Softimage 2015 Last Release Announcement

#1

Over the past week there have been many rumors about the future of Softimage posted on various forums and social media sites. Many of you have been looking for an official confirmation or denial from Autodesk. Unfortunately, we were not in a position to respond until today as we needed to finalize all the details of our plans. But yes Softimage 2015 will be the last release of the software. I wanted to share some of those details with you:
[ul]
[list]
[li]Softimage 2015 will be the last release of the software[/li][li]We will continue to support the software and develop hot fixes and service packs for two more years[/li][li]If they wish to, customers on Subscription will be able to transition to Maya or 3ds Max at no cost while retaining the right to continue to use Softimage in production/[/li][li]Existing customers will be able to purchase additional seats and/or rental plans if they need to scale production [/li][/ul]
[/list]Below is a copy of the letter that was sent electronically to Softimage customers today. I have copied it here as our email distribution lists not allow us to send it to those who have opted out.

Because several of our partners have started posting the news early, we are responding now but please note our web sites have not had time to upload all the information yet.
All the information including a detailed FAQ on www.autodesk.com/softimage.
Within the next 15 minutes you can also visit http://area.autodesk.com/softimagetransition to register for a live Q&A webinar on Monday March 17th at 12pm EST. as well as see the full documentation of what is new in Softimage 2015.

Maurice Patel

Autodesk

#2

This is unfortunate, I’ve always enjoyed working with SI. :confused:

#3

Congratulations on destroying something beautiful.
From this day I’ll boycott all AD products.

#4

//youtu.be/dsx2vdn7gpY

#5

Very sad to read this. An amazing - modern - 3d program that should be allowed to flourish.

#6

Feel very sad for all of the Softimage users worldwide.

I just wanted to ask what is happening to the Softimage development team?
Are all of them being moved to work on Maya and Max? or some being retrenched?

EDIT (additonal rant)
Just thought how terrible this must be for companies that have spent over a decade building up Softimage pipelines. This is going to be so crippling to a lot of these studios who now have to rebuild their pipelines. Wonder what places like this are going to do? and what software choices most of them will make ? :shrug:
And if I look at Whiskytree for example, they’re probably doing the best, most complex digitally created environments in the industry right now off a Softimage pipeline. Its not like Softimage can’t do state-of-the-art stuff, so why the hell are they killing it?

Autodesk didn’t even put 2cents into marketing it either since they took it over which is probably the root cause of all of this. Them not gaining enough new customers etc.

Also feel bad for developers of plugins who have invested a lot of money in recently releasing plugins for Softimage. To think of a few recent ones that come to mind… V-Ray, Redshift, Krakatoa, Exocortex Fury…

Just doesn’t make any sense. :sad:

#7

Next zombie in line: 3dsMax

Autodesk kills the software that helped make this.

http://vimeo.com/81081389

and this

http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/peta_98_human

and this

http://vimeo.com/85581391

and this

http://vimeo.com/43532608

#8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9gjW9RmkpY

#9

my condolences xsi guys and gals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r77WyKNsIk

:sad:

#10

I hate this. I jumped off the autodesk bus a few years ago for this type of stuff. The worst part of it is all the technology that has ever been worked that can’t get jammed into Maya or Max will sit in a basement somewhere hidden behind nda’s and software patents

#11

I just wanted to ask what is happening to the Softimage development team?
Are all of them being moved to work on Maya and Max? or some being retrenched?

auto**** already broke Softimage team years ago. Some got out, some went Fabric Engine and some went Maya implementing Bifrost(ICE 2) and other Softimage capabilities.

For now it is in a caretaker crew in Singapore. Very few people. But then auto**** is a bad managed company with very few people coding.

#12

Autodesk just killed off Dora’s Backpack… Glad I just finished animating the last one yesterday, which is all done with Softimage and After Effects…

#13

ADSK is suggesting to switch to maya or max. They are talking like a car manufacturer. People dedicate a great deal of time to learn those apps so you can’t just say it and get away with it.

ADSK should be sued because of misleading their customers.

What if you decide to discontinue max or maya a couple quarters later?

#14

This worked so well against Adobe CC…

#15

Its not really ICE 2 if they started over haha

#16

Next zombie in line: 3dsMax

Autodesk kills the software that helped make this.

http://vimeo.com/81081389

and this

http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/…l/peta_98_human

and this

http://vimeo.com/85581391

and this

http://vimeo.com/43532608

pretty awesome work, SI will be missed.

#17

You are killing me man!

#18

I will not be surprised if someone sues auto**** because of this.
People certainly have a lot of reasons to accuse auto**** of misleading them.

#19 

 Autodesk’s Director of Product Management for the Media & Entertainment products in [September 2012](http://jamiesjewels.typepad.com/jamies_jewels/2012/09/3dsmax-rumours-response.html)
#20

Hopefully we haven’t seen the last of Soft. I’ve learned to always expect great things from the SI development team and the SI community. Hopefully Autodesk we be willing to let SI’s development continue in more attentive hands. If not, then it’s a true loss for the CG community as a whole. Some of the most truly inspirational work that the CG community has seen has been crafted in SI.