Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
ohh boy this topic. I'm continuing learning arn, and i'm beginning to learn ice, it's never late. I feel like i'm learning a new app everytime i open xsi.; but learning maya for me is like i'm force to do it. On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 8:39 PM, Sebastien Sterling < sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com> wrote: > Sergio is spot on in his description. > > i had not heard of Scene states either. > > > http://synergiscadblog.com/2013/03/22/friday-3ds-max-video-tip-how-to-use-the-scene-state-manager/ > > Max is a nice user friendly package, but it is being severely neglected. > no alembic no open subdiv, no viewport 2.0 and no prospects, maya is > slowly taking over its game industry share. modo is probably a better arch > design package. no support from major 3rd party renderers, with the > exception of Vray. > > it's sad, Sergio is right about that too. > > > On 23 May 2014 01:01, Steven Caron wrote: > >> they work, but when i was at blur we didn't use them. watch out there is >> no way of knowing which scene state you are in. >> >> >> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 4:57 PM, Sergio Muciño >> wrote: >> >>> Sorry, I got mixed up. It's Scene States. >>> Render elements are the old system. >>> Saludos Manuel! >>> >>> >>> Sergio M. >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>> >
Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
Max's Nitrous viewport and Maya's viewport 2.0 are using the same shared viewport engine. On May 22, 2014 9:40 PM, "Sebastien Sterling" wrote: > Sergio is spot on in his description. > > i had not heard of Scene states either. > > > http://synergiscadblog.com/2013/03/22/friday-3ds-max-video-tip-how-to-use-the-scene-state-manager/ > > Max is a nice user friendly package, but it is being severely neglected. > no alembic no open subdiv, no viewport 2.0 and no prospects, maya is > slowly taking over its game industry share. modo is probably a better arch > design package. no support from major 3rd party renderers, with the > exception of Vray. > > it's sad, Sergio is right about that too. > > > On 23 May 2014 01:01, Steven Caron wrote: > >> they work, but when i was at blur we didn't use them. watch out there is >> no way of knowing which scene state you are in. >> >> >> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 4:57 PM, Sergio Muciño >> wrote: >> >>> Sorry, I got mixed up. It's Scene States. >>> Render elements are the old system. >>> Saludos Manuel! >>> >>> >>> Sergio M. >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>> >
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Well from a companies point of view. There are MANY MANY times more high quality artists to employ, which means no problems finding people, and the artists probably drive down their own prices. Ive worked at xsi places where they just couldn't find a freelancer at all - because any good ones were permanent at other shops. At the moment this is never a a problem with Maya On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Emilio Hernandez wrote: > Maybe we can submit tickets to AD... > > --- > Emilio Hernández VFX & 3D animation. > > > 2014-05-22 13:44 GMT-05:00 Sebastien Sterling < > sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com>: > > I think i mentioned before that if you have ten TD's waiting on you of >> course, i assume the experience becomes a lot more fun. but most places >> even medium businesses will not have that kind of work force. >> >> >> >> >> On 22 May 2014 19:25, Meng-Yang Lu wrote: >> >>> If I were a modeler, animator, or lighter, AND I was absolved of all TD >>> responsibilities, I would absolutely love Maya. This is the vast majority >>> of the artist experience. It is being in an established shop with tools >>> already in place to get your work done or a team of TDs to make said tools. >>> I'm surrounded by happy animators, modelers, and lighters. If they hit a >>> problem, they just submit a ticket and a magic email appears asking them to >>> restart Maya to receive the new goodies. >>> >>> For non-departmentalized facilities where one artist need to wear all >>> hats and FX artists, the Maya experience is a completely different one. >>> >>> Maya is the application I have the deepest knowledge in, but even with a >>> medium to shallow working knowledge in Softimage or Houdini, I find myself >>> being more productive over time in those application as a generalist/TD >>> than in Maya alone. >>> >>> If I had a nickel for questions starting with... "In Maya, can you..." >>> The answer is always yes. Getting to that "yes" more often than not is >>> really painful. >>> >>> -Lu >>> >>> >>> >>> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Sebastien Sterling < >>> sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Lol Lu It's amazing for this, this, this it sucks :) I believe qualoth has been discontinued. yes next person to offer a feature rich cloth solution will be a rich man/woman, may the Fabric enginz be with him. On 22 May 2014 18:18, Halim Negadi wrote: > +6 Lu > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu 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 c
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
so dumping all the xsi artist into a maya majority industry insures 1) that the market is even more saturated 2) that having to start from scratch X'xsi artists are at a crushing disadvantage 3) due to saturation we all get payed like cashiers at a supermarket ? On 23 May 2014 12:41, Toby Winder wrote: > Well from a companies point of view. > > There are MANY MANY times more high quality artists to employ, > which means no problems finding people, and the artists probably drive > down their own prices. > Ive worked at xsi places where they just couldn't find a freelancer at all > - because any good ones were permanent at other shops. > > At the moment this is never a a problem with Maya > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Emilio Hernandez wrote: > >> Maybe we can submit tickets to AD... >> >> --- >> Emilio Hernández VFX & 3D animation. >> >> >> 2014-05-22 13:44 GMT-05:00 Sebastien Sterling < >> sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com>: >> >> I think i mentioned before that if you have ten TD's waiting on you of >>> course, i assume the experience becomes a lot more fun. but most places >>> even medium businesses will not have that kind of work force. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> On 22 May 2014 19:25, Meng-Yang Lu wrote: >>> If I were a modeler, animator, or lighter, AND I was absolved of all TD responsibilities, I would absolutely love Maya. This is the vast majority of the artist experience. It is being in an established shop with tools already in place to get your work done or a team of TDs to make said tools. I'm surrounded by happy animators, modelers, and lighters. If they hit a problem, they just submit a ticket and a magic email appears asking them to restart Maya to receive the new goodies. For non-departmentalized facilities where one artist need to wear all hats and FX artists, the Maya experience is a completely different one. Maya is the application I have the deepest knowledge in, but even with a medium to shallow working knowledge in Softimage or Houdini, I find myself being more productive over time in those application as a generalist/TD than in Maya alone. If I had a nickel for questions starting with... "In Maya, can you..." The answer is always yes. Getting to that "yes" more often than not is really painful. -Lu On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Sebastien Sterling < sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com> wrote: > Lol Lu > > It's amazing for this, this, this it sucks :) > > I believe qualoth has been discontinued. yes next person to offer a > feature rich cloth solution will be a rich man/woman, may the Fabric > enginz > be with him. > > > On 22 May 2014 18:18, Halim Negadi wrote: > >> +6 Lu >> >> >> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu 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 t
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
yep, makes sense ha? :) On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 2:26 PM, Sebastien Sterling < sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com> wrote: > so dumping all the xsi artist into a maya majority industry insures 1) > that the market is even more saturated 2) that having to start from scratch > X'xsi artists are at a crushing disadvantage 3) due to saturation we all > get payed like cashiers at a supermarket ? > > > On 23 May 2014 12:41, Toby Winder wrote: > >> Well from a companies point of view. >> >> There are MANY MANY times more high quality artists to employ, >> which means no problems finding people, and the artists probably drive >> down their own prices. >> Ive worked at xsi places where they just couldn't find a freelancer at >> all - because any good ones were permanent at other shops. >> >> At the moment this is never a a problem with Maya >> >> >> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Emilio Hernandez wrote: >> >>> Maybe we can submit tickets to AD... >>> >>> --- >>> Emilio Hernández VFX & 3D animation. >>> >>> >>> 2014-05-22 13:44 GMT-05:00 Sebastien Sterling < >>> sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com>: >>> >>> I think i mentioned before that if you have ten TD's waiting on you of course, i assume the experience becomes a lot more fun. but most places even medium businesses will not have that kind of work force. On 22 May 2014 19:25, Meng-Yang Lu wrote: > If I were a modeler, animator, or lighter, AND I was absolved of all > TD responsibilities, I would absolutely love Maya. This is the vast > majority of the artist experience. It is being in an established shop > with > tools already in place to get your work done or a team of TDs to make said > tools. I'm surrounded by happy animators, modelers, and lighters. If they > hit a problem, they just submit a ticket and a magic email appears asking > them to restart Maya to receive the new goodies. > > For non-departmentalized facilities where one artist need to wear all > hats and FX artists, the Maya experience is a completely different one. > > Maya is the application I have the deepest knowledge in, but even with > a medium to shallow working knowledge in Softimage or Houdini, I find > myself being more productive over time in those application as a > generalist/TD than in Maya alone. > > If I had a nickel for questions starting with... "In Maya, can you..." > The answer is always yes. Getting to that "yes" more often than not is > really painful. > > -Lu > > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Sebastien Sterling < > sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Lol Lu >> >> It's amazing for this, this, this it sucks :) >> >> I believe qualoth has been discontinued. yes next person to offer a >> feature rich cloth solution will be a rich man/woman, may the Fabric >> enginz >> be with him. >> >> >> On 22 May 2014 18:18, Halim Negadi wrote: >> >>> +6 Lu >>> >>> >>> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu 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 tec
Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
Can I ask you Luc-Eric how is that the same engine was not put in XSI? the whole HQV reinvention seems to me like I am missing something. If you ware allowed to discuss what was the behind that decision? I am sure it made sense to someone but I still don't get it. thx Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.com On 23 May 2014, at 12:34, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: > Max's Nitrous viewport and Maya's viewport 2.0 are using the same shared > viewport engine. > > On May 22, 2014 9:40 PM, "Sebastien Sterling" > wrote: > Sergio is spot on in his description. > > i had not heard of Scene states either. > > http://synergiscadblog.com/2013/03/22/friday-3ds-max-video-tip-how-to-use-the-scene-state-manager/ > > Max is a nice user friendly package, but it is being severely neglected. no > alembic no open subdiv, no viewport 2.0 and no prospects, maya is slowly > taking over its game industry share. modo is probably a better arch design > package. no support from major 3rd party renderers, with the exception of > Vray. > > it's sad, Sergio is right about that too. > > > On 23 May 2014 01:01, Steven Caron wrote: > they work, but when i was at blur we didn't use them. watch out there is no > way of knowing which scene state you are in. > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 4:57 PM, Sergio Muciño > wrote: > Sorry, I got mixed up. It's Scene States. > Render elements are the old system. > Saludos Manuel! > > > Sergio M. > > Sent from my iPhone > >
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
As a conclusion to my original question: to most it seems the wounds are still a bit too fresh. ;) But then I didn't want to compare Maya to Softimage, I just wanted to find out what Maya's strengths were in this new post-Softimage world. Greetz Leendert -- Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Oh, and before everyone misunderstands my previous post: it was meant as a slightly "tongue in cheek" remark. -- Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
keep SI away from any meaningful upgrades, those who put let them make it even worse and get more reasons to kill it tomorrow. I think it was clear enough. saying how SI was old impossible to implement blah blah doesn't make sense as both Maya and Max are same old crap... On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 2:36 PM, Jordi Bares wrote: > Can I ask you Luc-Eric how is that the same engine was not put in XSI? the > whole HQV reinvention seems to me like I am missing something. > > If you ware allowed to discuss what was the behind that decision? I am > sure it made sense to someone but I still don't get it. > > thx > > Jordi Bares > jordiba...@gmail.com > > On 23 May 2014, at 12:34, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: > > Max's Nitrous viewport and Maya's viewport 2.0 are using the same shared > viewport engine. > On May 22, 2014 9:40 PM, "Sebastien Sterling" < > sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Sergio is spot on in his description. >> >> i had not heard of Scene states either. >> >> >> http://synergiscadblog.com/2013/03/22/friday-3ds-max-video-tip-how-to-use-the-scene-state-manager/ >> >> Max is a nice user friendly package, but it is being severely neglected. >> no alembic no open subdiv, no viewport 2.0 and no prospects, maya is >> slowly taking over its game industry share. modo is probably a better arch >> design package. no support from major 3rd party renderers, with the >> exception of Vray. >> >> it's sad, Sergio is right about that too. >> >> >> On 23 May 2014 01:01, Steven Caron wrote: >> >>> they work, but when i was at blur we didn't use them. watch out there is >>> no way of knowing which scene state you are in. >>> >>> >>> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 4:57 PM, Sergio Muciño >>> wrote: >>> Sorry, I got mixed up. It's Scene States. Render elements are the old system. Saludos Manuel! Sergio M. Sent from my iPhone >> >
Friday Flashback #173
Friday Flashback #173 SOFTIMAGE|3D The State of the Art, Defined. "It is the result of a decade of evolution - from interface design that put control back into the hands of artists, to the breakthrough character animation of Godzilla." http://wp.me/powV4-32n
Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Jordi Bares wrote: > Can I ask you Luc-Eric how is that the same engine was not put in XSI? the > whole HQV reinvention seems to me like I am missing something. > > If you ware allowed to discuss what was the behind that decision? I am sure > it made sense to someone but I still don't get it. The HQV project in Softimage was small project we could do in one release. It was about finishing the already-begun MetaSL implementation in the viewport, which you could enable with an environment variable in Softimage 2010, and fixing a few things like transparency and texturing issues that have been asked for a long time. It ended up being a bit more complicated, but we still managed to do it with a few people. It's not a new viewport, it's just installing realtime shaders in the same Softimage viewing code as before. It's the same thing as the "OpenGL" real time shader mode. Now Viewport 2.0 in Maya or Max... those are huge multi-year project with dozens of people, and work continues. You need to change many thing in your app to modernize it to the new viewing philosophy and detach it from the old OpenGL and old ways of thinking/coding. A few years ago, when the plan for Softimage 2014 was made, nitrous and vp 2.0 were both young and struggling so it wasn't obvious at all.
Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
Answering the original question. Once the announcement was made, it has created a near impossible environment for me to use Softimage. My employer already scowled at my use of SI and now he has a reason to dictate me use another app. We bought a seat of C4D and I'm trying to get up to speed in it. The only way now that I can run something through SI is if I can demonstrate a problem only solved in SI or am completely solo(freelance). Otherwise I'm hemmed in and have to use what they tell me. It was an uphill battle before fighting for Softimage but now it's a cliff face. For all those who are able to keep on going, don't take it for granted! Byron On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 9:18 AM, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Jordi Bares wrote: > > Can I ask you Luc-Eric how is that the same engine was not put in XSI? > the > > whole HQV reinvention seems to me like I am missing something. > > > > If you ware allowed to discuss what was the behind that decision? I am > sure > > it made sense to someone but I still don't get it. > > The HQV project in Softimage was small project we could do in one > release. It was about finishing the already-begun MetaSL > implementation in the viewport, which you could enable with an > environment variable in Softimage 2010, and fixing a few things like > transparency and texturing issues that have been asked for a long > time. It ended up being a bit more complicated, but we still managed > to do it with a few people. > > It's not a new viewport, it's just installing realtime shaders in the > same Softimage viewing code as before. It's the same thing as the > "OpenGL" real time shader mode. > > Now Viewport 2.0 in Maya or Max... those are huge multi-year project > with dozens of people, and work continues. You need to change many > thing in your app to modernize it to the new viewing philosophy and > detach it from the old OpenGL and old ways of thinking/coding. A few > years ago, when the plan for Softimage 2014 was made, nitrous and vp > 2.0 were both young and struggling so it wasn't obvious at all. >
RE: Maya strengts (anyone?)
thanks for that, when I can no longer pay my rent because of this can I camp in your massive garden? ... http://www.hackneyeffects.com/https://vimeo.com/user4174293http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andi-farhall/b/496/b21 http://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_hackney/ http://spylon.tumblr.com/ This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hackney Effects Ltd.If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone.Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error. Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 12:41:47 +0100 Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) From: winder.t...@googlemail.com To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Well from a companies point of view. There are MANY MANY times more high quality artists to employ, which means no problems finding people, and the artists probably drive down their own prices. Ive worked at xsi places where they just couldn't find a freelancer at all - because any good ones were permanent at other shops. At the moment this is never a a problem with Maya On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Emilio Hernandez wrote: Maybe we can submit tickets to AD... --- Emilio Hernández VFX & 3D animation. 2014-05-22 13:44 GMT-05:00 Sebastien Sterling : I think i mentioned before that if you have ten TD's waiting on you of course, i assume the experience becomes a lot more fun. but most places even medium businesses will not have that kind of work force. On 22 May 2014 19:25, Meng-Yang Lu wrote: If I were a modeler, animator, or lighter, AND I was absolved of all TD responsibilities, I would absolutely love Maya. This is the vast majority of the artist experience. It is being in an established shop with tools already in place to get your work done or a team of TDs to make said tools. I'm surrounded by happy animators, modelers, and lighters. If they hit a problem, they just submit a ticket and a magic email appears asking them to restart Maya to receive the new goodies. For non-departmentalized facilities where one artist need to wear all hats and FX artists, the Maya experience is a completely different one. Maya is the application I have the deepest knowledge in, but even with a medium to shallow working knowledge in Softimage or Houdini, I find myself being more productive over time in those application as a generalist/TD than in Maya alone. If I had a nickel for questions starting with... "In Maya, can you..." The answer is always yes. Getting to that "yes" more often than not is really painful. -Lu On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Sebastien Sterling wrote: Lol Lu It's amazing for this, this, this it sucks :) I believe qualoth has been discontinued. yes next person to offer a feature rich cloth solution will be a rich man/woman, may the Fabric enginz be with him. On 22 May 2014 18:18, Halim Negadi wrote: +6 Lu On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu 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 tha
Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
To Byron, I feel you buddy, know the pain of that fight only too well. On 23 May 2014 14:26, Byron Nash wrote: > Answering the original question. Once the announcement was made, it has > created a near impossible environment for me to use Softimage. My employer > already scowled at my use of SI and now he has a reason to dictate me use > another app. We bought a seat of C4D and I'm trying to get up to speed in > it. The only way now that I can run something through SI is if I can > demonstrate a problem only solved in SI or am completely solo(freelance). > Otherwise I'm hemmed in and have to use what they tell me. It was an uphill > battle before fighting for Softimage but now it's a cliff face. For all > those who are able to keep on going, don't take it for granted! > > Byron > > > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 9:18 AM, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: > >> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Jordi Bares >> wrote: >> > Can I ask you Luc-Eric how is that the same engine was not put in XSI? >> the >> > whole HQV reinvention seems to me like I am missing something. >> > >> > If you ware allowed to discuss what was the behind that decision? I am >> sure >> > it made sense to someone but I still don't get it. >> >> The HQV project in Softimage was small project we could do in one >> release. It was about finishing the already-begun MetaSL >> implementation in the viewport, which you could enable with an >> environment variable in Softimage 2010, and fixing a few things like >> transparency and texturing issues that have been asked for a long >> time. It ended up being a bit more complicated, but we still managed >> to do it with a few people. >> >> It's not a new viewport, it's just installing realtime shaders in the >> same Softimage viewing code as before. It's the same thing as the >> "OpenGL" real time shader mode. >> >> Now Viewport 2.0 in Maya or Max... those are huge multi-year project >> with dozens of people, and work continues. You need to change many >> thing in your app to modernize it to the new viewing philosophy and >> detach it from the old OpenGL and old ways of thinking/coding. A few >> years ago, when the plan for Softimage 2014 was made, nitrous and vp >> 2.0 were both young and struggling so it wasn't obvious at all. >> > >
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
"I just wanted to find out what Maya's strengths were in this new post-Softimage world." You must understand that you can't very well depict an apps strengths without comparing it to its peers, past and present. Bottom line is that maya out of the box doesn't have any massive strengths that would make it a nobrainner decision to use. It's biggest asset is that it is the industry standard. And as previously mentioned, where other apps are way better in some areas, it at least gives you access to all areas in production. As an in house artist with TD's and Dev's on hand, it is functional As an independent user, it is an uphill struggle. Only time will tell if this trend is to be broken. On 23 May 2014 14:31, Andi Farhall wrote: > > thanks for that, when I can no longer pay my rent because of this can I > camp in your massive garden? > ... > http://www.hackneyeffects.com/ > https://vimeo.com/user4174293 > http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andi-farhall/b/496/b21 > > > http://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_hackney/ > http://spylon.tumblr.com/ > > This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended > solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or > opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily > represent those of Hackney Effects Ltd. > > If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take > any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. > > Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in > error. > > > > -- > Date: Fri, 23 May 2014 12:41:47 +0100 > > Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) > From: winder.t...@googlemail.com > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com > > > Well from a companies point of view. > > There are MANY MANY times more high quality artists to employ, > which means no problems finding people, and the artists probably drive > down their own prices. > Ive worked at xsi places where they just couldn't find a freelancer at all > - because any good ones were permanent at other shops. > > At the moment this is never a a problem with Maya > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:46 PM, Emilio Hernandez wrote: > > Maybe we can submit tickets to AD... > > --- > Emilio Hernández VFX & 3D animation. > > > 2014-05-22 13:44 GMT-05:00 Sebastien Sterling < > sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com>: > > I think i mentioned before that if you have ten TD's waiting on you of > course, i assume the experience becomes a lot more fun. but most places > even medium businesses will not have that kind of work force. > > > > > On 22 May 2014 19:25, Meng-Yang Lu wrote: > > If I were a modeler, animator, or lighter, AND I was absolved of all TD > responsibilities, I would absolutely love Maya. This is the vast majority > of the artist experience. It is being in an established shop with tools > already in place to get your work done or a team of TDs to make said tools. > I'm surrounded by happy animators, modelers, and lighters. If they hit a > problem, they just submit a ticket and a magic email appears asking them to > restart Maya to receive the new goodies. > > For non-departmentalized facilities where one artist need to wear all hats > and FX artists, the Maya experience is a completely different one. > > Maya is the application I have the deepest knowledge in, but even with a > medium to shallow working knowledge in Softimage or Houdini, I find myself > being more productive over time in those application as a generalist/TD > than in Maya alone. > > If I had a nickel for questions starting with... "In Maya, can you..." > The answer is always yes. Getting to that "yes" more often than not is > really painful. > > -Lu > > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Sebastien Sterling < > sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Lol Lu > > It's amazing for this, this, this it sucks :) > > I believe qualoth has been discontinued. yes next person to offer a > feature rich cloth solution will be a rich man/woman, may the Fabric enginz > be with him. > > > On 22 May 2014 18:18, Halim Negadi wrote: > > +6 Lu > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu 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 ti
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Oh, I understand fully you can't compare without something to compare with. ;) My interpretation of many of the posts in this thread is that people understandably still primarily compare it to Softimage. My question was where its place was in this "post-Softimage" world. Which is a tough (maybe even a silly?) question, I understand that. But several posts have answered my question fully... Greetz Leendert -- Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Fluid was missing from that list IMHO.. and it's not something we have in Softimage. On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Leendert A. Hartog wrote: > Oh, I understand fully you can't compare without something to compare with. > ;) > My interpretation of many of the posts in this thread is that people > understandably still primarily compare it to Softimage. My question was > where its place was in this "post-Softimage" world. > Which is a tough (maybe even a silly?) question, I understand that. > But several posts have answered my question fully... > > Greetz > Leendert
Re: OT: Now that the grief over softimage, how did you get over your it on your daily basis?
Thanks for the info… I guess I was naively thinking it had little implications on the rest of the code. Jordi Bares jordiba...@gmail.com On 23 May 2014, at 14:18, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 8:36 AM, Jordi Bares wrote: >> Can I ask you Luc-Eric how is that the same engine was not put in XSI? the >> whole HQV reinvention seems to me like I am missing something. >> >> If you ware allowed to discuss what was the behind that decision? I am sure >> it made sense to someone but I still don't get it. > > The HQV project in Softimage was small project we could do in one > release. It was about finishing the already-begun MetaSL > implementation in the viewport, which you could enable with an > environment variable in Softimage 2010, and fixing a few things like > transparency and texturing issues that have been asked for a long > time. It ended up being a bit more complicated, but we still managed > to do it with a few people. > > It's not a new viewport, it's just installing realtime shaders in the > same Softimage viewing code as before. It's the same thing as the > "OpenGL" real time shader mode. > > Now Viewport 2.0 in Maya or Max... those are huge multi-year project > with dozens of people, and work continues. You need to change many > thing in your app to modernize it to the new viewing philosophy and > detach it from the old OpenGL and old ways of thinking/coding. A few > years ago, when the plan for Softimage 2014 was made, nitrous and vp > 2.0 were both young and struggling so it wasn't obvious at all.
Re: RPF files?
I am not sure. A compositor was asking if I could give him .rpf files. On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:17 PM, Francisco Criado wrote: > You can get most of the typical data from rpf in different channels or > passes, do you need anything specific? > > F. > El may 22, 2014 9:41 PM, "Alan Fregtman" > escribió: > > Nope. >> >> >> >> On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 4:48 PM, John Richard Sanchez < >> youngupstar...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Is there any way to render out .rpf files from XSI? >>> Thanks >>> John >>> >>> -- >>> www.johnrichardsanchez.com >>> >> >> -- www.johnrichardsanchez.com
Re: RPF files?
strangle that compositor! On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 11:33 AM, John Richard Sanchez < youngupstar...@gmail.com> wrote: > I am not sure. A compositor was asking if I could give him .rpf files. > > > On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:17 PM, Francisco Criado > wrote: > >> You can get most of the typical data from rpf in different channels or >> passes, do you need anything specific? >> >> F. >> El may 22, 2014 9:41 PM, "Alan Fregtman" >> escribió: >> >> Nope. >>> >>> >>> >>> On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 4:48 PM, John Richard Sanchez < >>> youngupstar...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> Is there any way to render out .rpf files from XSI? Thanks John -- www.johnrichardsanchez.com >>> >>> > > > -- > www.johnrichardsanchez.com >
Re: RPF files?
:) On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 11:42 AM, sue jang wrote: > strangle that compositor! > > > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 11:33 AM, John Richard Sanchez < > youngupstar...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I am not sure. A compositor was asking if I could give him .rpf files. >> >> >> On Thu, May 22, 2014 at 10:17 PM, Francisco Criado > > wrote: >> >>> You can get most of the typical data from rpf in different channels or >>> passes, do you need anything specific? >>> >>> F. >>> El may 22, 2014 9:41 PM, "Alan Fregtman" >>> escribió: >>> >>> Nope. On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 4:48 PM, John Richard Sanchez < youngupstar...@gmail.com> wrote: > Is there any way to render out .rpf files from XSI? > Thanks > John > > -- > www.johnrichardsanchez.com > >> >> >> -- >> www.johnrichardsanchez.com >> > > -- www.johnrichardsanchez.com
Re: Export Pointclouds for other apps
Hi Tim: Depending on the type of pointcloud/complexity, I've had some success with exporting to nCache format and bringing that into Maya (I was just doing exported point positions though, not geometry instances specifically.) Other than that I would agree that Alembic is the most hassle-free way to do it. Yours sincerely, Siew Yi Liang On 5/22/2014 12:06 PM, Tim Crowson wrote: Is it possible to export ICE pointclouds to a format that other apps can use? I'm scattering some geometry and I'd like to export the pointcloud so I can rescatter in another app and have the same point positions -- Signature *Tim Crowson */Lead CG Artist/ *Magnetic Dreams, Inc. *2525 Lebanon Pike, Bldg C, Suite 101, Nashville, TN 37214 *Ph* 615.885.6801 | *Fax* 615.889.4768 | www.magneticdreams.com tim.crow...@magneticdreams.com
RE: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Doesn't softimage have Lagoa fluids? Matt -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 7:54 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) Fluid was missing from that list IMHO.. and it's not something we have in Softimage. On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Leendert A. Hartog wrote: > Oh, I understand fully you can't compare without something to compare with. > ;) > My interpretation of many of the posts in this thread is that people > understandably still primarily compare it to Softimage. My question > was where its place was in this "post-Softimage" world. > Which is a tough (maybe even a silly?) question, I understand that. > But several posts have answered my question fully... > > Greetz > Leendert
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
is EmFluids also a fluids solver or more of a fire and smoke tool ? On 23 May 2014 18:29, Matt Lind wrote: > Doesn't softimage have Lagoa fluids? > > > Matt > > > -Original Message- > From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: > softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau > Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 7:54 AM > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com > Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) > > Fluid was missing from that list IMHO.. and it's not something we have in > Softimage. > > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Leendert A. Hartog > wrote: > > Oh, I understand fully you can't compare without something to compare > with. > > ;) > > My interpretation of many of the posts in this thread is that people > > understandably still primarily compare it to Softimage. My question > > was where its place was in this "post-Softimage" world. > > Which is a tough (maybe even a silly?) question, I understand that. > > But several posts have answered my question fully... > > > > Greetz > > Leendert > >
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Luc you are still at AD right ? Would love to have an honest answer on that one. Is there any chance to get workflow improvement features actually beeing added into maya in a reasonable time if we report them ? Simple stuff: Flip muscle capsule (if you create your capsules out of a skinned mesh you gonna need that, no idea why it's not there) child- and constraint compensation viewport selection update (this is were maya rly feels clunky, when it comes to just selecting objects or components, if ur interested i would love to tell you why, but i guess you know) working with sets (remove object from set is only possible through diving into that hierachy in a graph ?) This and more are the things which drive me nuts. It's just the small things, not even features. So as long as artists are forced to write scripts for every single task (visibility toggle on a hotkey anyone ? who uses 2 different hotkeys for hiding and showing objects ?) I can't think of too many things which would make maya beeing faster in actual production. 2014-05-23 19:49 GMT+02:00 Sebastien Sterling : > is EmFluids also a fluids solver or more of a fire and smoke tool ? > > > On 23 May 2014 18:29, Matt Lind wrote: > >> Doesn't softimage have Lagoa fluids? >> >> >> Matt >> >> >> -Original Message- >> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: >> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau >> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 7:54 AM >> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com >> Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) >> >> Fluid was missing from that list IMHO.. and it's not something we have in >> Softimage. >> >> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Leendert A. Hartog >> wrote: >> > Oh, I understand fully you can't compare without something to compare >> with. >> > ;) >> > My interpretation of many of the posts in this thread is that people >> > understandably still primarily compare it to Softimage. My question >> > was where its place was in this "post-Softimage" world. >> > Which is a tough (maybe even a silly?) question, I understand that. >> > But several posts have answered my question fully... >> > >> > Greetz >> > Leendert >> >> >
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Skinning, my god fix the skinning ! it's not reasonable to have to manually tick which bones you want or don't want to work on. On 23 May 2014 19:23, Mario Reitbauer wrote: > Luc you are still at AD right ? > > Would love to have an honest answer on that one. Is there any chance to > get workflow improvement features actually beeing added into maya in a > reasonable time if we report them ? > Simple stuff: > Flip muscle capsule (if you create your capsules out of a skinned mesh you > gonna need that, no idea why it's not there) > child- and constraint compensation > viewport selection update (this is were maya rly feels clunky, when it > comes to just selecting objects or components, if ur interested i would > love to tell you why, but i guess you know) > working with sets (remove object from set is only possible through diving > into that hierachy in a graph ?) > > This and more are the things which drive me nuts. It's just the small > things, not even features. > > So as long as artists are forced to write scripts for every single task > (visibility toggle on a hotkey anyone ? who uses 2 different hotkeys for > hiding and showing objects ?) I can't think of too many things which would > make maya beeing faster in actual production. > > > 2014-05-23 19:49 GMT+02:00 Sebastien Sterling < > sebastien.sterl...@gmail.com>: > > is EmFluids also a fluids solver or more of a fire and smoke tool ? >> >> >> On 23 May 2014 18:29, Matt Lind wrote: >> >>> Doesn't softimage have Lagoa fluids? >>> >>> >>> Matt >>> >>> >>> -Original Message- >>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: >>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau >>> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 7:54 AM >>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com >>> Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) >>> >>> Fluid was missing from that list IMHO.. and it's not something we have >>> in Softimage. >>> >>> On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Leendert A. Hartog >>> wrote: >>> > Oh, I understand fully you can't compare without something to compare >>> with. >>> > ;) >>> > My interpretation of many of the posts in this thread is that people >>> > understandably still primarily compare it to Softimage. My question >>> > was where its place was in this "post-Softimage" world. >>> > Which is a tough (maybe even a silly?) question, I understand that. >>> > But several posts have answered my question fully... >>> > >>> > Greetz >>> > Leendert >>> >>> >> >
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
+100. Maya has the WORST skinning system I've used in any application, bar none. It's a horrible nightmare to work with it. Sergio Muciño. Sent from my iPad. > On May 23, 2014, at 2:41 PM, Sebastien Sterling > wrote: > > Skinning, my god fix the skinning ! it's not reasonable to have to manually > tick which bones you want or don't want to work on. > > >> On 23 May 2014 19:23, Mario Reitbauer wrote: >> Luc you are still at AD right ? >> >> Would love to have an honest answer on that one. Is there any chance to get >> workflow improvement features actually beeing added into maya in a >> reasonable time if we report them ? >> Simple stuff: >> Flip muscle capsule (if you create your capsules out of a skinned mesh you >> gonna need that, no idea why it's not there) >> child- and constraint compensation >> viewport selection update (this is were maya rly feels clunky, when it comes >> to just selecting objects or components, if ur interested i would love to >> tell you why, but i guess you know) >> working with sets (remove object from set is only possible through diving >> into that hierachy in a graph ?) >> >> This and more are the things which drive me nuts. It's just the small >> things, not even features. >> >> So as long as artists are forced to write scripts for every single task >> (visibility toggle on a hotkey anyone ? who uses 2 different hotkeys for >> hiding and showing objects ?) I can't think of too many things which would >> make maya beeing faster in actual production. >> >> >> 2014-05-23 19:49 GMT+02:00 Sebastien Sterling : >> >>> is EmFluids also a fluids solver or more of a fire and smoke tool ? >>> >>> On 23 May 2014 18:29, Matt Lind wrote: Doesn't softimage have Lagoa fluids? Matt -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 7:54 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) Fluid was missing from that list IMHO.. and it's not something we have in Softimage. On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 10:11 AM, Leendert A. Hartog wrote: > Oh, I understand fully you can't compare without something to compare > with. > ;) > My interpretation of many of the posts in this thread is that people > understandably still primarily compare it to Softimage. My question > was where its place was in this "post-Softimage" world. > Which is a tough (maybe even a silly?) question, I understand that. > But several posts have answered my question fully... > > Greetz > Leendert >
Re: Maya strengts (anyone?)
On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 1:29 PM, Matt Lind wrote: >> Fluid was missing from that list IMHO.. and it's not something we have in >> Softimage. > Doesn't softimage have Lagoa fluids? Lagoa fluid ICE particles-based, correct? maya has 2d and 3d grid-based and voxel-based fluids with the new Bifrost solvers, and good viewport visualization of them, grids caching, etc. Different results/workflows/etc.
RE: Maya strengts (anyone?)
Hello Mario, It would be foolish of me to promise that everything you report is going to get fixed in the timeframe you’d like, but we are looking at addressing some of your common obstacles, and especially the ones that would benefit all Maya users. Feel free to post your top issues to the Area Softimage Transition forum here: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Softimage-Workflow-Feature/bd-p/softimageworkflow. Constraint compensation – this came up somewhere else and I think it already exists: check ‘Maintain Offset’ in the Constraint dialog. Thanks, Jill (and yes Luc-Eric is thankfully still at AD and working on the Maya team.) From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Mario Reitbauer Sent: May-23-14 2:23 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Maya strengts (anyone?) Luc you are still at AD right ? Would love to have an honest answer on that one. Is there any chance to get workflow improvement features actually beeing added into maya in a reasonable time if we report them ? Simple stuff: Flip muscle capsule (if you create your capsules out of a skinned mesh you gonna need that, no idea why it's not there) child- and constraint compensation viewport selection update (this is were maya rly feels clunky, when it comes to just selecting objects or components, if ur interested i would love to tell you why, but i guess you know) working with sets (remove object from set is only possible through diving into that hierachy in a graph ?) This and more are the things which drive me nuts. It's just the small things, not even features. So as long as artists are forced to write scripts for every single task (visibility toggle on a hotkey anyone ? who uses 2 different hotkeys for hiding and showing objects ?) I can't think of too many things which would make maya beeing faster in actual production. <>