Yeah, I think there's a big difference between ICE being difficult to understand and difficult to use. I've seen people with a good maths background start doing shots after a half hour introduction and I've seen people with no maths knowledge struggle to use it after years of experience.
I do think it's objectively better than either Maya's or Houdini's equivalents. On 20 November 2013 15:37, Guillaume Laforge <[email protected] > wrote: > I agree with Sergio. > > Lets not oversimplify the user experience. Of course ICE is not a simple > user interface as it is not just some menu/buttons/PPG to clicks on. > But it is very well designed for what it does and it does is quiet well ! > I'm still impressed by such technology knowing that XSI was not design for > ICE at its beginning. > > Cheers > > Guillaume Laforge > > PS: As soon as I'm hearing the word "user experience", I'm scared and run > far away from any Apple store :). > > > On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Sergio Mucino <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> I guess I'll have to be a part of the minority here. I had never worked >> with XSI before 2 months ago (although curiously, I got started in 3D with >> Softimage ~ 18 years ago). I jumped into ICE a few days, and it literally >> took me less than an hour to wrap my head around it. Granted, I'm not using >> it for super advanced stuff yet, and my experience with XSI is limited to >> the rigging department, but I found ICE to be one of the most user-friendly >> node-based environments I've used (along with Modo's schematic workspaces). >> I was delighted with how easy was to understand what the nodes do. Their >> names are clear, and their ports have names that actually depict what they >> do (in contrast to Maya's nodes, which require plain experience to >> understand what they do... and good luck if you're trying a few nodes by >> yourself at first!). Maya's nodes could really use a kick in the butt (a >> hard one) in the usability department, and Softimage should be the model to >> follow here. >> As for the rest of the Maya UI goes, I really don't understand what is >> the problem people have with it. I find it easy to go around once you know >> where things are (which will happen with ANY application you move into >> anyway), and I can work at a pretty good pace with it. I guess it's just a >> matter of familiarity... SI was difficult for me the first week. After >> that, I was able to start being productive. >> Anyway, I don't want to make this unnecessarily longer than needed. I >> just wanted to share my experience with SI in the usability department (and >> being an ex-software designer, I tend to unconsciously keep an eye on these >> kind of things). >> Okay... my only pseudo-nag is the overall plastic-y look of the SI UI >> (and it's brighter-than-I'd-like, non-customizable gray color scheme). It >> looks like my blender at home. That's all! *ducks* ;-) >> >> >> On 20/11/2013 7:58 AM, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: >> >> Given the rate of development judging by past releases I'd say it's off by >> at least another >> three years, and even only if you guys manage to cram Bifrost into it in a >> usable way like ICE >> was crammed into Softimage, and do some major rework of the GUI. >> >> ICE in a conversation about usability? It's the most complex thing you >> need to spend time learning in Softimage, and I think most users have >> not wrapped their heads around it (? would need some statistics). I'll >> never be at ease with it myself, you need to need it and invest in it. >> >> This isn't the right thread for it, but it's always good in any case >> to send feedback about what you think makes Softimage more usable. It >> often boiled down to familiarity as opposed to actual ease of use >> (which should be measurable on a new user). You will always find >> your way around and be more productive in the software that you're the >> most invested in, it becomes second nature to you. You've got the hot >> keys burned into your muscle, you've got your habits (sometimes >> workarounds), etc. It depends when you learn it, too. There is an >> Anthony Rossano book out there about XSI that teaches new users in the >> first chapter how to make XSI awesome by turning all the preferences >> back to Softimage|3D emulation modes. F** those sticky keys and >> manipulators, right? There is a certain age (the 30s?) when we stop >> learning new things if we don't push ourselves in the butt.. >> >> On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 3:22 AM, Stefan Kubicek <[email protected]> >> <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Luc, that sounds like Maya will finally have it's user interface replaced >> with a usable interface. >> It's still a pity, I'd much rather see you working on Softimage than on >> anything else :-/ >> >> Five years ago I was arguing with a former colleague that if you'd start to >> develop Maya in >> the right directions it would still take at least five years to get it up to >> the reliability >> and userfriendliness we have in Softimage, and only if Softs development was >> stagnant during >> that period. In hindsight this estimate was overly optimistic. >> Given the rate of development judging by past releases I'd say it's off by >> at least another >> three years, and even only if you guys manage to cram Bifrost into it in a >> usable way like ICE >> was crammed into Softimage, and do some major rework of the GUI. >> >> In an attempt to think way out of the box I suggest we find a way to sneak >> someone Softimage-affine into the >> top ranks at AD$K to make decisions that are right for us instead of >> shareholders only. >> Any one around here with pointed elbows and a background in political >> engineering willing to conspire ? ;-) >> >> >
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