Autodesk just made the announcement that SoftimageXSI, a premiere, high-end modeling and animation package, will see it's last incarnation in the 2015 release, then is being discontinued.  This is a sad day to many who used this great package to model and animate some of the most fantastic 3D creations the world has ever seen in film and broadcast since the 1990's.  It was the software that brought us MentalRay, one of the most widely-used production rendering engine the world has ever seen, and one of the first render engines to offer multi-layered, SSS skin shaders.  Softimage also featured one of the most advanced facial rigging and animation tools, FaceRobot, and a powerful parametric effects and building system called ICE. 

Autodesk is offering a transition route to Maya or 3dsmax to current license holders.

** http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-softimage/overview**

I for one am sad to see this.  Even though I do not use the software, it was a staple in the CG industry for many years, and I know several people who do some incredible work with it.  There had been speculation for several years, however, that AD had to trim the fat in order to keep profits going, and that having 3 applications that did virtually the same thing didn't make much sense financially.  Not all is lost.  The final version of XSI may likely be good enough to use in production for many years to come, so it's not like we won't see work being produced with it any time soon.  Users don't have to immediately stop using it forever, just because it's being discontinued; they will continue support until 2016.

It's a good day to be a Maxon user.  I actually lost money on this one.  I bet a collegue they were going to give the noose to 3dsmax.  I guess the user base was just too strong for that after all.  Of course Maya is their bread n butter, and the crowning jewel of their entire arsenal, so there was no way Autodesk was going to part with that one.  Studios everywhere would rebel, and they'd lose millions.  I guess the only one left to discontinue was poor XSI.

So which app do you think they will give the ICE technology to? Should I even ask?  I think Maya will adopt all the best features from XSI, like the advanced subdivision and ICE.  Might be good news for 3dsMax too, in the sense that rumors of it's demise can simmer down for a while.

This is actually sad news for many students who were seriously invested in months of training for visual effects with XSI.  I'm not jumping for joy, or placing bets on what features will show up where.  I'm actually concerned that there's some young artists out there now with lengthy demo reels of XSI work that won't find jobs with the tool of their trade, and now have to be trained in yet another complex application.  In fact, I know one such person personally.

On the upside of the coin, the DAVE school, at least, is offering help to people who are now stressing a transition.  I saw this notice posted on the Foundry's website:

March 07, 2014-The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School, located on the back lot of Universal Studios in Orlando Florida, is offering three full scholarships to the Softimage XSI community.

With Autodesk’s recent announcement concerning discontinuing Softimage XSI, the Digital Animation & Visual Effects School (DAVE School) would like to extend an offer to the Softimage community as a way to help transition Softimage users to a new toolset.

“The entire faculty at the school was saddened to hear the news this week and wanted to find a way to help at least a few key members of the Softimage community through this transitional period,” explained Jeff Scheetz, DAVE School Founder and School Director.

*For the past 13+ years, the DAVE School has delivered a rare educational opportunity that sets our grads apart from nearly every other school. It begins with quality skill building and ends with a 12-week production experience where the class works together to create a short film. *

The DAVE School is dedicated to educating future generations of digital artists and is offering three full scholarships to the Softimage community by opening up spots in our next class that starts April 7th. This opportunity is designed to offer assistance to exceptional Softimage artists who are passionate about their careers in the entertainment industry and are looking to transition to new tools. Each artist chosen will have the choice of either our 12 month visual effects and animation program or our 15 month game production program, each valued at $33,500.00.

“Having learned many 3D applications over the past 20 years, I understand just how involved transitions like this can be for artists. I’m extremely excited to play a role in helping three artists add to their skillset and transition to new tools,” says William Vaughan, Academic Director.

The current core tools taught in our 12-month visual effects program are MODO, MAYA, ZBrush, NUKE, MARI and PHOTOSHOP. Our 15 month gaming program teaches MODO, MAYA, 3DSMAX, ZBrush, Photoshop, UNITY, UDK and CryENGINE.

*To apply for this opportunity, simply email the school (jeff@daveschool.com) with a link to your professional Softimage gallery / demo reel, a resume and include a short explanation as to why you would be a perfect candidate for a full scholarship. Once submitted, all applications will be reviewed by a committee of DAVE School Instructors. 3 winners will be selected based on quality of work and potential employability. All entries must be submitted before 11:59PM (EST) Friday March 14th. All applicants will be notified with the results by noon on Monday, March 17th. This competition is only open to artists who are eligible to attend school in the United States without a student visa. Winners may be able to request a different start date if necessary. *

About The DAVE School
Located on the back lot of Universal Studios in Orlando, The DAVE School offers complete immersion in the art and science of computer animated visual effects, with extensive practice under qualified supervision. The two programs offered at the school provide instruction in digital modeling and texturing, computer animation, film magic, stereoscopic 3D production and game production. For more information, visit http://www.daveschool.com.

This offer is directed at the Softimage user community. Any questions can be addressed by Jeff Scheetz at jeff@daveschool.com

I think that's a generous offer, and certainly it will help relieve some of the stress off of young students who may now be a little nervous about the next intense training they will need to go through over the next several months.

Well, the smart ones will start hitting Youtube tutorials asap, and getting to know one of the other softwares immediately.  If Autodesk has a heart, they will get together with Lynda.com or Digital Tutors, and offer transition courses to one of the other apps to qualified students.  The Dave School isn't just doing this because they are sad, they're scrambling to help because they were one of the only good schools that pushed XSI heavily for VFX, and students payed good money, and trusted that school to give them sound advice.  As far as I know, they continued offering XSI courses right up to the day it was announced.  You would think Autodesk would clue some poeple in.

If someone has a killer demo reel, it won't matter what software was used, because most studios are concerned with raw talent, and not the software.  Studios often train in-house anyway, and if they want someone's talent, they will make sure they are familiar with the pipeline.  NO student, looking to get into VFX, should have neglected to learn Maya.  Plain and simple.  If the person you knew didn't even try to learn Maya while learning XSI, then SHAME ON THEM!  Maya is the undisputed king of VFX, and XSI was used for specialized stuff.  No one should depend on the software to carry them into a career, especially in CG.  I have no sympathy for anyone who was using XSI, or any Autodesk product exclusively.  The signs and rumors that something was going to be gone soon were there for years.  No one company needs three heavyweight 3D packages, or could afford to support all 3.  Do you realize the man hours involved in programming all three of those every year with new stuff?  You Max users should be crying tears of sheer JOY right now, because from what I understand, Max hasn't had a meaningful update in about 5 years.

I think it's a shame mostly because I think XSI was the best overall software Autodesk had in terms of a solid, modular core, and great potential.  I'm sure they can fold it into Maya somehow, because Maya has a very flexible backend too.

I was expecting the discontinuation.  The development of XSI has not matched the development of Maya and other AD products.

There are a few things that XSI does well, and does better than the other products.  If AD is willing to bring the XSI rotoscope capability into their other products, and some of the memory of last tool used, then there likely won't be much need for XSI. 

I've looked at maya, max, modo, c4d, and a few others.  I have yet to see any app that can load a blueprint into rotoscope and use in ortho views without distortion as either attached to camera, or attached to screen.  No need for image planes.  This one single capability is why XSI is such a good modeler for me.

Well, the ability to fine tune how you use a tool is also great in XSI. 

I would imagine that CrowdFX and Face Robot can be coded for the other apps.

XSI has not been promoted very well and a lot of forums like Renderosity don't have an XSI forum.  Some folks are outspoken against it and quite critical of those who use it for reasons that I will never understand.

As long as it works, I'll keep using it.  I suppose that in the future, my workflow will be bluprints in XSI, then when the basic parts are built, and its all art and creativity after that, move to some other app to finish.

Luxx, nice that the DAVE school has an offer for 3 people.  I suspect that there are more than three people who use XSI.  Digital Tutors has good online training for other apps.  As far as the "stress" of leaving XSI, I'm pretty sure that anyone who has used XSI to the level the app is capable of will be well versed in other AD products.  I don't see the transition being much more than a bit of time at the online sites including Gnomon online.

Hehehee...

https://www.lightwave3d.com/crossgrade_promo/

Crossgrade offer.  XSI to LW.  Half price from the curent promo, 1/3 price from regular full price.  https://www.lightwave3d.com/buy-lightwave/

That's not a big surprise.  I've been in studios that had XSI/Lightwave cross production before, and they actually play nice with each other.  Much like a Maya/Houdini pipeline, each lends to each other's strengths.  A while back while Microsoft still owned XSI and developed it, one of their main influences for how XSI is today was Lightwave3D, which at the time was the top software in broadcast FX for the tellie.  Many artists can easily make the transition from XSI to Lightwave.  They have similar operating procedures and workflows.  Moving from XSI to Lightwave actually makes more sense than XSI to Maya or Max.  I'd look for NewTek to make a powerplay for the rights to XSI sometime in the future.

Fascinating, thanks for that.  Yeah, maya/max are alien in comparison to how XSI works.

It's very sad indeed. I used XSI for a while, and I loved its modeling tools. I like Maya better for some things, but there were a few features that were really nice in XSI. I wish AD sold it to somebody else instead of just getting rid of it.

Sue, if I understood the press conference, they did answer the question about turning it over to public domain or selling and something was said about the tools and power and "leveraging."  Maya was commented about a lot.  I don't recall Max being spoken of.  So I take that to mean AD is finally going to enhance Maya with XSI tools and code in the future.

I'm OK with that.  I'm just learning maya and realizing that it is not so alien.  Yeah, different interface, but the workflow in modeling can be similar and I'm guessing that once I stop hitting xsi hotkeys and start using Maya hotkeys, it will be really fast.

Ah, that makes sense. I do wish they took some nice tools/features from Softimage into Maya. Well, we'll see what happens.

I like Maya, and yes, once you learn the hotkeys, you'll be able to work faster. You can also have a custom shelf that puts your most-used tools within easy reach, and that helps, too. :)