SoftImage-The Review version

[Gary David Bouton]

If you can download 149MB, you can get a mostly functional version of SoftImage now. I guess this is a showdown between Alias|WaveFront and Avid now!

The interface is VERRRY easy to understand.

http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/

My Best,
Gare

[Gary David Bouton]

If you can download 149MB, you can get a mostly functional version of SoftImage now. I guess this is a showdown between Alias|WaveFront and Avid now!

The interface is VERRRY easy to understand.

http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/

My Best,
Gare

[gidgit]

Important to note, requires Windows 2000/XP to run

other than that, yea, looks cool.

[jens g.r. benthien]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Important to note, requires Windows 2000/XP to run. other than that, yea, looks cool.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

No wonder - Softimage is a subsidiary of Microsoft ;-}

Looking cool? Hm, I think it looks pretty much grey, more like the sky in north Germany, and that's far away from looking cool :-o

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://www.sacalobra.de

----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
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[Dan Huff]

Jens, didn't Microsoft, in a very RARE move, actually SELL SoftImage to Avid, back in 1998? Or is there some sort of partnership thing still going on? I'm asking out of ignorance, not sarcasm.

Dan Huff
http://home.neo.rr.com/nikko/

[jens g.r. benthien]

the last info I have is that MS still owns 51%. So it had been more or less a strategic partnership :-]

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://www.sacalobra.de

----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--

[Gary David Bouton]

Does it matter whether Microsoft owns 51% of SoftImage?

Does a stock holding affect the quality of SoftImage?

IMO, a strong company reaffirms my intent to purchase a product. For example, I'm scared now about both my learning investment and my monetary investment in Poser 5. I also upgraded to CorelDRAw 11 because Corel Corp. is on shakey ground. But Avid and Microsoft will always be around, at least I feel that way. And to that end, if I like SoftImage and buy it, I will not have the sad experience I had with Extreme 3D; Macromedia stopped developing it because at the time (1997), they weren't a terribly smart company like they are now.

Just my 2¢,

Gare


-g-

[gidgit]

Great points here Gare, very sound reasoning.

This is not to say I like or dislike SoftImage, as I have not ever tried it, and... since I will likely be the last Win98 hold out on the planet, it may be quite a while until I ever do manage to try it...

(I held on to the Amiga platform until 99... yup, it seemed like such a sure thing... 1200 tower now collects dust along with too many other parts, pieces, software etc... sad really )

as for MS products, well, they pretty much work for me as they should so I have really no complaints... Front Page is my buddy, Word is my wifes buddy, MS Publisher is a stable DTP app which has all what I personaly require, and my wife makes great use of the rest of the Office apps, so really truly no complaints.

As for other disciplines, well we use a whole host of apps for a variety of reasons and are truly not married to any one specific... we don't imagine there is one solution meets all, nor do we believe there is one specific which is dasterdly... in the case of MS, well, free enterprise eh, what can ya say... damn, wish I would have grabbed up stocks right from the git go eh... haha... the rest is just alliegence to one whining party or the other and has nothing to do with the merit of the products... Linux has it's serverside solutions, MS and Mac have their solutions... and the rest is Your Choice and using em productively for business or pleasure... pretty easy to understand, and certainly not warranting company or app bashing of any sort... leastways not imho.

[jens g.r. benthien]

I didn't want to blame MS or make jokes, it's only natural that SoftImage requires W2K Pro or XP. No one would ever expect MS or Avid to code software to run on a Linux machine. I personally think it's sad, because every company that will develop for Linux or at least port their products for this OS might gain an extra market share. It's just a matter of profitability. I can't tell anything about SoftImage, because I've never had a chance to purchase it legally. Sure, I have a copy of it, including a manual, but hey, who will give me the time to learn **every** program on the market? I know how to handle Rhino and Cinema, Xara X, Corel PhotoPaint 7 (!), Ashlar DrawingBoard and a few handy utilities. My job is to develop things, not to be proficient in operating misc apps. So if you prefer SoftImage - great. Even better if you can handle it better than anything else. The important and crucial part are the results you will be able to produce with the apps.

Solid Works, Alias, RealViz - you name it, I **could** install and run them. But I don't, because I concentrate on the apps I know inside out. However, it's interesting to study their manuals, how they approach the 3D world.

BTW, even Maxon, the developer of Cinema 4D, is no longer the owner. They have been 'purchased' from Nemetschek, a German CAD system developer. Who cares? I don't - at least not as long as Cinema will look like Cinema as I am used to it If they would change it to a Nemetschek GUI I would drop it as fast as a hot potatoe ;-}

just my single cent <sigh>

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://www.sacalobra.de

----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--

[RAMWolff44]

Trust me on this one, if Linux takes off as another popular desktop they WILL port or build native apps like Word, IE and OE, et all that stuff that many of the "X" Windows users would love to have over on that platform!!

May not be right away but I think they would do anything to keep a user base even if it's on Mac OS or a Linux desktop!!

Richard

---Wolff On The Prowl---