Dear Reader,
In the world of 3D animation, I have been a Softimage XSI user for 10 years now. Others that I know personally, have used it for as long as 12, 17, and even 20 years.
Softimage XSI is a powerful 3D application that has brought many beautiful CG imagery to high end block buster movies, animated feature films, games and TV commercials. Softimage was used on many famous movies such as Jurassic Park, Titanic, Happy Feet, 300, Pacific Rim, and now The Lego Movie (just to name a few). It has built a solid reputation for its rich End User experience and versatility.
The TV commercial below, shows the powerful imagery that Softimage XSI is able to create.
The TV commercial below, shows the powerful imagery that Softimage XSI is able to create.
On March 4th of 2014, Autodesk announced the retirement of Softimage XSI, without consideration or respect to its user base. Autodesk is conveniently discontinuing Softimage in the name of innovation and make it sound like we can easily transition to other 3D softwares as though we're only switching to a different car brand. The least they could do, is allow another company to acquire the program.
Discontinuing Softimage means that all those years invested into learning the application has gone to waste. It will have a severe impact on our professional careers, in which we will go from being experts, back to being less than an intermediate level CG artist.
This means less job opportunities as we would have to invest another 6 months (at least), to rebuild our entire workflow structure to find employment. The lives of those that are full time employees, and those that have families will be severely interrupted. This is because Softimage users will have to go back to square one to learn other industry trends. Sadly, most us will not find the time to invest into learning a whole new application, especially those that have a family to feed.
This means less job opportunities as we would have to invest another 6 months (at least), to rebuild our entire workflow structure to find employment. The lives of those that are full time employees, and those that have families will be severely interrupted. This is because Softimage users will have to go back to square one to learn other industry trends. Sadly, most us will not find the time to invest into learning a whole new application, especially those that have a family to feed.
All I ask, is that you take a moment to sign the petition from the link below to save Softimage XSI.
You can further help our cause, by sharing the petition with your family members, friends and co-workers.
Please and thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Jason
