OT:XSI price drop, how is Hash gonna compete ?

#1

Hi everyone !

i’m sure all of you read the news about XSI’s price drop to $495 ! (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=160910&page=1). It’s no secret that the search for an reliable alternative had a HIGH priority among A:M users. And i also believe that XSI is the strongest competitor for A:M because it’s purly build around character animation just like A:M, is rock solid to work with and also very easy to use (i’ve tried XSI HL2 !). Is gonna be tough for all CG companies (including Hash) to compete with that. In every other Application Forum on CGTalk are very big discussions about that issue (especially C4D). So what do you think about this move from Avid ? Will it have any impact on you ?

Bertha

#2

http://http://www.softimage.com/Corporate/Sales/Buy/
If you check before you throw AM or whatever software you use out the window…

XSI Foundation - $495
XSI Essentials - $1995
XSI Advanced - $6995

No real change there.

While it has strong character animation tools and scripting, we use it for other stuff. And I’d hate to say it’s only as “rock solid” as almost any other app I’ve used except C4D which I only ever crashed once in 7 yrs of use.

This typoe of thread pops up very often whenever some vendor gives a version away free - I used to jump on the bandwagon but my legs are tired now. :slight_smile:

#3

Hi hoochoochoochoo,

they dropped the price from $2000 -> $500 ! I think that’s a really BIG change. You even get Mental Ray and one of the best Sub-D modeling tool available on the market. I REALLY think this isn’t just another small give away of some vendor BUT the worst nightmare to any small 3d package out there ! I wonder if companies like Momentum Animations or Avalanche will switch to it because it fits better in a studio enviroment and plays nice with other programs. By “rock solid” i meant in comparison to Animation Master (of cause). This surely will give Mr Hash a big headache. But closing threads isn’t the solution to it !

Bertha

#4

Bertha, did you and the other two logins that come from your IP address (you too?) come here to CGTalk solely to preach against AM here in the AM forum?

#5

No,i use a very popular proxy and i don’t preach against A:M (please quote me if i’m wrong !). Maybe i’m a little frustrated with A:M because i don’t get it to stop crashing within 5 minutes. It seems that Mr Hash thinks that it’s more important to stop people from talking about bugs then to just fix the problems. Why are we A:M users the only one that can’t talk about the price drop of XSI ?

Best regards
Bertha

#6

Well it does strike me as a little odd that all three logins from your IP have made anti-AM posts, don’t you agree? It’s also interesting that one of the other logins has a very similar writing style to you, and has gone to great lengths to post long pro-other application posts in this very forum.

Hmmmm.

#7

Well, there are things that you can do instead like post here with the version, the cpu type and the steps you are taking that get crashes to happen. You “might” be feeling peeved that you spent money and the goods aren’t behaving as you expect but try asking the Forum for help. People will just ignore you if you start advertising for XSI. I’m sure they do well enough without your extra bit. :slight_smile:

#8

Maybe it’s the official anti-AM proxy :wink: (sorry for the bad joke !)
No really, i know this is not a free speech forum and i respect that ! I never thought my bashing has gone over the top and i wouldn’t do that ! I posted some stuff about Blender because i really think it’s a nice reliable tool to play with. But now that XSI Foundation is available i will switch to it and you won’t see me posting here (hopefully). Btw your a XSI user right ? :slight_smile: Hope to see you in the Softimage Forum and i sureley won’t bash on the NICE people of Avid there.

best regards
Bertha <…moves to the other forum…>

#9

I have only one thing to say before you move -

http://www.softimage.com/products/Xsi/v4/comparison/default.asp

check what you DONT get for your 495 dollars. You are better off getting the EXP free version to learn the software if you are that serious…

No Fur, standard XSI cloth, no compositor, no hard body dynamics… I shall stop now.

#10

Hooch, I agree. Foundations doesn’t include what makes xsi a nice app.
Interesting approach from avid, but once you look into it, you’re only getting a very restricted app.
With what they are offereing, I feel its over priced.
Mike Fitz
www.3dartz.com

#11

I did have a look over on the C4D forum with a similar thread and there’s a whole lotta shakin going on there, looks like they’re going to jump ship en masse…

Strange world…

#12

For me, AM is still a great deal (even if I didn’t get it for $99 now). It’s simple to keep track of (ONE app), it’s not crippled- in that fetures are unplugged because I got the bronze version not the gold version, and it has more features than I really need at this point.

And $500 is still a chunk of change compared to $99 or even $299 to spend on something where you get less.

#13

Even more interesting is that the posts in both this forum and the other have the exact same tagline. And it’s been placed in every software forum.

Hmmmm…

Although it does have an interesting point against AM in that Hash’s marketing strategy has been based around the low cost of entry ($300). Now, they may have to accentuate their other baileywick, which is innovative and intuitive user interaction with the software.

It already whips the llama’s ass for animation and the new UV editor is really slick - now they’re after cloth, after doing such a rockstar job on hair. The thing that Martin has been interested in that none of the others have been is making it very easy for the user to tell the software what he wants.

#14

Awww crap not again. These are such stupid posts. I swore I wasn’t going to do this but. . . from now on lets keep on topic. If you want to talk about other applications in relation to Animation Master. . . augmenting Animation Master or as a genuine concern from someone who has been around a while. . . great. But out of the blue “Anti-Hash” threads are seriously wrecking this forum. I am getting no support form Hash Inc. and it is scaring away anyone who wants to have a place to openly discuss their application of choice.

Yet another. . .

THE END.