“As part of the company’s business transformation efforts, Avid also announced today plans to divest the SoftimageR 3D animation product line.”
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Avid-Technology-Inc-NASDAQ-AVID-913193.html
and then there is this:
http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/blog/2008/10/autodesk-buys-softimage.html
Autodesk buys Softimage?
Hmmmm…
I don’t think the post on typepad is official, but I wonder…
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=12022457&siteID=123112
http://community.softimage.com/showthread.php?t=2835
From a personal perspective, I am a little upset about the timing of this news. Given the uncertainty around XSI now - and as a hobbiest - I probably wouldn’t have just spent $1000 buying into it (upgrade from Foundation) if I had known this earlier.
I guess it wouldn’t have made much business sense to announce before the upgrade, but it strikes me as slightly cynical to do it after if they knew this was coming.
Still, there’s not much I can do about it now but enjoy what I have and keep my fingers crossed.
uggh ! Just when i started to be happy with ICE being unique to an INDEPENDANT company . will this may be good financially … maya wil become nodal … 3ds will …
well i just hope XSI continues to grow at the paace it is growing and stay ahead
..
I wish NT/LW would just fix the nitty gritties .. cause i am really not liking this autodesk shit right about NOW !
and for a measly 35 mil .. ughhhhh ..I am so bummed right now.
I liked softimage because it was NOT and Autodesk product. I wonder how this will effect the softimage certification that I JUST started. DAMMIT!
Would anyone like to shed some light on how this is going to be a good thing?
my instinct says one of the three has to go. I mean why would any company have three similar products in their portfolio ? price wise not much difference between the three, feature wise too.
My gut instinct says it might be XSI. Max is their baby. Maya as brand name and market penetration is too huge to kill off. XSI will suffer a slow death.
Probable Good things:
Softimage will not end. In Avid hands that would be probably 99% chance…
Integration with Autodesk products and other produtcs that wish to remain integrated with Autodesk stuff.
More visibility to the various markets.
Autodesk in Schools influence.
If Plugin makers sense that Autodesk will not kill it they will be more willing to develop tools for Softimage and will come faster.
Resources. If Softimage needs technological help for some specific stuff they can get it easier.
Hardware integration.
Post Edited:
Eventual more Mentalray render nodes
More timely updated version
This is the rosy picture…
I watched the video with the head honchos from both companies and the Autodesk guy was originally from Softimage, hopefully he has a special place in his heart for the product. If they screw this up, I am switching to Blender 
Want to sell my copies and go back to Lightwave now.
But, there will be nobody want to buy it and soon after this the selling to third party will be not permitted.
9192
I’m a bit upset with this as well.
I just got XSI 7 after having used Max for years and feeling it wasn’t going to innovate anytime soon.
Sigh, I guess I will have to take comfort in the fact that XSI 7 is still awesome and there is nothing Autodesk can do to screw that up. It just doesn’t look good for XSI 8.
One more thing.
Autodesk policy is you can not software in the other countries that you did not registered in. For instance, you are from Australia and working in the US with you own copy bought and registered in US as freelance. One day you decided to go to work in Tokyo as freelance. It is DOOM!. You can not do that unless you buy the new copy of Autodesk XSI in Japan in order to use there. The policy that I most hate since it is not reflect what is going on in the world now.
I do constantly move from one place to the other for works.
9192
The long story made short, when it comes to the safety of your investments, is that if AD will want to kill any 3d product, it’s VERY unlikely to be XSI out of the three.
If your grudge is with the company ethics of AD and how it might potentially affect Soft’s old ways, then you can rely on probably 6 to 12 months of grace period before anything really changes, and after that we’ll see.
BTW, I’m very proud of how people conduct themselves on the XSI forum, don’t make me change my mind please 
These are big news and have both exciting and scary implications for all of us. I trust everybody in here can keep civil and constructive if they wish to discuss this 
The other one more thing.
For freelance like me, it is not fair for paying subscription.
With Autodesk, you will need to pay subscription and continuously upgrade, otherwise, after two year, your copies can not be upgraded need to buy the new one.
9192
I have seen mention by posters of an email sent to XSI customers. I haven’t received this yet, so is there any word on what happens with XSI in the immediate and medium-term future?
Has anyone any idea of what will happen regarding:
-Point upgrades
-Maintenance (for existing customers and costs for people wanting to buy it)
-Support
-The XSI community website (e.g. the tutorial section)
Hard facts if available rather than speculation would be appreciated
Anybody giving you hard facts would be lying through their teeth.
Normally there is a grace period before anything happens, and in that period the plans for the future also get shuffled around quite a lot.
I don’t think current agreements will be dishonored in any way, or that AD will even be able to change the next 6 months or so of release plans even if they could be arsed to.
My maintenance comes up for renewal in about two months. I have a little time to determine a strategy for dealing with ‘AutodeskXSI’