Softimage XSI foundation v4 for $495 or £299 !!

[thethule]

I know that this is a Vray (i.e: 3dsmax) forum, but i was just wondering what peoples opinions are on the news that XSI foundation which includes MR and cloth and particles is now selling for $495 or £299 (for my UK friends). This seems like an incredible price drop. How will Discreet react, surely they HAVE to lower their prices now. I love Max more than anything, but this is certainly a bit of a wake up call. What do you guys think? Will this affect 3dsmax sales?

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=160910



Regards,


Marc

[Syclone1]

That is a sweet price but I dont think that discreet will drop their prices any time soon as when alias droped the price of maya every one thought that discreet would follow to be competitive but thanks to poor management they refused to lower their prices. Which I think will hurt them as long time users like my self (since 3dsmax 1.0) are looking at alternatives to 3dsmax because they are getting tired of paying discreet's bloated prices for the same thing their competition selling, some times at half the price.

Ending it there as Im starting to rant

-dave

[travistlo]

Now the next question is, will discreet lower prices when vray standalone hits. This may cause more people to switch to other apps. I think alot of people are sticking to max becuase of vray.

[thethule]

Agreed travistlo. I think that if Vray was available for Maya or XSI, i would definately think about switching. Not because i think they are particularly better (at least not for me, but i dont do character work), but just because there are more people using maya in the film and tv industry. Discreet need to get its act in gear, stop releasing half baked updates, drop their prices and set about doing a complete rebuild (in the works already im sure..). They have an amazing piece of software that they are ruining due to poor thinking and management.
For a bit more than the cost of one days work, i think im going to get myself a copy of XSI.

Regards,

Marc

[percydaman]

Ive been waiting for vray standalone for awhile now so that I can drop max and take up other options. I think I can always use max in a studio environment but I really want to branch out.

[Janus Rölder]

discreet are milking the max user till all have switched to maya or xsi.
it´s a shame that so many stupids work at discreet.

in europe you have to pay 4000$ for max.

tell me, what does architects benefit from CS or reactor?
but they have to pay for it.

[plastic_]

3dsmax is not targeted at architects.
there is a max version for architects, it's called autodesk VIZ.

[Long John]

thats right janus.
architects can buy VIZ for around 2200 euros.

thats still to much imo but if you don´t need CS or reactor it´s the better deal.

[chris-x//]

When you buy max6, you have an unlockable CS version but you have to pay more to get a key for it to work. So 4000$ is without character studio.
3ds max7 will include it fully.

This Xsi offer is interesting, if vray was available for it, i would have bought it already.

[honzal]

guys, have any of you actaually tried any of those programs already ( Maya, XSI ) for the arhitecture visualization ? I did try Maya and I can say Max is way much productive than Maya ( I am not talking about renderers ) - just import CAD ( DWG ) geometry into MAYA is pain in the ass. I am not happy to say this, but Maya is very far from to be good for arch. viz.
And so far I know XSI doesn't have a direct import of DWG - byt maybe because XSI is more Polygon oriented and if you write or find any good DWG importer, XSI could be good switch.

just my 2cents.

Jan

[Long John]

who says that all here are doing arch stuff?

[honzal]

thats right - but this question could be answered from both sides - arch or/and animators. I gave just my opinion from the side of arch. viz.

jan

p.s.: as I think at least 50% of Vray users are doing arch. viz.

[travistlo]

Jan, I dont speak for everyone here, but I dont import cad 3d into viz. MAybe lines, but I do all my modeling from within the 3D app. I have use maya (not much tho), and from my limited experience i liked maya better than max. It had better modeling tools. Better Selections for sub-objects, better arrays, im sure there is more. I will give discreet credit on one thing though, max's material editor is wonderful.

I never tried xsi, but im sure someone has, and can give thier opinions.

p.s.: as I think at least 50% of Vray users are doing arch. viz.

I think this is mostly becuase most arch viz use max/viz. Once vray is open to other apps I think you will see a large increase in vray use in movies, games, sfx.

[e3d]

We have just switched to Maya and the latest version imports acad like a dream..plus dxf and 3DS.

I have been using Maya for about one month now and IMO it blows the socks of Max. We do architectural visualisation and now I have got my head around Maya I can model quicker in Maya than Max plus it doesn't crash ten times a day!!

Not to mention all the effects etc we can now do, grass, clouds, cool looking water etc etc

When Vray supports Maya 100% max is in the bin...

Cheers

Neil

[percydaman]

hehe... max doesn't crash for me much at all, let alone 10 times a day. Its funny but Ive heard maya users talking about switching to xsi as they complain that maya crashes too much! I guess the grass is always greener...