How many of you use Softimage?

[Alex York]

Hi everyone.

 

We're all aware that Softimage (either 3D or XSI) is not particularly prominent in the arch-viz market, but I would be interested to know how many of you use it? (either 3D or XSI).

 

I'm an avid (excuse the pun!) Softimage|XSI user and wouldn't trade it in for the world. I find it's MentalRay integration second-to-none

 

So, a show of hands!

 

PS. Please mention if you are a pro/hobbiest/student so we can get an idea of where it's being used as well as how many.

[TheAllusionisst]

Alex,

I recently switched over to SoftImag XSI and used the current contest here for motivation to learn the program by re-rendering some previous projects in it to learn the texturing and lighting aspects of the program. I can not comment yet on the extent of the modeling capabilities, but that is supposed to be one of it's strong points. As far as my level of architectural visualist, well I get paid from time to time I actually do architecture and use rendering software as a tool to express ideas, so that aspect is secondary to my full time job, but I think I am getting better!

 

I like the program so far and it is logical as you figure it out, but it is about a hundered more times complicated than I am use to, or I should say you have a 100x the options and you can choose to make things complicated

 

Hope to see more architectural related work and tutorials for the program so I can capitalize on it's potential.

 

Take Care!

[Alex York]

Ah great! I'm not alone, then

 

It is, indeed, pretty complex, if you allow it to be. This is quite a big point being made by many new users (or converts). They seem to dislike the fact that the simplest of tasks is made complex, but really what this does is give the user more control, which is never a bad thing.

 

I, too, wish there were more archi-related tutorials for XSI, but really it's all the same principles as with MAX, Maya etc, especially now the three major apps use MentalRay. The approach XSI takes to modeling is pretty similar to all the other major apps, except that it's sub-ds are extremely cool

 

Cheers for chiming in!

[Hazdaz]

Ever since they dropped the price of the lowest version of XSI, I have been VERY tempted to atleast TRY it out. But I just can't push myself enough to want to learn it versus my usual DCC app, which is MAX - espesially after the latest version which made it much faster and more stable.

 

Also, you mention Mental Ray - I have read that MAX's integration with MR is the best in the industry.

 

What application did you come from and why did you decide to drop it and switch to XSI?

[Alex York]

Hey Hazdaz same as on CGTalk?

 

I doubt MAX's integration with MR is the best in the industry... it's only been shipped with MAX since v 6, so it's only had a year or so of development.

 

XSI has been MentalRay since the beginning. Most people I've spoken to agree XSI's MR integration is extremely good. MR is integral to XSI, so it's the best it can be (without exposing too many core features). Sure it could do with some work though. Nothing's perfect

 

I can't recommend XSI enough. The price of Foundation is just way too good to say no to. Value for money... in spades.

[TheAllusionisst]

I am not a good judge example of a convert, I have used Truespace for years since that is what I could justify buying and once you learn a program, get all the plugins and many updates, it is difficult to change or for me it was. The next version of TS is supposed to have Vray integration, so I may update and pay for the full version of Vray so that I have two major render engines to try out and figure out what I want to settle on.

 

I have had the opportunity to render with many packages over the years and think SoftImage has the best integration with Mental Ray, but I haven't used the latest version of Max. Since SoftImage has used MR for years, I would imagine that they have a head start on Maya and Max and will quickly be offering the latest version of MR in their next update. At $495.00 it was just too good to pass up and now I finally get some decent quality renders, although the material setup could have a 'Dummies Mode'! LOL

[Chris Johnson]

I wouldn't consider another package unless it had the following features:

 

1. Ability to create a primitive object anywhere. (Not create it at 0,0,0 and then have to move it (Like Maya). Can XSI do this?

 

2. Snaps. Does XSI have vertex, midpoint, endpoint and other usefull snaps?

 

3. Viewport tumbling. Maya'a and Max's has the best viewport tumbling tools I've ever scene. Lightwave's tumbling tool never lets me rotate and view the model from where I'd like to view it from. It's so backwards. Speedtree's CAD program has the same type of tumbling tool that lightwave has. What is XSI's like?

 

I don't know much about XSI so I'm asking.

 

[Edit]

 

I ask this, because I'm really interested in XSI foundation, but am not really crazy about putting up with spending time learning something only to find it lakes the above features I look for.

[lordmidas]

You're not alone Alex ...

 

We use softimage|XSI since are beginning, almost 3 years ago. Best software there is ! (It's the only one i've used) Can't say nothing about the other one since i've never use them but i can say that softimage really does a great job when it comes to architectural rendering.

 

David Cormier

http://www.1-20media.com

[Alex York]

David - excellent! but then you are from canada, so having Soft at your doorstep can't hurt!

 

Chris - we better not let this thread turn into a software war, but to answer your questions, 1) not natively, no. but I've heard it's possible with a script (there's a discussion about this on cgtalk somewhere). 2) yes, brilliant snapping tools. 3) seems good to me

[Hazdaz]

Is there even a demo version of XSI? I know MAYA has one, and MAX has a 30 day trial. With one of the XSI packages dropping to $500 I don't recall if they still have the demo going.

 

Here is one more VERY important question concerning XSI - how stable is it????? I know its tough to compare software packages in terms of stability, but its one of those things - if its unstable - you know it when you see it.

 

MAX - up until the latest release (7) was VERY unstable. BUT with its newest release, I have to admit, its lightyears ahead of what it was in terms of stability and (in some cases) speed.

 

(oh, and yea, the names the same everywhere )

[Alex York]

There is indeed a demo, and it's feature-packed, too. It's called XSI EXP. You can find it on http://www.softimage.com.

 

It's very very stable. Relatively speaking of course. I've rarely had it crash on me, and if it has it's been my fault (pressing too many buttons quickly). That's my personal experience anyway.

 

It's also very fast.

 

If you need one single reason to switch to XSI, check out the Construction History...

[be_ha]

hey all,

 

oi vay, I was just going to reply about the demo, but alex you beat me to it. I'm new to this forum, but old to xsi. have been using it for the past 2 and a half years in school.

 

anyways, I don't want to start any software wars as stated above, but I have to back xsi up 100 percent. the earlier versions were a little sketch, but with version 4.2 now, and 4.5 on the near horizon things have just been getting better and better.

 

in 4.0 the modelling tools got a huge boost and are very nice to use, very fluid. And mental ray...I can't say I've tried the new max 7, but the integration of the two programs are pretty much flawless. Yeah there are a ton of options, but once you figure out what all of them do then you're gold.

 

One final thing to look out for, is the next version coming out, as it will feature the newest version of Mental Ray. I've seen some test renders ala maya with it, and everything looks amazing, a huge gain from the current one that we're using now.

 

cheers all

 

brad

 

ps. I'm about to embark on a fairly large scale architectural project and will post updates when I can.

[TheAllusionisst]

SoftImage XSI Foundation has a full version 30 day trial. The only stability issue I have had was with a currupt or unsupported import of a SoftImage 3D (older program from SoftImage) model, otherwise I don't think I have ever had a crash, I have only had the program for around 5 months and really used it hard core for two months, but I am very impressed with the stability. I used TS for years and it crashed almost every session if I was using nurbs, simbiont shaders or doing animation, so XSI is a breath of fresh air. Of course an individuals hardware will probably be a factor.