Softimage 2010

#81

That is exactly the kind of stuff that effects my day to day work and is WAY more important than adding some new flashy feature for me.

Really liked what I saw in that demo, cant wait to give 2010 a go when it comes out.

#82

http://area.autodesk.com/inhouse/videos/siggraph_2009_autodesk_softimage_2010

here’s a direct link, that site is horrible to find anything on…
Speedups sound cool though!!

#83

Yes, the speedup seems impressive!
But does he really, after about 4 minutes, say

“ICE is the Interactive Creative Environment, that we released with version 7.5”

or is it just me? :argh:

#84

Hehehe…

With all the redbull, in combination with his speedy personality, it probably slipped without him even noticing :twisted:

rob

#85

Not sure, I’d have to listen to it again. But… maybe they can’t mention previous versions for legal reasons…

#86

There is no danger of Houdini getting gobbled up anytime soon. Mainly because it is privately owned And that person has no intention of having anything to do with AD. So that eliminates the ability for them to wave cash in front of shareholders. and they can not buy up shares to take a majority and take over the company that way. Plus it is in AD’s interest to have them out there so as to avoid US Anti-trust “Monopoly” laws

Had Alias been owned by a individual that was passionate about computer graphics it would prolly not have gone to AD either. The only reason it did is it was owen by a private investment firm on behalf of a Toronto Teachers Pension Fund. So Their interest was to make money for investors. Which they did and a but load of it!

Newtek well hmm . Not worth the effort I suppose.

#87

I’m not trying to defend NT for the last…what seven to ten years or releases that didn’t see much in the way of improvement, but I’m fairly certain that judging by most of your comments, several of you are not on the ridiculous “hard core beta” team. Your skepticism is totally founded based on previous releases and the horrible public side or the “core” developments (that first video was about as bad as it gets).

That said, truly do not count that duck out in the long run. How long that run is though is a good question! So for the time being (like two to three years), yes- NT isn’t even worth comment unless maybe, possibly, slightly on some rendering/shading aspects. Trust me though in saying it’s already looking to have functions (many working) that are not in SI at this time. You’re totally forgiven though if you don’t trust my words!

Additionally, can we avoid the my app vs. your app comparisons? I know that using the biggest, meatiest application for film and games might give you merit at a VFX sausage party, but don’t forget that AD makes most of it’s money outside this sphere, and there IS REAL competition for their dollars on that front and others outside ours. Scoff, laugh, write them off as wage slaves or lesser creatives…but that is a larger market segment than you might wish to admit- and one that is expanding greatly AND full of cash.

Trust me though- I’m definatly not defending the current NT application. I had to open it the other day to try and figure out some third party render pass plugin and the rest of the app felt like I was in the stone age of cg sans the rendertree(s) and certain aspects of the rendering. It was really primative and raw! Luckly I could alt tab to SI to remind me that it still was 2009, not 1999.

#88

Actually, I have the suspicion that one the reasons Autodesk was able to buy Softimage, is because it was owned by Avid, a Canadian company. I don’t think the US Department of Justice gets too concerned when a US company buys out foreign competition.

#89

That is exactly the kind of stuff that effects my day to day work and is WAY more important than adding some new flashy feature for me.

Really liked what I saw in that demo, cant wait to give 2010 a go when it comes out.

QFA

I may dislike the way Autodesk do things (which makes it hard for me to stick with XSI) but it’s great to see the devs behind it are focused on what really is important.

#90

While Softimage, Co. was a Canadian company, Avid Technology, Inc however is AFAIK American… :wink:

#91

You are correct Hazari, my bad. Softimage Co. (Canadian) was a subsidiary of Avid (US) and the history is quite rich and confusing.

#92

Yes but whose to say what SI will have by the time NT get to a worth while release. I mean I dont think that NT has to resources to pull a real competitor in under 4-5 years. Who knows what SI 2015 will have. What they have right now I wouldn’t spend the bandwidth or HDD space to download or install if theye were giving it away. We have 2 seats at the office. One guy has a one installed that he never uses.

I am well aware of this worked as an staff animator for one of the largest engineering companies in the world before working where I’m at now. Autodesk media is nickels and dimes by comparison to the engineering side of AD.

#93

At the risk of sounding too “alarmist”, I keep wondering if there will even be such a product as Softimage 2015… I sincerely believe we’ll be looking at some new unified Autodesk 3D solution by then. If that’s a good or a bad thing obviously remains to be seen… :wink:

#94

I never said they’d pull them under, or take over the world, more that they might have a competitive product at that time. AD resides in the public sector, so the share holders may givith as that taketh away and that amazing set of resources you’re talking about, which are people, might be laid off or find jobs else where due to redundancies etc. Not saying that will happen, but since we’re speculating we might as well go the distance.

In addition, had I not witnessed what small developers can do in a short amount of time I’d totally agree…but sometimes being little esp. when it comes to new developments allows a company to grow its products features faster as counter intuitive as it may seem. If you’re bogged down by red tape, share holders and a huge user base, yet are trying to re-invent the wheel you’re going to have a much harder time keeping everyone happy than if you’re starting over.

The same things that give a company like AD such tremendous iniertia can also mean that when the stone starts to gather some moss its going to take an ever bigger push to get it going again…

Just look at 3D Coat, granted it’s not nearly as complicated as an application as XSI, but the fact that one guy can come so far in such a short amount of time is nothing short of breath taking. Him getting to keep most of the marbles probably doesn’t hurt either. (the new EULA isn’t so “weird” BTW). So yeah- I do think there is room for upstarts in the 3D world- 3D users are hardly the same as those using only the adobe suite for a living (I work with those people all day)- and will move on to greener pastures if it makes sense.

I think some people would love to see the day there is only 1 3D application of real use to everyone like PS is to pixel based editing, but 3D IMHO is still in its infancy, there is a long way to go, and the demographic is way more diverse and sensible than other software segments.

I hope to never live to see that day when there is only one application given what we’ve seen with things like adobe products…

Let us also not forget that about 80% of the tech we use comes from academia first (even if it’s sponsored by larger co) and much of it is open to the public. Let’s not get caught in the same trap that pharmicutical companies have people thinking, where they’ve lead people to believe the higher prices they pay for drugs pay for research when in fact most of the research comes from the public/academic sphere.

Sorry to derail this conversation. This release of SI looks to be a really good one, and I’m stoked about it and happy to be on maintenance. Looking forward to more details!

#95

I totally agree with you.

#96

I’m still waiting and wishing for any news on what features and bug squashing is going to come out of having mr 3.7+, and if all the new scene speed ups are also going to effect viewport interaction with instanced geometry.

Has anyone even seen the Progressive AA working in any form of mr?

#97

I’m pretty sure we won’t see progressive AA in this version, especially if it can be turned on and off. It would have been mentioned as a new rendering “feature”, I’m sure. I’d love to be proved wrong though…

#98

Progressive AA is mentioned briefly here by a mental ray beta tester.

the progressive AA in 3.7+ is not that good

#99

But he gives no reason as to why.

#100

Why don’t you ask him? :slight_smile: