Exactly the same here Simon, I think Mantra has come a long way in the last couple of years. In fact it would be my next choice behind Arnold right now. The beauty is you can have both!, the Alembic workflow in Houdini is also brilliant.
It really is a no brainer for us at this stage... ________________________________ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon van de Lagemaat [si...@theembassyvfx.com] Sent: 16 July 2014 06:28 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Maya 2015 Node Editor I agree Eric, 100% As of now we're probably shifting lighting, shading and scene setup in Houdini instead of Maya now that HtoA is in play. It's much closer to Soft in terms of usability and UI maturity. We primarily use Arnold but Mantra is a fantastic sidekick and when you combine them you end up with an amazingly powerful triumvirate. Frankly I was shocked and disappointed at how bad Maya's shading workflow was after taking some quick looks, everything takes an extra 2 or three or more steps for every single one of Softs or Houdini's. The simple task of connecting nodes isn't even straightforward!! Compile a days worth of extra steps and I've lost a solid hour to clicking. Anyone who has even looked any other package should know this, it's immediately apparent that there will be a measurable reduction in productivity. On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 10:22 AM, Eric Mootz <e...@mootzoid.com<mailto:e...@mootzoid.com>> wrote: He, he, the owner of a restaurant that serves healthy food containing everything the body needs (calories, vitamines etc.) but that looks, tastes and smeels bad, must not be surprised if people complain :) Seriously, the problem is not the functionality, it is the usability, the "look and feel". I am aware that making a "pretty UI" is - at least from a programmer's stand point, not a "cool" challenge, but having nice and meaningful colors, good drag and drop functionality, text instead of ugly icons and all the other nice little things as one finds in the ICE Tree or Modo's schematic view make a huge difference for the paying (!) customer, i.e. the gals and guys that spend hours and hours using the app. That's what makes Softimage so special: it just feels right and it actually is a real pleasure to do things, even complicated things. One truly has the feeling that somebody sat down and thought about how to implement something and - most importantly - how to make the user interaction as pleasant and intuitive as possible. Not saying that XSI is perfect, but it definitely is a software made by people who actually cared about it and wanted to make something good. Isn't the Softimage crew working on Maya now??? C'mon, guys, you did such an outstanding job on Softimage, do the same for Maya: make it a software one loves and likes! Am 15.07.2014 17:07, schrieb Luc-Eric Rousseau: Define "make it better"? On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Eric Mootz<e...@mootzoid.com<mailto:e...@mootzoid.com>> wrote: Thanks, guys. I had already used the node editor in Maya 2014 and yes, it is far better than the hypergraph, but still... it's not good at all. Had hoped that they would make that better, but no.
