen.

and crap thats freeky, my dads name is Leif Pedersen You’d think I was back in Denmark

uhm and back on topic Autodesk, boo hiss, one more for the insanely long thread.

#531

I’m also a pedersen…what are the odds of a back to back pedersen post huh? :eek:

sorry for the stupid post, I just found it funny…

#532

Bringing some form of levity to the situation is never a bad idea. Let the humor roll!

Anyone want to post their XSI shoe box sitting on top of their cat or dog?

http://www.stuffonmycat.com/Tech-On-My-Cat/20081023-gusto.html

Wait, I just realized they never did show us who was behind the hoody…will we ever know the truth?

#533

I hope they continue to let Softimage develop their own tools and keep some competition going. I hope they don’t kill off my beloved XSI.

#534

WOW…really a frontpage news~!
My personal thinking: It is a day what Softimage wish to. They made it now.

#535

Its a tough financial market so its not like everyone is going into a crazy bidding war in these times…

Alias went for 180 but it bought much more to the table, it let Autodesk walk straight into the top end of town in the Automotive industry which they where dieing to do and in the long run well worth the $$$ and they got Maya and motion builder which speak for themselves.

Its not a bad thing that XSI got bought out but it would have been nice if another player had picked them up just to keep adsk on their toes…

I guess Autodesk can save a CRAP load on marketing now :slight_smile:

#536

Agreed, and i’m not to deep into it, but the Adobe Macromedia merger wasn’t so bad. Microsoft rules system market, Adobe graphics video and webdesign, and Autodesk now Medium end CAD and 3D… if they don’t misuse their power, it’s ok for me.

#537

Actually Autodesk has added Softimage XSI to the Max and Maya pipleline so they can eventually compete with Blender! :slight_smile:

#538

eeh… a couple days of waiting for a license, meanwhile using Maya 2008 so no issues. I thought you weren’t using 2009 for awhile so getting a license really really fast shouldn’t have been an issue no? I could probably dig up that post somewhere but no need.

I’d like to see how many countries you’re referring to which stop larger corporations like Autodesk from gaining market share. Do you have some sort of running list? The US has stopped large corporations in the past (ie. Bell is a classic example) but it’s probably at the same percentage or level of other countries with the same issues.

In the end, does it matter? Does it stop me from doing my job? No. If Maya goes away are there other alternatives? Yes. People need to quit acting like this is all doom and gloom and that the world is going to end. I’m not saying I feel bad for Softimage and its user base. I do. they’ve been whored around from microsoft to avid and now to autodesk. In the end, things will all work out. XSI, Maya, Max, Houdini, C4D (the list goes on) are all just tools, not lifestyles.

#539

Probably some Autodesk marketing guy :wink:

#540

This has nothing to do with the applications or users or some grand strategy. My guess is that Autodesk just couldn’t say no to this bargain. I mean, for $35M, this deal works even if they just integrate FaceRobot and CAT and some ICE functionality. Anything else is gravy!

As long as XSI is profitable, I am sure they will run it on it’s own, and if business does go down and they slow or stop development, won’t XSI users migrate to another Autodesk product, particularly if they come up with a slick FBX bridge for XSI and a few “crossgrade” discounts?