or you could get XSI Mod Tool, I don’t know how much worse it is than the normal version but meh, better than nothing.
I personally don’t use it… Maya for the win 
ONTOPIC:
Quite a nice car you have there.
Just think somebody could ask you how much you payed for the program, then what would you say? make up a number? then you would be a liar AND A THEIF!
do you really want that kind of reputation?
Blackboe is right, it’s only $174 on studica!
you don’t have to steal, it’s a lot safer to buy.
plus you don’t have to feel guilty for the rest of your life.
Just to be crystal clear, GE-Force
You most definetly Pirated the software, and so did the person you downloaded it from, what did you think pirating was?
It would be like saying to the cop, I didnt buy the weed I found it in the Wal-Mart parking lot!!
you still get busted with the weed, catch my drift?
who sayed i am leaving blender ??
here a legal free version of xsi for game art to learn with: http://www.softimage.com/products/modtool/
and besides, its not like he couldn’t use blender together with some another tool, i mean, come on!
blender is great…
main reason probably is because xsi has got commercial support (eg. the studio pays cash for support so that when they have problems using/don’t know how to use something in the app they can just ring up the support and ask)
and usually studios actually use multiple apps… well… the big ones anyway… 
can i have some crits on my car ???
1 Cause you can upgrade at any time for free
2 You get to be part of the blender community, and what could be better then that?
3 You can contribute input into improving Blender, and even change your own copy of blender
4 Cause it doent cost 6 g’s
Thats all I have time for now
i like to say BLAH too
- You can install blender to as many machines as you like making a renderfarm as big as you like, without having to purchase additional licences over the single one you get “out of the box”. Actually, XSI only supports 8 nodes in a renderfarm whereas Blender has no such limit.
- Speaking of renderfarms, Blender has some really good online ones, some free. Check out the BURP project as an example.
- XSI is for Windows and (thankfully) Linux whereas Blender works on Windows, Linux, OSX, FreeBSD, Irix and Solaris.
- Scripting languages are not the same, and I prefer Blenders for a couple of reasons. Both have Python, though I’m pretty sure I’d prefer to use C scripting in Blender over the JScript offered in XSI although they are fairly close languages. I’m not sure whether the “VB Script” of XSI works when using the Linux version. Let me know.
- Blender offers a true software rendering as an extra option to hardware. This means getting it up and running is less likely to hit graphics card related conflicts.
- For that matter, Blender at least has its own internal renderer whereas XSI relies on plugging in to Mental Ray. Support for renderer issues is therefore more likely to be taken seriously by the develpers. If you want to use external renders with Blender, XSI can use only MentalRay, Indigo and Renderman whereas Blender can use MentalRay, Indigo, Yafray, Sunflow, Kerkythea or Luxrender.
- Blender offers uv unwrapping with LSCM and ABF++ which XSI lacks.
- Blender at least has a plugin for 3D paint. Sorry, that kind of luxury just “ain’t supported” by XSI.
- Blender can import more 3D object filetypes than XSI. Even then, plugins are needed to get XSI reading some of the formats it’s supposed to support. Blender’s ability to export is even more powerful again.
- Community. “No support” in Blender is a myth. The famous online helpdesk operates 24/7 and has an awesome record of successfully solving user issues without blaming side issues like saying you need better hardware when you don’t.I resisted mentioning the “money thing” but that was really cutting my hands off. There are a lot of repercussions stemming out from this that I don’t think you’ve yet realised.
You have no idea how much you damage everyone when you pirate software. Example: There is no official Photoshop for Linux. Adobe refuse to make one. Why? Because they reason that Open Source users don’t like paying for stuff and therefore would only ever pirate the software if it was made. The software is expensive because of the number of people pirating it.
There isn’t really “better” or “best” between Blender and XSI; I bet you could make a list of ten things the other way if you wanted to. Where I’m studying I use Blender for modeling, Maya for animating because of the pros and cons of each package. When something is easier to do in Maya, that’s what I use. Vice versa for Blender.
I would love to make you “if there are reasons for using blender and which is better than XSI i will stand against XSI” but then, that would simply be mislead. Don’t do it. You’d only make everyone look bad if you did.
Bravo Lancer!!!
way too go!
GeForce,
As others have said. If you want to be a professional XSI user, then pirating software is the last thing you need to do. That mentality is incredibly immature and absolutely unprofessional.
Besides, the mentality that “I just downloaded it, somebody else pirated it” is incredibly childish. No offense, it reminds me of a kid stealing candy from a store.
Now, Lancer is right. You are right.
XSI is professional software package that has cutting edge features because a bloated corporation pays thousands of programmers hard cash to maintain and evolve it.
Granted, XSI has some features that do rival Blender.
Ironically, on the other hand, Blender is developed by a fairly small community that has dedicated their life and blood to promoting not a software package but an idea. And their marvelous dedication and the sacrifices they have made in the name of freedom, despite their few numbers and unpaid work … they have created something beautiful.
To the extent that it rivals and makes massive corporations quake in fear, because Blender is a powerful alternative.
Now let me tell you something: Blender is the reason Maya, XSI, …, are excellent and productive tools. Blender, as a freedom alternative, keeps corporations on its toes.
The reason XSI pushes everyday to develop something superior and necessary for artists, is because if they didn’t … then Blender would conquer them. And they would be out of their jobs.
Yet Blender still rivals them.
But here is a question for you: You blabber about making sure we don’t mention the cost as a reason to prefer. But answer me this:
Would you be using XSI now, if you had to pay for it?
The very fact that you got it for free (or, stole) is the reason that you are using it now.
But then you condemn us, and tell us not to list cash as a reason to prefer Blender?
My dear friend, you are a hypocrite.
And in that very act, you have insulted all the loving people who have developed Blender, for this reason:
They built Blender for Freedom. They built Blender for a Cause. They are the modern saints of the digital world.
Yet what have you done?
You’ve handed them over to the Pharisees for 30 pieces of silver.
You have given Blender a price.
When it was given in the name of Freedom.
You have valued it only for cash,
When it was proclaimed with Liberty.
You have sold something,
When it was only meant as a Gift.
You have put a value on something,
When it cannot be estimated.
And I mean that dearly, not for myself or even really necessarily against you. But I mean that in defense of the beautiful and loving people who have worked so hard not for Blender, but for a belief. For an idea. For something truly noble.
With that said.
Congratulations on adding new software to your repertoire. This is a honest and wonderful thing.
But don’t be a hypocrite.
All in honest brotherly love,
~ Mark
FYI there is a free version of Maya at aoutodesk.com or some where I will find the link,
It has every thing the 6 thousand dollar version has ecept it has a water mark in the renders, so you can use and learn Maya for free, and once you have mastered it, you can pay 6 grand to get the version that renders with out the water mark!!
My school (tertiary education, where I am an adult student) refuses to allow students to use the free version of Maya because…
- It has a hideous watermark. Not small. Kind of covers up everything really badly. You would not want to make a sample reel showcasing your work with this.
- I’m not entirely sure, although I don’t think it can be joined into a renderfarm so single computer only.
- The maya files it produces (.ma and .mb) are not compatible with the pay versions. This means that if you’re using it at home as a student, you can’t take your work to school and expect it to fire up in their machines with paid-for versions. Needless to say, nothing you do at home will be useable in your school or work production because it won’t be understood by their renderfarm.
I’m currently a student at a very prestigious Animation School where we are using Maya. I was stunned when we had an early lecture trying to convince everyone that Autodesk “don’t really mind” if students pirate their software because “they know you’ll be paying them back by buying a version later”. They implied that we all needed Maya to mysteriously appear on our machines at home or we’d be unlikely to meet the work quota expected from the course. There was some “evidence” case studies where no one from Autodesk objected when on a forum poll a large number admitted to pirating Maya. Officially, the school is against piracy and calls anyone with suspicious downloads on the school drive into their office for a threaten-to-oust warning.
So, I did bittorrent a Linux version of Maya “just in case” but then I feel really bad about it. I’ve always been against piracy, a major reason why I support Open Source. Because I feel bad about it, I’ve been using Blender to do the home stuff, importing OBJs etc when bringing models etc to school. They are quite compatible.
I’ve been refusing to pirate anything else at this point, using Open Source again. It’s harder work for me, though I was able to pull off a 2D animatic entirely by scanning images onto planes in Blender, animating them and mixing everything in Blender’s compositor. Everyone would have sworn I’d used Adobe After Effects. Would have been less time consuming if I had, but hey, it did get there. Apparently mine was among the better presentations.
A side note: I love it that Blender released a version as a Zip file (no install). Without admin rights, no one can install software onto the school computers. My tutors nearly blew a few blood vessels when they saw me fire up Blender from my secret directory to make use of the “Edge loop slide” procedure, which incidentally, is only just now appearing in the latest 2008 version of Maya.
Well,
I’m gonna put my .02$ in, and fix some facts… but then I’ll disappear… 
For that matter, Blender at least has its own internal renderer whereas XSI relies on plugging in to Mental Ray. Support for renderer issues is therefore more likely to be taken seriously by the develpers. If you want to use external renders with Blender, XSI can use only MentalRay, Indigo and Renderman whereas Blender can use MentalRay, Indigo, Yafray, Sunflow, Kerkythea or Luxrender.
First as a part of the luxrender team, lemme just say that not only does luxrender use/support blender, we have a xsi exporter as well, and It even works with the modtool…
The maya files it produces (.ma and .mb) are not compatible with the pay versions. This means that if you’re using it at home as a student, you can’t take your work to school and expect it to fire up in their machines with paid-for versions.
Again just quick note here, the ple creates .mp files… .ma and .mb are the pay versions…
Now onto my opinion ( which as all opinions can be completely ignored :yes: ),
The first thing I am gonna say is… ( please take this as the joke it is )
“You asked for it!”
What I mean by this is, That this is a Blender community, and to make a post that says you are switching to a different piece of software is gonna get you some flak. ( This has alot to do with the way you said it… ) ( Not to mention that you said this in the W.I.P. section, IMO Off topic would’ve been better. )
Next up, While you may find Xsi easer, I find the interface screwy, but does it matter?, ( well It shouldn’t )
I am going to quote the saying of… “Its the Artist not the tools”,
Meaning, you could buy All of the most expensive software ( or steal it ) and its not gonna do you one bit of good…
Where as if you are a talented… “Modeler” for example, It shouldn’t matter which application you use, (although you will still probably prefer some over others. )
I am wondering what you meant by this though GE-FORCE?
if there are reasons for using blender and which is better than XSI i will stand against XSI
So basically you are saying that if someone can give you good reasons that blender is better you will keep using blender?
That doesn’t seem quite right to me,
I would use xsi if:
- I liked it better…
- It could do things I needed to be able to do, that I couldn’t do otherwise.
- I needed to become experienced in it, for say… a job…But again thats just me.
Here is my 10 reasons that blender is better than xsi, I really only did this to see what I would come up with, because I am sure that xsi has just as many things its better at…
- Blender is Open-Source. ( Enough Said ) [Note I said opensource, not free]
- Blender has a fluid-sim/particles/game-engine/softbodies/sculpt/cloth.
- Blender has Orange & Peach, ( No other piece of software has anything like this as far as I know… )
- Blender has BlenderNation, while it may seem silly, I’ve yet to find a better cg-news site that can hold my interest while staying ontopic. (about the specific software)
- Blender can run from a folder. (hope I said that right…) this is sooo useful!
- Blender can run on multiple machines without license errors…
- Blender can import & export from a growing & large range of formats.
- Blender has Apricot, ( Again an amazing project. )
- Note these last two are almost a joke, but still very true…
- Blender has ton!
- Blender has Suzanne! ( I mean really, what more could you want from a primitive
)—
Well, I’ll finish with a minor remark on the “Work”, I find both renders of the car dark, it would be nice for a little brighter render, and some wires…
Cheers,
~Marslyr
Note: I am very sleepy, so if any part of this doesn’t make sense, pm me about it and I’ll edit it until it does… :eyebrowlift:
Heh. I knew I’d be proven wrong if I tried posting more than half a fact about anything.
Not being an XSI user, I got my info on it from the CG-Society comparison table at http://wiki.cgsociety.org/index.php/Comparison_of_3d_tools which is a tad out of date on XSI (there are more scripting languages now for one) but also on Blender as well.
Ah - knowledge of the different extensions on LE version of Maya new to me. Makes perfect sense. Only know of .mb and .ma because it’s what I have used.
I since looked through the “10 reasons” XSI video which seems to be geared towards current 3DSmax users. Some of it does look rather tidy (I like the interface more than… Mayas interface but not Blenders lol).
However, I think there’s a lot in their “10 features” list that Blender is also already doing in one way or another… can you say which ones of those ten you don’t think Blender can handle? I wanna know how many of the features would require forking out above and beyond Blender for.
That would really add logs to the oven. :yes:
Guys …first of all you ppl are talking like if i came from another forum to be against blender but i have never been are will never be against blender
LANCER:-
WELL…nice one
Slavador &foto guy:-
???
Mark:-
Besides, the mentality that “I just downloaded it, somebody else pirated it” is incredibly childish. No offense, it reminds me of a kid stealing candy from a store
1.I said that just to avoid the pirating part …XD i know its childish
2.i said exept $$$
3.
And in that very act, you have insulted all the loving people who have developed Blender, for this reason
i havent insulted any one i said two times “NO OFFENSE just wanna know” but you still dont under stand ?what do you think i came here to insult blender ??
But I mean that in defense of the beautiful and loving people who have worked so hard not for Blender, but for a belief. For an idea. For something truly noble
You dont under stand …i think you havent read the whole post or have misunderstood.
But there is some thing else you ppl forgot Blender have a WISH LIST…
and by the way for every one who misunderstood or thought that i am against blender please know that i just wanted the reasons to use blender and leave XSI becouse if i changed my mind what am i gonna tell my freinds or if i am telling some one about blender i have to tell them few reasons i could make some reasons but i wanted some reasons from profesional ppl who used blender for long time …for me i was just a newbie and i still am in both programs i just said that it was a great chance for me to choose the best for me So i am sorry if i did insult any one …
Don’t worry about it GE-Force. You gave a fun challenge. The way things are said can easily be misread on forums, emails and the like.