I'm not too sure Steve,

that's why I asked if someone could try it our for me!

I agree on the upgrading for upgradings sake point, I would definately still be using 7 if I had the choice.

Cheers,

Mat.

happymat27: I cant believe Autodesk did not offer a protection License in with Maya 8.5, and the fact that you have to purchase one seperately 30 days prior to the fist commercial shipment of that new version. How is a customer to know about this before he decides to buy, especially when new versions mysteriously come out of nowhere. It really sounds like Autode$k is just in it for the money.

I think I will look more seriously into getting XSI.

gster

I was just 'banging' on in general, as a whole so to speak, not pointing fingers, people like Mat are almost forced to upgrade if you catch my drift, which is unfair to an extent on them.

Cheers
Jay

just read all this thread and its turning out to be quite interesting....

coming from the programming angle (for my sins I've been doing web programming for about 7 years) the switch to python is a big plus.
It means that the people already out there using python for web applications (google, plone etc), desktop applications and more can quite quickly get versed in programming in the maya environment. This could potentially lead to a big increase in custom tools/interfaces being written and made available to maya users. Writing it for one app (maya) means that it would be far easier to mod it for another app and make it more widely available. I'm guessing that sometime soon Max will drop MAXscript in favour of python too and if XSI already uses it then that is a big plus too - watch the domino effect run through the other 3D apps, unless one goes further with .NET style programming being added or maybe that'll come with Vista...
There are a lot of python tutorials out there on the web for people wanting to learn the basics so if you were really interested then even before upgrading you could get the basic understanding under your belt and then scripting in Maya wouldn't be as scary as it might currently be.

One of the main reasons I haven't touched MEL is that its yet another language to learn and iron out all the idiosyncracies/syntax with. I was setting up a Python based Content Management System called Plone before recently finishing and if maya had supported it I would have dived in headfirst and learned so that I could do things in both programs.
Just my tuppence

Si

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One other software that really takes my fancy is modo.

Has anyone got any experiance with it?

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"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

Steve

Not persona;;y but if you go here...

https://www.subdivisionmodeling.com/blogger/

theres a few guys who do...good forum

Funny abou tthe upgrade..Autodesk did tha tto me when i got V7 last year....purchased it like... 4 days before v8 was annonced at siggraph hit the market. reseller todl me i would be able to upgrade, Autodesk wouldnt do crap for me...-shrugs-.. i like 7 good enough.. no biggie
G

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Cheers Jay,

Just downloading the 30 day trial version now.

Before when I said you were "bang on" i meant you were "spot on", I was totaly agreeing with you, not saying you were banging on. If that makes sense?? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick???

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"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

Steve

LOL, I dunno mate, I havent a clue now to be honest, its past.

let me know how you get on with modo's demo, I may have another look on it, after your viewing, I was gonna download Max's demo and possibly XSI if theres one for that.

Cheers
Jay

I agree, this update doesnt really impress me much. Im not yet swavy haha, but there just doesnt seem to be much that perks my interest. I think the addition of python is cool, but im not a coder i cant stand it haha. I had to take a C++ class and that drove me up a wall. BUt i have recently tried XSI, i must say that i have fallen in love with it. Theres so many cool little features.

i dont think this update is to impressive :/ maybe they should name it 8.01 instead of 8.5.

Well, on the Maya front, I actually got them to agree to give me 8.5 in return for 8.0, but only because it was purchased the friday before 8.5 was announced and released. But, I still like 7 over 8, so I'm not too excited.

As far as Modo goes, I've tried it. It was nothing extensive, but it seems like a good program. But, it wasn't similar to Maya. I'm going to dl that XSI demo and check it out. Hopefully, I can get into it, and use it as a backup. Does anyone know if XSI files can be imported into Maya, and vice versa?

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Eric Tacti
3D Artist

There is a plug in for Maya that will allow the import and export of dotXSI file formats (you may have to complie it yourself). Also I beleive that you can get the FBX plugin for XSI, check www.the-area.com to see it is still there.

I would go for the FBX route as I have used it before. dotXSI is a file format native to the XSI package.

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Chris (formerly R@nSiD)
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https://www.softimage.com/products/xs...ure%20List.pdf

look on Page 4 it show a detailed outline of all you can exchange with maya and max. as of v6, almost everything is exchangeable through the mayaConverter

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im not sure if this has been mentioned but hey

python scripting....... to me its just a way to help them phase out mel and maya
just my opinion though

it has come out too quick with not that much to offer same as v8

they should wait to build some more new and qualitive features, however new dynamics system interests me

im curious though does max do .5 versions ?

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