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While the .chm files are decent enough, I do find them a little dry - a manual, even a pdf printed version can be kind of a comfort or hand-holding for new users as they get their toes wet. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned (already, how did that happen?!)
On 30/08/2007, Steven Caron <carons(at)gmail.com> wrote:
.chm files are still present.
On 8/29/07, Matt Morris <
mattmos(at)gmail.com> wrote:
Jen that sounds great, some much needed new training material should go down well.
One thing I was wondering was why the decision to drop manuals that come with the software (even pdfs)? I know I used the manuals extensively to learn myself and it means I can't use the RTFM retort any longer!
cheers, matt
On 29/08/2007, Jennifer Goldfinch <
jgoldfin(at)softimage.com> wrote:
Hi Kris et all -
Recently, I was given the responsibility for working on expanding
training material and edu programs at Softimage. At first glance, to be honest, it felt like a chicken & egg dilemma. The first thing we did was add in-box training material with version 6, thanks to our partners at
Digital Tutors, to make sure that the SW at least shipped with a learning tool. It was also a priority to keep in contact with other DVD producers out there to make sure they had an updated license, to make
sure they were on beta, etc, etc, etc.
The next bigger issue that needed to be addressed was schools and training facilities -and as you know, many out there only teach Maya and or max. This proved to be frustrating at first, but upon digging deeper
and having actual discussions with the schools and program leaders, many are keen on teaching XSI, they just want to make sure there are studios who use it. Many educators felt for years that there weren't enough XSI
shops out there. Ok - yet we hear from clients all the time that they need people. (like this thread). PLUS new accounts want to use XSI, but are concerned about having a pool of trained users out there.
So after the v 6 DVD, the next step was to build material to offer schools & trainers an opportunity to train their staff, as well as have comprehensive material for internal training programs for our new and
existing clients who have expressed the need for this type of material to our sales teams.
Soooo.. we have just spent the last few months working with a very talented XSI artist and trainer to develop professional-level XSI
training material.
Yesterday, I received a drive with 45 GIGS totaling over 37 hours of training, complete with scene files, scripts, mocap data, etc. A couple of my colleagues here who have started to dig into it here keep emailing
me.. "wow, I didn't know that..."
This is not curriculum, rather it is an intense set of tutorials for the professional 3D user to be able to transition to XSI and become familiar and comfortable with what the software has to offer. In addition to
nearly 40 hours of videos, we also have written outlines to go with each module of the material. This is to help emerging markets build their own localized training material. It's a full featured "Train the Trainer /
Train the Professional" program focused to help expand our market, your studios and our partners' business.
We are actually taking the material on the road in Asia to train artists and schools in Seoul and Shanghai and then Mumbai, and will be looking
at training events in key markets like NYC and Soho at a later date.
Now I have to figure out the packaging and recompression of 45 GIGS.
Oh - and if our trainer wants to reveal himself to the list, be my
guest. :)
The training material roll out will come very soon - its my HIGHEST priority following SIGGRAPH.
jen
-----Original Message----- From:
owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM [mailto:owner-xsi(at)Softimage.COM] On Behalf Of takita Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 4:10 PM
To: XSI(at)Softimage.COM
Subject: Re: Industry needs more xsi artists!
Kris Rivel wrote: > 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.
Not to bring up an old dead horse but you have to figure in the student factor in to it, and as of late and most schools are still very heavily biased towards Maya. Yet the same as in the production houses, those
are large and difficult ships to turn around.
Don't forget also that the biggest expenditure for any production goes toward salaries, so it makes sense that management may regard the student pool as a potential resource to be tapped and where potential
savings can be made.
-T
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