Softimage 2010

#61

Well then in that case, I’m going to have to reluctantly agree with some of the criticisms listed throughout these pages. If your not in need of Face Robot, and with the “performance improvements” plausible but yet to be seen and felt, it’s a very small list of features coming that overall seem to belong to a free, regularly scheduled .point update that shouldn’t even require a maintenance contract to obtain. I’m personally still very encouraged and satisfied overall but I think it’s worth pointing out that this is a very very light list of new stuff for an entire version change. I don’t think, unless there’s more yet to be seen, that anyone would have blinked if they called this 7.6 + Face Robot.

#62

For all the people complaining about the cost of maintenance. Actually maintenance is the cheapest way to go and you will always be current. I also would not be surprised if Softimage starts seeing mid term maintenance only release like Maya and Max do. Honestly I dont see why anyone would not do maintenance. I mean saving a few hundred up front to spend 3-4 times that later on it is ridiculous.

Also I think that the lack of new features prolly means that they just could not get everything ready in time for a release so they didn’t release it. I would much rather that they release things slower than what they have been doing in recent years. I think that in recent years there has been such a push to have the feature that is the next big thing that Quality had slipped I think this release is a step in the right direction to be honest. Plus IMHO I think it also increases the likelihood that there will be a in-term release in later winter/early spring just like there was last year that will prolly have some new stuff that they just couldn’t get ready or stable for this release. That is my gut feeling anyway.

#63

I am not going to complain or anything since this is not my area to do so… 2010 sounds like it is a great thing to have. I would love to have face robot in my toolset. I am still wondering who i could call to see about upgrading to 2010 from XSI 7.01 since I bought it online during a promo…i don’t even remember lol.

#64

Write to sales at AD and ask them who your closest VAR is (Value Added Reseller, what value they add to what is still up for debate :slight_smile: ).

As for my interventions in the last few posts, please guys don’t think I’m trying to censor this topic into a praise fest for some secret and hidden agenda. I’ve never done anything like that and I have no intention to begin any time soon.

My only concern is with off topic noise and tone degrading a bit, but as long as people are coherent and professional about it, if you’re dissatisfied with the upgrade policies, the features or anything else that regards this release, this IS the place to discuss it.
I’m concerned with the tone remaining adequate and the topic being at least loosely hinged aroud 2010 rather than old grudges, but it doesn’t mean you have to say this is the best release in history and shower AD with praise or get out.

I was the first voicing my concerns with the current policies and encouraging people to let AD know about if they felt they need revising before release, and I wouldn’t even dream of asking of others not to voice theirs.

#65

These are your local dealers:

http://www.autodesk.com/cgi-bin/findealr.pl?prod=MES&zip=02102

As I said Autodesk allows for a 12month windows to purchase maintenance. If you bought 7.0 then in theory I think you should have to around the end of sept to jump onboard.

I know that is the standard Autodesk policy. Now whether that will apply to purchases made before the merger I cannot say.

Sent and email to our Autodesk rep to ask him for you though.

#66

hehehhe :slight_smile: my brother always tells me to “press Enter” whenever im chatting with him :smiley:

#67

I’ll look into this carefully…i was lucky enough to get my hands on 7.0…not a lot of time to delay. Thanks

#68

3. If I’ve already purchased the software, can I still buy subscription?

Yes. You can attach subscription to your software as long as the product is the most current version and it is within 1 year of purchase.

That is what AD’s support site says

So does anybody know whether 7.01 counts as the most current, or does it need to be 7.5., they are both versions 7 after all.

I’m guessing not going to count unless it’s 7.5 and they stated no upgrade from 7.01.
We’ll see what they say, but I’m not hoping for much here.

#69

The thing is, people are complaining about face robot when pretty much all the previous features that were universally lauded as “amazing” in XSI were designed specifically as character/animation features (yes, they can be used for other stuff as well but they are primarily to aid the creation of animation and character animation): GATOR, MOTOR, NON-LINEAR WORKFLOW, ANIMATION LAYERS, ICE (PARTICLES AND DEFORMATION), NON-DESTRUCTIVE WORKFLOW, PHYSICS, MODELLING TOOLS, ULTIMAPPER, RENDERMAP, COMPOSITOR. etc.

IMP Face Robot fits this trend reasonably well (apart from the fact that it only does FACES and can’t be applied to say bodies or muscles - I think the underlying system would do very well if was “ICEd” and expanded to work with bones as well as nulls.)

Being more negative, it is the second “major” feature to be “tacked onto” XSI from another source since it was bought by AD. And AD will seriously insult me if all they have to show next time round is kinematics working and supported and not another ICE featureset (plus some other long requested features).

#70

Just understand that your maintenance will still be over and require renewal in September. (Your maintenance contracts dates back to your original purchase date.)

Granted, you should be able to then download and receive v7.5.

Of course the costs of 2 maintenance contracts is way less than having to fork over “new” costs.

-Will

PS - I just now spoke with the dealer for my location and as expected pretty much $800…

Thing was, similar to the LAST time I upgraded and accepted buying maintenance on their recommendation this person was saying the same “Oh yeah, I see your contract is almost up - you know they’ve just announced a new version - they’ve added some GREAT things…”

Now I see where this comes from! We all know what’ coming in v2010 and it’s NOT all that great.

The last time I heard that, >I believed it< and bought in, one because the person worked for Avid so I kinda figured he had some insider info…

This person is just a reseller so I see it doesn’t matter, they’re prolly trained to say that great stuff is coming.

This time, however, I know better!

-Will

#71

IRT#69

I tend to agree, having Face Robot completely integrated and at no extra cost is pretty amazing, if the capability to integrate it’s features with ICE or other Soft tools is there then that will actually be quite phenomenal.

Without mentioning anything too specific, I personally, would like to see a lot of smaller numerous additions, like simple, but useful modeling tools in future updates. I feel just because something is small, and not as splashy as say ICE, doesn’t make it any less valuable. The new Unfold property for me, was awesome to have built in, it was so tiny of an addition but it works quite well and I use it considerably often. More additions like that, no matter how small, are for me, quite welcome.

#72

ThE_JacO: Do these performance gains effect instances as well. And I mean in view port, selecting, interacting with them etc.? If so this would be a HUGE help. I’m kind of sick of using nulls and always just imagining what things look like pre-render!

Secondly to whom ever has used 2010 or the newest mr- what is different about it and/or new? Any improvements over the last flavor? IMHO that was my biggest gripe with the current cycle- mr has some new shnazzy features…but SUCKS on the reliability front IMHO. Plus I miss BSP1 features being right there in the UI… So what’s new/better/worse?

I don’t know if AD is heading up SI marketing now, but for the most part all their claims have always been true AFAIK. This is also more like a normal SI release than not (going back to the 4.x XSI days) except for the fact that FR, a big addition, was put in there.

The 7.0 release was a doozy- that was and still is one of the most amazing software releases I’ve ever experienced of an existing package. All the optimization alone was amazing, throw in ICE (that I pray will be upgraded as they’ve said it will) and I just can’t see how a company of any size could continue to deliver such feature upgrades each time.

This looks on paper to be a solid upgrade- maybe it’s not all so sexy on a feature lust side sans FR, but they’re doing what they do best- making sure day to day operations are getting better and more efficient. Those are the things that still make SI great IMHO.

OK, enough of defending the application I love ran under the company I loath.

I do find it funny that half the people holding out with 7.01 are only using it for a hobby. If that’s the case then yes- this latest upgrade is probably not sexy enough for you to warrent getting it. If you depend on a reliable and adj. mr though, and are still using 6.5/5.x for this reason I totally feel your pain! Hopefully someone can shed some light on the new mr?

#73

If the speed improvement is as advertised, then SI2010 is a great release and I don’t take FR into account when I say this.
Some insights about the new - to SI - MR would indeed be useful.

#74

I am going to delete the next wall of text post that doesnt use pharagraphs. :twisted:

#75

I hope you’re not referring to my post :stuck_out_tongue:

#76

i missed your post on my first pass, went back and read it- good info.

#77

wHAt Ru a typOgrApher oR Som[color=Cyan]Phen[/color]?

Next thing you’re going to delete posts with widows, orphans, rivers, bad letter spacing etc. and we’ll all have to buy indesign/quark and send posts as properly formatted and set type PDFs in the face of your choice!

I do agree- regardless of language barrier it’s best to break it up- sorry for my long posts…I do use paragraphs when I can though.

#78

Having read through this thread and posts on other forums it strikes me that the negativity which follows a release announcment such as this one for SI2010, is caused to a large degree by the seller (AD) not managing the expectations of the buyers (us users). This is simple client management protocol that seems to escape some of the companies in this industry. Although, I do understand they have a tough job given the diversity of the user base.

For example, everyone for the most part was expecting the expansion of ICE to include kinematics and maybe more, but it hasn't materialised. Now, there may be a perfectly good reason for this but we have had radio silence on why this feature didn't make this release.  This just leads to frustration. 

In the past it has been mentioned that AD cannot discuss openly its plans due to business rules or something like that. This sounds completely crazy to me and you would think that AD could do something about it.  I understand AD may also want to keep some of its development ideas under wraps for competion reasons. But surely they must be a better way of balancing these competing factors to provide us end users with a more informed platform for the development of the software we use. 

Regards,
Alan
#79

If you check out the On Demand videos on the Siggraph09 section of the Area, there’s a video of Marks booth demo, where he shows the performance difference between 7.5 and 2010, with just a standard character setup.

I’ve shown that asset myself in demos, privately and booth, and as Mark says in the video, we’ve never got the kind of framerate the 2010 gives us.

#80

" I understand AD may also want to keep some of its development ideas under wraps for competion reasons."

you’re joking, right? competition reasons? I can see the fanboys sharpening the pitchforks, but they now have the three most widely used 3D apss for film, games and commercials.

LW (core), Cinema etc. are no competition for AD, never were. XSI was, despite it’s small userbase.
Only 3D app still giving AD the finger competition wise is Houdini, and I hope it will stay that way for a long time to come.

rob