Re: In case you missed it..
Please AD, bring Soft back to a decent and fair exposure, at least closer to the one it deserves or sell it back if you're embarrassed. I'm sure there's a lot of interested and rich people who would buy it, you'll make money out of your 2008 deal and you'll make anger go down. That, I think, will never happen, because AD did not buy Softimage for XSI but for the patents Softimage had over its technologies. Reselling Softimage would mean reselling the patents as well, and that is precisely what they want to avoid. Buying as much patents as possible is the only way to really shadow competitors. I know Guy, I was trying to make some humor out of a dramatic situation that's been going on for four years now. I remember you were saying that the minute after the deal went down. Don't wait until someone comes up with a high performance DCC-like suite made with ../.. That's why I keep on saying the 'true' solution will have to come up from the Open Source community. This is the only valid path. But it will take some time. Once Blender will get rid of it's Z up and get it's interface a little civilized, it's already mature enough to strike pretty hard. Performance wise, it's already far ahead of any other DCC on the market. Unfortunately, the foundation leadership hast it's obsessions and I think they stick on some non-standard choices to kind of maintain the software a side of the industry.
Softimage 2013 crowdfx character sample mesh?
Hi guys, can anyone of you share a *.fbx of one of the sample characters that come with the 2013 Softimage release? One of those from the video files, the marching Soldier or the Knight with ShieldSword? I could use a template mesh to find out about the bindpose/T-Pose/Default-Stance they are in. Are the rigs Motionbuilder defaults? Cheers, tim
Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: In case you missed it..
On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:15 PM, Stefan Andersson sander...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know, it used to be something those marketing/pr people stay up at night and come up with those nifty slogans. No, they just use this http://bullshitgenerator.blogspot.co.uk/ As far as discussion goes, it's very harmful marketing. -- Michal http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mdoniec
Re: Softimage 2013 crowdfx character sample mesh?
Hey Eric, I saw that demo video with that nice, bulky character put into a crowdfx scene a while back. That was nice. Thanks for the indirect head-up on Species. To be specify a bit better, I´m starting to toy with a Kinect for scanning/ZBrush/geometry data but the added benefit would be to get some nice idling Mocap data off the Kinect as well. I´d like to keep it simple and shrink that motion data into fitting/transfering onto a generic Motionbuilder rig that ideally doesn´t need remapping onto every human biped I make/have. Admittedly, I still know blip about how to correctly use Motionbuilders features to my advance. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 11:27, Eric Thivierge wrote: The docs should have all requirements stated in it and I don't believe you need a particular T pose as our Species Rigs aren't T pose by default and work seamlessly. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:24 PM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, can anyone of you share a *.fbx of one of the sample characters that come with the 2013 Softimage release? One of those from the video files, the marching Soldier or the Knight with ShieldSword? I could use a template mesh to find out about the bindpose/T-Pose/Default-Stance they are in. Are the rigs Motionbuilder defaults? Cheers, tim
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
Hi Rob, thanks! I haven´t touched the Softimage Animate menue much, especially in the last three years... Completely missed Motor and the Actions library at my disposal. Just shows it´s always good to ask. Those actions, what rig do they use? I guess it´s that rig layout I´d like to add more Mocap data on in Motionbuilder? Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 11:44, Rob Chapman wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: In case you missed it..
If there is more profit to be made from Softimage from hiding it as a general, competing against Max / Maya application and selling it as a particle plugin why wouldnt they do it? this is what they have done since the Suites brainiac idea, there is not a shred of evidence anywhere that they tried to sell Softimage any other way. The same guys who came up with that pie chart used similar bullshit logic to rationalise the position of where Softimage should sit in the market. And over the last 4 years Ive come to realise there is f*ck all we can do about it apart from move on, continue the bitter taste with choices of future applications that will no longer be Autodesk controlled. next software I try to learn/master is going to be either open source like Guy says or will have some kind of contract or Acknowledgement that it will *never* sell out to the likes of AD. Software Tools for the users not for shareholder profits, this is the only light at the end of this tunnel - if such a thing can exist, am sure Autodesk representatives will say otherwise. On 11 September 2012 10:36, Michal Doniec doni...@gmail.com wrote: On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:15 PM, Stefan Andersson sander...@gmail.com wrote: I don't know, it used to be something those marketing/pr people stay up at night and come up with those nifty slogans. No, they just use this http://bullshitgenerator.blogspot.co.uk/ As far as discussion goes, it's very harmful marketing. -- Michal http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mdoniec
RE: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
You can use any rig - as long as you can tag it - if you open the tag rig dialogue you will see what 'section' you need to tag. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Tim Leydecker [bauero...@gmx.de] Sent: 11 September 2012 12:03 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons? Hi Rob, thanks! I haven´t touched the Softimage Animate menue much, especially in the last three years... Completely missed Motor and the Actions library at my disposal. Just shows it´s always good to ask. Those actions, what rig do they use? I guess it´s that rig layout I´d like to add more Mocap data on in Motionbuilder? Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 11:44, Rob Chapman wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
O.k. Here´s something back. https://sites.google.com/a/cgspeed.com/cgspeed/motion-capture/cmu-bvh-conversion aprox. free 2500 *.bvh files. Get PrimitiveCharacterMotionBuiler Template .. Sofar so good. I still haven´t looked into Motor´s tagging and checked if the Motionbuilder Template comes tagged for Motor already but that´s a start. (Using 2012sp1) Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:03, Tim Leydecker wrote: Hi Rob, thanks! I haven´t touched the Softimage Animate menue much, especially in the last three years... Completely missed Motor and the Actions library at my disposal. Just shows it´s always good to ask. Those actions, what rig do they use? I guess it´s that rig layout I´d like to add more Mocap data on in Motionbuilder? Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 11:44, Rob Chapman wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
oh my walkthrough is for using the built in motor files only with one of the pre tagged characters. If you want to use the BVH library you linked you are better off just FileImport Biovision file then do your tag / rig linking afterwards..? On 11 September 2012 12:48, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob´s walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that´s it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I´m trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.commailto:t **ekano@gmail.com tekano@gmail.com wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauer* *o...@gmx.de bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob´s walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that´s it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I´m trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.commailto:t **ekano@gmail.com tekano@gmail.com wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauer* *o...@gmx.de bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That´s it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I´ll miss you even more when I´m finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob´s walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that´s it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I´m trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:t__ekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.com wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauer__o...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
,/. change fixes my garbled result but how do I get the imported Motor file to show up as an action? I thought you do the following: *Tag your target rig *Import *.bvh *Mocap to Rig using Tags for both the *.bvh skeleton and the target rig *get bvh mocap data as an new action loaded into the animation mixer? no? do i need to plot the motor file? why isn´t it an action clip? cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:26, Tim Leydecker wrote: Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That´s it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I´ll miss you even more when I´m finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob´s walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that´s it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I´m trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:t__ekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.com wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauer__o...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
Ahh. Actionplot to Fcurves using a loaded *.motor file gives me a new action to drag into the mixer. Reality check: I want to abuse an exisiting Softimage rig to preview-envelope my human meshes onto, ideally using one allready tagged for Motor. Which one would you suggest, the biped rig, the armoured man or any of the others? This way I would have to only once create a tagtemplate for *.bvh import... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 15:33, Tim Leydecker wrote: ,/. change fixes my garbled result but how do I get the imported Motor file to show up as an action? I thought you do the following: *Tag your target rig *Import *.bvh *Mocap to Rig using Tags for both the *.bvh skeleton and the target rig *get bvh mocap data as an new action loaded into the animation mixer? no? do i need to plot the motor file? why isn´t it an action clip? cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:26, Tim Leydecker wrote: Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That´s it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I´ll miss you even more when I´m finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob´s walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that´s it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I´m trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:t__ekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.com wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauer__o...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
New Softimage PM
Ah, a direct line... http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/cory/re-introducing-myself Adam.
VRay demo in Germany, 28th September
Hey everyone -- Just wanted to announce that me and Mihail Djurev from Chaos will be presenting some cool features of VRay for Softimage: http://newsletters.chaosgroup.com/newsletters/preview/160 ... this year's usergroup meeting will be held on September 28th in Siegen, Germany, but - for the first time - will be an English-language event. The list of presenters is also impressive! http://www.softimage-uebertage.de/pages/start.php?lang=DE We will also provide a 25% discount on VRay | SI licenses (only valid for event participants) Hope to see as many of you there as possible. Cudos to Oliver Weingarten for all the work he's putting into organizing this!
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
hey Tim.. far as I remember you can export a tagTemplate for reimport onto other characters.. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:18 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Ahh. Actionplot to Fcurves using a loaded *.motor file gives me a new action to drag into the mixer. Reality check: I want to abuse an exisiting Softimage rig to preview-envelope my human meshes onto, ideally using one allready tagged for Motor. Which one would you suggest, the biped rig, the armoured man or any of the others? This way I would have to only once create a tagtemplate for *.bvh import... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 15:33, Tim Leydecker wrote: ,/. change fixes my garbled result but how do I get the imported Motor file to show up as an action? I thought you do the following: *Tag your target rig *Import *.bvh *Mocap to Rig using Tags for both the *.bvh skeleton and the target rig *get bvh mocap data as an new action loaded into the animation mixer? no? do i need to plot the motor file? why isn愒 it an action clip? cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:26, Tim Leydecker wrote: Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That愀 it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I惻l miss you even more when I惴 finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/**24/motor-load-motion-**malfunction/http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto: bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob愀 walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that愀 it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I惴 trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.com**mailto: t__ekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.com** wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto: bauero...@gmx.de**mailto:bauer__o...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I惴 poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you悲 suggest to base things on? I悲 like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
RE: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
You can indeed. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Adam Sale [adamfs...@gmail.com] Sent: 11 September 2012 18:03 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons? hey Tim.. far as I remember you can export a tagTemplate for reimport onto other characters.. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:18 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Ahh. Actionplot to Fcurves using a loaded *.motor file gives me a new action to drag into the mixer. Reality check: I want to abuse an exisiting Softimage rig to preview-envelope my human meshes onto, ideally using one allready tagged for Motor. Which one would you suggest, the biped rig, the armoured man or any of the others? This way I would have to only once create a tagtemplate for *.bvh import... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 15:33, Tim Leydecker wrote: ,/. change fixes my garbled result but how do I get the imported Motor file to show up as an action? I thought you do the following: *Tag your target rig *Import *.bvh *Mocap to Rig using Tags for both the *.bvh skeleton and the target rig *get bvh mocap data as an new action loaded into the animation mixer? no? do i need to plot the motor file? why isn愒 it an action clip? cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:26, Tim Leydecker wrote: Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That愀 it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I惻l miss you even more when I惴 finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob愀 walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that愀 it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I惴 trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.commailto:tekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:t__ekano@gmail.commailto:t__ekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:tekano@gmail.com wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauer__o...@gmx.demailto:bauer__o...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I惴 poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you悲 suggest to base things on? I悲 like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
Re: VRay demo in Germany, 28th September
I don't see any word of the RT viewer in the news letter. Any update on the status of this? Crossing fingers... On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 8:33 AM, Kamen Lilov kamen.li...@chaosgroup.comwrote: Hey everyone -- Just wanted to announce that me and Mihail Djurev from Chaos will be presenting some cool features of VRay for Softimage: http://newsletters.chaosgroup.**com/newsletters/preview/160http://newsletters.chaosgroup.com/newsletters/preview/160 ... this year's usergroup meeting will be held on September 28th in Siegen, Germany, but - for the first time - will be an English-language event. The list of presenters is also impressive! http://www.softimage-**uebertage.de/pages/start.php?**lang=DEhttp://www.softimage-uebertage.de/pages/start.php?lang=DE We will also provide a 25% discount on VRay | SI licenses (only valid for event participants) Hope to see as many of you there as possible. Cudos to Oliver Weingarten for all the work he's putting into organizing this!
Re: VRay demo in Germany, 28th September
yes cudos to Oliver! and thanks to you guys for continue to push your plugin for softimage. i am US bound so you wont see me, but i will see you on the recordings afterwards. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 8:33 AM, Kamen Lilov kamen.li...@chaosgroup.comwrote: Cudos to Oliver Weingarten for all the work he's putting into organizing this!
RE: VRay demo in Germany, 28th September
...Also looking forward to RT version, that ll be awesome! Manuel Huertas Marchena www.envmanu.carbonmade.com From: adamfs...@gmail.com Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:03:26 -0700 Subject: Re: VRay demo in Germany, 28th September To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com I don't see any word of the RT viewer in the news letter. Any update on the status of this? Crossing fingers... On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 8:33 AM, Kamen Lilov kamen.li...@chaosgroup.com wrote: Hey everyone -- Just wanted to announce that me and Mihail Djurev from Chaos will be presenting some cool features of VRay for Softimage: http://newsletters.chaosgroup.com/newsletters/preview/160 ... this year's usergroup meeting will be held on September 28th in Siegen, Germany, but - for the first time - will be an English-language event. The list of presenters is also impressive! http://www.softimage-uebertage.de/pages/start.php?lang=DE We will also provide a 25% discount on VRay | SI licenses (only valid for event participants) Hope to see as many of you there as possible. Cudos to Oliver Weingarten for all the work he's putting into organizing this!
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
Thanks guys. Yes, once the MotionBuilder Template Rig is tagged, one can save that tagtemplate and re-use it. Do you guys have recommendations for using the Biped or the Armored Guy or any of the other existing rigs as a (tagged) base to envelope other characters to? I′d like to do the following: *Create Motor Tagtemplate for Motionbuilder Template rig *Create Motor Tagtemplate for *.bvh rig *Re-Use existing Softimage rig (preserving Motortags) to envelope my own human male meshes onto without having to create a functional rig from scratch. *Use *.bvh files to drive Motionbuilder Template rig inside Softimage *Use *.bvh files to drive Motionbuilder rig in Motionbuilder *Use *motor files to drive generic rig (from point 3) using both *.bvh and *.fbx files I′m unsure which of the existing Softimage rigs I should use as a base, mostly because I want to avoid breaking/having to re-create a working MotorTagging or ending up with a broken rig to start with? I suck at rigging and don′t know if the Rigbuilder in Softimage would give me working rig or if it still has problems (I remember something was logged broken here, a constraint or upvector or roll or something...) Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 18:27, Sandy Sutherland wrote: You can indeed. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Adam Sale [adamfs...@gmail.com] *Sent:* 11 September 2012 18:03 *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com *Subject:* Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons? hey Tim.. far as I remember you can export a tagTemplate for reimport onto other characters.. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:18 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Ahh. Actionplot to Fcurves using a loaded *.motor file gives me a new action to drag into the mixer. Reality check: I want to abuse an exisiting Softimage rig to preview-envelope my human meshes onto, ideally using one allready tagged for Motor. Which one would you suggest, the biped rig, the armoured man or any of the others? This way I would have to only once create a tagtemplate for *.bvh import... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 15:33, Tim Leydecker wrote: ,/. change fixes my garbled result but how do I get the imported Motor file to show up as an action? I thought you do the following: *Tag your target rig *Import *.bvh *Mocap to Rig using Tags for both the *.bvh skeleton and the target rig *get bvh mocap data as an new action loaded into the animation mixer? no? do i need to plot the motor file? why isn愒 it an action clip? cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:26, Tim Leydecker wrote: Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That愀 it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I惻l miss you even more when I惴 finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/__24/motor-load-motion-__malfunction/ http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob愀 walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that愀 it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I惴 trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia
Re: VRay demo in Germany, 28th September
yup. I envy Vray in Maya for that.. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Manuel Huertas Marchena lito...@hotmail.com wrote: ...Also looking forward to RT version, that ll be awesome! * * *Manuel Huertas* *Marchena* www.envmanu.carbonmade.com -- From: adamfs...@gmail.com Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:03:26 -0700 Subject: Re: VRay demo in Germany, 28th September To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com I don't see any word of the RT viewer in the news letter. Any update on the status of this? Crossing fingers... On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 8:33 AM, Kamen Lilov kamen.li...@chaosgroup.comwrote: Hey everyone -- Just wanted to announce that me and Mihail Djurev from Chaos will be presenting some cool features of VRay for Softimage: http://newsletters.chaosgroup.**com/newsletters/preview/160http://newsletters.chaosgroup.com/newsletters/preview/160 ... this year's usergroup meeting will be held on September 28th in Siegen, Germany, but - for the first time - will be an English-language event. The list of presenters is also impressive! http://www.softimage-**uebertage.de/pages/start.php?**lang=DEhttp://www.softimage-uebertage.de/pages/start.php?lang=DE We will also provide a 25% discount on VRay | SI licenses (only valid for event participants) Hope to see as many of you there as possible. Cudos to Oliver Weingarten for all the work he's putting into organizing this!
Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
For the legs at least, i think it partly depends on if the rigs you plan on implementing use footroll or not. The basic biped doesn't, while armored guy does. Depending on how the character is rigged, I can see the templates being slightly different, even if you typically use characters that have a footroll. So, it really depends. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 11:02 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Thanks guys. Yes, once the MotionBuilder Template Rig is tagged, one can save that tagtemplate and re-use it. Do you guys have recommendations for using the Biped or the Armored Guy or any of the other existing rigs as a (tagged) base to envelope other characters to? I′d like to do the following: *Create Motor Tagtemplate for Motionbuilder Template rig *Create Motor Tagtemplate for *.bvh rig *Re-Use existing Softimage rig (preserving Motortags) to envelope my own human male meshes onto without having to create a functional rig from scratch. *Use *.bvh files to drive Motionbuilder Template rig inside Softimage *Use *.bvh files to drive Motionbuilder rig in Motionbuilder *Use *motor files to drive generic rig (from point 3) using both *.bvh and *.fbx files I′m unsure which of the existing Softimage rigs I should use as a base, mostly because I want to avoid breaking/having to re-create a working MotorTagging or ending up with a broken rig to start with? I suck at rigging and don′t know if the Rigbuilder in Softimage would give me working rig or if it still has problems (I remember something was logged broken here, a constraint or upvector or roll or something...) Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 18:27, Sandy Sutherland wrote: You can indeed. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Adam Sale [ adamfs...@gmail.com] *Sent:* 11 September 2012 18:03 *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com *Subject:* Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons? hey Tim.. far as I remember you can export a tagTemplate for reimport onto other characters.. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:18 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto: bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Ahh. Actionplot to Fcurves using a loaded *.motor file gives me a new action to drag into the mixer. Reality check: I want to abuse an exisiting Softimage rig to preview-envelope my human meshes onto, ideally using one allready tagged for Motor. Which one would you suggest, the biped rig, the armoured man or any of the others? This way I would have to only once create a tagtemplate for *.bvh import... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 15:33, Tim Leydecker wrote: ,/. change fixes my garbled result but how do I get the imported Motor file to show up as an action? I thought you do the following: *Tag your target rig *Import *.bvh *Mocap to Rig using Tags for both the *.bvh skeleton and the target rig *get bvh mocap data as an new action loaded into the animation mixer? no? do i need to plot the motor file? why isn愒 it an action clip? cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:26, Tim Leydecker wrote: Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That愀 it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I惻l miss you even more when I惴 finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/__24/motor-load-motion-__malfunction/ http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto: bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob愀 walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that愀 it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already
RE: In case you missed it..
Rolling up my sleeves :) If you don't know me, I (still) head Product/Industry Marketing for ME and have posted a couple of times on the forum about our strategy. First. I'd like to respond to the link to the campaign item that started this thread http://yfrog.com/h0t6exxtj: Although I can't say I am particularly fond of that diagram myself (it's rather ugly), it actually came out of a study commissioned from a third party research company that hired 3ds Max and Maya animators to evaluate what (if any) value Softimage, MotionBuilder and Mudbox offered to Maya and 3ds Max users as a means of determining the value of Suites - so we used it in the Suites Campaign. The specific purpose of the campaign is to encourage 3ds max and Maya users to buy Suites; so yes it focuses only on the areas of these applications that offer significant value above and beyond what Maya and 3ds max can already do. It is not meant to be an exhaustive description of those applications capabilities. I know Autodesk Marketing is often hard to fathom - heck it is for us too, but if we want Softimage to survive we (the marketing team) need to work with the system not against it. We are not going run a campaign to switch Maya or 3ds max users to Softimage - that would kill our business and create a massive customer outcry for no real gain. Any expectation that we would do that is unrealistic. So, if we are not going to do that, then we need to find a better way to get people to adopt Softimage and, while not perfect, Suites has been our best bet yet. Given that, take a pause and ask objectively where is Autodesk's real opportunity here? Is it to run a campaign encouraging Softimage users to add Maya (or 3ds max) to their toolset? Or vice versa? Which would (1) be the better business decision and (2) get Softimage in the hands of more users? You will probably reach the same conclusion we did. In terms of overall exposure, I am not going to deny that Softimage is less visible than when it was part of Avid. Then Softimage was run as its own entity and there was 100% focus on one(ish) product (ish because there was actually a few more than one). That is not the case now. Autodesk runs its business pretty much as one centralized operation for the sale of efficiency and scale and so ME competes with hundreds of other Autodesk products for mind share when it comes to marketing investment and visibility - and ME is not the largest part of Autodesk's business. This dictates exactly how much coverage ME gets and how many and what products we can feature on things like the home page. Oddly enough though, the bulk of our web traffic actually goes directly to the product pages so it can be argued that this specific point is moot anyway. But yes, visibility is reduced and suffers as a function of a given product's ranking in the Autodesk product stack. Believe me, I have similar discussions with Flame users who also believe we have abandoned marketing Flame. Deep down most of this is related to our centralized marketing processes discussed above and not to any individual. This is not going to change nor is it clear that any alternative could be successful and/or profitable. Or at least not in the sense one might expect. In the long run Suites and Cloud Services are changing the way Autodesk views products but not in the traditional sense. My team's constant challenge is therefore to figure out how to increase visibility within the systems we have - be it through more aggressive social media strategies (why we launched the Softimage Facebook page) or other methods. While the good old days have nostalgic value (and yes we remember when Discreet Logic had its own website, as did Alias and Softimage, with their own dedicated Marketing resources), we have long realized we can never go back to those days. The battles have moved on to new battlefields - but it does continue! Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 attachment: winmail.dat
Re: In case you missed it..
While appreciated, that's not terribly encouraging, Maurice. And I don't know where the idea that marketing should sample the userbase and then promote whatever perception is found came from, but wherever it came from, a link to Phil Knight, Young and Rubican, Armando Testa, and other founders of modern marketing should be sent for their benefit. It's supposed to alter and guide public perception into profit and want, not to consolidate it (especially when it's clearly flawed) in the hope the receiving end doesn't get mildly offended :p If a client perceives something he hasn't bought yet a certain way (see diagram), and you literally confirm that and nod vigorously, their incentive to buy that thing will be exactly 0. He will do what he was thinking to do before you reached him. Since the price is already fixed anyway, you might as well make things a bit more encouraging than you have to learn an entire new app, as complex as any you already rely on and own and took you years to master, to move a pointcloud around. But mind, this is unfathomable, not sure it's good to hear that is for you guys as well though ;)
Re: Python on Linux
You'll be version locked to what comes with Soft, and relatively independent by other installs. For good or for bad. Mostly anything that is version compatible with that will be fine and more or less the same between windows and linux. On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 9:55 AM, Gustavo Eggert Boehs gustav...@gmail.comwrote: Hello guys, quick question Anything special about Softimage's Python installation running on Linux? Should everything that works on Windows be expected to automagically work there also? Is there something that I should be aware of beforehand? Thanks in advance -- Gustavo E Boehs -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
Re: Python on Linux
Linux uses 2.5. Some things like exception handling needs to comply: Python 2.6 + Except exception as e: should be: Except exception, e: All I can think of from my knowledge. Some libraries aren't in there as well but maybe in the future package. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 9:55 AM, Gustavo Eggert Boehs gustav...@gmail.comwrote: Hello guys, quick question Anything special about Softimage's Python installation running on Linux? Should everything that works on Windows be expected to automagically work there also? Is there something that I should be aware of beforehand? Thanks in advance -- Gustavo E Boehs
Re: Python on Linux
On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Xavier Lapointe xl.mailingl...@gmail.comwrote: - You might have to import __*future*__ in order to have access to some statement like *with* - The @property decorator does not work - Keep in mind that if you use a newer version of linux that the one supported, you might have trouble starting subprocesses, since the libc version coming with soft will override the one on the system (but it's still possible). - For plugins it should be too bad, but for libs, I would consider running some unittest if I were you Cheers *For plugins it should*n't* be too bad, -- Xavier
Re: In case you missed it..
I don't disagree at all. But dealing with the realities of how things actually work versus how they should work is part of our day to day. We play the cards we are dealt and push for change in ways we feel can succeed. However, there is that saying from Bacon. If the mountain But to be clear, we did not sample the user base to get the diagram. The consulting company paid professionals to execute a productivity study that was published separately last year. The diagram is from that. Whether what we are doing is being elegantly done or not, Autodesk, across its industries,is trying to alter public perception: to move away from the notion of hero products that do everything to a suite of products that provide a best-in-class workflow to (eventually) a set of cloud services that offer you exactly what you need when and where you need it and for as long as you need it. This is a bit simplistic and Utopian but i am typing on a mobile device now. it is however at the heart of Autodesk's strategy. Where each product and industry is in relation to this strategy, as well as its velocity in terms of getting there, is highly variable and it is certainly not going to happen overnight. Dealing with the reality of what we have today in relation to this and in relation to what customers need to do to run their businesses now brings me back to the start of my response :) On 2012-09-11, at 7:31 PM, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: While appreciated, that's not terribly encouraging, Maurice. And I don't know where the idea that marketing should sample the userbase and then promote whatever perception is found came from, but wherever it came from, a link to Phil Knight, Young and Rubican, Armando Testa, and other founders of modern marketing should be sent for their benefit. It's supposed to alter and guide public perception into profit and want, not to consolidate it (especially when it's clearly flawed) in the hope the receiving end doesn't get mildly offended :p If a client perceives something he hasn't bought yet a certain way (see diagram), and you literally confirm that and nod vigorously, their incentive to buy that thing will be exactly 0. He will do what he was thinking to do before you reached him. Since the price is already fixed anyway, you might as well make things a bit more encouraging than you have to learn an entire new app, as complex as any you already rely on and own and took you years to master, to move a pointcloud around. But mind, this is unfathomable, not sure it's good to hear that is for you guys as well though ;) attachment: winmail.dat
Re: Python on Linux
The property decorator will work fine in 2.5, one of our APIs used it extensively inside XSI before a refactor. What was introduced in 2.6, that you will be missing out on, are setter/getter/deleter decorators relater to @property, which I actually did really miss when I was writing some of those objects. This is getting a bit specific though, and it will depend on what version of Soft you will be running, as the environment changed across some versions. It all boils down to what version of python comes with XSI, see first reply. On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 10:19 AM, Xavier Lapointe xl.mailingl...@gmail.comwrote: - You might have to import __*future*__ in order to have access to some statement like *with* - The @property decorator does not work - Keep in mind that if you use a newer version of linux that the one supported, you might have trouble starting subprocesses, since the libc version coming with soft will override the one on the system (but it's still possible). - For plugins it should be too bad, but for libs, I would consider running some unittest if I were you Cheers -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
Re: Python on Linux
Thank you guys for the fast feedback :) Much apreciated! Ill have to check my code now to see if I'm using something I should not. Is that Python for XSI course ever coming out Raffaele? Just curious :D Cheers
Re: In case you missed it..
How about simply the idea of marketing Softimage? Not marketing it to Max or Maya users to get them to switch, or as a way to get them to buy suites. Just market it to anyone looking to purchase a 3d app period. Basic equal marketing for an equal app. Simply adding the Softimage suite from Japan to the rest of the world would be a big step forward. -PG Phalangically transmitted through an iPad to your cerebral cortex. On Sep 11, 2012, at 7:08 PM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com wrote: Rolling up my sleeves :) If you don't know me, I (still) head Product/Industry Marketing for ME and have posted a couple of times on the forum about our strategy. First. I'd like to respond to the link to the campaign item that started this thread http://yfrog.com/h0t6exxtj: Although I can't say I am particularly fond of that diagram myself (it's rather ugly), it actually came out of a study commissioned from a third party research company that hired 3ds Max and Maya animators to evaluate what (if any) value Softimage, MotionBuilder and Mudbox offered to Maya and 3ds Max users as a means of determining the value of Suites - so we used it in the Suites Campaign. The specific purpose of the campaign is to encourage 3ds max and Maya users to buy Suites; so yes it focuses only on the areas of these applications that offer significant value above and beyond what Maya and 3ds max can already do. It is not meant to be an exhaustive description of those applications capabilities. I know Autodesk Marketing is often hard to fathom - heck it is for us too, but if we want Softimage to survive we (the marketing team) need to work with the system not against it. We are not going run a campaign to switch Maya or 3ds max users to Softimage - that would kill our business and create a massive customer outcry for no real gain. Any expectation that we would do that is unrealistic. So, if we are not going to do that, then we need to find a better way to get people to adopt Softimage and, while not perfect, Suites has been our best bet yet. Given that, take a pause and ask objectively where is Autodesk's real opportunity here? Is it to run a campaign encouraging Softimage users to add Maya (or 3ds max) to their toolset? Or vice versa? Which would (1) be the better business decision and (2) get Softimage in the hands of more users? You will probably reach the same conclusion we did. In terms of overall exposure, I am not going to deny that Softimage is less visible than when it was part of Avid. Then Softimage was run as its own entity and there was 100% focus on one(ish) product (ish because there was actually a few more than one). That is not the case now. Autodesk runs its business pretty much as one centralized operation for the sale of efficiency and scale and so ME competes with hundreds of other Autodesk products for mind share when it comes to marketing investment and visibility - and ME is not the largest part of Autodesk's business. This dictates exactly how much coverage ME gets and how many and what products we can feature on things like the home page. Oddly enough though, the bulk of our web traffic actually goes directly to the product pages so it can be argued that this specific point is moot anyway. But yes, visibility is reduced and suffers as a function of a given product's ranking in the Autodesk product stack. Believe me, I have similar discussions with Flame users who also believe we have abandoned marketing Flame. Deep down most of this is related to our centralized marketing processes discussed above and not to any individual. This is not going to change nor is it clear that any alternative could be successful and/or profitable. Or at least not in the sense one might expect. In the long run Suites and Cloud Services are changing the way Autodesk views products but not in the traditional sense. My team's constant challenge is therefore to figure out how to increase visibility within the systems we have - be it through more aggressive social media strategies (why we launched the Softimage Facebook page) or other methods. While the good old days have nostalgic value (and yes we remember when Discreet Logic had its own website, as did Alias and Softimage, with their own dedicated Marketing resources), we have long realized we can never go back to those days. The battles have move! d on to new battlefields - but it does continue! Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 winmail.dat
Re: In case you missed it..
Fire the company that did that study then ;) because every other person in the middle end of competence that's never used XSI seems at least curious about facerobot, and not so much about particles, although ICE these days is of course one of the most positively linked thoughs when Soft is mentioned. While FR isn't quite as polished and complete as it should be, there's a big chunk of A market that would see value in it, especially since there's no alternative to it and it's less complicated than briding FX pipelines. It seemed for a while that was being pushed, but I imagine that, like in most other regards it seems, the character and animation markets are already fully cornered anyway, so AD probably doesn't see much benefit in rippling the waters in that pond. Again, this is my perception of things, I'm sure everything looks differently internally. Maybe there is a big plan internally, but from where I sit my arse, it looks like everything is turned on its head every few months. Again, you pitching in candidly is sincerely appreciated, at least by me. On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 10:29 AM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.comwrote: I don't disagree at all. But dealing with the realities of how things actually work versus how they should work is part of our day to day. We play the cards we are dealt and push for change in ways we feel can succeed. However, there is that saying from Bacon. If the mountain But to be clear, we did not sample the user base to get the diagram. The consulting company paid professionals to execute a productivity study that was published separately last year. The diagram is from that. Whether what we are doing is being elegantly done or not, Autodesk, across its industries,is trying to alter public perception: to move away from the notion of hero products that do everything to a suite of products that provide a best-in-class workflow to (eventually) a set of cloud services that offer you exactly what you need when and where you need it and for as long as you need it. This is a bit simplistic and Utopian but i am typing on a mobile device now. it is however at the heart of Autodesk's strategy. Where each product and industry is in relation to this strategy, as well as its velocity in terms of getting there, is highly variable and it is certainly not going to happen overnight. Dealing with the reality of what we have today in relation to this and in relation to what customers need to do to run their businesses now brings me back to the start of my response :) On 2012-09-11, at 7:31 PM, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: While appreciated, that's not terribly encouraging, Maurice. And I don't know where the idea that marketing should sample the userbase and then promote whatever perception is found came from, but wherever it came from, a link to Phil Knight, Young and Rubican, Armando Testa, and other founders of modern marketing should be sent for their benefit. It's supposed to alter and guide public perception into profit and want, not to consolidate it (especially when it's clearly flawed) in the hope the receiving end doesn't get mildly offended :p If a client perceives something he hasn't bought yet a certain way (see diagram), and you literally confirm that and nod vigorously, their incentive to buy that thing will be exactly 0. He will do what he was thinking to do before you reached him. Since the price is already fixed anyway, you might as well make things a bit more encouraging than you have to learn an entire new app, as complex as any you already rely on and own and took you years to master, to move a pointcloud around. But mind, this is unfathomable, not sure it's good to hear that is for you guys as well though ;) -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
Re: Python on Linux
If you do a conforming pass to python2.5 your code should run fine, or with very minimal tweaks. Dispatching issues these days are few and far apart, and not all that misaligned between win and Linux (if at all). And yes, that course is coming out, thanks for asking :) We more or less finalized everything with CGS at this point, they have infrastructure work they are polishing before the first batch of releases, but it's pretty close at this point. I can't give an exact date, because I don't know it (not because there's any secrecy involved), but a semi-arsed guess would be before the end of next month. Fingers crossed, it's been in gestation for a while, but that's probably for good as they seem to have taken onto some new publishing models and releases very seriously and don't want to risk a messy or incomplete release. On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 10:38 AM, Gustavo Eggert Boehs gustav...@gmail.comwrote: Thank you guys for the fast feedback :) Much apreciated! Ill have to check my code now to see if I'm using something I should not. Is that Python for XSI course ever coming out Raffaele? Just curious :D Cheers -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
Re: In case you missed it..
In my humble opinion, the simple point here is whether or not Autodesk sees softimage as a full-fledged DCC App or not. The aforementioned campaign item shows it does not, but actually it is. Softimage is a complete 3D Application and not just a specialized particle package. There are numerous examples out there where full projects are completely done on Softimage alone from start to end. I can vouch for it myself. We are soon ending work on a full cg feature film (not released yet) with 3D stereo completely done on softimage, barring a few fluids and particles (Maya and Houdini) on some shots. And I am talking from modelling, texturing, surfacing, layout, rigging, animation, lighting and rendering. All on Softimage for some 900 shots and some change to spare. I myself have written numerous plugins/tools/scripts/feature addition (both in c++ and python) for endowing/extending it for pipeline and otherwise including complete Layout, Modelling, Animation and Lighting plugins/tools etc. I never said no to any feature extension for pipeline asked of me because everything was doable ! Is it not enough to show that Softimage is a full application. It even has a decent compositor in Fx Tree, if need be. Speaking from morality of situation (although business, for most, is everything but morality), Autodesk as a responsible company should give well-informed and undeniably true information about it's products to it's customers. It is a matter of providing true information. Since it is a full app, it should be marketed as such. Any alteration to this and we moving away from truth, providing incomplete information to the user. It may be that for Autodesk, Softimage may not be earning as much revenues as Maya or Max, but it can. Give it the right place it deserves in the campaigns. If you really want to undertake a good research exercise (although not very practical maybe), here's what I suggest, take a few users, a completely random sample, who do not know anything of Maya or Max or Softimage. Ask them to use each one for all kinds of 3D tasks for some time. Then take a vote. I will not be surprised they will value Softimage to be par with Max or Maya, if not more. Alok.
Re: In case you missed it..
Alok what is that project and the studio where you work? Thanks, Dave G On 9/12/2012 12:04 AM, Alok Gandhi wrote: In my humble opinion, the simple point here is whether or not Autodesk sees softimage as a full-fledged DCC App or not. The aforementioned campaign item shows it does not, but actually it is. Softimage is a complete 3D Application and not just a specialized particle package. There are numerous examples out there where full projects are completely done on Softimage alone from start to end. I can vouch for it myself. We are soon ending work on a full cg feature film (not released yet) with 3D stereo completely done on softimage, barring a few fluids and particles (Maya and Houdini) on some shots. And I am talking from modelling, texturing, surfacing, layout, rigging, animation, lighting and rendering. All on Softimage for some 900 shots and some change to spare. I myself have written numerous plugins/tools/scripts/feature addition (both in c++ and python) for endowing/extending it for pipeline and otherwise including complete Layout, Modelling, Animation and Lighting plugins/tools etc. I never said no to any feature extension for pipeline asked of me because everything was doable ! Is it not enough to show that Softimage is a full application. It even has a decent compositor in Fx Tree, if need be. Speaking from morality of situation (although business, for most, is everything but morality), Autodesk as a responsible company should give well-informed and undeniably true information about it's products to it's customers. It is a matter of providing true information. Since it is a full app, it should be marketed as such. Any alteration to this and we moving away from truth, providing incomplete information to the user. It may be that for Autodesk, Softimage may not be earning as much revenues as Maya or Max, but it can. Give it the right place it deserves in the campaigns. If you really want to undertake a good research exercise (although not very practical maybe), here's what I suggest, take a few users, a completely random sample, who do not know anything of Maya or Max or Softimage. Ask them to use each one for all kinds of 3D tasks for some time. Then take a vote. I will not be surprised they will value Softimage to be par with Max or Maya, if not more. Alok.
Re: In case you missed it..
David I work as the Lead Technical Director at Modusfxhttp://www.modusfx.com, Montreal. the project is a CG Feature Film called 'Sarilahttp://modusfx.com/news-press/modus-fx-journeys-into-the-far-north-with-sarila/ '. On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 12:18 AM, David Gallagher davegsoftimagel...@gmail.com wrote: Alok what is that project and the studio where you work? Thanks, Dave G On 9/12/2012 12:04 AM, Alok Gandhi wrote: In my humble opinion, the simple point here is whether or not Autodesk sees softimage as a full-fledged DCC App or not. The aforementioned campaign item shows it does not, but actually it is. Softimage is a complete 3D Application and not just a specialized particle package. There are numerous examples out there where full projects are completely done on Softimage alone from start to end. I can vouch for it myself. We are soon ending work on a full cg feature film (not released yet) with 3D stereo completely done on softimage, barring a few fluids and particles (Maya and Houdini) on some shots. And I am talking from modelling, texturing, surfacing, layout, rigging, animation, lighting and rendering. All on Softimage for some 900 shots and some change to spare. I myself have written numerous plugins/tools/scripts/feature addition (both in c++ and python) for endowing/extending it for pipeline and otherwise including complete Layout, Modelling, Animation and Lighting plugins/tools etc. I never said no to any feature extension for pipeline asked of me because everything was doable ! Is it not enough to show that Softimage is a full application. It even has a decent compositor in Fx Tree, if need be. Speaking from morality of situation (although business, for most, is everything but morality), Autodesk as a responsible company should give well-informed and undeniably true information about it's products to it's customers. It is a matter of providing true information. Since it is a full app, it should be marketed as such. Any alteration to this and we moving away from truth, providing incomplete information to the user. It may be that for Autodesk, Softimage may not be earning as much revenues as Maya or Max, but it can. Give it the right place it deserves in the campaigns. If you really want to undertake a good research exercise (although not very practical maybe), here's what I suggest, take a few users, a completely random sample, who do not know anything of Maya or Max or Softimage. Ask them to use each one for all kinds of 3D tasks for some time. Then take a vote. I will not be surprised they will value Softimage to be par with Max or Maya, if not more. Alok. --
Re: In case you missed it..
Hello Mr. Patel, Let me get this straight. Maya and 3dsMax professionals - presumably long time users - have been hired to evaluate in which areas these other applications add value to their main packages? Aside from the unlikely scenario of Autodesk themselves not knowing their own texture painting/sculpting application would excel in exactly this particular area, virtual production software would have great animation/rigging capabilities, and ICE would be more appreciative than what is natively found in max/maya... you have also used their completely unbiased perspective on what qualifies for the area of excellence and made a chart with this data for a marketing campaign? The same campaign that has been going on for several years and clearly represents companies official stance. I wouldn't say Softimage is being kept alive. At best, a particle plugin has been put on life support. Discouraging. On Wed, Sep 12, 2012 at 1:07 AM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.comwrote: Rolling up my sleeves :) If you don't know me, I (still) head Product/Industry Marketing for ME and have posted a couple of times on the forum about our strategy. First. I'd like to respond to the link to the campaign item that started this thread http://yfrog.com/h0t6exxtj: Although I can't say I am particularly fond of that diagram myself (it's rather ugly), it actually came out of a study commissioned from a third party research company that hired 3ds Max and Maya animators to evaluate what (if any) value Softimage, MotionBuilder and Mudbox offered to Maya and 3ds Max users as a means of determining the value of Suites - so we used it in the Suites Campaign. The specific purpose of the campaign is to encourage 3ds max and Maya users to buy Suites; so yes it focuses only on the areas of these applications that offer significant value above and beyond what Maya and 3ds max can already do. It is not meant to be an exhaustive description of those applications capabilities. I know Autodesk Marketing is often hard to fathom - heck it is for us too, but if we want Softimage to survive we (the marketing team) need to work with the system not against it. We are not going run a campaign to switch Maya or 3ds max users to Softimage - that would kill our business and create a massive customer outcry for no real gain. Any expectation that we would do that is unrealistic. So, if we are not going to do that, then we need to find a better way to get people to adopt Softimage and, while not perfect, Suites has been our best bet yet. Given that, take a pause and ask objectively where is Autodesk's real opportunity here? Is it to run a campaign encouraging Softimage users to add Maya (or 3ds max) to their toolset? Or vice versa? Which would (1) be the better business decision and (2) get Softimage in the hands of more users? You will probably reach the same conclusion we did. In terms of overall exposure, I am not going to deny that Softimage is less visible than when it was part of Avid. Then Softimage was run as its own entity and there was 100% focus on one(ish) product (ish because there was actually a few more than one). That is not the case now. Autodesk runs its business pretty much as one centralized operation for the sale of efficiency and scale and so ME competes with hundreds of other Autodesk products for mind share when it comes to marketing investment and visibility - and ME is not the largest part of Autodesk's business. This dictates exactly how much coverage ME gets and how many and what products we can feature on things like the home page. Oddly enough though, the bulk of our web traffic actually goes directly to the product pages so it can be argued that this specific point is moot anyway. But yes, visibility is reduced and suffers as a function of a given product's ranking in the Autodesk product stack. Believe me, I have similar discussions with Flame users who also believe we have abandoned marketing Flame. Deep down most of this is related to our centralized marketing processes discussed above and not to any individual. This is not going to change nor is it clear that any alternative could be successful and/or profitable. Or at least not in the sense one might expect. In the long run Suites and Cloud Services are changing the way Autodesk views products but not in the traditional sense. My team's constant challenge is therefore to figure out how to increase visibility within the systems we have - be it through more aggressive social media strategies (why we launched the Softimage Facebook page) or other methods. While the good old days have nostalgic value (and yes we remember when Discreet Logic had its own website, as did Alias and Softimage, with their own dedicated Marketing resources), we have long realized we can never go back to those days. The battles have moved on to new battlefields - but it does continue! Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514
