SoftImage-The Review version

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

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

Important to note, requires Windows 2000/XP to run

other than that, yea, looks cool.

<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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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? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/confused.gif I'm asking out of ignorance, not sarcasm.

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

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.
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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-

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... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

(I held on to the Amiga platform until 99... yup, it seemed like such a sure thing... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif 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. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

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.
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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!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Richard http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

---Wolff On The Prowl---

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 http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

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-

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

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! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

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

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 http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>I've got Wings3D, and some less imortant apps like cinema already http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )<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

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