Just a guy, drifting.
XSI Foundation, Fare Thee Well
It has come to my attention that XSI Foundation is no longer available. To most people who know the company this isn’t news, but for those who haven’t stayed up to date on XSI this is certainly interesting to note. To me, this news is both understandable and frightening. Understandable because, having used Foundation, it was severely limited and I couldn’t imagine users getting the most out of the software. Frightening because it just goes to show how precarious acquiring affordable industry leading production level software is for training and/or noncommercial work. Even more frightening because it could happen to any application. One would think that it won’t, perhaps being unchanging and everlasting, but with XSI Foundation disappearing after a 3 year run my beliefs have been shaken. It is surprising though that XSI Essentials has everything I would want in a package for only 3 grand.
BTW, I still have XSI Foundation 4.2
I would love to understand the business of selling 3D software. I would really like to see the costs involved in producing the software and maintaining the business and what profit is expected from sales. Obviously if these “affordably awesome” packages (e.g. XSI Foundation (R.I.P), Maya PLE, and Houdini Apprentice) don’t make money, don’t increase sales of the full-version packages, or actually hurt the sales of the full-version packages, then they will no longer be offered. I can understand that. So for me, I would like to greatly help in finding a way to help these companies make these affordably awesome packages work for the company to increase sales of the full applications.
Of course, with all this talk I start sounding like a leech. You know the ones. They want everything free and when it’s not they complain (and even when it is they complain even more). They want greatness for cheap, and when they can’t get it they whine. I think I can separate myself from this cadre since I really do think that the higher end software is really worth the 2 to 8 grand they sell it for. And I use the “affordably awesome” software with the intent that I will one day buy the full version and no longer dwell in the shadows with leeches.
Still, the thought of no longer having free/cheap training tools available for the production level packages is a thought I would rather not have at all. Especially if it’s one I have invested a great deal of time in. Trust me, switching apps (by necessity or choice) isn’t always a joy – it’s a quick journey from prince to pauper when it comes to knowledge of the tools. But one must prepare. If you are investing your effort into an application using the affordably awesome packages, one must be mentally prepared to be ready to either make the leap of purchasing the full version or be ready to stand alone on a sinking ship.
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knee jerk comments follow… ;o)
I started w/ XSI when it was at version 4.2 … in a classroom setting. Being only able to use XSI in the classroom was a thorn… one that could have been remedied w/ the purchase of the software w/ a student discount.* Around the same time, a “Mod Kit” version was offered for free that was aimed at game content creation. This version was based off of the then v4.2..
Time went on and the classroom upgraded to XSI v5 then v6 and then the Mod Kit was upgraded to v6… It still is available and listed as free. Note: it is a bit limited from the regular version, but given what it’s aimed at, this might not be an issue. Furthermore, it can import / export dotXSI files which can be opened / saved from XSI (you might need to untriangulate…).
Shortly after signing up for this class a fellow student said that it wasn’t really in our interest as students (total beginners) to purchase the student version as new versions were more than likely to come along before we mastered anything. His advice was rather wise as to this day I don’t feel I have any mastery of XSI. I should add that Blender was a favorite of my friend, especially at that time, as it was (is) free and had/has a rather good release schedule. For sake of clarity, I remind everybody that we were in a 3D Animation class that was taught w/ XSI, not Blender.
* Student Discounts…. these seem to have been more prevalent in the past and are falling away, I’m really not certain… but the concept was, if you’re a student, we’ll sell you the full software for under $500… under $300 in some cases. But you can’t make money off the software.
This sounds good, but you were locked into the version you bought, and had to buy in again, if you wanted to upgrade.
Enter Houdni, at $17,000+, they offered a free, very nonrestrictive version. Small watermark, save enabled!!! for free. Remember this $17k version did not have fluid dynamics… yet.
So they dropped their price and continued to offer the Apprentice version… which is great! Later they added the Apprentice HD version for $100. wow!
What was the question, again?
peace & 42
about 1 year ago
last bit of trivia:
the box art was modeled by hand… not done w/ fluid dynamics!
42
about 1 year ago
XSI is an excellent piece of software. I always wanted it but it was way out my range in price. Pretty much what happened to them is over the years they have put to high a price tag on the product. It was the better one out there till Maya but still up there even when compared. Anyway that price pushed everyone to another software and then the people that were pirating it for them selves couldnt find much out there for tutorials and models and etc.. in comparison to some others. These all lead to no advertisement at street level to average 3D seeker that was to make his way to the cubicle world and try to push software that he is familiar with. It just fizzled.
about 1 year ago
I’ve been saving up for ages and can’t afford nothing else, now foundation is gone. i’m looking everywhere for a license (xsi base said you could buy from them to support the site, but i don’t know if they still do it- is the page out of date?) Its disgusting what they (avid) have done. so they no longer want to release new versions of foundation- fine but to eliminate all saleability of previous versions that can still give poorer people a shot at some 3d creativity is like burning the bridge after they themselves built it! Its a tease, an insult and I thoroughly resent them for it. people bought foundation NOT because they didn’t want essentials- they bought it because they could NOT afford essentials and it may have been a choice between that and nothing, avid has made sure that we get nothing! instead we may be tempted to go for other products like lightwave and houdini or (yuk) blender and as you may find it easier to stick with what you know you may very well do (you call that a good relations strategy avid, do ya)
shine a ray of hope for gods sake and at least allow sales of current foundation versions to continue- you can slim line the procedure by uploading the software to buyers and sending only the red card through the post! mark my words of i can’t get my hands on a foundation license, If AND WHEN I do have the money to go full blown i’ll buy 3ds max instead!
about 1 year ago
I’m not too worried… truth is… as long as pirated software keep being easily available to anyone, 3d training is going to take advantage of those, mainly, more than anything else. and truth is, again, it’s a good thing. if it wasn’t for pirated software, lots of people would be using blender and gimp,etc, and never care to even read anything about maya or zbrush, etc. maya would be like an in-house tool that you’d learn only if you get a job at ILM or whatever studio, and they’d teach you that.
about 2 months ago
erm, just decided to update comment- seeing how autodesk buying avid is probably responsible for death of foundation and buying max would be like buying a different sweet in the same candy shop (sigh) it just gets to me because xsi toon shader is the best i know, more to the point its ink shader is, and blenders is pretty poor- despite having learned blender and seeing that its feature set is superior in terms of being able to cover every requirement (great simulation, even water, good navigation logic, twisty/bendy/stretchy bones). there remains that constant urge to use xsi- but as a hobby modeler, and my small wallet- it still hurts like a bitch dammit, could use pirate stuff easy but the principle is blender a good will software and it would seem kinda cool to see it make a full blown movie one day so i’ll stick to it! besides the layouts of new age 3ds max sucks and windows newer o.s seems to make older software buggier on each release- at least blender having its own runtime, seems immune so far…