Holy crap this thing is on fire. Been awhile since I've ranted on anything so here it goes. I've been forced lately to dive into other apps a bit more, mostly for converting files, comparing assets, etc. It is ugly....Max and Maya are light years behind Softimage still...in terms of organization and usability. Max and Maya are old, clunky and built on paradigm that goes back over 10 years. I look at other things out there, Houdini, Blender, Modo, etc. and you know what....the only Autodesk app that honestly compares to them IMO, is Soft. It just feels good and natural...very intuitive. There are lots of little widgets and tools from the other two that I wish Soft had but as a base system for creating something...its fast and LOGICAL!
So here's my advice to Autodesk....take the entire workflow, organization and approach that Softimage was built on, and make a new app that's for everyone based on that...integrate all three into one new system thats for the next generation. Something that any Max, Maya or Softimage artist could get used to. Can it really be that difficult? We're at a major turning point now. The industry is changing rapidly, its all about creating media for mobile devices, its all about the cloud, its all about collaboration. Autodesk may miss the boat and end up shooting itself in the foot in the M&E category. By pushing the one shining jewel piece of software into the dark corner, while just "kicking the can down the road" with the antiquated, clunky and slow Maya and Max options, they face a real risk of seeing the whole user base for all three blow up in their face. Time for a REDO!!! Users are experimenting in droves with other non-Autodesk options..including myself and as fast as things move this day...you could be out tomorrow if you miss something. Can we honestly all envision ourselves still using Max and Maya with their layer upon layer of windows, plugins, check boxes and patches? No way. For the first time, I'm actually enjoying see some new innovation coming out of other apps and it seems to be gaining momentum...hop on board Autodesk...or its back to the old days of CAD only for you. Kris
