SoftImage-The Review version

[gidgit]

Well, it is in Bill's best interest to always have a bit of competition kicking around. Saves on those otherwise potential monopoly suits hehe.

Now then, back to SoftImage... the buttons on the left, whats underneath those buttons Gare?

Is this app text or icon driven beneath the surface? How many times do you have to go to the sides, or is there right click menu's... are most moves also supported with userdefine or dev defined hotkeys... how intuitive is it ?

thanx

[Gary David Bouton]

Folks...

SoftImage IS available in Unix/Linux version. Harry Potter II, the Quiddich match and Dobby were done by ILM using SoftImage for Linux.

As far as Linux goes, I talked to a Microsoft rep a while ago, and she said if Linux ever took off, MS would have Office and everything else for Linux in a moment.

As to the interface of SoftImage:
Lots of hotkeys. The buttons to the left are fly-out menus all arranged in a logical order. Also, there are contextual pop-up palettes. For example, when I add a sphere to the workspace, a palette pops up that asks me the resolution of the sphere, and how many degress of rotation (you could make an orange slice, for example, using 35 degrees of rotation). Even at 2048 by 1024 resolution, everyting seems to be within easy reach.

Is there a learning curve? Of course. And the rendering quiality is up there with anything you've seen that's synthetic but photorealistic.

IMO, SoftImage is intuitive.

My Best,
-g-

[bmh216]

Softimage|XSI is really the pinnacle app of 3D. I know alot of people think Maya is king, but XSI really has it all, everything good that every other app has going for it in little bits, XSI has in gobs. But, hey, for $10,000 USD plus a yearly maintenance fee, plus additional licenses for network rendering, it's not exactly cheap!

Just MHO,
Brett

[Gary David Bouton]

God!

All I did was post a link to download a trial of SoftImage, and so far we have opinions on Linux, Microsoft, DRAW 11, the problems (financial and time-wise) with learning "enough" applications, and so on!

I'm supposed to be the moderator here, and I feel as though I've led everyone down a blind alley.

Let's start a new thread with some images, okay?


My Best,
Gare

[Erik Heyninck]

Right man, I filled in all the data, got me another login and password, and the download goes as fast as a rocket.
I'm really curious to see this world famous hyper super app on my puter.
But I won't buy it...hehee.
(I've got Wings3D, and some less imortant apps like cinema already )

[jens g.r. benthien]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I've got Wings3D, and some less imortant apps like cinema already )<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

hahaha, right you are. To continue the line: Rhino is as superflous as a hole in your head ;-}

Maybe I should return - or should I say 'retro' - to pencil and paper. At least it wouldn't force me to 'install' some stuff from time to time. No hassle with NURBS or polygons anymore.

Believe it or not: I just talked to another industrial designer in this area, and guess what he has on his machine? No CAD, no vector, no pixel editor, no 3D, **nothinn**. Just a cheap 'n cheerful text editor (NoteTab Pro which I'm running as well - http://www.notetab.com ,an address database, that's it. For the rest he is using a pencil and paper, subcontracting everything. Saves him a lot of hassle. IMHO not a bad alternative.

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

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