Animation XSI vs Maya

[crutch]

I'm not trying to start a flame war here just curious about the XSI Maya pros/cons. For anyone that has used both Maya and XSI for animation, which would you say is easier/faster? I realize that to some extent the answer is relative to each individuals preference. I downloaded the XSI demo a while back and wasn't very fond of the interface. However, after watching some of DT's more recent tutorials I've been thinking of giving it a second look. Although I'm more into VFX I don't want to assume Maya is the better choice just because I'm more familiar with it. Thank you :wink:

[oldhippie_tom]

Well Crutch, interesting you post this now. I have had the same reaction in the past when I had a chance to work with XSI. I have used Maya for alittle while, long enough to model 2 cars with tutorials. I have noticed that working with sub-d can be quite frustrating at times and as you may see from my post on BOOLEANS just recently, a very few of the operations are buggy. But Maya is a great piece of software and I am fighting leaving it as it has become quite comfortable. And I had gotten to understand the sub-d thing and was having fewer, but never none, problems.

I like the way XSI has the ability to use alot of the keyboard commands and makes it comfortable when starting out. I bought the Introduction to Maya 4.2 with the Jetbike and will most likely get the one for XSI 5.11.

So that is where I am now.

[crutch]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I really like Maya but I keep watching these free XSI tutorials on XSI and keep thinking...Wow...that's all you have to do in XSI to get those results. I think it's just XSI's UI that bugged the heck outta me. It's just really distracting, although, if it's more efficient as well as more intuitive than Maya (not saying it's better these are ifs), I may have to try it again.

[oldhippie_tom]

I have done about 1/3 of the tutorial and I seem to be getting more comfortable. Yes, I agree that the UI of XSI is something that turned me off to it when I first tried it. Never spent enough time to see what was beneath the UI. It seems alot of depth to the things you have control and options with.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

[Jak_Carver]

I use both XSI and Maya extensively on a regular basis, XSI is faster to use and you can achieve great results very quickly if you know what your doing. The interface is in fact one of its best features, it was designed with alot of common sense as opposed to Maya's. Maya is very good at animation and easy to use once you know what your doing. Honestly, I think that XSI beats Maya by a little as an overall 3d package. However, in terms of character animation, I will have to give it to Maya simply because its so customizable (this aspect only makes a difference if your an advanced user) and of course because of Full Body IK (FBIK) which when mixed with the trax editor is INCREDIBLY powerful. As always though, the ability to make nice animation depends on the animator and not the software. OF course the software helps and the better tools you have the better you can get the results you are after, both programs are very powerful animation tools, but only if you know how to set up custom rigs with custom attributes and some scripting and become a master with the tools they provide.

In the end, XSI has:

custom rigging tools
ability to create custom controls
non linear animation tools (Animation Mixer)
synoptic creation tools

Maya has these:

custom rigging tools
ability to create custom controls
non linear animation tools (Trax Editor)

Go with either one, what matters is that you are a good animator so thats what you should focus on, not which app is better, at least not until animation is mastered.

[dude5487]

Just my 2cents on the whole topic. I have been modeling since December of last year, so almost a year now, with Maya 7. I just recently purchased XSI Student edition(btw if anyone is ever interested they have great tech support in setting up everything). To look at both of them and wonder which one is better, I do not have enough experience to say.

Some people love XSI's UI and workflow. Other hate it, they say it has "too much text". Same with Maya, love or hate it. Either way though I think it is good to know either one or the other or both, and even Max.

Personally I am trying to get to the point where I can open up Maya or XSI and create anything. The one thing that attracts me to XSI, and it seems to do the same for you, is ease of use. Sub-D modeling in XSI is amazing.

The one thing I was scarred of when first starting out in all of this is getting stuck in a rut of using just one program, and only being able to do modeling and animation in one program. Employers will love to see that you can use multiple programs to achieve results, this show that you have a great ambition and can learn other tools, which often times the larger houses, such as ILM, have their own in house tools.

You will hear this over and over, but the thing that you need to worry about and focus on first is your vision of the end result you want to see. Maya, XSI, Max, or Lightwave wont do everything for you, you need to be able to get your vision across the best way you know how, and if XSI over Maya is the way you feel most comfortable, then go that way.

If you are hesitant about XSI, you can download a free eval copy from Softimage no problem and check out everything there for free for about 30 days. But it will probably only make you want it more :)

I guess what I am trying to say is this. It is good you are looking into diff programs, it is very good. Just find which one you work the best in, and work at it and work at it, but dont get stuck in a one program rut. I hope my post helps you, feel free to ask away, I will be happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability. Good luck and I hope to see some of your work soon, no matter which program it is in! :yes

Sincerely,

Josh

[laxman]

Also, new in maya 8 is the ability to cache a blendshape, and then modify it. So you can make your animations such as facial expressions, and then bake it to a cache and then go in and tweak any problem areas.

[crutch]

Thanks to all of those here that gave some input. I have decided to stick with Maya, not just because I like it so much, rather, I still have so much to learn with this software. Once I am more skilled in this package I will learn another. There's no reason for me to jump around when you can accomplish the same things in any package and I don't think ease of use makes a package better. Thanks again everyone, you all make this a friendly site.:)

[StephenC]

I have used Maya and 3DS Max for several years. I rember the days when XSI was just Softimage and only ran on SGI systems. Now here is what I have discovered and some info that will help you.

First off XSI has some new features that attracted me that Maya and Max cannot do at the moment. One of them is the gigapolygon ability. This is why you hear XSI and Zbrush being used together as a pipeline. I used to work as a 3d scanning tech where huge poly models were an everyday thing. Times have changed to the point where its not really the software but the knowledge of the user. One of the other things XSI has is an easy to use interface that can be programmed in several scripting languages. Visual Basic, Python, Java script, and Perl. Max script is hard to learn and there are very few tutorials on it. Maya's Mel I learned at college and is very good for doing just about anything except working with real time. I had made a project using Mel that even my PHD degreed teacher had a hard time helping me get the clock function to work as a real clock. :) So this is just 2 things and there are many more.

There is one thing that most people do not understand about XSI when first starting off and that is the modes it has for doing opperations. There Secondary Shape Mode, Animation Construction Mode, Shape Modeling Mode, and Modeling Construction Mode. These are the basic modes you will be working in and there are restrictions and rules for each mode. For instance you will use Animation Construction Mode for doing cloth. This is an important aspect to learn. Also there are operators and they do have a order like math operators. Learn these and it will help you get a grasp as to what is going on in your scenes.

For the interface it requires you to be at a high resolution. This is because Avid assumes your not on some old system and that your business is making a highend product. If your not up to the task of using a good system then it will not work very well as you will loose menus and other options.

Now here is my take on which one is better.
My answer is NONE!
This has been the old age thing and what really matters is what the person understands. The controls in one are also in another when it comes to animation as well as modeling and rendering.
Each just has a different method of getting there.
If your going to learn animation then you need to understand the basics of animation. That is all the stuff that actually you will learn on paper. The traditional animation techniques used before computers! This is very important as you will learn stuff such as squash and stretch, anticipation and even timing charts! If none of this makes sense then its time to pick up he Animator's Survival Kit from amazon.com. The book talks about animation and principals that you will need to know. The other thing to remember is that even though software is different the principals are always there and the way to do them are there. learn how to edit animation curves and what tangents are. This way it will not matter what package you use.

I see a lot of posting but no one ever tells new people to go back to the basics and learn it. Its vital if you want to get into animation! Its also required for jobs...

Anyway hope this helps some. ;)