what i have to say about XSI so far

# 1 08-08-2008 , 07:33 AM

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whilst i'm fully aware that this isn't an XSI forum i'd just like to tell someone who knows what im talking about what i think so far, although XSI is meant to be better than everyone else (this is the feeling i get from the website since they are bragging about how better everything is than Maya and 3ds, and i say it probably is, and i haven't exactly gotten far into learning this)

CRASH

it crashes more often than microsoft and maya put together
maybe its just because its the free version i'm using, but it crashes all too often... maybe its my specs and i need more RAM

there are a few little trivial quirks, which could be debatable as being good or not

they do have raycast select which lets you select things with the selection marquee and you only select the things that are facing you... the only equivalent i can find in maya is the paint selection, useful as it is, it doesn't seem as fast as a marquee drag.

although in some tutorials i've seen people marquee drag stuff and only some of the things in the marquee get selected. like only the faces facing you, or only the faces that are fully inside the marquee.

but yeah, this post is mainly to say XSI mod tool crashes more often than microsoft and maya put together... :zzz:

oh and one other thing.... it doesn't seem to like duel monitors that are different sizes
dragging it to the bigger monitor (which is stuck at being secondary) full screening it just makes it jump to the bottom left corner the size of the smaller res
which kind of defeats the purpose of me getting my larger monitor since i got it so i could see all the buttons in this program a few months ago :bandit:

oh and one more thing.... navigating is a lot slower... you can't use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

oh and one more thing.... (i kinda sound like the old guy from that jackie chan adventures cartoon :p) the button to switch between a maximised viewport and the four pane view port thing is F12, the key is soooo far away user added image

ok, the obvious soution is to buy the software and then i'll be allowed to edit the hotkeys

that's a "Ch" pronounced as a "K"

Computer skills I should have:
Objective C, C#, Java, MEL. Python, C++, XML, JavaScript, XSLT, HTML, SQL, CSS, FXScript, Clips, SOAR, ActionScript, OpenGL, DirectX
Maya, XSI, Photoshop, AfterEffects, Motion, Illustrator, Flash, Swift3D

Last edited by Chirone; 08-08-2008 at 08:09 AM.

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# 2 08-08-2008 , 09:08 AM

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Sounds like your system mate has a big prob with it. I know a couple of dudes who use it regular in production and they were maya guys who took the jump to XSI and never looked back...

For more info on how cool it is just ask our in house XSI resident: Vlad LOL, Im sure he'll give you an honest breakdown of it in true Vlad style.....

cheers
Jay

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# 3 08-08-2008 , 09:17 AM

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i'm gonna guess its something wtih my system

it crashes with their cv curve tool almost every time i click! user added image

well... i just did what i needed in maya and used crosswalk to get it into xsi user added image

on the note of vlad, i'll be happy for him to start bragging user added image

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# 4 08-08-2008 , 09:21 AM

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no wait, my bad, it crashes on almost every click :headbang:

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# 5 08-08-2008 , 10:29 AM

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XSI rules, new node based particles seriously ftw.

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# 6 08-08-2008 , 10:46 AM

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-xsi is ages ahead of maya as of 7.0
- i can count on one hand the amount of time xsi crashed on my machine using it for the past 2 years
- you can remap the maximize viewport to any button you want.
-you can download the 30 day tril of xsi 7.0 essential with full functionality ,instead of mod tools.
- your machine has display issues...

take a look at the new xsi features... watch some of the videos, if they dont help you decide to make the "switch" then stick with maya and keep pulling your hair out.
:blush:

https://www.softimage.com/products/xsi/

here to see some vids of things possible with the new ice env. show me if maya is close to this...
im a rigger/modeler/junior animator,
ice has helped my rigging 10 folds so far.
every thing is multi-threaded... new sdk, new better tools, dare i say "next gen" tools..
i think xsi has set the bar with this release. now everyone else will be playing catch up.

https://community.softimage.com/showthread.php?t=1899

https://www.vimeo.com/1480070
https://www.vimeo.com/1400443

The madman Gebhardt: https://www.vimeo.com/sukio/videos/sort:date

Brad Gabe: https://www.vimeo.com/user594481/videos/sort:date

Steve Caron: https://www.vimeo.com/scaron/videos/sort:date

Image dump

Last edited by vladimirjp; 08-08-2008 at 10:51 AM.

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# 7 08-08-2008 , 11:50 AM

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Sexy links dude,

I still use maya alot mostly for work reasons,
but Im starting to use xsi at home alot more.

Simply XSI!!!

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# 8 08-08-2008 , 11:07 PM

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Theres always a bigger fish user added image

I thought about 3d max,blender and so on, but choose Maya since it has alot of all around capacity.

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# 9 08-08-2008 , 11:19 PM

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Originally posted by vladimirjp
-xsi is ages ahead of maya as of 7.0
- i can count on one hand the amount of time xsi crashed on my machine using it for the past 2 years
- you can remap the maximize viewport to any button you want.
-you can download the 30 day tril of xsi 7.0 essential with full functionality ,instead of mod tools.
- your machine has display issues...

Originally Posted by

-sweet :attn:
-sweeter :attn:
-i know but the mod tool wont allow such hearsay
-sounds like a good plan, other than the trial being less than the duration of the project, but i guess i can finish it all in 30 days, it isnt much i have to do... how hard can it be to learn to animate while piled with many other things? all the models exist anyway, and they have their weights. I'm sure xsi will make it quick and easy user added image

-my machine sucks balls :angery:

i was meant to learn xsi earlier this year, but i ran out of time and had to start with my dissertation...
oh well user added image

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# 10 09-08-2008 , 07:29 AM

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dude, i was watching the ICE stuff *drools*

i totally need xsi7 man...

models that can break apart into little bits and it looks so cool and such other awesomeness

looks like the coolest visual tool i've seen

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# 11 19-08-2008 , 10:46 AM

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Up till version 7 (weird bugs I guess) xsi is amazingly stable on my simple machine - rarely crashing (always able to retreive scene too).

I like the rigging and animation toolset in XSI

Ice looks good as did GATOR

Jim

Mayan elder......only in years.....

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# 12 19-08-2008 , 09:15 PM

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All this XSI nonsense has got me curious... So I'm downloading* it, so that I can prove that Maya is better!.. OK? I'm definitely NOT Downloading it just because I watch the Ice, and other demo videos! ... Just so were clear!

*Trial version user added image

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"Um, this isn't Mars. This is Earth."
"Earth? Earth-with-nuclear-weapons Earth?"
"Yes."
[long pause] "Friend!!"

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# 13 20-08-2008 , 12:38 AM

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Ice is cool, no pun intended, but if you you arent into dynamics or programming theres no point in getting excited.

_J

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# 14 20-08-2008 , 04:38 AM

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the difficult part is switching between the keyboard hotkeys and navigation things

when using XSI for the first time i kept trying to use the alt key with the mouse buttons to navigate around the scene, but you have to use the 's' key. and i keep hitting the wrong mouse button for a particular camera thing
but of course when i switched back to Maya to work on the tank i kept trying to do it like in xsi

also the transform hotkeys are x,c, and v, and are reverse of w,e and r

it's like that with blender too... keep hitting the wrong keys and mouse buttons to navigate around the scene :p

why does every software package feel the need to remap all the keys? :hug:

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# 15 20-08-2008 , 04:48 AM

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lol Jay true, but its exciting when previously devilishly tricky things become easier to do. Broadens the scope of possibilities for projects in the future.

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what i have to say about XSI so far

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