Freelancers have the option to rent ADESK software as needed (Maya and
Max, at least), which makes sense. It's fairly affordable, and I'm sure
it's an option that will work just fine.
As for other apps, I've already done 2 contracts rigging for customers
in Modo. Yep, there's not much work like that yet (most of the freelance
work happening for Modo seems to be related to modeling and rendering),
but there's some already happening. And I was very surprised with what I
was able to achieve with it.
Sergio Mucino
Freelance Rigger/TD
On 27/02/2014 4:59 AM, Cristobal Infante 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]
<mailto:[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] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[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 incentivisedto 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]
<mailto:[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]
<mailto:[email protected]>]
*Sent:* 26 February 2014 11:19 PM
*To:* [email protected]
<mailto:[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] <mailto:[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] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Seems they need to fill the vault...
2014-02-26 14:29 GMT-06:00 Kris Rivel
<[email protected] <mailto:[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/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Frequently-Asked-Questions-about-the-Autodesk-Upgrade-Policy.html
Kris
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