Listen Up all 3D Artists!!
My company is rubbing noses at the moment with Avid Computer Graphics, the owner of SOFTIMAGE XSI (those of you who attended Siggraph may already be aware of this). XSI is undoubtedly one of the 3 major players in the 3D animation market. XSI v.4.0 was just released and recently had a HUGE (majorly Huge) price drop. You can now buy SOFTIMAGE XSI v.4 "Foundations" for $495.00. This is a full modeling suite with full animation tools, soft body dynamics, cloth built in, etc. etc. etc.
Now I wanted to see if anyone here has had any experience running XSI on Linux (Mandrake or Yellow Dog specifically). XSI is supposed to be fully functional on Linux and thus should now work on the Mac for $495.00. This is huge if you have any knowledge or interest in this market. Does anyone have any experience with these two flavors of linux that they would like to share?
Now I wanted to see if anyone here has had any experience running XSI on Linux (Mandrake or Yellow Dog specifically). XSI is supposed to be fully functional on Linux and thus should now work on the Mac for $495.00. This is huge if you have any knowledge or interest in this market. Does anyone have any experience with these two flavors of linux that they would like to share?
Comments
Can't offer info newer than it sounds like you've got.
You should go here and ask cause there's a number of XSI Linux users.
http://xsibase.com/
Good luck on XSI, you'll love it, and the new price for all versions is just stunning.
This is going to take some time to learn but I can tell you that this is something I would love to see on OSX. I cant see how it would be that difficult to port over being that it currently works on Linux Platforms. Maybe I'm just thinking wishfully again.
Like you, I've used Maya, as well Lighwave, Max, Soft 3D, etc for years now, but XSI feels like an extension to the creative process, and not a hinderance. I stil have to go back to othre tools, but for me, I can't imagine life without it.
One thing though, it's very deep, extremely complex, but only in so much as you want it to be. Like anything else, one can be daunted by the first impression of so many functions. But once you go through it, get the hang of it, it's just a dream to use.
Plus, at that price for foundation, you can't go wrong.
I guess if the Mac gets a foothold into those industries I mentioned above, we might see a port.
Thing is though, it run great on Linux and Windows, and you can put together a very fast system for little bucks.
I'd personally like a Mac version, but XSI is on a very fast roll just now, and I'd be worried about resources being taken away from the main devs to doing a Mac version.
all in good time though, main thing is that it exists (XSI), and boy is animation a pleasure.
Hey, sign up to xsibase, or cgtalk if you haven't already, really great places for artists and so on.
Just read this on another forum by a Softimage rep. Linux Foundation soon.
" Subject Re: XSI Foundation Price Changes [re: Dark_Knight]
Posted by gaz (Few Posts)
Posted on 08/16/04 03:00 PM
Hello,
I just want to confirm that there is a Linux version of Foundation in the works, available soon. No OSX for the present, I'm afraid.
Thanks for all the positive feedback!
gaz
Gareth Morgan, Sr. Product Manager, Softimage"
It is the news of the month in 3D though. XSI said "I SHOOK UP THE WORLD!"
iDunno.
Originally posted by iDunno
I think it is a very bad sign for XSI and it is their way of desperately trying to claw back some marketshare... which they lost to Maya.
iDunno.
It's not though. Let's not forget that it was Alias who droped the price of Maya to just a couple of grand a few years ago. Softimage still maintained their pricing structure during this, while sales rocketed. Now, the market is changing, Softimage out in a good many years in developing XSI, time in which they lost out to Maya, but I think it;s fair for them to want to get as many people to use it as possble.
Why shouldn't Sftimage rock the boat now? Everytone else has, in the 90s, the likes of Newtek releasing their software cheaply had an impact on the bigger names likes Softimage, Alias, etc. Then Alias droped theor prices causing a stir. It's about time Softimage aggresively dropped their prices to encourahe new users.
Softimage though, are in good health financially, and XSI, before the price drop, was frowing at a decent rte,
I say it;s the best thing to shake up the industry. Good on them.
Originally posted by sanity assassin
I say it;s the best thing to shake up the industry. Good on them.
Totally agree with you. Now all we need is for Alias to also drop their prices. Also it is a good way of battling with piracy. I know a heap of students who would buy the software if they could afford it... everyone lives with the mentality that it is okay to use cracked software because once you are working you will buy the full version (even tho I doubt that ever happens). I would buy Maya if it was only a few hundred dollars.
iDunno
Originally posted by iDunno
Totally agree with you. Now all we need is for Alias to also drop their prices. Also it is a good way of battling with piracy. I know a heap of students who would buy the software if they could afford it... everyone lives with the mentality that it is okay to use cracked software because once you are working you will buy the full version (even tho I doubt that ever happens). I would buy Maya if it was only a few hundred dollars.
iDunno
Definitely, Alias and Softimage have been good wgen it comes to educational versions (xsi advanced for $299), but to see a commercial package at a similar price can only be good for all.
Some might say that there's very little market to sell into, but not really, the 3D industry has grown ezponentially over the last 6 years. The larger companies wil continue buy hundreds of seats of Maya, and Softimage, etc. so they will still get their high ROI; but there's this other market made up of people who are interested in animation as a pursuit; companies that are small but couldn't invest in such high end software. It's these kind of groups that they must be going after. In fact, one of the guys from Softimage mentioned that, it's to also attract just anyone who can't afford it, even if you work in the industry, but it gives theem the chance to train up on the software at little cost.
Of coure though, it's not all just purely them thikning of us, there is a business strategy behind it, but Softimage have been one of the better companies when it comes to dealing with their custiomers, from my experience.
There has been a tend recently in which the low to mid end priced software was going higher, so this kinda left the sub $1000 market empty, even Lightwave went up tyo around $1500. That's a pity caues I know a number of people who would love to buy into these packagers, but can't hence what you said about piracy.