XSI Foundation or Lightwave 9...

#1 Do you already own lightwave?

#2 No, but I own Photoshop so I qualify for the competitive upgrade price.

#3 Whaaaat.. really? I didn't know that. I own photoshop also.

#4 Here is the link:

Link

#5 Wow, nice deal from Newtek. I paid full licence recently, lol.

I haven't tried XSI yet but I've been a fan of Lightwave for a few years. It's a very versatile modelling, effects and rendering environment and I've found the user community to be knowledgeable and helpful. Assuming that both apps have all the features you need I'd read the official forums of both apps to get a general vibe from both user communities.

Also, mags like 3D World do head-to-head comparisons of software quite often - they are worthwhile from a 3D generalist point of view.

#6 I would go for lightwave personally, but that is because that is what i use.

never used XSI so can't say much about it.

#7 XSI is like using Maya. It kind of has a learning curve, but once you learn it you can put out some really nice stuff.

#8 I also noticed they want the serial# of the product you own. I don't think so, last time I did that some one else ended with my account and all of my information.

#9 You can also type in a fake serial#

#10 I recently went through the exact same evaluation for both Lightwave and XSI Foundation. In the end I chose XSI. It just felt more comfortable to me. From a modeling point of view, they are both obviously very powerful. XSI seemed better at animation and UV mapping which helped sway my decision. The biggest drawback to XSI in my opinion is that there is no support for an exporter. There is a beta exporter that was released in January but development on that has completely stopped (it took two years to get to a beta in the first place).

As a rant, exporters is one area I wish Garage Games would focus on rather than relying on individuals to carry their load. Garage Games advertises exporters (not XSI nor Lightwave) as a feature but they don't develop them. But I've learned not to expect anything from GG itself. They have their own agenda. We paid $100 for a cheap game engine and that is exactly what we get. It really is a good engine for the price.

So I guess my recommendation is go with what ever feels better. Take the exporter situation into consideration too. Maybe someday COLLADA will be supported by Torque and exporters will no longer be an issue.

Don

#11 They will verify your serial number with Adobe, Discreet, etc.

Newtek is a legit business that runs competitive upgrades like many places in the industry. Typing it in on a non-legit site, on the other hand...

#12 Yeh, but it was a legit site where all of my info was distributed to other companies.
I would rather have paid more for the product than go though all the hassle I did.
I don't think they should be able to ask for serial numbers. After all it was issued by
a totally different company. I own 3d Max,XSI, Photoshop CS3, ect.
I wouldn't do it.

#13 @Morrie - How else could they prove you own the product?

Does anyone use Project:Messiah? I was wondering if I should go with the following pipeline, Silo II, ZBrush, Project:Messiah, then Blender for export. Does anyone see any problems I may encounter?

#14 I don't see what it matters what product you own they're discounting it anyways, so why get our info.

#15 How do they know which product you own? Anyone can say they own a product. If they did what you are saying, everyone will be getting the discount. It doesn't make any sense. Plus, I highly doubt a company like Newtek is going to start giving your information away for other people to use. They would have lawsuits like crazy.

#16 I don't know (Identity theft) ring a bell

#17 So now Newtek is making their money from identity theft?

#18 Hmmm... I've never had a problem working with a legitimate, professional industry company for competitive upgrades. And I've gotten a number of them in the past. And my serial numbers have never been leaked to the world at large. If you got hosed by Discreet or Alias (prior to the merge) or Adobe or Macromedia (prior to the merge), then I'm quite amazed.

#19 I notice that XSI hasn't been added (probably because of the beta status of the exporter) to the GG DTS Exporter compatibility chart.

I'm assuming that you're intending to use the app to create art for Torque? I'd say that using an app with good documentation, examples, support and an active user community make the experience much more pleasurable. Using an app with little or no support can really hinder and complicate your creative process.

Links are here to the DTS Exporters.

I should also add that an update for Lightwave is in the works and I've had problems using the DTS exporter with the Lightwave 9.2 beta. I'm still using Lightwave 9.0 as that's working well.

#20 I really need to get time to play with the beta...