Actually I would like to extend my thanks to all of those who have voiced their concerns this way.
Morten Den 11. marts 2014 kl. 17:07 skrev Morten Bartholdy <[email protected]>: > To you Peter, Greg and Alastair - thank you for expressing our (my) > sentiments so thoroughly and eloquently in public. I hope the waves you and > the userbase make will have some impact and make an impression at Autodesk > where it matters. > > As we go through the listing of why we use Softimage and how to migrate to > other platforms, especially Maya, it becomes more and more clear how bad > and ill timed this decision to scrub Softimage is. I can't help think it > has been made on executive level in San Rafael against or not at all paying > attention to advice from those that have taken care of Softimage through > these last years. > > > Morten Bartholdy > A very troubled Softimage user > > > > > > > > Den 11. marts 2014 kl. 12:46 skrev [email protected]: > > > Hi Greg, > > this is pretty much along the lines of what I’ve been thinking. > > > > Retiring Softimage as announced is way too abrupt and disruptive. While not > > a big success in the market place, it has it’s place, is very much alive > > and in good shape. > > Yes, we would all love to see some huge development and commercial efforts > > put into Softimage to make it ready to take on another decade and really > > compete in the market place, but that’s not going to happen, and we can > > hardly expect this from Autodesk – I think most of us have accepted that. > > But keeping the software on life support as it has for the past few years > > should be an acceptable compromise. > > It has more than 2 years of life left, and should be perfectly usable until > > a next generation offering comes along. > > > > Migrating to other current software, from Autodesk or the competition just > > doesn’t appeal. If it did, we’d be there already. We are not blind fools > > who don’t know any better. > > As a freelancer I have been in a wide variety of productions, of all sizes, > > in several countries, in several industries. I’ve seen many multi software > > productions, and have personally touched upon Maya, Lightwave and Modo in > > production, each on more than one occasion, and have furthermore been > > confronted with Max in production repeatedly. Coming from Poweranimator in > > the past, I really wanted to like Maya, and I have looked into it several > > times over the past 15 years. And I know I disliked XSI in the very > > beginning. > > But there is no helping it - it truly is a next generation software, built > > up from a fresh start and carefully thought out and groomed into an > > efficient, elegant, usable whole that is much more than the sum of it’s > > parts. > > I’ll abandon it for a better offering, but Maya, as popular and widely > > spread and industry standard as it is, is not it. > > No amount of AD representatives saying it is superior is going to make it > > so. No amount of copying tools from Softimage into Maya is going to turn > > this around. It has mostly become a platform to run proprietary tools on, > > just as Max is a platform for running 3rd party tools. If that’s not what > > you are looking for, then it’s not your solution. (and Modo and Houdini are > > better suited alternatives) > > > > That is the situation most remaining Softimage users are confronted with I > > think. They have deliberately chosen Softimage as their homebase, against > > all odds, mostly because out of the box it just works and fills most of > > their needs. It is friendly to artists as well as the more technically > > savvy – it adapts itself well to any industry, any scale of production, > > from a single individual to triple digit seats and anywhere in between – > > and can be used without the need for custom development, while allowing for > > it where desired. > > ICE was just the icing on the cake to put it in this unique position in the > > industry but it is by no means the only worthwhile bit - something that > > seems to elude Autodesk if their presentation of things is to be judged. > > Softimage is perhaps not the absolute best in any discipline when compared > > to all other (specialized) software out there – but is comfortably above > > average in every discipline and thus uniquely equipped for > > multidisciplinary productions. > > No other software out there offers a comparable experience. This is why > > there is this loyal user base – despite the slowing pace of development, a > > bleak outlook, a total lack of marketing and commercial efforts and a > > constant push and pull from the competition. > > As has been mentioned, Softimage studios and productions often punch well > > above their weight – and the software allows productions to grow, from > > small to large scale, from startup to established studio, as well as evolve > > into new directions when the opportunity or need arises. It gives the > > company and individual an edge to fend in a difficult marketplace – and > > taking that tool away is pretty much a frontal assault to those who have > > made their livelihood around it. > > > > So, Autodesk have decided to kick the ant’s nest, hoping the ants would > > swarm to this piece of candy Maya they are holding up. > > It’s kind of obvious: taking away Softimage developers, putting them on > > Bifrost, presenting it as a mix of Naiad and ICE, and then retiring ICE > > (because in AD marketing speak that’s all Softimage is) in order to pave > > the way for Bifrost’s release – offering a free (duh) path to Maya. I’m > > sure there will be fancy powerpoint graphs of Softimage users flocking to > > Bifrost/Maya, which the board and stockholders will adore. > > Well, I guess some ants will stay put while others flock to Maya, Houdini > > and Modo in equal parts and the rest will scatter elsewhere. > > Surely, a more graceful solution exists – one where the larger part of the > > ant colony migrates to a new anthill when it’s ready for moving in. But > > that requires a little more forward thinking. > > If Autodesk bought Softimage to get a hold of it’s userbase, then surely > > it’s premature to disrupt it now – rather than migrate it to something that > > is actually appealing. > > > > Peter Boeykens > > freelance > > > > > > From: Greg Punchatz <mailto:[email protected]> > > Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 3:49 AM > > To: [email protected] > > <mailto:[email protected]> > > Subject: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer > > > > > > Hello Autodesk, > > > > My name is Greg Punchatz , Senior Creative Director at Janimation. I have a > > proposal, or call it a counter offer on the proper way to retire Softimage. > > > > First off, if you don't know who I am, I feel like I have been part of the > > Softimage team since the beginning of Sumatra testing. I spent countless > > hours creating content on my own time and letting Softimage use my personal > > work as the sample scenes that make up a good deal of the Softimage > > library. Because of this relationship I have many, many very dear friends > > from all eras of Softimage. From the very top to the bottom of Softimage, I > > was always welcomed as one of the family. > > > > Our company, Janimation, was instrumental in helping promote XSI from its > > earliest days from being its first customer demo at the XSI launch party. > > To its final days giving Avid and Autodesk permission to use our work for > > promoting Softimage launches. We did this because we truly believe it is > > the best software on the planet for what we do.... and that's commercial > > work. Softimage is lighter on its feet out of the box for the kind of work > > the post production world is doing today in commercials. I don't know a > > single CG supervisor that knows each package equally that would rather take > > a commercial through a single package other than XSI. > > > > That being said, I believe Autodesk needs to be working on a completely new > > 3d software package. I would hope that is the plan. I also understand that > > if you are working towards moving us all to one package, Softimage by > > market share alone is the logical one to first retire as it creates the > > least income. > > > > So if it's time has truly come (even though I believe it is the most > > complete out-of-the-box 3-D solution you provide currently) I think there > > is a more elegant... let's say, a kinder gentler way for Softimage to be > > put into retirement. You can continue to benefit from our subscription > > support while we have enough time to move our existing pipeline to somthing > > else. > > > > Please consider keepinng the current small development team you already > > have for FOUR more years. > > > > With a single focus on these three things: opening up the SDK, > > > > working with 3rd party folk, > > > > and fixing long outstanding low-level requests. > > > > It's nothing but a win-win situation, you still get our money, and we get > > to evalute Maya along the way. It's going to take a lot more than two years > > for a lot of us to be able to make a tranistion completely. > > > > I'm not sure if Autodesk realizes this, but while the team in Singapore was > > not making giant leaps technologically, they were on their way to leaving > > Softimage in a much better state. They need a bit more time than you are > > giving them. > > > > At the end of the four years, we can at least consider staying in the > > Autodesk family because they listened to the users....gave us pleanty of > > heads up of its EOL, and did thier darndest to make sure the last version > > of softimage is the best version ever...XSI deserves that....we deserve > > that ... and quite frankly I deserve that. > > > > Sincerely > > > > Greg Punchatz > > > > Senior Creative Director at Janimation ... > > > >
