Unfortunately, XSI was bought by AD and that was worst thing that could happen to it, we all witnessed it. I am 100% sure that Foundry or Dassult bought them, today we would have totally opposite situation.
On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 6:19 PM, Jason S <[email protected]> wrote: > YES! Softimage was "taken care of" alright! > > > On 03/25/14 13:07, Maurice Patel wrote: > >> Hi Perry, >> >> Softimage was marketed. It was marketed in ways that have, in most cases, >> actually proved successful for other Autodesk products but there are many >> factors at stake here. Hindsight is 20-20 but we used a model that actually >> worked extremely well for the Alias integration. We had one rapidly growing >> product (3ds max) added Maya and because of Autodesk's sales and >> distribution channel we were able to scale the Maya business dramatically >> without cannibalizing 3ds Max. Was it unreasonable not to expect the same >> results with Softimage? At the time of the acquisition all three product >> lines were growing fast and so it was assumed so - not that we did not know >> that it would not have its own set of problems - but we felt we could >> tackle them. When that did not work out we changed strategies to focus on >> Suites. >> >> Marketing is a mix of things: product, price, promotion, place. As >> mentioned above 'place' is critical. It is the means of distributing your >> product - it requires all kinds of investment to do probably including a >> lot of systems integration. We invested in making it available in every EDU >> bundle, through student downloads, Suites etc to get it into the hands of >> as many people as possible. Another is price. We kept the lower price and >> that initially was to see if this would broaden adoption - it did not. The >> third is product and the product is a great product. >> >> For promotion, we invested in integrating it into Autodesk systems and we >> actually invested more than other Autodesk products typically get given the >> revenue tier Softimage was in. What we did not do was maintain a separate >> web site for the product (we don't do that for any of our products). People >> often ask us why there were no campaigns to try and get Maya or 3ds Max >> users to switch to Softimage but the answer to that should be self-evident >> - and it was certainly never going to be a serious option for us. The main >> purpose of marketing campaigns is to generate revenue and so they tend to >> focus on the where there is a revenue opportunity such as getting Maya or >> 3ds max users current (upgrades). Once we introduced Suites, the best >> revenue opportunity for Softimage was to get customers to upgrade to Suites >> and that was the focus. >> >> > From a business (and therefore marketing) perspective the question was >> always: could Softimage bring in net new business and how? Not how could it >> replace Maya or 3ds Max revenue. Given that it was actually cheaper, >> replacing 3ds Max or Maya would actually have meant a revenue decline not >> just a swap. Ultimately the hope was always that ICE would offer enough >> value to 3ds Max and Maya users drive Suite adoption. That was very much >> the product strategy and where the development team focused and so that is >> what we marketed. And yes I know that Softimage is more than just ICE and >> that it is a very capable all round animation solution - as did Marc Petit >> and the other execs in charge - but the strategy was to build, market and >> sell a suite of interoperable products (which we spent a lot of money >> doing). As a percentage of revenue Softimage got more investment than other >> products. In total dollar amounts a lot less (because it was a higher >> percentage of a much, much smaller base) . So whether we invested or not is >> relative to what point of view you take. >> >> Maurice Patel >> Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 >> >> From: [email protected] [mailto:softimage-bounces@ >> listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Perry Harovas >> Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 10:39 AM >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: An Open Letter to Carl Bass >> >> Hi Chris, >> >> My appreciation of the effort you took to write all that, and the thought >> that must have went into it is considerable. >> I truly and honestly appreciate that you did that, and I look forward >> (more than before) to your second part where you explain >> why Autodesk can't just keep Softimage around (and perhaps why doing that >> is diffeent than doing that with Toxik and MatchMover). >> >> Does this solve everything? Does this make me a renewed Autodesk >> customer? No, but your email really helped a lot with regards to >> understanding the >> lay of the land as it has been leading up to now. >> >> One other thing that would be helpful is: >> >> Why Softimage was not marketed. Yes, you can blame (or partially hold as >> culpable) Microsoft and Avid as to the small sales numbers for Softimage, >> but after Autodesk >> acquired it, in many ways the marketing was FURTHER reduced. This, I >> believe, leads mostly towards the mindset people have that either Autodesk >> was trying to kill it, or Autodesk didn't care if it died, or Autodesk only >> bought it for the technology and if it sold that was icing, but that it >> wasn't a goal. Those things directly come from a couple things: Lack of >> Softimage appearing on the home page, lack of advertising, lack of features >> while under Autodesk. >> I would be interested in knowing how you respond to that. >> >> Again, much appreciated, Chris. >> >> Perry >> >> >> >> >> On Tue, Mar 25, 2014 at 10:28 AM, Emilio Hernandez<[email protected]< >> mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> Thank you for taking the time to response Chris. >> This is all clear to me as I bought a couple of Digital Studio stations >> at version 2.0 while it was still Microsoft. If it wasn't because they >> were dependable on the Intergraph video board that eventually got fried >> after 15 years, and they lacked of HD support, I will still be using them. >> Those turnkey systems were the ones that kept me out of the Inferno, >> Smoke, etc. solutions more expensive by far than the DS solution. >> >> I agree that Avid did not a lousy but a terrible job with the Softimage >> asset as they were running like headless chickens towards anywhere but >> where the useres needed, and that is when Final Cut got in. >> I understand where Autodesk is going, nothing I can do about it, even >> though I tried far beyond this list in ways that this is not the arena to >> talk about it. >> Still in your response I can't read the answer of: >> Why Autodesk is not willing to continue ship Softimage 2015, unsupported >> with an open SDK along Maya/MAX 2020? >> Maurice said because the inherent costs. You answered because of >> Autodesk wants to focuse in developing Bifrost or whatever new technology >> Autodesk is bringing. >> What is that inherent cost? >> Thinking of some... >> 1. Packaging Softimage into the Maya/MAX download, self extract for each >> new year release. >> 2. Server space for holding a larger file. >> 3. Keep the SI online help file >> In which way Softimage will drive your development resources away from >> focusing into the new tools if there is no one that moves a single line of >> code? >> I not doing so, you started to loose clients already... >> So what is costing more? >> At this moment seeing several users of Softimage becoming ex-clients of >> Autodesk at a faster pace, even faster than I think Autodesk expected. I >> seriously would reconsider the no Softimage policy after April 2016. >> Two years of uncertainty of what will be Autodesk decision... It is a >> long time. By then, I don't think that you will be able to get back what >> you are loosing now. >> But anyway, this is thing how they are now. And that is the decision of >> Autodesk on Softimage for now. >> To bad to end in an "Only time will tell..." statement. >> Thank you again. >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> >> >> >> >> Perry Harovas >> Animation and Visual Effects >> >> http://www.TheAfterImage.com<http://www.theafterimage.com/> >> >> -25 Years Experience >> -Member of the Visual Effects Society (VES) >> >> > > > > -- Micic Srecko ------------------- Mail: [email protected] Skype:srecko.micic ------------------- 3D/Graphic Portfolio: http://www.coroflot.com/SreckoM
