Re: Industry needs more xsi artists!

["Bradley Gabe" <withanar(at)gmail.com>]

This thread again :-)

 

I think we've seen Soft attempt a number of startegies to increase user base; cost decrease, training initiatives, marketing pushes, etc. There are too many catch-22's at work for it to be broken so easily.

 

If we want to increase the user base, it probably has to be caused by us, the existing user base. We need to create work that gets attention. We need to produce something out of the ordinary that gets other industry pros asking, how did they do that? And how did they do it in such a short time? And how can we do that too?

 

When such questions are asked about an effect or production, how often has the answer been Maya, Max, or some proprietary thing? When that answer starts becoming XSI, then we'll see the user base grow in a significant way.

-Brad

 

On 8/29/07, Kris Rivel <krisrivel(at)gmail.com> wrote:

Yeah but I'm sure they had "some" reason to switch back to Maya.  More artists?  Maybe they had pipeline issues with XSI?  Maybe the supervisor hates XSI?  In fact...maybe one of the superiors is sleeping with someone from Autodesk?...hey...ya never know!

For most places...they don't want to fix what isn't broken.  They may or may not know that there are superior tools out there but the bottom line is that they are there to make money.  Their current pipeline works and they won't change it unless something can significantly save them money in production costs.  Hopefully, with Softimage's new pricing scheme and possibly Moondust, things will change.  If you can break it down and show just how much time and money you can save with software A vs. software B, then the superiors might consider it, even if it does mean re-training some of their team.

Kris

On 8/29/07, karlnrose <karlnrose(at)bluewin.ch > wrote:

I see your point Kim, but as I said we worked with XSI on a title and
then it was decided to move back to Maya for the next version of the
game franchise. To me that's like deciding that 8-track tapes are
superior to CD's. Maya has it's strengths, but not from a gaming point
of view (imho).

Karl.




kim aldis wrote:
>
> Same reason it's been taking a while in the movies; it takes a while
> and a lot of want to change pipelines at that level.
>
> *From:* owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM [mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] *On
> Behalf Of *karlnrose
> *Sent:* 29 August 2007 19:25
> *To:* XSI(at)Softimage.COM
> *Subject:* Re: Industry needs more xsi artists!
>
> What I don't understand is why XSI isn't more popular with game
> studios? It's got fantastic poly tools not to mention the texturing is
> smooth as butter. There are some great game dev features, yet most
> game studios are still using Max or Maya. I used to work for EA Canada
> and one of the games I worked on was done in XSI and then they decided
> to switch to Maya for the next release of the game. Now I use Maya a
> work all day every day (my boss's choice not mine), and I have to say
> that the poly tools in Maya are lacking as is the uv editor. I know
> that some games (great game titles like Half Life 2) were made in XSI,
> but the majority of developers still don't use XSI. Waddup with that?
>
> Karl.
>
>
>
>
> Meng-Yang Lu wrote:
>
> Wow...sending out an SOS!
>
> There are some studios here using XSI, and lately, I've found it to be
> more and more users that I originally thought. It doesn't seem like
> there's a shortage of XSI users, but maybe the amount of work at XSI
> shops have outgrown our little talent supply. A few of the smaller
> 5-10 man shops here are planning to expand, so the growth, from my
> perspective, is definitely there.
>
> Maybe the List isn't where this should be posted, but I know its the
> highest concentration of experienced XSI users. You could probably
> formulate your post on CGTalk in General Discussion to entice the
> various user community to switch over. The consensus is that there are
> no XSI jobs, but given your case, it's not true. Simply put, XSI
> Skills = Jobs in NYC, and maybe you'll get a few bites.
>
> And maybe if Softimage would like to host training sessions like
> SideFX is doing, that wouldn't hurt either to expose interested users
> to the application. This has been discussed to death before, but we
> haven't really express the demand for good XSI users to non-XSI users.
> I'll be switching back to XSI after serving out my sentence here at a
> Maya shop.
>
> It's been a busy year this year for CG. And if anyone knows of FX
> artists that know Realflow, Syflex, or simulation of that ilk, send
> them my way. :-P
>
> -Lu
>
> On 8/29/07, *Kris Rivel* < krisrivel(at)gmail.com
> <mailto:krisrivel(at)gmail.com >> wrote:
>
> We really need to get some more experienced and talented XSI artists,
> especially here in NYC. I normally might not bring attention to it
> since being an XSI artist in NYC means guaranteed work and I like
> being in demand but it seems there's been a huge demand for XSI talent
> here in the city and elsewhere. I'm not trying to toot my horn but
> I've turned down at least 6 or 8 offers for work in the past week...no
> lie. I'm handling more than one job often and way too booked to
> consider anything else for at least another month or two. What little
> XSI freelancers I do know, are all booked or have moved on to
> full-time positions here or in other parts of the country. Now I don't
> want the opposite to happen either where there are too many artists
> but I'm starting to wonder if this shortage can be more damaging. If
> nobody can ever find an xsi artist, nobody will use xsi anymore.
> So...if you're looking for a life change, know XSI and can hit the
> ground running.....come to NYC and HELP!
>
> Kris
>
>
>


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