How we got here. I believe the reason we are where we are has been touched on in the various threads of the last few days. Sure, not having visibility on the Autodesk site or seeing banner ads for Max and Maya and none for Softimage on the various social media platforms has some influence on perception but I believe that the marketing of Softimage, not just to new customers but crucially to the *resellers*, who in most cases are the only interface between the client and customer, has been the area where Autodesk failed us most. The resellers themselves never understood Softimage, because Autodesk never educated them. Simple as that. If they did, they could and, I believe would, have made many more sales. Instead you hear time and time again of them touring even the Softimage studios, trying to get them to use Maya. I repeat, *Studios that are already Softimage customers*. Can you imagine how they talk about it and sell it to new customers? A perception of Maya as the only serious solution for high-end work pervades and I think it's been *heavily* influenced by reseller ignorance. I don't believe it was a dark plot by Autodesk to snuff out Softimage (at least not at first), more a sign of incompetence and dare I say it, arrogance, but it was left unchecked and ate the ground from underneath Softimage.
How it played out. The rumours of the impending end were rife for months, yes, months. I first heard of this before Christmas. How is it that a company like Glassworks that, as Alastair says, is essentially %100 Softimage (and loaded with Autodesk's various 2D solutions), and creating such fantastic work was not on the list of companies visited when Autodesk people made this famous tour of doom? It's an affront to the people that were trying their best to champion Softimage in the face of the neglect it was getting from marketing. Now these same people are expected to glide over to Maya and get in line with zero resentment? The people really affected. The people that are most affected by all this are the *huge segment that none of your other products cater for*. Please try to finally understand this. The small to medium sized shops. It's my personal feeling that none of your other products are as superior in this space. You *will not* succeed in selling 3dsMax to your Softimage customers. To think you will is bone-headed ignorance and only compounds the sense that your marketing team doesn't understand the essence of what you are killing off. The various options going forward. As long as I can be as productive as I am and don't feel I'm missing out on something that becomes an essential part of producing good work, I'll stick with Softimage. But obviously, this is heavily dependent on there being companies that share this opinion for me to work with. I will also be evaluating and educating myself in various companions. I don't see any fully rounded alternatives so I'll try to open my mind to a cross-product workflow. Houdini The recent events have once-more jolted me into renewing my efforts in evaluating Houdini. It, for me, is the most likely contender to satisfy my professional needs going forward, but from my initial investigation has a way to go before becoming as smooth a ride end-to-end as I'm looking for. The fact that they have acknowledged this however and have been quite public in stating their intent to address this side of things is very comforting. We all know they have the chops (pun intended) to do it, and do it well. Having Halfdan there as someone who understands our comments and can translate them into meaningful terms to the Houdini developers is a huge plus. Jordi's enthusiasm here is also a great inspiration to try and run with it. Fabric Engine Every wants FE to be the knight in shining armour that will guide us out of the darkness, myself included, but unless a consortium of companies generously commit to writing and sharing a robust set of integrated tools (with well defined pre-determined conventions and workflows) that work together as something resembling an end-to-end DCC, it'll have very little impact on me professionally for some time. I can see what they've done and I love, respect and embrace it, but it will do very little for me in direct relation to hole left by the demise of Softimage. Modo I have a very mixed bag of feelings about it, and I'll reserve any comment until I look at it more closely, but my feeling is it's not going to solve any of my personal problems in any short measure of time unfortunately. Blender Yes, Blender. I like Blender. I do my utmost to evangelize it wherever I work and it's my personal opinion that everyone earning money from 3D ought to contribute financially to it's support. I'm no great philanthropist - I only donate a measly 5 dollars a month, it's the price of a pint and a packet of peanuts but it doesn't take many 5 dollar donations to make a viable difference. If all the Softimage users gave their input I feel it would quickly become something that would satisfy them more than they imagine. Sure it has it's quirks, but I've found plenty in Houdini also. Unfortunately though, Z will always be up in Blender, we can't change that at this stage :) I expect to use it more and more going forward. I plan to write another post with regards to Blender... I'm all awash with all kinds of thoughts and emotions at the moment so I apologize for pouring it all out here in one post. I feel like I've been pinned down and forced to take a pill I don't want to, with the big dirty old hand of Autodesk clasped over my mouth waiting for me to swallow. DAN
