Amen Vincent.
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Vincent Fortin Sent: 4 mars 2014 14:11 To: softimage Subject: Re: Softimage transition audience poll This is just my 0.02c regarding Houdini pricing... You can always negociate with SideFX. They are a very open company driven by passion. Studios interested in making a transition should discuss with Janet Fraser ja...@sidefx.com<mailto:ja...@sidefx.com> Yes the extra $$$ for the floating license is weird. IMHO they should revise that pricing. But otherwise, workstation license is 4,495$. Autodesk users are often hesitant to pay for upgrades because they don't feel like they're getting much in return. With Houdini you get blown away every release. And your studio can have its say in the development roadmap. Mantra is a very solid renderer, actively developed by SideFX. I wonder how much studios pay for their rendering needs? Mantra rendering is FREE (aka unlimited). It's both REYES and Physical. How much do studios pay for FumeFX (and Max and Vray when you don't wan't to render in scanline), render layers that don't match and need to be fixed in comp, cloth in Maya and issues related to supporting multiple softwares/plugins, licenses or upgrades that IT needs to keep track of. Yes ICE is an awesome little creation platform but has never reached maturity. It can all be done in Houdini + more. Man time is often wasted in studios, Houdini has that philosophy that everything can be offloaded to the farm, easily, without any or very little development. How much time wasted with finding the right format for storing your things on disk? XSI Models, pc2, collada, point oven, fbx, realflow .bin. I'm sure you too have tried them all! Houdini's .bgeo stores everything from points to volumes, nurbs, metaballs, custom attributes and has always supported geometry with changing topology. Can be compressed, or not. Can be made ascii. They have a standalone geometry viewer that is pretty cool. Any data stored in a .bgeo can be used as rendering proxies. But if you prefer Alembic, it is also fully integrated in the software/renderer as well as out of the box Open VDB, Open Subdivs, EXR2 and DEEP COMPOSITING (hello modernity!). How much time wasted opening 2GB scene files in Softimage or Maya? A Houdini scene is always lightweight because of its referencing philosophy. In fact , a Houdini scene is based on the UNIX file system. You can unpack a full scene on your hard drive as a directory structure. It is true when they say Houdini is a pipeline on its own. With built-in environment variables, you can set up a small pipeline very easily. Often times I find myself doing a full project within the same scene. Never had any instabilities in years with Houdini. Never needed to "merge in an empty scene" to fix some random scene corruption. They support every Linux flavors or Windows, or Mac. They have daily builds and a 100% free learning edition with no time limitation. I see a lot of potential in Houdini Engine for games or even for film if Bifrost fails to deliver in a reasonable time frame. In fact I have become such a Houdini fanboy that every time I finish a project I'm tempted to send flowers and chocolate to Toronto. Of course your mileage may vary but overall I don't think Houdini is so overpriced considering all the problems you'll skip with it. I choose to stick with the real passionate people, not the greedy blood suckers. All the insecurity Autodesks generates regarding its development roadmap and licensing schemes has been doing too much damage in its user base (includes Maya for the last 10 years). Incidentally, if you visit the Houdini forums, you'll find a community that is very mature, positive and helpful. Vincent On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Angus Davidson <angus.david...@wits.ac.za<mailto:angus.david...@wits.ac.za>> wrote: Mostly a lack of respect. ________________________________ From: Ben Rogall [xsi_l...@shaders.moederogall.com<mailto:xsi_l...@shaders.moederogall.com>] Sent: 04 March 2014 07:42 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com<mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com> Subject: Re: Softimage transition audience poll Yep. Or $4495 for a workstation license and then $2495 per year. For a minute there it looked like Autodesk was doing something half reasonable with the free transition offer to Softimage + Maya. But then I saw that accepting that means that I would not be allowed to use Softimage at all after February 2016. I'm not even sure what Autodesk gains from that. Ben On 3/4/2014 11:00 AM, Francois Lord wrote: What I find interesting in the fact that people want to jump the Autodesk boat is that they seem to forget they have to buy a new software. For a company that relies entirely on Softimage, that decision is not a cheap one. Houdini is 7000$ for a floating license plus 4000$ per year! http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=385&Itemid=190 In two years when Bifrost will be nearing maturity, Maya will become a lot more appealing if you stay on subscription. Be kind with your bean counter. just sayin. On 04-Mar-14 11:37, Alan Fregtman wrote: I've set up a poll out of curiosity... Where will you transition to when Softimage falls? Vote! http://strawpoll.me/1257710 (Multiple-choice allowed btw.) This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.
