I'm still upset that they bought softimage only to harvest ICE, and then discontinue it once they were done with it.
Re:Autodesk CEO on Investing in the Future
by samstave on Sunday March 06, 2016 @08:46PM
(#11236576)
Ive been using autodesk products since 1988. Softimage has an exceptionally special place in my heart. My favorite product Ive ever used.
Their old website from 1996 was WAY ahead of its time
http://web.archive.org/web/19970719164505/http://www.softima...
The way they showed things "poking" through the background really had me.
I went to school at Mesmer Animation Labs in Seattle in 1994 before 3D animation was a thing at any school...
Fond memories of SGI and the O2 as well....
Re:Autodesk CEO on Investing in the Future
by 9erdelta on Monday March 07, 2016 @01:39AM
(#11237469)
Wooow, that site is so awesome I want to make a site and imitate the "poking through" style. Also the bar across the top with options, (I don't remember much from '97) but that seems pretty innovative for the time as well.
What made Softimage so great? I keep hearing about it.
Re:Autodesk CEO on Investing in the Future
by samstave on Sunday March 06, 2016 @09:15PM
(#11236673)
UX and UI before that was a thing - it was one of the best software packages to use, but was 20 years ahead of its time...
Context -
You could keep the same view of your model - but you could swap between tools (the way you interacted with the model - and all your menus etc on either side by hitting the F keys.. it allowed super fluidity. Then they had nurbs and clay and all sorts or stuff... what killed them was that MAYA was better at rendering (I THINK, i may be wrong - its an old code sir, but I think it checks out))
Re:Autodesk CEO on Investing in the Future
by ank_the_elder on Sunday March 06, 2016 @08:35PM
(#11236544)
And what a beautiful product it was. I moved to Modo shortly after the sale to Autodesk.
Autodesk is where a lot of good products go to die nowadays.
People's lives were turned upside-down and dehumanized so that we could be a better part of a global 'portfolio' of these mid-sized acquisitions turned divisions. Transfers to other divisions or retraining weren't offered.
After that, I didn't want to go back. I went to work on Apple's video stack instead. Simply put, Autodesk is inhuman, and not in a malicious sense, they just don't consider human factors.