Category Archives: News

Lagoa & the Autodesk Subscription Advantage Pack for Softimage 2011

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I see that Mark Schoennagel has let the cat out of the bag about Lagoa and the upcoming Advantage Pack release.

So, what’s an Advantage Pack ? It’s basically a collection of product enhancements and new features (like Lagoa) that are available exclusively to Subscription customers. The idea is to increase the [perceived] value of Subscription to customers.

There’s more to the Advantage Pack than Lagoa, but [unlike Mark] I can’t pre-announce stuff 😉 I’ve got to wait for the official announcements.

Softimage, Lagoa, premium Suites, and Autodesk marketing

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The announcement of the new Max and Maya premium suites (which include Softimage and Lagoa) together with the relatively low profile of Softimage in the Autodesk marketing materials have caused a bit of a stir in the community.

Chinny (the Softimage product manager) posted this message to address the community’s concerns:

From: softimage-bounces@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-bounces@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Jason Brynford-Jones
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 11:13 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: A Softimage message

I thought the last time I wrote something like this, would be the last time.

I am beginning to sound like a broken record; a record no-one obviously likes listening to. So perhaps this really is the last time I will play this message as it seems to make no difference.

Marketing
It seems now the Softimage community is only focusing on Autodesk’s marketing as the barometer for Soft’s future. Not “no marketing” but “less marketing” than 3ds Max and Maya. Or that the new Max and Maya products WITH Softimage means no more Softimage? This does not make sense.

New Max and Maya Suites
From all our interviews Max and Maya customers want Softimage (not just ICE, but ICE is often a big reason) in their toolsets. At an affordable price, that interops well. OK let’s give it to them, in the way they want it.

There are many more Max and Maya customers than Softimage. Having product suites branded with the name 3ds Max or Maya are obviously targeted at selling to them. This represents a massive potential for Softimage. You might not agree with the naming, but you can’t argue the logic.

Softimage as a standalone product is of course continuing as before (with some very exciting stuff in the works) and having the standalone product available to all Max and Maya users is a huge endorsement of Softimage and commitment by Autodesk..

Development
Since the acquisition there has been repeated fear-mongering about Soft’s future. Even though in that time, we have had two major releases (3 in the last two years) and one minor (check what others have done in this time) and of course there is more to come.

Even though we have exceeded revenue expectations, even though we are expanding our development. Even though fundamentally NOTHING HAS CHANGED, people choose to focus simply on a lack of marketing and not Autodesk Softimage’s track record.

We still manage our own roadmap, with the exception of working well with other Autodesk apps. Something everyone has asked for repeatedly, especially ICE interop.

Our philosophy will continue around ICE as the architecture on which to build – that includes one day moving into modeling. We have not abandoned other parts of the Software (see the list at the end of this mail) far from it – we have a very well defined focus and future.

Final thoughts – for this is the last time I will do this.

If you take one thing away from this mail, it is this.

The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click
The future of Softimage is bright… click

It really is…

Chinny

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Softimage announcements

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If you want to be updated about service pack releases and other important Softimage news, turn on the Check for Announcements and Updates preferences (File > Preferences > General).

Then every time you start Softimage, announcements and updates will be displayed in the default Netview page. If this option is off, you can still click a link in the default Netview page to display them. If this option is on but Launch Netview on Startup is off, high-priority messages will still force Netview to open on startup.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to the RSS feed at http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/motd/rss_en.xml using an RSS-aware browser.

XSI 1.0 first shipped 10 years ago

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As Luc-Eric pointed out on the XSI list today, yesterday was XSI’s 10th anniversary.

Softimage Co. Announces First Customer Shipment of SOFTIMAGE/XSI Version 1.0

MONTREAL–(BUSINESS WIRE)–May 30, 2000

Softimage Co., a subsidiary of Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID), today announced the first shipment of its groundbreaking 3-D animation SOFTIMAGE(R)|XSI(TM) system. The next-generation of 3-D animation technology, the SOFTIMAGE|XSI system is a significant breakthrough in the international digital media industry because it allows animators in the broadcast, feature films and games industries to take advantage of a first-of-its-kind, truly non-linear animation system. Within the first few weeks of availability, Softimage anticipates delivering the new software to over 17,000 users worldwide.

“SOFTIMAGE|XSI represents a tremendous amount of hard work, talent and energy from Softimage and we are extremely proud of it,” said Marc Petit, vice president of 3-D products for Softimage. “This project has been an amazing challenge from day one. The mandate was simple: completely re-invent a piece of software that had set the standard in the industry and redefine the benchmark.

“The SOFTIMAGE|XSI system is a strong platform on which we’ll be able to quickly build the next generation of tools for media professionals. With SOFTIMAGE|XSI, the .xsi file format and the XSI viewer, Softimage is ideally positioned to extend its leadership into online 3-D interactive content.”

Here’s some vidcaps from the XSI launch tour: