Just to point out they did not mention AlienBrain… Any body heard what what is going to happen to AB?
Avid plans to divest the Softimage® 3D animation product line.
animationguy2100
#42
There seems to be no stopping Autodesk. Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudox, and now XSI. I wonder who’s next on their list.
ThE_JacO
#44
AD bought soft because it was for sale, not because they wanted the whole she-bang.
AB was still its own thing under avid, not tied to the softimage assets like the old parallax IPs and CAT, so it was probably left behind because of a lack of interest or some conflicting schedule in future plans.
I don’t think there will be much happening with it, but if Avid doesn’t use any of those IPs for anything else, it might be sold for further liquidity injections later on, or if it’s cheaper, simply get killed.
P.S.
All speculation, I have no evidence or knowledge of the crap I’m writing about AB 
caseybasichis
#45
On thing to consider is that avid is losing ground with both its avid editing market and protools (digidesign even had a press release stating that they had been slacking and intend to make up for it and do better)
Personally I would love to see protools handed to AD. I’ve always wanted to see a modular and scriptable ui in a digital audio workstation as we see in softimage maya and the likes.
What I truly don’t understand is why Adobe isn’t trying to get in the game.
brenly
#46
they probably would have if Autodesk didnt buy XSI.
Im hoping Modo grows to be a viable alternative.
ThE_JacO
#47
Adobe is trying to get in the game, they were one of the last tier of bidders on Soft apparently.
I wouldn’t be surprised though if Avid chose AD over adobe regardless of bids, possibly to avoid some of the minds that conceived and developed DS, Avid’s big bad wolf that made them shell out for Soft in first place, go to adobe, which might in that case become yet another contender for their revenues alongside Apple, which did avid a world of damage with fcp.
Just speculating there on the last part.
As for modo growing into a viable alternative, maybe for some fields like viz and mograph, but it would be a very, very long time before they had the slightest chance at the film or games industries with the current state of their package, dev and technologies.
NickCaligo42
#48
The reason they’d want all three–Max, Maya, and XSI–is that they each have different specialties. At present XSI is one of the leading programs for next-gen game development, as Softimage’s site will leap out and tell anyone. It’s not just Kojima and Capcom, either–lots of companies on both sides of the globe have been starting to pick it up. I don’t imagine that Autodesk would be keen on discontinuing a product that’s currently at its height.
Nevertheless, I’m angry too. I wouldn’t jump out and call Avid an “independent” company, but there was some attraction in picking up a non-autodesk product for me. I still REALLY want XSI 7.0 and will gladly replace Maya with it, but dang. What a disappointment.
cgswami
#49
exactly how i feel about everything … i now started but I won’t stop using it … but genuinely dissapointed …
@35 mil i wish apple or even adobe bought it … if i had 35 mil i would have bought it and sold it based on what the market sees fit …
bold selfish move by Avid
runejw
#50
On the downside it will mean less competition - with associated cost to the consumer.
Also very important to future development of XSI will be how AD is able to keep on to key talent and continue to use that talent for XSI.
On the upside one can hope for better support for the .max and .3ds imports in XSI?
Perhaps even some technology transfer from their other apps to XSI?
However AD has always struck me as a foremost interested in customers as cash-cows rather than providing best value for money. For the same reason this has of course given them the financial muscles to buy XSI.
This XSI7 owner will watch with interest how things unfold, but immediately the feeling is not very enthusiastic. So AD - prove me wrong!
tarkovsky
#51
IF autodesk truly wants to maintain all three packages, it would be stupid to make them too competitive.
Maybe an odd comparison but look at the line of adobe products - you really need all of them, to be able to do everything. Maybe that’s also true for 3dfx now, but to get any better? I’m a little pessimistic.
tark
Fongool
#53
Here’s an admittedly “tinfoil hat” conspiratorial possibility that they pretty much spelled out in the press release.
Think about it, why would meaningful development on Max and Maya dry up as soon as Autodesk bought them? How would that benefit Autodesk? Are they just stupid, or is there a master plan? Think about what they said in the PR about this exciting new futuristic platform they’re developing. Now, tell me this isn’t a brilliant strategy:
-
Buy up the top 3d apps, grabbing not only their user bases but also the genius level development teams.
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Continue to do the bare minimum required to keep the user bases happy enough that they don’t revolt and go to Houdini or C4D.
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Meanwhile, cherry pick the best development brains from the aquired products to create the new Autodesk Uber-App (which is why development on the other apps dries up, the best and brightest have been shanghaied)
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When it’s finally ready for prime time, make a big deal out of how it’s not only revolutionary, but migrating from the other apps is SOoooo easy because it was designed by your favorite developers. (and for bonus points if you’re truly schemin’, much of the “development” on the other apps has been to make them all function with a similar interface to make migration even easier)
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Slowly kill the other apps (don’t want to incite the townsfolk to revolt! Them sheeps is panicky!) while offering sweet “upgrade” path incentives to the Uber-App.
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Own outright the exciting new futuristic uber-app with the combined user base of all the other apps.
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Laugh in their solid gold yacht buried in prostitutes into the sunset of retirement after they sell it to Microsoft for a trillion dollars.
I started thinking about this as a sick joke, but the more I think about it, the more sense it makes… Am I just crazy?
Baltazaar
#54
Stop the whining. If you are an artist, you don’t care who makes your brushes, as long as they work the way you want them to.
Both Softimage employees and Autodesk are committed to keeping the products separate but easy to collaborate between.
It’s a good thing, as the fundings for XSI development will be considerably higher.
As they say, they respect the individuals choice of tools, but want them to be more easy to mix.
Bullit
#55
I see…Fongool. It would be really bad to have a uber-app better than XSI,Maya and Max… :rolleyes:
Post edit
This part of Paul Doyle last post tells much of the future, about something i have claimed that 3D apps are behind the curve.
Something to consider is what we believe the market will become like over the next few years. I know more than a few film companies that are producing their CG features in ‘game’ engines. Everyone expects real-time quality to continue improve to a point where it can be used in any market. Arch-vis in particular is placing more and more attention on real-time tech and game engines. As for games itself, we’re in the middle of the current-gen game cycle, but soon the next-gen needs and requirements will start to become clearer. I don’t think that any of the current DCC apps are close to what is required for the next generation of game dev - talking to the various ‘big’ games companies in recent months about the future raised many questions, and few answers beyond ‘we’re looking at it’. For me, focussing on real-time technology is relevant to all the 3D markets - and I believe there’s going to be more than a few new players coming in. What product/s are there at the time, who knows - but if Max/Maya/XSI aren’t there then it’s because they can’t address the needs of the evolving markets, not because ‘three’s too many, we have to drop one’. Businesses like making money - selling products that make money makes sense.
Leonikou
#58
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
LOL!!! :applause::applause::applause: !!!
You just made my day…!!! Absolutely hilarious…
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
cgswami
#60
after much deliberation and context of thought … i was …
actualy no … I think i drank myself to that statement in depression of the divestment …
i am sober now
esp after that you tube video