>From start it was clear that AD will never promote Softimage, not as replacement to 3ds max and Maya but not even as option. >From AD side isn't it same if you customer using Softimage or Max or Maya, when all incomes are going back to AD anyway? So story about promoting one over another is crap. And after 4 years Softimage started to gain momentum despite being buried in AD marketing.. again it is not even mater of front page but complete AD reseller network towards Softimage, plugins are getting better and honestly surpassing anything that AD development did providing new tech that is used in production and not used for fancy bullet point new features list for marketing. Big shops are putting Sofitmage into focus as well, no need to go over all great work done recently as well. And then AD kills it. So really it doesn't make any sense at all to kill product that started to gain momentum even without proper marketing.. imagine if it was pushed like just a fragment of % that is used for Max and Maya, unless it was plan for day one and date for EOL set in documents long ago. So really I don;t think that there is ANYONE at all that believe "we just decided to do that" story and "it is for better of customers and industry" Yea truly progress for Softimage users going from far superior workflow to inferior one.. thanks...
On Sun, Mar 9, 2014 at 11:29 AM, Toonafish <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Maurice, > > It seems to me nobody wants to do maintenance on what's worth while at AD, > innovation is where the short term success is, so that's where the focus > should be. I know this is a rhetorical question, but what do you think the > lifespan of the fruits the innovations at AD will be with a business model > like that ? > > -Ronald > > > On 3/9/2014 5:51, Maurice Patel wrote: > >> Hi Sebastian, >> >> I'll try to answer your question as best I can. I have been reading the >> threads and trying to figure out how best to answer questions like the one >> you posed, or even if it was worth it. Especially, given the fact that >> there is no real reason for anyone here to trust anything I say. I would >> feel the same if I were standing in your shoes - and I have in the past. >> Before I answer your question officially for Autodesk I would like to share >> my own personal experience of situations like these. Once, rather >> Ironically, when I was working for Softimage in 2000, their leadership team >> asked me to communicate the decision to stop development on Media Illusion >> (another acquisition) to our customers, many of whom I had personally >> trained. These things do not get any easier with time. >> >> The decision to make Softimage 2015 the last release was not made because >> of cost-issues - that is to say it was not done to reduce the operating >> expenses of the M&E division - which is why there was no reduction in work >> force. The decision was made so that we could focus our efforts on fewer >> projects enabling us to better execute on them and free resources to >> research new areas of innovation. Luc-Eric explained this in a bit more >> detail earlier. The decision was made at the end of last year after many >> months of deliberation and it was not something that was undertaken lightly >> (Autodesk's annual strategic planning cycle, when decisions like these are >> typically made, kicks off in earnest in September). There were many factors >> that led to that decision and although hindsight is great these factors are >> not always predictable. Several of the plans we had previously made did not >> work out as expected and so evolved significantly over time. Anyone who has >> ever had to manage a business or project will probably be familiar with the >> fact that plans can change quite rapidly (and in unexpected directions) as >> new events occur and you react to them. To quote someone a whole lot >> smarter than I: "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." We >> were optimistic that some of the R&D methodologies and innovations we were >> experimenting with would prove more fruitful than they did (e.g. projects >> like skyline). Does that mean we should not have attempted them? >> Personally, I think we need to try and do new things even if we know that >> 99% of attempts at innovation will end in failure - after all they >> sometimes end in success (e.g. Bifrost). Ultimately when we say "focus" >> what we mean is better balancing our finite resources so that we can still >> invest in new research projects - even if these might fail - while >> continuing to evolve and improve existing customer workflows. To enable us >> to continue the former we had to focus on Maya and 3ds Max for the latter. >> >> Regards >> >> maurice >> >> >> Maurice Patel >> Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 >> >> From: [email protected] [mailto:softimage-bounces@ >> listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sebastien Sterling >> Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2014 9:55 PM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: Update to the Softtimage Transition Plan >> >> Maurice ? is softimage being discontinued because of cost issues ? >> or because it is impeding other AD products ? >> it may seem redundant, but this question has not been answered. >> >> >> > > -- > Ronald van Vemden > ----------------------------------------------- > 3D Graphics & Animation > Cyberfish Laboratories | www.cyberfish.nl > Toonafish | www.toonafish.nl > tel. +31(0)20 5289291 > fax +31(0)20 5289292 > email: [email protected] > > > >
