J’ust a question ...
Why Autodesk dont advertising more Softimage ?
Softimage is a fantastic software but i dont remember a single pub of Softimage in the home page of Autodesk.
I know 3DSMAX is your best seller but come on you can make money with this software too.
Wake up Autodesk lol.

Yea Why?Why?Why?Because Autodesk are only moneymakers and nothing more.....I have bad feeling about Softimage XSI(That,s how I will call it always)
One little example from today:On the first page in Area today they have an image done in XSI and they put it on Mudbox category.Every autodesk event I went in the past after the acquisition, Softimage always been outsider or wasn’t presented at all.Now Zbrush 4 is coming soon and no GOZ integration only for XSI and LightWave .We all know that LW will be replaced by “Core”.What about XSI why not XSI . And Many more whys........I am in process of running my studio right now and I love Softimage but I am not sure if I can invest money on software with so many whys and unclear future?And do you know autodesk I am not getting max or maya instead.....I prefer go and invest to Side Effects Houdini because this guys develop they don’t buy .Their aim is to create great product and they are passionate about that.
I can’t believe how it’s possible Autodesk not to see what huge potential Softimage has to become their main money maker.Autodesk why don’ yout focus your money to improve ICE .Do you realize the potential of this technology and where could get you in near future.Don’t you see how user friendly and modern is Softimage in comparison with maya and max.
Now you have the 3 major applications and you think that you own the CG industry but the cg industry is the artists and their creativity and they won’t let you kill the soul of this industry.... and turn it to zombie. Because this industry can’t exist without soul… The real artists in this industry do what they do because they love it and they are passionate about it , it’s not only about the money.  Autodesk stop buying other people’s plugins ,spend your money on development and create something yourself.
That’s why Softimage is in this situation because autodesk don’t get much money from it.And as I see they don’t spend any to advertise it .They call it companion to Maya and this is scary......
Sorry but I am really passionate about Softimage XSI and I am really upset when I see what autodesk is doing to it.

I prefer go and invest to Side Effects Houdini because this guys develop they don’t buy

your right about houdini, its an amazing and powerful piece of software. you can get the apprentice version for free on their site to try it out or buy the starving artist version for 99 dollars.

Wow infinity_spiral ! I almost heard you screaming =)
Let’s not get to emotional here, I know it’s hard but lets at least pretend.
I have too a few concerns, but I try to stay cool because probably there’s nothing we can do. Probably…
My concerns are related to this:
We will see in future versions of XSI - the spell checker underlines “XSI” but not “Maya” and “3dsMax” (no, this is not my concern LOL) - the great features that were added in previous versions such as Motor, Gator, ICE, etc.? Since Autodesk (apparently the spell checker doesn’t recognize “Autodesk” either, so I’ll rule out any conspiracy for now :P) umbrella we saw good improvements but not what we were used to see when Avid days. I hope Autodesk will prove me wrong in the next release.
Peace and be loved!

I totally agree with all of this.

Seems that Autodesk is trying to get out Softimage out of the picture.  But they are totally wrong. Maya is the one that should be left out.

Softimage has proved to be a much better software, more dynamic, more complete, more artist focused.

Maya is a like a Frankenstein with lots of parts from here, from there.

Autodesk get real!  It is unbelievable that you bought this amazing software and it seems you are putting it away.  In your website you can only see Maya and 3d Max as your only 3d apps.  You have to dig into the website to find Softimage.

A new artist came into our studio.  He WAS a Maya user.  Once he started using Softimage he says he will never use Maya again.  Just watching the banner above this “AREA” it reads ”Next Generation Digital Entertainment Creation Software.  Create the future with Autodesk 3ds MAX 2011 and Autodesk Maya software”.

WHERE IS SOFTIMAGE????

Get alive dudes!!!  Softimage rules above all!!!!

And even if they kill Softimage, I think that with the tools the are right now I will stick to Softimage for as long as I live.  I don´t care if you add super render engine to Maya or put FaceRobot into Maya or even ICE into Maya.

Just compare the UI of both apps…

Autodesk is putting all their efforts into making this Maya Frankenstein more a spawn from hell.

if maya is so bad that u thik it’s only good to trow it in the thresh why so many great artworks came out of the maya’s user base. Ui is personal preference and i like mayas and the one from modo.I agree with u that xsi is an great software but also maya proved for 12 years to be suited for high end graphics and its awarded for its innovations in cg.
I also agree that xsi has some areas where no other software can even touch its strength .
An great exemple of Maya’s strength is the integration of the ready at dawn engine into maya .
The below cinematic is what i call epic imaginary and it was shown 2006 at siggraph.

	Video

If Autodesk is calling Softimage a companion program that doesn’t sound good.  Maya is king in Autodesk vision it probably has the most licenses from Small and Single studios all the way up to hundreds of Licenses for the major studios. 

Autodesk needs to give Softimage more publicity but I doubt that will happen so then how come Autodesk doesn’t reduce it’s subscription fee on the software and have more promotions on Softimage ? They had a good promotion for a limited time for $2,000 a while ago, and make the yearly subscription fee $400 at least.  Isn’t that what Maya subscription fee costs currently ?

Softimage is a great program, no doubt but I wonder if it’s timing was off from square one, that doesn’t mean hopelessness it just means Autodesk has to change not so much the software but how it markets it.  Having Softimage a companion app means that in future releases it’s probably going to be tied in even closer with Maya and Max which Autodesk continues to be very proud off even though most Maya users say Maya is aging and Softimage has the edge right out of the box.

Now calm down people! :P
Autodesk is not a bunch of brainless zombies that walk around mumbling “money,money, moar money”.
As long as XSI is making them money they’ll continue to develop it. They also are aware of its power and potential of further development given its new and innovative core.

I don’t believe Autodesk is lacking insight about what future will hold regarding 3d app market. It’s quite intuitive in fact that even though you “have the power now” it doesn’t give you any reassurance it will last forever as long as you don’t keep making new and solid products. If this doesn’t happen, other companies will do it and eventually people will move towards better apps, fact that happens in any free market on this planet.

I am very optimistic that XSI is here to stay for a long time and it will continue to serve us like a good companion it is. :)

Well… no.  You are right.  Maya works and there is truly amazing job done in this platform.  But as always it is not the platform.  Is the artist who drives the software and push it to it’s limits.

Maya became so popular and XSI don´t.  When Softimage was doing the transition from Softimage 3D to XSI it took too long.  But it was really worth.

The matter here, I think, I feel… Is that AD put Softimage aside or at least that seems so.  I know AD is not a bunch o brainless monkeys.  But they have invested so much money in Maya that the feeling is that they are going to rip Softimage to get all the good stuff and take into Maya.  Or that an hybrid named Softimaya is going to appear.  I have reading posts around here and I am more calm about it.  I know the Softimage horde is working hard to give us even more.

My fear was what happened with Combustion.

An excellent Compositing solution at a very affordable price.  AD bought it from Discreet.  Just to kill it once they got the whole Discreete package.

A lot of us are still using Combustion.  And the last revision was in 2007.

This is what we, Softimage were afraid of and with AD not making a good promotion of Softimage is what we fear.  We see Maya here, 3D MAX there, but no Softimage.

	Video

I don’t care, if they kill Softimage. Since, I already own Softimage XSI 7.01 x64 version, I feel safe.  XSI is way ahead of it’s time in terms of stability, modeling and rigging tools etc. Maybe it lacks a bit on the field of dynamics, but then again I am not into dynamics anyway, heh heh. For work, perhaps I will have to use Maya or Max but for personal projects I will always use XSI. It’s interface is lighting fast. Look at Maya it’s so sluggish compared to XSI. I started to model in Maya 2011, but it annoyed me so much I switched to XSI.

Anyone who has used XSI knows what a truly magnificent software it is.

Even, Maya was stable some years ago, but these newer versions seems to be getting more and more sluggish. Even the pros are using the older versions of Max and Maya, very funny. Bought some Gnomon DVD’s and saw that Ian Joyner was using Max 9. And in one of them Cajun Hylton was using, I think it was Maya 8.5.