devilsreject:

Quote - That's a real good deal right there.  XSI are trying to bite into Autodesk's total dominance in the industry, now that they own both 3dsmax and Maya.  I think Lightwave, Cinema, and 3dsmax probably have the strongest base of independent artists or hobbyists using their software, and XSI probably sees money in that.  Regardless, it's a great offer, and if I were you, I wouldn't think twice.  The only thing you might regret is that XSI is nowhere near as user-friendly as 3dsmax, and there isn't near the level of online support for it, in regards to tutorials or forums.  As a newby to high end 3d, you'd be almost on your own with the learning curve compared to the stong online support for apps like 3dsMax, Cinema, or Lightwave.  Something to consider anyway.

I believe you on all counts. While I have been eyeing XSI for a long time, since it is suposedly slanted toward character animation, I never had to REALLY look into it because of the price. Now, not only can I get XSI for less than Max, there is a $1000 sale below that. I have to decide, soon, or just let the $1000 go and decide slower. I'd planned to do trials of Cinema and XSI, but am into my Max trial first. 

So I went over to Softimage and viewed some of the videos. I see what you mean about it not being as user-friendly as the others. And indeed the 'community' is not even close to the power of the other two apps, escpecially Max. I REALLY lean on community when learning and tweaking. I also spent time this weekend at various Max forums reading the buzz on the upcoming Max2008 release, coming in October. Looks brilliant, but not necessarily slanted towards character animation.

I have gone up the learning curve on some very demanding applications, such as Logic Pro for composing, Visual Fox Pro for high-end database programming, and recently learned Flash to get the skill of that kind of website. So, I am not completely intimidated by XSI. However, while I am in the gestation period of an ambitious and realworld for-profit enterprise with 3D, I am actually (as you realized) an 'independant artist', not a production house that can afford to hire technical staff. I'd like things a little easier at this point, please.

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