erm… no. Nvidia bought Mental Images, not their renderer separately. I was refering to the team (a part of whichever company they are) that develop Mental Ray.
Autodesk Signs Agreement with Avid Technology to Acquire Softimage
RobertoOrtiz
#862
This is not change,
this is a move towards a closed enviroment for the 3d world.
<<BW This is my speculation>>>
Basically it is this…
One player controls most of the 3d market out there as of now.
Think about that.
This means that one player an dictate terms to other companies and set up industry wide standards that benefit them
They could drop support on any 2d/3d format they wish, and move to proprietary formats for all 3d work. Not only that, if they wish now they could now establish subscription certification programs to establish that you can use their software.
jupiterjazz
#863
mental ray is developed solely at mental images (unfortunately).
the code has never left the building (fortunately), I believe that even NV does not have access to it.
As per the integrations of mental ray (via raylib or echo):
mental ray for maya (raylib) -> done by mental images, but decided by maya prod devs
mental ray for 3dsmax (echo) -> done by 3dsmax team with strong support of mental
mental ray for xsi (raylib) -> done by Softimage (and you can see that), developed with minor support of mental images
So by buying Softimage they actually have now some people who actually know how to integrate mental ray, just look at render passes in XSI vs Maya2009…
p
Cyberone
#864
if i was looking at this in terms a business i might rephrase this this
to what i was saying before as:
“this is a move towards the environment of the closed 3d world”
remember these guys are just buying up assets in the business world.
for most companies in the end they dont care. repeat…they guys at the top dont care.
One player controls most of the 3d market out there as of now.
Think about that.
yes i know…but it could also in these time mean their very death…
not saying that that will happen.
This means that one player an dictate terms to other companies and set up industry wide standards that benefit them
but there are many examples or competitive monopolies that dont die or their products go crap…and it makes more of a boiling pot at the bottom for the ambitious to strike through…tho it may be harder now…just read all the posts that have been put here and you will find many examples (after wading thru dooms day crap)
They could drop support on any 2d/3d format they wish, and move to proprietary formats for all 3d work.
sorry rear that wrong before…
but again there ways to get around this type of thing…always has been…
Not only that, if they wish now they could now establish subscription certification programs to establish that you can use their software.
yeah this is crap. i 100000% agree…but again they could already do that if they wanted to before yeah?
again i state what i said before…
it seems people are very scared or change…maybe righlty so. i dont know
again for me it doesnt matter.
I will always find a way to make my art. that is what i do.
i think people should calm down a little to see how it plays out in the next few months before
claiming the end of 3D…
CYB
ZooRocket
#865
I pray it would never come to that. Really too bad, have loved XSI since I first got it back on Version 4… funny enough, to move away from AutoDesk and 3DS Max.
Windwolf
#866
Actually, don’t worry about changes… cause there will be none… as in:
like I was told… whatever they called the latest upgrade in the Maya 2009, my friend has seen them at Alias, before AD took them over…
so, what you have now, is what you going to get, for a long long time…
see? no changes…
705
#867
i think you got it the wrong way. imagine if they decide a new closed format which wont be supported by others. dyou think lighhtwave, cinema4D etc users will survive? standard must not be owned by a company. and by owning the most 3D users, they will easily make a ‘standard’.
I agree that we must think positively with changes, but i think without any ‘major competition’ in the future, this will the the ‘last’ change you’ll see in 3D apps. The next version of max is just a max with a different number ( and pricetag)
just my 2 cents 
aglick
#868
I’ve heard several people making assertions that Maya and 3DSmax are at or near the end of their useful lifespans.
I’ve been hearing this for a decade regarding 3DSmax. To my knowledge though, the capabilities of 3SMAX have been continually improved and refined without much detriment to performance or stability.
I would say the same about Maya. And also will add that the original architects of Maya developed the codebase with flexibility and extensibility of the program in mind. This was supposedly done (among other reasons) to maximize Maya’s lifespan as a viable and inherently expandable product.
I don’t know as much about XSI in these regards.
Bottom line - are there any valid facts from informed sources that can shed some light on the notion that any of the three packages are no longer viable from a develoment or extendability perspective?
Cyberone
#869
yes i did…sorry…got confused with what all the hundreds of posts that i read…lol
you are right!
I agree that we must think positively with changes, but i think without any ‘major competition’ in the future, this will the the ‘last’ change you’ll see in 3D apps. The next version of max is just a max with a different number ( and pricetag)
im wondering if this might make some venture capitalist stand up for a fight?
prob not? it would be a very long term investment…espec in the financial world at the
moment…
there is no dying need for “cool 3d” stuff…
one more thought…
doesn’t most of the really cool stuff come from Hollywood trying to outsmart each other?
that’s still gonna happen yeah?
one year its like “oh my god!!! thats amzing!!!1” the next some kid is doing
it in his home…
i know im over simplifying things alot but the ball is still gonna roll on.
animationguy2100
#870
What does the acquisition of XSI bring Autodesk’s market share to, 80-90%. Just think only 3 years ago Autodesk only dominated market was games with Max. Now they’ve gobbled both Alias and Softimage and basically control the Film/VFX market as well.
This might not mean that much to large studios but to the smaller studios, freelancers, and hobbyist this could pose a problem.
blenderhead
#871
Who the hell three-starred this thread LOL.
Really starting to dislike Autoca$$$h for their monopoly style business strategies (even if XSI was up for sale). Wave goodbye to good value and customer support XSI users!!
animationguy2100
#872
Maybe but given the current economic slump all around the world I don’t think they’ll jack up the prices for awhile unless of course they were greedy little…well you know what I mean.
cresshead
#873
you may find xsi 2009 release date slip to late 2009 as the autodesk product consolidation development team struggle to implement the ‘view cube’ in xsi as xsi currently doesn’t have a left, bottom and back view to select on the view cube…
just joking!..but it’s actually going to be interesting to see if xsi finally gets a back left and bottom ‘view’ to select and not just a mirror view of what it has now…
also i’m hoping xsi also get some units scale other than the generic which are based around a decimeter…
this is probably the best thing to happen for xsi…finally getting the basics of other apps so that xsi can move toward a wider audience of users wanting to take advantage of ies lighting and realworld scales for maps [textures].
cheddars
#874
No. The people making these claims have no clue about the internals of the products they are talking about, as becomes clear when they are challenged on their claims. It is just uninformed speculation and rumour mongering, often by those with a vested interest, which always runs rampant at times like this. You will also note that some of the statements come from those who are not even developers, yet claim vast and clearly misinformed knowledge of the lifespan and quality of codebases. So unless someone with genuine inside information actually comes up with something concrete, I would completely ignore all these comments. I am pretty sure all three products will be around for a very long time, as I said before the days of codebases being thrown away after 10 years are long gone.
JamesMK
#875
I’m afraid that “valid facts” and “informed sources” are both concepts that do not necessarily belong on the same planet as “internet forums”.
animationguy2100
#876
Only time will tell but I’m too worried though. According to Mark Schoennega Softimage spent three years developing ICE so trying to reengineer ICE for Max or Maya( if even possible) will take some time while at the same time ICE in XSI will (hopefully) get better and expanded to other areas like modeling, rigging, and animation.
jordibares
#877
I do think there is that risk but they can’t afford to stand still and that is because others will appear now far but in 5 years they won’t. Look at Modo for example.
In any case my first reactions are quite blurry in many areas, i think there will be a few key actions we will see that are going to tell us where the thing is going, for example;
- Slimming down the softimage sales team.
- Touching the key accounts/relationships of Softimage and maintenance contracts.
- Touching the strategic alliances like the Exocortex and Syflex.
- Changing licensing of all packages to a unified one.
- Moving Max and Softimage to new offices and selling Softimage main building.
- Loosing key personmel like developers.
By themselves there could be quite relevant but you start to compare these with the numbers the company is releasing and suddenly you can interpret pretty well where the whole thing is heading.
Still, thanks God Softimage was not bough by Apple (as much as I love apple they have a crazy history of killing everything that is not mass market).
iatriki
#878
I do have inside info that the CIA is behind all this…and they’re in cahoots with the aliens and the gypsies.Oh, we’re all doomed!
The plan is to take control of the CG industry…and then the whole world!