XSI vs LightWave vs. ?
by Vijay · in Artist Corner · 03/27/2005 (4:03 pm) · 10 replies
Sorry if this question is redundant, but with the recent price drops from these popular tools, I think it's worth getting the opinion of the experts before seriously looking at an upgrade.
1. Any useful information regarding XSI vs. LightWave would be greatly helpful.
2. For $499, XSI offers the foundation version. I don't fully understand its limitations against their more expensive essentials and advanced verisons. Any pointers would be useful here.
3. For lightwave, there seems to be only one complete verison and a competetive upgrade is $495. Is my understanding correct? For this price it looks like we get the full power of lightwave. Any gotchas I'm missing? Additionally, they mention almost all competetive products in there for eligibility. Anybody know it only includes the latest versions of these products or old versions would work?
4. My understanding is that none of these tools facilitate creating maps and other structural things. Is that correct?
5. Are there any other industry strength tools that I should be considering that fall into this price range?
Again, this is not a my tool vs. your tool kind of thing, but I'm just trying to get some objective opinions. Previously I wouldn't even think of these tools since they're so damn expensive, but at this rate, they're at least worth looking at.
Thanks in advance,
Vijay
1. Any useful information regarding XSI vs. LightWave would be greatly helpful.
2. For $499, XSI offers the foundation version. I don't fully understand its limitations against their more expensive essentials and advanced verisons. Any pointers would be useful here.
3. For lightwave, there seems to be only one complete verison and a competetive upgrade is $495. Is my understanding correct? For this price it looks like we get the full power of lightwave. Any gotchas I'm missing? Additionally, they mention almost all competetive products in there for eligibility. Anybody know it only includes the latest versions of these products or old versions would work?
4. My understanding is that none of these tools facilitate creating maps and other structural things. Is that correct?
5. Are there any other industry strength tools that I should be considering that fall into this price range?
Again, this is not a my tool vs. your tool kind of thing, but I'm just trying to get some objective opinions. Previously I wouldn't even think of these tools since they're so damn expensive, but at this rate, they're at least worth looking at.
Thanks in advance,
Vijay
#2
Yes, you will want to get a seperate application for making game levels.
03/27/2005 (7:42 pm)
Quote:4. My understanding is that none of these tools facilitate creating maps and other structural things. Is that correct?
Yes, you will want to get a seperate application for making game levels.
#4
03/28/2005 (12:55 pm)
Do you qualify for the competative upgrade? That's the first question that you should answer as your cost will rise significantly if you do not qualify. If you're not sure on the versioning scheme or whether academic software is eligible (for example Adobe and Macromedia do not allow upgrade eligibility for academic software but AutoDesk has for the newest version of AutoCAD). The next question is how do you work? I work better with Lightwave than I do with Maya or Max or XSI, but it fits my workflow wonderfully. A lot of other people I know prefer Maya, Max, XSI, etc. because their workflow works best with those applications. Now, here's another thing to consider as you already know your budget restrictions: what are other people in your group using. If you can't answer that because you have yet to contract artists, then make sure that you can utilize data between packages. FBX is a great format, but its implementation within different packages makes it a little odd to deal with until you have the quirks ironed out. Both XSI and Lightwave have excellent communities that are extremely helpful and professional.
#5
03/28/2005 (2:14 pm)
Thanks! Do either of these packages work well or better with TGE than the other?
#6
03/28/2005 (3:09 pm)
Well, XSI doesn't have a DTS exporter yet so LW works better in that it actually has an excellent exporter. But I know that work on an XSI exporter is currently in progress. I have no idea about it's state other than that, though.
#7
03/29/2005 (12:43 am)
I couldn't locate a trial/demo version of lightwave. Am I not looking at the right places? If anyone has a link, I really appreciate it.
#8
03/29/2005 (9:43 am)
Yeah, I just looked and could not find it either. I had a demo come with Dan Ablan's Inside Lightwave 7, but am unable to locate the CD-ROM. You may need to contact Newtek directly.
#9
So always at least try..
03/31/2005 (7:18 am)
On the Lightwave competive upgrade offer ALWAYS call and ask.. I didn't realize i Qualified (my app was NOT specifically listed) and I did..The rep said "is that a 3d program with animation ?' "is it t registered to you?" "..ok .. sure.. i'll give it to ya.."So always at least try..
#10
http://www.softimage.com/products/Xsi/v4/comparison/default.asp
Mainly it is additional features for compositing and so on... modelling wise Foundation has no Poly Relax or Poly reduction
But, XSi has the Mod Tool to export directly to HalfLife and Epic Unreal formats if you are interested in this sort of stuff
Other XSi features to note are for example
Standard Biped and Quadruped Rigs and Guides
and Character Development Kit
but see the comparison chart at the link above and read through the XSi features to lear more about it.
I'm waiting for the DTS tool for XSI as well, but some user I think imports XSI models into Milkshape then exports to Torque... Of course the XSi/DTS tool will be very handy when it will come out
XSI may take slightly longer to get into, but I don't know anyone that has even changed mind about it.. XSI rocks! (my personal opinion :))
03/31/2005 (7:48 am)
For a comparison between the 3 XSi packages see here:http://www.softimage.com/products/Xsi/v4/comparison/default.asp
Mainly it is additional features for compositing and so on... modelling wise Foundation has no Poly Relax or Poly reduction
But, XSi has the Mod Tool to export directly to HalfLife and Epic Unreal formats if you are interested in this sort of stuff
Other XSi features to note are for example
Standard Biped and Quadruped Rigs and Guides
and Character Development Kit
but see the comparison chart at the link above and read through the XSi features to lear more about it.
I'm waiting for the DTS tool for XSI as well, but some user I think imports XSI models into Milkshape then exports to Torque... Of course the XSi/DTS tool will be very handy when it will come out
XSI may take slightly longer to get into, but I don't know anyone that has even changed mind about it.. XSI rocks! (my personal opinion :))
Torque Owner Joe Bird
Make sure to try out each app first to see which application you feel more at home in because each app has a very different workflow and interface from each other. If you will be using the app for Game Development then XSI Foundation will still be competitive with its powerful modeling, animation, and weight map tools. If you model with edges then you will prefer XSI because it has edge support.
As for the features missing from XSI Foundation compared to Essentials and Advanced, they are geared towards film production. In the higher end packages you will be paying for additional Mental Ray licenses for network rendering, Hair/Fur, Advanced Cloth, and thier AI system, Behavior 2.0. You would not be using these for Game Development work, unless you plan on creating film quality cutscenes.
Also, there is a competitive upgrade for XSI Foundation at $399.
http://www.sharbor.com/products/SOFN0300003.html