I started using XSI at home about the time of Foundation which was 4.2 I think. It wasn't until about 2007 that I transitioned from Maya to XSI on a permanent basis at work. Everything XSI prior to that point was unusable there. All I had was Onyx and an Octane 2s. From my perspective, it's always been there :) Tear off menus are only practical if you have lots of expendable screen real estate, but yes they are another option. I don't think I've used a Maya tear off in maybe 10 years though.
-- Joey Ponthieux __________________________________________________ Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and do not represent the opinions of NASA or any other party. > -----Original Message----- > From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage- > boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Luc-Eric Rousseau > Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:56 PM > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com > Subject: Re: humanize Maya, SOFT top 5 > > On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 9:44 AM, Ponthieux, Joseph G. > (LARC-E1A)[LITES] <j.ponthi...@nasa.gov> wrote: > > If you don't use the hotbox much or at all, it's going to be difficult to > > avoid > shelves if you want to improve your workflow in Maya. Maya, like most 3D > apps is multi-modular, meaning that in Maya the filebar and the menu > commands it presents changes context with each Module you are working in > such as Polygons, Surfaces, Animation, etc. Soft does the same thing except > in Soft the filebar does not change. Rather in Soft, the Main Toolbar changes > with modular context instead. Since Softimage's filebar never changes and > provides access to all commands all the time, it provides the same level of > access as the hotbox, plus additional functionality such as construction > modes, passes, and search abilities. > > > > Why might you find shelves important to your workflow in Maya? In > general, while in Maya, and in a particular module, say Polygons, the Maya > filebar will not present all menu commands available to you. This becomes > critical to understand when you are modeling polygons with deformers since > deformers are located in the Animation Module. Therefor you can't access > deformers while modeling in the Polygons module unless you > > A. Use the Deformation Shelf in the Polygon Module, or > > B. Use the Polygons Shelf in the Animation Module, or > > C. Use the hotbox. > > Your workflow then consists of mixing shelves and general filebar menu > commands and potentially hotbox commands if you are willing to put up with > the hotbox. Other examples of combination practices will include polygons > and materials, surfaces and materials, polygons and subdivisions, and > animation and dynamics. > > > It's rather new that you have access to all the module menus in XSI at the > same time; I added this I think XSI 5.1 or 6.0. > > In Maya, don't forget tear off menu. You can easily tear off the deformer > menu from Animation, and change to the modeling menu set, and therefore > get both, > > The default shelf is indeed there to play around and explore the program, for > new/casual users. It doesn't have everything in there.
