RE: online assets and resources, was Re: Framestore jobs?

["kim aldis" <kim.aldis(at)gmail.com>]

The problem with that discussion was that it was focusing too much on the details. Issues like viewing, documentation and search are the key issues, not what the shader ball should look like. Admirable though the effort was.

 

From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM [mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] On Behalf Of Chris Marshall
Sent: 01 May 2007 10:07
To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM
Subject: Re: online assets and resources, was Re: Framestore jobs?

 

I was just about to write exactly the same thing. There was a big discussion on XSI Base a couple of months back about a material presets library, even down to a URL being registered and some guys creating a shaderball model. Where did that go? Why don't Soft provide some decent infrastructure and support for something like this? Netview's got to be the place for this, but it hasn't really happened.




kim aldis wrote:

The two main resources for  this kind of thing, netview and xsibase, while great resources have become lacking as the community has grown. Netview isn’t that well organized, the search isn’t really capable and descriptions in the tools that are there are lacking in both short description or documentation. XSIBase, on the other hand, suffers badly from lost links because nothing is held on the site and the search engine is bad enough that it’s not worth using.

 

The time is absolutely right for a well thought out, well maintained resources for xsi. One that’s well organized, regularly checked and cleaned and one with a google caliber search engine. These things, like the internet, live or die on the back of an ability to search and find what you’re looking for.

 

 

 

From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM [mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] On Behalf Of Kris Rivel
Sent: 01 May 2007 02:02
To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM
Subject: online assets and resources, was Re: Framestore jobs?

 

Yeah, I've been saying this for awhile too.  I have lots of shaders and scripts that I know are not available on the web at all.  Many have been handed to me by peers, other xsi list members and websites that no longer exist.

This brings up the whole netview thing that I know a few of us ranted about months ago.  Great idea but not well executed and badly in need of an overhaul.  Problem is that somone might share something here but it never makes it out to the public.  Some things are posted on xsibase or other sites.  Many of them never make it to netview.

You also have weird situations like the whole ctrl-shader issue on XSIbase.....what the hell happened there?  Someone not getting along or something and bam....can't find the shaders on XSIbase anymore.  Or the L-glass shader....what ever happened to that guy...fell off the face of the earth.  His site is down, email over quota.

Kris

Eric Lampi wrote:

You know...

The same sort of thing should be done regarding tools,

scripts and shaders.

Raise your hand if you've gone to a website only to

find that a tool you wanted to use wasn't there

anymore.

It would be nice if more people would also send their

tools to the SoftImage website.  Netview is a great

resource, but it seems underutilized.

E

--- Jennifer Goldfinch <jgoldfin(at)Softimage.COM> wrote:

100 per cent duly noted.

Thanks Andy.

jen 

-----Original Message-----

From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM

[mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] On Behalf Of Andy

Jones

Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 6:19 PM

To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM

Subject: Re: Framestore jobs?

Well, for starters maybe there should be a checkbox

on both of these job databases that automatically

submits the info on the other job database as well

so that everything is cross-posted by default. 

Otherwise, the database on Soft's site might as well

just be a link to XSIBase so that the data would all

live in one place.

And for available jobs, maybe it makes sense to have

some sort of standing listing of companies where

people can send reels.  I don't know about other

companies, but for us, generally by the time we're

ramping up for a job, we already need to have the

pile of reels and the list of candidates on hand. 

So individual job posts sort of don't even make that

much sense.  And it's not like we currently have the

problem of getting too many XSI reels in the mail...

- Andy

Jennifer Goldfinch wrote:

Hi,

I have been reading the thread for the last couple

of days, and I wanted to pipe in for a sec.. 

I just sent this note out to the training list:

"Wow - it's been a whirlwind 3 months. We've been

all over the places, promoting XSI 6. Starting in LA

at the first launch event at House of Moves, ending

with NAB last week in Vegas - it's been quite a

journey. Now that I am back in the office and

staying put for a while, I am trying to pull

together some information for the Education &

Training portion of our website... I wanted to also

let you know that recently my role at Softimage has

changed slightly in order to allow me additional

time and resources to take on full responsibility

for both Education and Training within the marketing

structure, as well as client relations... And

finally, many of you have asked about our

certification plans. We are working on a strategy

and I hope to have a plan in place and a concrete

response to share with you in the near future."

So my mandate now is to focus on training, training

and training, both from the professional side and

the college side. I am working on several different

initiatives to support the market needs for XSI

artists & TDs, and looking very forward to sharing

it with all of you.

Will things change overnight? No. Is this a huge

priority for Softimage? Yes. There is an opportunity

for XSI adoption in the market, and we are going

after it!

One thing I'll need the community's help with is

this:

http://www.softimage.com/community/get_a_job/talent_bank/

& 

http://www.xsibase.com/jobseekersn.php

We want to make sure that it's as up-to-date as

possible, so we can 

point our new and potential clients to it, either

at the base or on 

soft.com

Occasionally I might be reaching out to you guys &

gals to validate some ideas, as well. .

BTW - our SIG plans are full steam ahead, so please

keep us posted on whether or not you are planning to

attend.

PS Kim - expect an email from me tomorrow. Promise.

:)

See you later!

Jen

Jennifer Goldfinch

Manager, Strategic Relations

Softimage Co. / Avid Technology, Inc.

T: (514) 840-0387

C: (514) 912-0387

F: (514) 845-5676

jgoldfin(at)softimage.com

-----Original Message-----

From: owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM

[mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] On 

Behalf Of Stefan Andersson

Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 2:19 AM

To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM

Subject: Re: Framestore jobs?

To give my pov on the matter (since I'm also in a

maya company now).

XSI talent is hard to come by, let alone TD's that

have XSI experience. I think here is where the big

thing is... the lack of high-end XSI TD's. Sweden is

a small country so therefor the availability of

freelancers/staff is limited. And I would say that

80% uses maya, 15% 3dsmax and the rest (where XSI is

along with Cinema4D, Modo, etc.) is about 5%.

Lack of tools/render engines is also something that

they look at (since you can't find XSI TD's you need

to buy solutions). I don't think we can blame

Softimage too much for this since you can't force

companies to code for your application (only MS is

allowed to act like that....). "The Setup Machine"

for instance is such a tool that would be very handy

for many small-medium studios. The biped guide just

doesn't hack it.

So, without getting into detail to much. All of it

will be solved if 

tons of XSI TD's are let out in the world :)

So my wishlist for future "xsiwillkillmayaversion"

there are a few 

"things" that is used daily that would really help

(but I'm sure 

Softimage are thinking of these things)

* UV unwrapper

* 3D Paint

* 3D Sculpt (even blender has it)

* something like "the setup machine"

* better particles (like the ones shown that no one

is allowed to talk 

about)

* point cache (which also supports object

translation)

At least at our studio people are getting a bit

tired of Alias/Autodesk and that maya is not

evolving as it should. Many things that has been on

the communitys wishlist hasn't been implemented (and

we are talking about things from maya 2). Also that

Autodesk is now charge of the ship makes many people

worried. Will maya go the same way as 3dsmax? a race

with version numbers instead of actual progress or

plans of a new generation. Integration problems with

mental ray is also a issue. We battle daily with

things that renders differently from within maya and

how it renders on mental ray standalone. Mainly

because they have implemented things in 8.5 which

mental ray standalone doesn't support.... but you

only notice that once you start rendering....

Oh well... I could go on forever. And I would be

extremely happy if we could jump ship. But being the

only XSI person and 16 maya people, there isn't much

I can do. And here no schools at all are teching XSI

so we can't even get "fresh" xsi talent.

over and out from the dark pit.

/stefan andersson

On 4/28/07, Tim Leydecker <BauerOink(at)gmx.de> wrote:

I may add that the Maya guys do envy me for the

rendertree, render 

region and mR´s responsiveness when doing previews

of models. I like 

that, too:-)

It´s just that I´m the only one using XSI,

otherwise 

=== message truncated ===

Freelance 3-D Animator, F/X Artist

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