Well, to begin with, I don't think Softimage was killed off due to Autodesk feeling Maya was superior. It's more about marketshare than quality here.
Second, most Maya users are not accustomed to using ICE, and therefore simply have no idea what they are missing. Bifrost will be better than what they now have, and that will be perceived by the larger community of Maya users as progress — regardless of how it stacks up next to ICE. IMO, Autodesk has painted itself into a corner, casting their entire lot with old bloated code. If Maya is to compete with more modern solutions it will need a rewrite, and that takes time and resources. Where will Houdini be by the time Maya is brought up to speed? Hell, where will apps like MODO and Cinema 4D be by then? They may not ever be what Softimage is to this community, but they may be attractive alternatives to Maya, which comes with an Autodesk relationship. Anyway, I think you are asking about these things from a certain logical perspective. My point is that your particular perspective/assumptions, however logical, are probably not the concerns that are driving this EOL issue or the development of Maya. On Mar 14, 2014, at 3:00 PM, phil harbath <phil.harb...@jamination.com> wrote: > perhaps I am terrible ignorant to think this and I have no knowledge of what > the upcoming 2015 version of Maya will contain, but to kill Softimage I > would think that Maya would have to prove to be an ice replacement within 2 > years. How else do you justify it. In my opinion Autodesk considers Maya > superior in everyway except ICE, so that would be the last step needed to > make Softimage totally redundant (again in the eyes of Autodesk). > > From: Jonah Friedman > Sent: Friday, March 14, 2014 3:57 PM > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com > Subject: Re: ICE in Maya is it really possible? > > To make matters worse for the Bifrost-replacing-ice idea- > > Bifrost, at the moment, is fluid simulation. Hell, Bifrost hasn't even been > proven to be good at fluid simulation yet, although I have no doubt it > eventually can be. But as for Bifrost-the-ICE-replacement, it's not even at > the level of vaporware. It hasn't been officially promised, just vaguely > hinted at. Once Bifrost actually succeeds at its current purpose- fluid > simulation- then we can talk about what it might take to rebuild ICE based on > it. > > I'm imagining one possible future a couple years down the line everyone is > happy that Maya finally solved their fluid simulation problem which is > apparently holding Maya back, and team Bifrost turns their attention to > replacing ICE. At this point, they're several years away from making > something as good as ICE and we can start having this conversation in > earnest. This is a best case scenario. > > There's another possible future where where it turns out people are using > Houdini and/or Realflow for their fluid simulation needs, and nobody cares > very much about having one directly in Maya, even if it's awesome, and > Bifrost is deemed yet another misguided direction Maya was taken in by AD. > And in this future, no matter how good the technical underpinnings of bifrost > are, and ICE is a distant memory and Bifrost is just more abandonware in Maya. > > So yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath for an ice replacement from Autodesk. > > > > > On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 3:25 PM, Daniel Sweeney <dan...@northforge.co.uk> > wrote: > I will be surprised if bit frost is anything compared to ice. But who knows. > I will be honest I have never used Maya, and never have ventured into that > territory from things I have heard. With all the thing I'm reading after the > EOL was announce I just think out the box it far too technical/hardwork for > my personal work flow. > > Let's be rational, ice is 5 some years old and was 2-3 years in the making > before that. So that's 7-8 years. I would be interested to find out how long > this bit frost has been in the making.....now considering they only bought > niad not too long ago and I read its based somehow on that, I would be > sceptical how well it could work or how mature it is. I just think all of > this is based on pure market share and pleasing the share holders. > > But like I said I don't know. But I know I will be looking for another route > away from autocash for sure. > > I hope most people follow another path to show these bully tactics are bull > shit and the customer is always right. > > Daniel > > On 14 Mar 2014 18:43, "Nuno Conceicao" <nunoalexconcei...@gmail.com> wrote: > Gee, I guess how many features wont be supported in Bifrost, or how long it > will take them to have it at the level ICE currently is... > > > On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 6:37 PM, Ahmidou Lyazidi <ahmidou....@gmail.com> > wrote: > # mean mode on > They should introduce first the concept of weight map object in Maya as > currently it's all blackboxed in the different nodes, > and all with different SDK access... > # mean mode off > > ----------------------------------------------- > Ahmidou Lyazidi > Director | TD | CG artist > http://vimeo.com/ahmidou/videos > http://www.cappuccino-films.com > > > 2014-03-14 19:29 GMT+01:00 Nuno Conceicao <nunoalexconcei...@gmail.com>: > > Something just came up on my head while doing blendshapes and using ICE to > help along. > > Can you guys imagine how would ICE (or Biftrost) would work in Maya without a > proper modelling stack like XSI''s? > > Even something as simple as using ICE to invert weight maps that are hooked > with shapes with an already enveloped character or fixing some poses maybe... > > > Michael Clarke Design Blue C Studios 713-927-9835
