Autodesk kills off Softimage

[jordibares]

Regardless of what is better here or there the fact is that Houdini is extremely well positioned to absorb the XSI|ICE community provided there is a nice transition in the form of documentation and tutorials.

 

With regards with animation I have been dealing with it in Houdini and as we speak I am animating and choreographing 150 characters with rig, motion capture filtering, etc… Houdini is very solid and reliable, scales well (something XSI does not) and the architecture may not be the youngest but clearly has been superbly designed. I would not assume because it has more years is worst.

 

Interactivity, selection methods, non-procedural workflow, usability, viewport, animation toolset is the very weak point.. I can do better rigging in Houdini than Maya and XSI put together but I can't animate with the same ease and speed, the animation team has a truly precarious toolset but I believe that is relatively easy considering what Houdini has already there.

 

Let's see where it goes, I am looking at Modo to complement Houdini but my intention with the character animation is not clear yet…

[symek]

Interactivity, selection methods, non-procedural workflow, usability, viewport, animation toolset is the very weak point.

 

Unfortunately this is exactly first things popping your eyes when trying new software. Considering facts, that every SI user is offered with a free of charge switch to Maya, and the upcoming introduction of Bifrost, I doubt the situation leads to Houdini's adoption by SI community.

 

I know Houdini can handle character animation easily, just no one wants to animate in it, including SESI I presume.

[CiaranM]

I hardy see Si users adopting Houdini. Completely complementary mindset. Si is basically 3dsMax done right, it's like modo on steroids. The easier the better. Elegance with a promise of flexibility (which for Houdini users at least easily tours out to be a myth - you can't be flexible and legant at once). The level of abstracting users from the content is epic. Exactly unlike Houdini which keepe you close to a metal by design.

Another topic is animation toolset obviously. You can safly assume most SI users are animators enthusiasts spoiled with SI novations. I hardly believe they would appricite Houdini's swamp. Even switching to Maya seems to be a little shocking for them (I have witnessed recently endless "you can't do that?!") .

I'm not so sure...although Houdini may not be the first port of call for most, I would not underestimate its appeal to the more technical XSI users. Particularly since the advent of ICE, there is a healthy population of geeky TDs who have been spoiled with ICE (which gets them fairly close to the metal). For those folks, VOPs comes as a natural gateway to Houdini. Anything else would be a step backwards, like working with your hands tied behind your back. I know I felt pretty empowered when first using Houdini, which removed many of the limitations I had hit in XSI.

Also, XSI has a very strong place in many studios as the main lighting and scene assembly package. Again, I found Houdini to be a natural progression in this regard. The lighting workflow is certainly not as highly designed as XSI, but is much better at handling and organising extremely large scenes. Certainly more of a cofortable fit than some Maya-esque nightmare.

However, despite it's appeal to certain parts of the pipeline I wonder if Houdini can be the one stop shop that XSI was for many small studios?

[Mandrake0]

at the moment it's getting interesting....

 

on the SI Mailing list there is a offer for MODO with 50% discount: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/xsi_list/SDc-b0D3aBs

 

Who will follow ?

[magneto]

at the moment it's getting interesting....

 

on the SI Mailing list there is a offer for MODO with 50% discount: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/xsi_list/SDc-b0D3aBs

 

Who will follow ?

 

SESI should provide a refugee license for all XSI users with a license Is that 50% for everyone? If so, pretty good deal and well played, as I can imagine people making an impulse buy.

 

If they release a XSI to Houdini guide video, I am sure it would get good attention.

[Chris_TC]

I hardy see Si users adopting Houdini. Completely complementary mindset.

To me and many others, Houdini is the only viable alternative.

 

[symek]

I'm not so sure...although Houdini may not be the first port of call for most, I would not underestimate its appeal to the more technical XSI users.

To me and many others, Houdini is the only viable alternative.

 

Very interesting. Well, I would love to be wrong . We will see.

[Guest tar]

'SI Users' forum active at SideFx

 

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewforum&f=51

[abvfx]

The success of Maya and XSI IMO is their ability to marry the technical and the artistic. Maya while it may not be king in the rigging department anymore, it is for animators, and has enough openness to allow TD's to do their thing. Same goes for XSI. With XSI gone, i dont imagine users will want to switch to another Autodesk product. 

 

So there is a chance that it will either fragment the user base, artists moving to something like Modo for modelling/texturing/lighting/rendering & light animation needs. Technical moving to something like Houdini and if they must Maya. 

 

This is why SESI need to capitalize on these series of events. We all know it has chops (sry for the pun ) but it needs to be a more accessible and friendly towards animation at the very least. I don't want Houdini to become a modeler there are enough micro apps for that, but animation is often the epicentre of many productions.  

 

Despite what many think, Modo is closing the gap implementing more animation and rigging features. Release by release they add more modules into their architecture. While it is no Houdini or even Maya, they have a new Python interpreter, a schematic view, an Order of Operations approach to deformers (not nodal but stack-like) and the list is growing. 

 

Yet largely, Houdini is still percieved as dynamics tool. I wont argue year upon year more places are utilizing the power of Mantra, Vops/VEX and its modelling tools. But its image is still one of a VFX tools and SESI certainly do not shy away from that and we can all understand and appreciate that. 

 

But even a point release with some advancement in the rigging and animation department would go a long way i feel. I know the most extreme technical Houdini users might, i dare say, feel a little threatened that the logical paradise that we inhabit could become impure, tainted with big shiny buttons and playful colours, but I more than anyone would like Houdini to keep it's procedural nature. This is why i don't want modelling tools or any tools for that matter that don't fit with the current paradigm. 

 

There needs to be apps that both the technical and artistic can use. And right now i feel "there is gold in the streets, just waiting for someone to come and scoop it up." And i hope that someone is SESI. 

[Guest tar]

Seems like 1/3 of all Softimage users will go to Houdini, from everything I've read.

[edward]

'SI Users' forum active at SideFx

 

http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_forum&Itemid=172&page=viewforum&f=51

 

I was thinking that maybe the title should be 'eXSI Users'

[Guest tar]

It's going to be a fun next few years I reckon, having arguably the world's best animators crawling throughout Houdini's animation toolsets  

[magneto]

I was thinking that maybe the title should be 'eXSI Users'

 

You are gonna get sued bro

[Mario Reitbauer]

Hey guys. Just wanted to say hello

 

Former Softimage TD and Animator here.

[freaq]

Welcome Mario

I hope you feel well supported and welcomed into this community!
things will be different, but I hope you'll come to appreciate Houdini and us over time!
Houdini's a bit of an oddball, but quite lovable when you get to know her!

[ben]

"quite lovable when you get to know her"

So Houdini is a she ? God, That explain a lot !

[abvfx]

"quite lovable when you get to know her"

So Houdini is a she ? God, That explain a lot !

 

That must be why i fail so often.

[JonathanGranskg]

Hey guys. Just wanted to say hello

 

Former Softimage TD and Animator here.

 

Welcome Mario! Don't hesitate to ask questions here, people are usually willing to help on here. As long as you provide them with a file and/or a good explanation.

Edited March 7, 2014 by JonathanGranskg

[Guest tar]

Brad P. of Modo fame weighs in on the Si demise:

http://community.thefoundry.co.uk/discussion/topic.aspx?f=3&t=85630

[Mario Reitbauer]

Actually I allready got a question

I am trying to wrap my head around Houdini Fur System.

Started out with Zbrush to comb my guides which I imported into Houdini and choosen them as Guides for the Fur System.

I created an origin attribute for the curves and resampled them so they got the same number of points. But somehow it doesnt rly work the way it might be supposed too.

 

If anyone got time to take a look that would be awesome cause so far I haven't found any topic here or at sidefx rly solving this issue:

 

Here is a file (its from the apprentice version:

 

hairtest_221.hipnc