companies have always had to make decisions based on available talent... you can see where this is going
a _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Cristobal Infante Sent: 27 February 2014 12:42 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: new upgrade policy Career defining conversation if you ask me, everyone needs to look at their options now and figure out a long term plan. I do like the idea of trying something new like Houdini, I am just not sure this is the option companies will choose based on the available talent out there. On 27 February 2014 12:21, Simon Reeves <[email protected]> wrote: Interesting conversation for sure, I might finally have a good look into workflows in houdini. Also this is the preview to the last email.. I wondered if it was going to be solution to a lack of freelancers...Inline images 1 Simon Reeves London, UK [email protected] www.simonreeves.com www.analogstudio.co.uk On 27 February 2014 12:07, Jordi Bares <[email protected]> wrote: Training an animator to use Houdini to animate is trivial Training a lighter to use Houdini is trivial Training a modeller to use Modo is pretty easy Training a modeller to texture in Modo is pretty easy What I want to say is that if you dive in the correct areas it is easy and in a week or two you have any of these positions up and running. The only secret is to have an expert at hand that can easy the pain and guide the team. Obviously a different thing is to get a Houdini FX guy, but we have plenty of these ;-) On the flip side, the less freelancer competition, the more you can charge ;-) Jordi Bares [email protected] On 27 Feb 2014, at 09:59, Cristobal Infante <[email protected]> wrote: What about freelancers though? Surely you will want access to healthy freelance pool of people. So good luck finding a "Modo lighter" or a "Houdini Rigger". My guess is Maya is a more sensible option only for that looking from a production/managment perspective. On 27 February 2014 09:43, Jordi Bares <[email protected]> wrote: would you give more money to Autodesk after what they are doing to pretty much *every package* ? Let's recap Image Modeller = dead Stitcher = dead Matchmover = dead Combustion = dead Toxik = dead Naiad = dead until further notice Softimage = still developed but tiny tiny increments Motion builder = still developed but tiny tiny increments Motion builder for mac = stopped development FBX converter for mac = stopped development Mudbox = still developed but tiny tiny increments The only good news is that Flame v2014 has been a major effort on their side and gave me the confidence to give Autodesk one more year, lots of people angry with the changes but at least there was some vision although my fear is that they will enter now a marketing stage to help boost sales and engage again and push sales after the debacle of their change in the library which made pretty much every flame artist angry. Now, what are the alternatives? Well, I leant something last year when Apple decision regarding Final Cut Pro (I am sure nobody needs reminding) and what I learnt is that Apple's core market is not pro software, its market is hardware, specially mobile hardware (laptops, phones, tablets ) If you apply the same thinking with Autodesk everything becomes clear Autodesk core market is not entertainment, it's architecture and engineering and they don't really give a $@^$£% about us as the list above demonstrates clearly. The new version of Softimage, Mudbox and Motion Builder will tell exactly where they stand for third year in a row so eyes open in the meantime I chose to focus on those companies that pro software is their core business and have market share to gain, and these are the ones SideEffects (via Houdini) Foundry (via Modo) MassiveSoftware (via Massive) So my approach is simple, force myself to transition in an abrupt way (nothing better than full inversion) and help these companies to polish their software as much as possible by being in the beta process, report all bugs, new ideas, pass them information of which things work from other packages Exactly what I did with XSI. And one more thing, after diving in Houdini I consider it *impossible* for any software manufacturer to put the necessary resources to compete with them (I will repeat it IMPOSSIBLE), the architecture is so advanced and so well designed it is a marvel of software engineering (and expensive to build of course) this is here to stay my friends. and its getting easier by the day. Jordi Bares [email protected] On 27 Feb 2014, at 08:42, Nicolas Esposito <[email protected] <http://gmail.com/> > wrote: Quick question regadring the switch to another software: I saw that quite few people are considering Modo or Houdini as an alternative to Softimage. This is due to the fact that you want to completely leave Autodesk for good, or because an alternative like Maya wont suite your needs? I'm asking because I'm not familiar nor with Maya or Modo, so I was just wondering what is the main reason 2014-02-27 9:21 GMT+01:00 Sebastien Sterling <[email protected]>: It's a system that seems to favour massive company's that can afford to routinely upgrade their packages, and screws the individual user for any sort of brand fidelity they may attempt to maintain; if you know you are going to get a discount (where it even 10%) on your next upgrade as a token to your brand loyalty, you would feel incentivised to perches upgrades, its marketing 101 no different then a loyalty card at your supermarket. The only reason for doing this is to intentionally loose a demographic. In the short term maybe this will allow AD to save money, freelancers are "infrequent in their purchases". They actually require a stable and competent package out of the box, something big companies usually pays their own Devs and TDs to sort out. Unlike big companies they also have the gall to voice their contempt of an inferior service. So yea this kinda makes sense for them in the short term to stabilise their key demographic, to the detriment of others probably makes the share holders smile as well. of course this also kills any form of growth within the potential market, but only time will tell what kind of impact that could have. On 27 February 2014 08:16, Angus Davidson <[email protected]> wrote: On Modo I am really impressed with it. Some tools are not 100% where I want them yet but overall finding it very powerful. Mesh fusion is awesome and saving my pennies to buy myself a copy of it. Stuff like rigging is handled differently so it takes a bit to wrap your head around it. I really love things like being able to edit an animation curve in the viewport or create a custom UI that allows me to key specific things on each frame for the selected controller. Their curve editor just feels more responsive to me. You can see these on the new learn modo videos the posted recently. That being said its not as polished as softimage yet but you also have to bear in mind that things like decent particles and animation have only been around a few years in Modo. If Softimage does go EOL it where I am headed for my personal stuff. Whether we go that way for our students depends on a few more things. _____ From: Daniel Sweeney [[email protected]] Sent: 26 February 2014 11:19 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: new upgrade policy I am as quick as I can off the autodesk rollercoaster. A few things have made my choice I will always love soft and use the tool when its needed but I think I need to look for another avenue. Looking at modo? Thoughts?? Autodesk bollocks. On Feb 26, 2014 8:52 PM, "Kris Rivel" <[email protected]> wrote: I read it and couldn't help but say WTH?! Kris On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 3:36 PM, Emilio Hernandez <[email protected]> wrote: Seems they need to fill the vault... <http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/8965/erojamailpleca.jpg> 2014-02-26 14:29 GMT-06:00 Kris Rivel <[email protected]>: So...what's everyone's take on this gem? So if I don't upgrade to latest version now...then when I want that version I have to pay full price? http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcartic les/sfdcarticles/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-the-Autodesk-Upgrade-Polic y.html Kris This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.
<<image001.jpg>>
