Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Softimage Users, are not blind. I don't know about you guys, but i just feel i need to sing out loud something like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzNyKXFvJNQ On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 10:35 PM, Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dkwrote: Well put, John. My sentiments exactly. Morten Den 15. marts 2014 kl. 01:24 skrev John Clausing jclausin...@yahoo.com: Maurice, Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk I'm not sure what to say about that..are you falling on your sword to protect AD? I don't suppose protecting AD is even possible to us on the list... I'm devastated by the loss of a software I've used for 20 years now, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be for those of you who have now lost their positions at SoftimageMark S. Comes to mind. I wonder, having said that if you (AD) even understand the knock on effects of your decision, or even care. My well being and that of my family are being put in jeopardy by the demise of the vehicle that pays my bills. An expertise honed over decades. And for what? Because Soft is inferior? Hardly. Were it to make sense, from any perspective, it would be easier to take, but some off handed comment about bifrost, and we care about our customers is on it's face just not true. That you are the sole heir of a position that makes you listen to us, the aggrieved, speaks not only to your strength, but to the cowardice of the management of AD. I'm sure you're a good man, many here have said so, but comments like the one you just made about it being your fault, do you a dis-service and ignore the truth. With respect, John Sent from my iPhone On Mar 14, 2014, at 8:05 PM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com wrote: Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk. I ran Product Marketing for ME (recently moved into a new role) and we did focus on ways to promote Softimage given our budgets and business priorities. It was just not realistic to expect the same level of coverage given the sheer volume of business driven by the other products. Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Griswold Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 1:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.com mailto:witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition. winmail.dat
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
To add to that, Autodesk had a responsibility to continue Softimage the phenomenon, including what the customers had grown used to regarding updates and marketing. By assigning you a tiny budget, which which you could do nothing of significance; in my book that puts them wholly to blame. On 15 Mar 2014, at 03:35, Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dk wrote: Well put, John. My sentiments exactly. Morten Den 15. marts 2014 kl. 01:24 skrev John Clausing jclausin...@yahoo.com: Maurice, Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk I'm not sure what to say about that..are you falling on your sword to protect AD? I don't suppose protecting AD is even possible to us on the list... I'm devastated by the loss of a software I've used for 20 years now, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be for those of you who have now lost their positions at SoftimageMark S. Comes to mind. I wonder, having said that if you (AD) even understand the knock on effects of your decision, or even care. My well being and that of my family are being put in jeopardy by the demise of the vehicle that pays my bills. An expertise honed over decades. And for what? Because Soft is inferior? Hardly. Were it to make sense, from any perspective, it would be easier to take, but some off handed comment about bifrost, and we care about our customers is on it's face just not true. That you are the sole heir of a position that makes you listen to us, the aggrieved, speaks not only to your strength, but to the cowardice of the management of AD. I'm sure you're a good man, many here have said so, but comments like the one you just made about it being your fault, do you a dis-service and ignore the truth. With respect, John Sent from my iPhone On Mar 14, 2014, at 8:05 PM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com wrote: Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk. I ran Product Marketing for ME (recently moved into a new role) and we did focus on ways to promote Softimage given our budgets and business priorities. It was just not realistic to expect the same level of coverage given the sheer volume of business driven by the other products. Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Griswold Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 1:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.commailto:witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition. winmail.dat
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Sorry, but how much money does it cost to show Softimage under products at the autodesk website... 2014-03-15 9:51 GMT+01:00 Bk p...@bustykelp.com: To add to that, Autodesk had a responsibility to continue Softimage the phenomenon, including what the customers had grown used to regarding updates and marketing. By assigning you a tiny budget, which which you could do nothing of significance; in my book that puts them wholly to blame. On 15 Mar 2014, at 03:35, Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dk wrote: Well put, John. My sentiments exactly. Morten Den 15. marts 2014 kl. 01:24 skrev John Clausing jclausin...@yahoo.com : Maurice, Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk I'm not sure what to say about that..are you falling on your sword to protect AD? I don't suppose protecting AD is even possible to us on the list... I'm devastated by the loss of a software I've used for 20 years now, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be for those of you who have now lost their positions at SoftimageMark S. Comes to mind. I wonder, having said that if you (AD) even understand the knock on effects of your decision, or even care. My well being and that of my family are being put in jeopardy by the demise of the vehicle that pays my bills. An expertise honed over decades. And for what? Because Soft is inferior? Hardly. Were it to make sense, from any perspective, it would be easier to take, but some off handed comment about bifrost, and we care about our customers is on it's face just not true. That you are the sole heir of a position that makes you listen to us, the aggrieved, speaks not only to your strength, but to the cowardice of the management of AD. I'm sure you're a good man, many here have said so, but comments like the one you just made about it being your fault, do you a dis-service and ignore the truth. With respect, John Sent from my iPhone On Mar 14, 2014, at 8:05 PM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com wrote: Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk. I ran Product Marketing for ME (recently moved into a new role) and we did focus on ways to promote Softimage given our budgets and business priorities. It was just not realistic to expect the same level of coverage given the sheer volume of business driven by the other products. Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Griswold Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 1:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.com mailto:witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition. winmail.dat
RE: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk. I ran Product Marketing for ME (recently moved into a new role) and we did focus on ways to promote Softimage given our budgets and business priorities. It was just not realistic to expect the same level of coverage given the sheer volume of business driven by the other products. Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Griswold Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 1:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.commailto:witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition. attachment: winmail.dat
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Page on Area, blogs and similar covering of recently finished high quality Softimage project hardly have any big affect on budget, only on time invested to put together page. Mentioning Softimage and showcasing successful productions, taking 10 minutes or so on booth were only was Maya and/or Max is also hardly big cost hit. Facebook articles and social networks as well.. it is not like anyone demanded full blown marketing campaign, anyway those days are over like years ago :) Remember this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuYjaaGl0r4 Who didn't now anything about Softimage could get more perspective that it is new addon and not full blown 3d app.. best one as well :) On Sat, Mar 15, 2014 at 1:05 AM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.comwrote: Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk. I ran Product Marketing for ME (recently moved into a new role) and we did focus on ways to promote Softimage given our budgets and business priorities. It was just not realistic to expect the same level of coverage given the sheer volume of business driven by the other products. Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Griswold Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 1:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.commailto: witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition.
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Maurice, Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk I'm not sure what to say about that..are you falling on your sword to protect AD? I don't suppose protecting AD is even possible to us on the list... I'm devastated by the loss of a software I've used for 20 years now, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be for those of you who have now lost their positions at SoftimageMark S. Comes to mind. I wonder, having said that if you (AD) even understand the knock on effects of your decision, or even care. My well being and that of my family are being put in jeopardy by the demise of the vehicle that pays my bills. An expertise honed over decades. And for what? Because Soft is inferior? Hardly. Were it to make sense, from any perspective, it would be easier to take, but some off handed comment about bifrost, and we care about our customers is on it's face just not true. That you are the sole heir of a position that makes you listen to us, the aggrieved, speaks not only to your strength, but to the cowardice of the management of AD. I'm sure you're a good man, many here have said so, but comments like the one you just made about it being your fault, do you a dis-service and ignore the truth. With respect, John Sent from my iPhone On Mar 14, 2014, at 8:05 PM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com wrote: Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk. I ran Product Marketing for ME (recently moved into a new role) and we did focus on ways to promote Softimage given our budgets and business priorities. It was just not realistic to expect the same level of coverage given the sheer volume of business driven by the other products. Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Griswold Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 1:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.commailto:witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition. winmail.dat
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Well put, John. My sentiments exactly. Morten Den 15. marts 2014 kl. 01:24 skrev John Clausing jclausin...@yahoo.com: Maurice, Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk I'm not sure what to say about that..are you falling on your sword to protect AD? I don't suppose protecting AD is even possible to us on the list... I'm devastated by the loss of a software I've used for 20 years now, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be for those of you who have now lost their positions at SoftimageMark S. Comes to mind. I wonder, having said that if you (AD) even understand the knock on effects of your decision, or even care. My well being and that of my family are being put in jeopardy by the demise of the vehicle that pays my bills. An expertise honed over decades. And for what? Because Soft is inferior? Hardly. Were it to make sense, from any perspective, it would be easier to take, but some off handed comment about bifrost, and we care about our customers is on it's face just not true. That you are the sole heir of a position that makes you listen to us, the aggrieved, speaks not only to your strength, but to the cowardice of the management of AD. I'm sure you're a good man, many here have said so, but comments like the one you just made about it being your fault, do you a dis-service and ignore the truth. With respect, John Sent from my iPhone On Mar 14, 2014, at 8:05 PM, Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com wrote: Well if there is someone to blame for that it was me not Autodesk. I ran Product Marketing for ME (recently moved into a new role) and we did focus on ways to promote Softimage given our budgets and business priorities. It was just not realistic to expect the same level of coverage given the sheer volume of business driven by the other products. Maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Paul Griswold Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2014 1:27 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.commailto:witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition. winmail.dat
Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
-- Originalnachricht -- Von: Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Gesendet: 13.03.2014 09:34:16 Betreff: RE: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer Hi Tim, I don't think anyone here at Autodesk would disagree with you there. Softimage and 3ds Max were designed very much to be out of the box. Maya was designed differently. But Maya users have been asking for more artist friendly workflows and tools out of the box and we believe we can do this and do this really well. We are looking for input from Softimage users too. maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 Maurice, I frown a bit over this wording... shouldn't you say you are already looking into the input from Softimage users you already got? There's plenty of information and suggestions already, and after all, you have Luc-Eric Rousseau as Maya UI teamlead now. What else do you need to hear from us to allow for more educated guesses of what Maya needs, to make it artist-friendly (please get me right), that hasn't been discussed so many times of the last days, months, years? Let me picture this in a comic way: there's this king AD, lazily sitting in the throne room with his flock of minions around him, used to decide fates with the wink of a finger, and now just after there's riots and turmoil and burning villages outside the palace walls, he stirs a bit and with acted astonishment starts asking what is the matter with all the people, who's emissarys he brusquely sent away so often before... Respectfully, Eugen --- Diese E-Mail ist frei von Viren und Malware, denn der avast! Antivirus Schutz ist aktiv. http://www.avast.com
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Unfortunately it doesn't seem like Autodesk had any idea who Softimage users even are before making the decision to take away our main tool. It's been said over and over again. If we felt Maya or Max were the best tool for the job, we'd buy it. But there are dozens and dozens of reasons why Maya or Max do not fit for many of us, and they never will. Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. Autodesk's marketing didn't help either. What sane marketing department thinks it's a great idea to only market the products that get the most sales? How does that make any sense at all? It creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. Softimage doesn't sell well, so we reduce it's marketing budget, reduce it's visibility, and make no effort to increase sales. Therefore sales do not increase and marketing is again reduced, and sales go down. Can anyone look at this process and say they think that's a recipe for success? Now an entire community is looking at Maya and Max and confirming what we all knew before - they can't replace Softimage and nothing on the horizon from Autodesk looks like it will come close for years. -PG On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 8:43 AM, Eugen Sares sof...@mail.sprit.org wrote: -- Originalnachricht -- Von: Maurice Patel maurice.pa...@autodesk.com An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Gesendet: 13.03.2014 09:34:16 Betreff: RE: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer Hi Tim, I don't think anyone here at Autodesk would disagree with you there. Softimage and 3ds Max were designed very much to be out of the box. Maya was designed differently. But Maya users have been asking for more artist friendly workflows and tools out of the box and we believe we can do this and do this really well. We are looking for input from Softimage users too. maurice Maurice Patel Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 Maurice, I frown a bit over this wording... shouldn't you say you are already looking into the input from Softimage users you already got? There's plenty of information and suggestions already, and after all, you have Luc-Eric Rousseau as Maya UI teamlead now. What else do you need to hear from us to allow for more educated guesses of what Maya needs, to make it artist-friendly (please get me right), that hasn't been discussed so many times of the last days, months, years? Let me picture this in a comic way: there's this king AD, lazily sitting in the throne room with his flock of minions around him, used to decide fates with the wink of a finger, and now just after there's riots and turmoil and burning villages outside the palace walls, he stirs a bit and with acted astonishment starts asking what is the matter with all the people, who's emissarys he brusquely sent away so often before... Respectfully, Eugen --- Diese E-Mail ist frei von Viren und Malware, denn der avast! Antivirus Schutz ist aktiv. http://www.avast.com
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition.
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Was wondering where your voice was Brad! On 13 March 2014 17:21, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition. -- Chris Marshall Mint Motion Limited 029 20 37 27 57 07730 533 115 www.mintmotion.co.uk
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage? On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Bradley Gabe witha...@gmail.com wrote: Since the day Autodesk bought Softimage, it's been one cruel joke. There has literally never been a single champion of Softimage at a decision-making level, right? It's been the red-headed step-child since the moment of the acquisition. I'm not sure this statement is entirely true. The senior VP of ME at the time of the purchase was Marc Petite, originally from Softimage and one of the driving forces behind the early development of XSI. When he stepped down not long ago, I believe he was replaced by Marc Stevens, the former president of Softimage at the time of the acquisition.
Re: Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
Not really. Which is why my top 5 list for Alastair would have been something like: -Chinny -Halfdan -Ronald -Schoennagel -Jen -etc... On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 12:27 PM, Paul Griswold pgrisw...@fusiondigitalproductions.com wrote: I suppose I should have phrased that There has literally never been a single public champion of Softimage at a decision-making level. Was there ever a SIGGRAPH, usergroup meeting, or anything of the sort where anyone with any sort of authority at Autodesk called for more exposure, more marketing, more anything for Softimage?
Re[2]: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer
I'm not quite among the top 10 3rd party developers (wrote a couple of topology operators though for curve editing and extrusions, with the classic SDK), but allow me: The operator SDK has the limitation of not allowing to write to clusters/cluster properties. Therefore it's not possible to write custom operators that are as far reaching / have the same capabilities as the factory ones. This limit surfaces when you try to write topology changing operators. (ICE, btw., is not a replacement for writing classic operators, because it is 'wrapped' in an operator itself.) There's more, but this is surely one major restriction. Would be ironic if this would be fixed after all... Thanks, Eugen -- Originalnachricht -- Von: Chris Vienneau chris.vienn...@autodesk.com An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Gesendet: 11.03.2014 10:19:41 Betreff: RE: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer Hi Greg, Do you have any more info on what you mean by long standing low level requests and can you list the top 10 third parties you would like me to reach out to follow up with? Or is there anyone on the list who is a third party developer that can elaborate? For the SDK it is a really tough battle as it was just not part of the core of the original development but I can get a definitive answer. cv/ From:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Mário Domingos [mdomingos.p...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 5:03 AM To:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: A more graceful retirement - my counter offer Greg, can I post your letter on Facebook? — Sent from Mailbox for iPhone On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 2:49 AM, Greg Punchatz g...@janimation.com wrote: Hello Autodesk, My name is Greg Punchatz , Senior Creative Director at Janimation. I have a proposal, or call it a counter offer on the proper way to retire Softimage. First off, if you don't know who I am, I feel like I have been part of the Softimage team since the beginning of Sumatra testing. I spent countless hours creating content on my own time and letting Softimage use my personal work as the sample scenes that make up a good deal of the Softimage library. Because of this relationship I have many, many very dear friends from all eras of Softimage. From the very top to the bottom of Softimage, I was always welcomed as one of the family. Our company, Janimation, was instrumental in helping promote XSI from its earliest days from being its first customer demo at the XSI launch party. To its final days giving Avid and Autodesk permission to use our work for promoting Softimage launches. We did this because we truly believe it is the best software on the planet for what we do and that's commercial work. Softimage is lighter on its feet out of the box for the kind of work the post production world is doing today in commercials. I don't know a single CG supervisor that knows each package equally that would rather take a commercial through a single package other than XSI. That being said, I believe Autodesk needs to be working on a completely new 3d software package. I would hope that is the plan. I also understand that if you are working towards moving us all to one package, Softimage by market share alone is the logical one to first retire as it creates the least income. So if it's time has truly come (even though I believe it is the most complete out-of-the-box 3-D solution you provide currently) I think there is a more elegant... let's say, a kinder gentler way for Softimage to be put into retirement. You can continue to benefit from our subscription support while we have enough time to move our existing pipeline to somthing else. Please consider keepinng the current small development team you already have for FOUR more years. With a single focus on these three things: opening up the SDK, working with 3rd party folk, and fixing long outstanding low-level requests. It's nothing but a win-win situation, you still get our money, and we get to evalute Maya along the way. It's going to take a lot more than two years for a lot of us to be able to make a tranistion completely. I'm not sure if Autodesk realizes this, but while the team in Singapore was not making giant leaps technologically, they were on their way to leaving Softimage in a much better state. They need a bit more time than you are giving them. At the end of the four years, we can at least consider staying in the Autodesk family because they listened to the usersgave us pleanty of heads up of its EOL, and did thier darndest to make sure the last version of softimage is the best version ever...XSI deserves thatwe deserve that ... and quite frankly I deserve that. Sincerely Greg Punchatz Senior Creative Director at Janimation ... --- Diese E-Mail ist frei von Viren und Malware, denn der
