Autodesk Softimage to be discontinued

[Corto]

I have been playing a lot with Maya lately and I'm happy to say that if they continue going the way they're going, jumping from SI to Maya is a safe bet. The controls can be mapped to feel almost like in SI and the modeling tools they got from Nex Tools make it almost similar to SI (I'm saying almost similar because SI modeling and animation tools are unmatched today, it just has bad press, it has always been like that). Maya's realtime preview options are amazing though. Anyway, I feel bad for Softimage but this was bound to happen since the day Autodesk bought it.

[Corto]

It's crazy watching videos on Autodesk's website about "new" Maya features for the 2015 version that have been features that Softimage has had since long before it was even bought by Autodesk.

 

This is exactly what I thought. In any case, it's good that they are including Softimage tools in Maya (since they are not doing it with Max) so, if the time comes, we can make the jump and still feel like at home.

[Tempust85]

Maya plugins use C or python, so you'd have a better chance at XSI/MD3 exporters.

[minilogoguy18]

I mean I've thought about moving to Maya only because of the support that it has but I really don't wanna leave such a great program as well as take the time to learn something new. I can open Softimage and start doing anything I want to right away, I know where everything is despite being a hobbyist doing game modding I've tried to experience as much as the program as possible even if it could never benefit me as a modder.

 

I definitely would never go back to using Max though that's for sure.

 

@@Corto, I'll let you do all the work and remap everything then I might try out Maya.

 

https://www.change.org/petitions/autodesk-save-softimage

[Corto]

I just hope they properly steal every good idea from Softimage before lowering the switch. Might as well try Modo. I don't know yet. I'm focusing on hand drawing right now.

[Tempust85]

There's 0% JKA modding support for Maya and probably won't be for a long time, if at all. I guess it's Blender for you guys if you want to still mod JKA.

 

Max may have been a bit primitive in the past when it comes to animation and modelling tools, but it's come a long way in recent years and isn't as bad as you two make it out to be. Everyone has their own preference for software.

[PK_Azlon]

I use Lightwave 11.5 for all my modeling. Of course I no longer make models for JKA because nobody has bothered to make an MD3 import/export plugin for LW 11.5 and even if they have, it's not likely to be intel mac compatible. I do have my gripes about lightwave, it's certainly missing (or poorly implemented) a couple features that other software packages have, however LW shines for me in the UI. There are no stupid icons to guess, all the tabs and buttons are text-only and keyboard shortcuts are displayed on each button if a shortcut has been mapped for it. 

 

The 2 separate apps approach they take might seem odd to some but given the extensive amount of features and functionality in lightwave, it becomes clear that separating modeler and layout cuts down on clutter dramatically.

 

Another thing I love about LW Modeler is Layers. Modeling using layers makes perfect sense if you use Photoshop. I have tried other 3D modeling apps and none of them are as easy or intuitive to me as Lightwave. 

[minilogoguy18]

A lot of programs have scene layers now a days, Softimage has had them every since I can remember and I started using it at version 3. Text based UI is much better though than fancy icons, I also prefer to work mainly with keyboard shortcuts.

 

Because of the lack of support for dotXSI 3.5 I probably wont switch as long as I'm modding JA, there really is no need to switch to another program.

 

Either way, all you have to do is poke around any 3d forum and especially Softimage based forum to see that rather than use Maya or Max nearly every current Softimage user from hobbyist to professional will use Softimage as long as they can then if they're forced to switch they'll use a non Autodesk product.