+6 Lu
On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu <[email protected]> wrote: > I think the only failure of the node architecture was that it wasn't meant > to be used by artists. Had they had that in consideration, we would've had > something like ICE or close to it ages ago. There are still some cool > thing you can do in the Hypershade today, but it's unwieldy compared to > applications that knew nodes was going to be tinkered with by artists. > > Maya strengths are still it's quick interactive ability to build stuff and > animate. Since this is an XSI list, we've all had a taste of what > animation could be due to some really nice "quality of life" features. > However, XSI never in the time I've done 3D ever caught up in terms of > animation performance. It is still king of interactive performance at the > cost of shoddy user experience. > > Before, Maya was the do-it-all tookit and still can be today. And a lot > of the early technology that went into the Maya side were far better > implemented than in any other package. The strength was indeed ubiquity, > and it was attractive to plug-in developers alongside 3DS max. Shave had > more functionality in Maya before it was integrated into XSI. Syflex had > more functionality in Maya than the XSI integration too. nCloth is still > used in both conventional and unconventional ways because every other out > of box cloth solver just isn't good. We still rely on nCloth heavily and > it's second only to something like Qualoft. nCloth is definitely a > strength to leverage. > > Also, Maya + Window = new tech hotbed. Syflex, Shave, Comet Muscles, and > now FE/Splice. Anything that seems promising usually begins it's early > stages as a plug-in for Maya. No guarantees that these fledgling tools > would be production worthy, but I'm the first to admit I've grabbed a > plug-in and blindly marched into production many times. > > Maya's other strength is it's large user base. If you want a CG army that > puts ancient Persia to shame, go with Maya. You are almost guaranteed > you'll find someone to fill an empty seat if your shop is a Maya one. And > though that pool may not be as experienced or agile as artists in other > packages, you definitely have the advantage of choice and can cherry-pick > to your hearts desire. To be fair, there are good Maya users out there > with their own Maya knick-knacks that can still put up good work. And to > that point, if you're a Maya user, you're almost never out of a job if > you're smarter than the average bear. > > I still don't like it. > > -Lu > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 9:26 AM, Sebastien Sterling < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> In fairness the architecture is admirable, i don't think anyone ever made >> a fully nodal DCC after maya, to bad so little of it reaches its full >> potential. >> >> >> On 22 May 2014 17:15, Luc-Eric Rousseau <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> 20 years.. 4/5 years late..adjusted for inflation I guess ;) >>> >>> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 11:11 AM, Jordi Bares <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> > Maya was ahead of its time 20 years ago, the novel architecture and a >>> long list of historical events and mismanagement from Softimage (owned by >>> Microsoft at the time) meant XSI arrived at least 4/5 years late to the >>> party, which was a death sentence and big facilities by then did the full >>> switch (not all but the majority). >>> > >>> > The genius side (and the part I don't like) was the viral nature of >>> Maya in which you have to write stuff for pretty much everything which >>> meant everybody was building tons of software (and complex ones too) on top >>> of Maya so by the time XSI was starting to pick up pace it was an >>> impossible fight. >>> > >>> > Was maya great for character animation? Yes, It has always been very >>> good at that because the animation editor and dope sheet were very nice, >>> also very fast with multiple characters and some versions very robust. >>> Manipulators made life a pleasure (remember XSI introduced them late) so it >>> was not a myth, but today it XSI is imho way superior for animation, shame >>> the envelop deformers were never looked after properly. >>> > >>> > Jordi Bares >>> > [email protected] >>> > >>> > On 22 May 2014, at 14:25, "Leendert A. Hartog" <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> > >>> >> Okay, a more specific question. Back in the day I always heard that >>> Maya was the most useful tool for Character Animation (discounting >>> Softimage from the equation). Was this just myth or is it just outdated >>> info? >>> >> >>> >> -- >>> >> >>> >> Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue >>> >> Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com >>> >> >>> > >>> > >>> >>> >> >
