yet Autodesk fails again...
2014-03-18 17:35 GMT+01:00 Perry Harovas <perryharo...@gmail.com>: > Chris? > > I am still waiting. I know Carl must be busy, but... > > Perhaps with the massive PR issues, especially over the last two days, > some sort of update to when/if Carl will be responding might be in order? > > Thank you, > > Perry > > > > > On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 1:24 PM, Chris Vienneau < > chris.vienn...@autodesk.com> wrote: > >> Just to let everyone know Carl got the letter and is asking questions and >> will write back when he gets into the office on Monday. >> >> >> >> cv/ >> >> ________________________________ >> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ >> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Leoung O'Young [ >> digim...@digimata.com] >> Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2014 5:13 PM >> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com >> Subject: Re: Open Letter to Carl Bass >> >> Thanks for taking the time out to write this. >> Leoung >> >> On 15/03/2014 5:08 PM, Arvid Björn wrote: >> Powerful stuff Perry. If there's one thing this debacle has proved, it's >> that this community is really is as strong and passionate as I've always >> perceived it to be. >> >> >> On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 4:13 PM, Perry Harovas <perryharo...@gmail.com >> <mailto:perryharo...@gmail.com>> wrote: >> Dear Mr. Bass >> >> My name is Perry Harovas. >> >> You don't know me, but I am a 10 year Softimage user. >> 10 years is actually a small amount of time when compared to my >> peers who having been using Softimage for up to 20 years. >> >> I am writing to you because I cannot be silent on this. >> >> I have been in this business for 25 years. I started out using Lightwave >> in Video Toaster V1 on an Amiga computer. >> I then moved on to Alias PowerAnimator and took the new abilities of that >> software (over Lightwave) into >> feature films out of a small studio in (of all places) Newark, NJ. >> >> I was an Alpha tester of Maya, before it was even announced publicly. >> I put up with no docs, breaking code, a renderer that was written only >> months earlier and barely worked, changing workflows, etc. >> I learned everything I could about the software, and eventually >> co-authored the first book about Maya, "Mastering Maya Complete 2". >> >> I was the loudest, most exuberant fan of Maya on the face of the planet. >> I couldn't get enough. I worked myself into bouts of sleeplessness >> in an effort to know more about this seemingly magical application that >> would allow me to create anything I could dream of. >> >> Except, in reality, the word 'dream' is appropriate, because as I took on >> larger projects and tried to do more work with it, I found one of the >> largest obstacles >> with Maya was (and is) that it needs a support team behind it to code >> tools into either working together, or sometimes, working at all. >> >> A good example of this is when I was directing two 30 minute CG >> children's shows with me and my small crew of 4 other people. >> We had 6 months to create 60 minutes of animation, including building the >> characters, rigging them, animating them, texturing, lighting, etc. >> An insane task given the budget, crew size and amount of animation. But >> we plunged head on into doing it. >> >> Then, after many, many minutes of animation had been done, we found that >> our characters were coming >> into our scenes with no animation except their mouth lip sync. Where had >> all the animation we did gone? >> >> Our one technical guy on staff looked into it and happened to find that >> the animation curves were still there, >> but had detached themselves from the character rig (his skeleton, if you >> will). >> Fortunately, he was able to code up a way to automatically reconnect the >> animation curves to the rig, saving months of work. >> >> We then realized we were not going to be the only people to have this >> issue. We spoke with Support, and they acknowledged this was a known issue. >> We even offered to give them our script to help others who were having >> similar issues. They refused to let us help. >> We then started experiencing render problems, referencing issues, and a >> list of other things >> so long that I can't remember it now. >> >> Needless to say, it was frustrating, it prevented the quality from being >> consistent, and endangered our whole company. >> >> We soldiered on, finishing the two shows on schedule, barely, and vowing >> to NEVER use Maya again. >> We eventually decided on Softimage|XSI. Sure it was rough re-learning a >> new application, but it was rewarding in that it worked, didn't fail us, >> and didn't need a dedicated team to produce work that was better than >> what we could produce in Maya. This was astonishing to me! >> Thoughts of "Why did we not do this earlier?" ran through my head. The >> power in one application seemed to be nearly limitless. >> >> Limitless, that is, until I started Alpha testing Moondust, which >> eventually became ICE. >> This was an area I knew nothing about, coding, and suddenly I was doing >> things that I could not believe. >> I created a way to have fur just appear on the silhouette of my cartoon >> dog, in literally 20 minutes of "fiddling around" with ICE. >> >> Even with the lack of documentation at that point, with the alpha, and >> then beta, status of the software, it was the most powerful tool I had ever >> used. >> >> Bar none. No doubt, No hyperbole. >> >> I could not believe what I could now do, just ME, not a team of people. >> Imagine what a team of people could do? >> Well, there is no need to imagine, we have many examples to point to from >> just the last few years: >> >> -'The Lego Movie' >> -The Mill's '98% Human' ad >> -The Embassy's 'Science Project' commercial >> -'Iron Man' >> -'Pacific Rim' >> -'Now You See Me' >> -Subaru 'Car Parts' ad >> >> These are just off the top of my head. >> >> This software, the one your company just retired (also known as EOL, or >> End Of Life) is Softimage. >> You remember Softimage, don't you? You bought it from Avid in 2008. I >> wouldn't blame you for not remembering, >> it never showed up on your home page, it was barely promoted, and it was >> something that you had to hunt for in Siggraph demos. >> >> Softimage, the software that gave rise to dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park' >> (in a previous, less powerful, incarnation of the software). >> Softimage, the software that gave the world 'Terminator 2'', 'Death >> Becomes Her', 'Babe, 'Casper', 'Jumanji', 'Mars Attacks' and just too many >> others to list. >> Softimage, the software that invented Inverse Kinematics. >> Softimage, the software that Animal Logic used to create the number one >> movie in America at the time Autodesk made this announcement. >> >> Of course, I could go on. But I am sure you get the point. >> >> This is the software that your company just killed. >> That really is the only word for it, KILLED. >> Killed, because it is now seen by many as obsolete even though, as you >> hopefully know, it is the newest of the 3 DCC apps your company owns and >> far from obsolete. >> It is now perceived that way because of this action. >> >> I have been in visual effects and animation production my entire career, >> and a few years ago I also started teaching. >> In 2007, I moved myself and my family from the East Coast of the USA to >> Illinois. >> While there, I helped start a new college in Chicago called 'Flashpoint, >> The Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences', >> which was renamed to 'Tribeca | Flashpoint Academy' when Robert De Niro's >> Tribeca, >> purchased 50% of the school. I was the Chair of the Visual Effects and >> Animation Department. >> I wrote the entire curriculum in my department. The software world was >> 100% open to me, I could use anything I felt would be appropriate. >> >> I chose to use Softimage, not Maya, as the main application to teach the >> students. >> I took on what I called an agnostic approach to teaching 3D software, in >> that students would learn the best tool for the job, >> and hopefully not be as software biased as my generation was/is. The >> reason for this, as I told them, was because you never know when >> your software will just vanish, the company will kill it, or go out of >> business. >> >> Wow, I wish I wasn't right about that one... >> >> Knowing how to use many applications, how to be aware of what was going >> on behind the >> curtain of the software, was (and is) far more important and helped >> prevent being unable to work due to not >> having skills in one application, especially if that application was >> discontinued. >> >> Well, now because of the actions that your company took on March 4, 2014, >> that has happened, and I am in exactly that position. >> I can continue to use Softimage for a couple of years, but as you no >> doubt understand, >> the stigma associated with using EOL Software (never mind teaching it) is >> too great to bear. >> The driver support would quickly become a problem, the renderer support >> would be an major issue, and before too long, >> it will become impossible to use Softimage in production. >> >> So your company has now given me, all of us Softimage users, a choice. We >> can use 3DS Max or we can use Maya. >> Well, I chose not to learn 3DS Max as it relied too heavily on plugins, >> and Maya, well, you now know how that played itself out for me... >> >> I will make a choice, but it will be to not use Autodesk products anymore. >> I am choosing to learn an entirely new 3D DCC application, and I can >> assure you it will not be an Autodesk product. >> I could easily go back to using Maya, especially with my history with the >> software. I choose not to. >> >> See? A choice. >> >> Even if I thought Maya was a great base of code on which to build the >> future DCC application that will rule the world (and I certainly do not), >> I wouldn't use Maya based upon principal alone. Maya is not a great base >> to build upon, because as you are well aware, it is more than 17 years old >> and >> wasn't written when multi-core processors were even a dream in the labs >> of chip makers. It is really like tearing down the 5 story building, in >> favor of making >> a 10 story building on the foundation of a 17 year old house that has >> been patched together with one new idea after another. The foundation is >> showing its age, >> the wood is starting to rot, and yet the plan is to build on top of this >> base. That is what I believe you are doing with your company's plans to >> build upon Maya. >> >> A company that does this to their loyal customers, in my opinion, is a >> company that does not have the best interests of those customers at heart. >> A company that does, what your company did in less than 6 years (killing >> a product) is a company that should not have made the purchase of >> that product in the first place. >> >> Was it not obvious, when Autodesk evaluated the purchase of Softimage, >> that having three DCC apps was not a good financial decision? >> Was it not obvious that this fairly small market segment could not >> sustain development on these three apps? >> >> If it wasn't obvious, then perhaps there is more wrong with Autodesk than >> anyone realized. >> Unless, there was another reason to buy Softimage, but that would be pure >> speculation... >> >> So, what now? >> >> I now teach at another well respected institution, and continue to work >> in the industry very actively. >> Will I still teach Maya? Yes. It is part of the curriculum, and will help >> these students get jobs in the industry. >> >> However, I will be teaching another product as well, again, to prevent >> what has happened to me and my peers from happening >> to these students that are just starting out on this career path. >> >> Mr. Bass, I have seen interviews with you. I believe you are a kind >> person. You certainly seem to be in love with this business. >> I hate the decisions that your company made, that you approved, but I >> don't personally hold any hatred for you. >> >> I just wanted you to know that there are many, many artists out there >> that just want to continue to use the application that we chose to use. >> We had a choice, and Softimage was what we chose to use. Taking away that >> option, your company has now asked us to chose software >> that we could have chosen before, and did not. This isn't a choice, this >> is a hijacking. >> >> I cannot speak for others, but, as you may now know, the overall >> sentiment of Softimage users is to chose NOT to use Autodesk products >> anymore. >> I can only believe this wasn't what Autodesk, or you, wanted. We are a >> very passionate bunch, who now are passionately opposed to using Autodesk >> products. Again, I can't speak for all of us, but the forums on your >> competitions' websites are filled with users looking to switch. >> >> The most asked question on these forums seems to be something like: "How >> do I do this thing I used to do in Softimage, in your app?" >> >> That should tell you something Mr Bass. The users of Softimage just want >> to keep using Softimage, its workflow, its amazing tools, and not be >> burdened by the archaic workflow >> of your other two DCC apps. They want to do amazing work. They want to be >> able to feed their families and to keep their employees. >> >> They are so hungry for this, they are looking for this workflow in the >> welcoming arms of your competitors. >> The amount of money this may end up costing Autodesk in the not too >> distant future will most likely dwarf the amount of money it would have >> taken to just keep Softimage going. >> >> I didn't go to business school, but even I can see this isn't a great way >> to run a business. >> >> So, after this long email (that I actually edited believe it or not). >> where do I stand? >> >> Well, I want to ask you to reconsider your company's decision. >> This cannot be an easy matter, and I am sure I don't know all the legal >> and financial problems this may create. >> But in a naive, passionate, and yes, tearful, way, I want to ask you: >> >> Please bring back Softimage. >> >> Please keep this software we all love going. >> Please just keep it alive in the most basic way. >> Keep fixing bugs, keep updating the support for graphics drivers, keep >> updating the SDK to allow the large >> community of developers to continue to enhance it. >> >> Please do this for us, the people who put their faith, their financial >> dependence, in the software >> that your company owns. >> >> Thank you for your time. >> >> Sincerely, >> >> Perry Harovas >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > -- > > > > > > Perry Harovas > > Animation and Visual Effects > > http://www.TheAfterImage.com <http://www.theafterimage.com/> > >
