Softimage 7.5 Trial

#22

From the FAQ:

Q. How do customers get access and licenses for previous versions?
A. Previous versions of Softimage 7.01, Softimage 6.5, Softimage 5.11 are available as part of the Autodesk Subscription benefit. Once the contract manager has received the invite to the Autodesk Subscription Center, customers will be able to download related previous versions.

Q. What happens to existing 7.0 licenses with an upgrade to 7.5?
A. Previous licenses already issued will continue to function. Per the End-User License Agreement, section 2.3, customers are required to cease use and uninstall all copies of the previous version within 120 days of installing Softimage 7.5.

If customers require the use of and/or new licenses for a previous version, please purchase Autodesk Subscription or contact the Sales Representative.

I must say… I’ve sat around waiting for my emotional response to subside. After some internal pondering and weighing the value of the product that I’ve spent many years learning, using and supporting… I can only come to one reasonable conclusion.

:wavey:

I wish you all the best. It’s been good.

#23

Wait- is that saying you have to be under subscription to use what you already payed for?!?

That is the biggest load of crap I’ve ever heard! In fact my rep told me that when I upgraded I would own- for ever- my old copies and anything I use up to the point that my subscription ends. AKA if I stop maintenance at 8.5 I still own and can use 8.5.

So what does this mean for those of use with 4.2, 5.x, 6.x around and still in use? Can we get a straight and direct answer from a SI rep?

#24

If you have Softimage XSI 7 with a maintenance subsription you wil recive a new key soon via email…http://community.softimage.com/showthread.php?t=4173

#25

It means that 7.0 is Avid’s propriety, so AD can’t license it except in a transient state.
Also 7.5 on windows is flexlm (ADLM) licensed, 7 is SPM licensed, and they are data compatible, meaning you could use twice the licenses you own.

That means if you upgrade and you become AD client under maintenance, and not under a full purchase, you have a limited overlapping time to transition under the new overlords.

It doesn’t mean that if you don’t pay maintenance for 7.5 or let it run out you won’t be able to use it past that date.

For previous versions, since Avid will probably stop maintaining them, you will still be able (in case of loss) to ask for a license of the old, non maintained and upgraded versions to AD, which in that situation will be able to honour the user obbligations they inherited from AVID.

That’s what I’m told at least.

#26

This… is the load of crap that was worrying me about when the buyout came along…

#27

Not a fan of AD myself, but this is mostly legal issues that cross company boundaries, hardly anybody’s fault.
What irritates me more is the new ADLM stuff to be honest, rather than the inevitable contract tweaks.

#28

Is it just me or rendering speed went downhill with this release ? When render region is working i can hardly do anything, even move a window. Until now i could tweak settings easily with region updating smoothly and now it seems i have to wait till it renders out to do anything. Ambient occlusion shader also seems to work quite strange. I checked out the 7.0 demo on the same machine and configuration earlier and we have 6.5 at work with similiar machines and we had no problems like that. Anybody else had this impression?

#29

Hi Jamnique. I had the same problem in 7.0… At home on my P4 1GB ram, it runs smooth, I can do anything even if it’s rendering. At work, a Dual Core, 2 Gb ram… render regions or do a render and the machine beacome slower than a slug… =S

#30

Look the spec for Softimage XSI 7.5 the minimum to use is 4Gb of ram.

#31

i happen to have four gigs. I suspect this is somehow gpu related. I get the impression i could actually do something but the display doesn’t catch up with my actions. Since 7.0 my card has become persona non grata in the xsi world and things are messy in general;]

#32

Have anyone tried using 7.5 on Boot Camp?
I know that AD licenses in the other packages have problem with Boot Camp, do not at all.
Maybe, 7.0 is the end of the line for me since the switch from LW two years go. Luckily, it is only two years in learning, not fully using XSI in making money yet, but it still losing two years.
Don’t get me wrong, Boot Camp is one thing but most of the problem is AD license (not allowing using in the other countries), upgrade policy (after two year, it’s gone) and upgrade value (AD is good in making things work, but they are not creative company who will come up with something big and new).
I could not justify spending $1300 to upgrade tool that is great but I did not utilize it.
Maybe it’s time to go back.
Have fun with XSI guys.

9192

#33

Now just calm down a bit. Even if you don’t upgrade, please take a look at the playing field and think about if you REALLY want to ditch XSI right now.

Even if you just continue to use 6.5 and 7 for the next few years I don’t think you can go wrong- there is still plenty of power there and you can save your peanuts for the next “move” you decide to make when there is more info.

This is coming from a fellow “sky is falling” type so trust me on this OK!

#34

I am also worried about that bootcamp thing. Also, am I in trouble if I didn’t download the 7.01 upgrade?

cheers

#35

They made changes to with 3DSMax 2010 to make sure their licensing worked under bootcamp, I would imagine the same system is now being used for XSI so it should work.

#36

wheee!!! :bounce: thanks for the info, that gives me peace, it would be definitely to weird if the wouldnt implement the same here

#37

You’re right Mocaw. I am possibly gonna use it as extension to my tools, but will not get in depth wit it, since I don’t want to spend the other two more years before completely dump it.
XSI was the great package, but with AD team I don’t think there will be anything more creative, as soon as they buy all the small guys who make plugin for XSI, the development will stopped, the the subscription will go on.
We just upgraded to ACAD 2009 from 2007, because if we don’t do it, we will need to pay full price for the next version. What we got is nicer interface, like Max, but slower workflow, hidden icons and commands. Basically, they made things that you could do one step in the earlier version to be two or three more step. It is not just this version, but it has been going on and on every time AD updated ACAD. If we can find alternative, we would move away. Unfortunately, we have no choice when we have to work with the other who mostly use ACAD.
You guys can keep on it, and XSI will still in the market. AD will keep it as long as they can to avoid monopoly issue.

9192

#38

Is the selection delay problem with ati cards fixed with this release?

#39

You can still get it at http://www.softimage.com/downloads/XSI_Essentials/default.aspx

If it is advanced you need, just put ‘advanced’ without quotes in the appropriate place in the URL.

#40

It’s never been a release problem, and always been a drivers problem.
ATI released beta drivers to fix it during the 7.0 cycle, and I think there’s final ones around for 7.5
Nothing Soft can do about it though other than working with ATI, which they did, and hoping ATI would stop sucking acres of penis in the regard :slight_smile:

#41

Yea the beta drivers are for fire GL not the regular cards. Oh well, no xsi for me till I get a desktop I suppose.