Purchasing Model Applications.

[Epifire]

So some of you know I have been working hard to get better at my modeling and texturing, and have been a steady learner in Softimage XSI for the passed two/three years. I take modding very seriously and intend to learn as much as I can before going to a trade school for game design, or getting on with a company directly. So with that being said after moving up in the world and getting a decent paying job, I have already bought a new PC and have been thinking on buying a full version of XSI.

Right away a lot of you are already wondering why I want to spend that much, but I am really tired of a lot of issues and limitations within the modtools that currently exist. Since I am a source modder and I know that the current versions do not export to the engine I have been looking to back track to an older copy. My favorite has been the 6.0 version, but with bugs in the rendermapping, I really have no way of getting good textures on my models.

So now I have been looking, and I find that I do not know of a place that sells any old copies of the older versions. I could have sworn I had seen some on odd sites once in a while when I had less money, but now I am looking to pick one up for myself. I really would appreciate suggestions along where I might find old software like this, or even suggestions for some thing different.

[Smurftyours]

Get maya or max instead. You will adjust to the interfaces and will like them much more in the end.

[Epifire]

Get maya or max instead. You will adjust to the interfaces and will like them much more in the end.

I had tried Maya before and it seemed very similar. Only thing is I had a extremely hard time for texturing and individual point control. Maya's settings for proportional modeling were upsetting for me because I could never target a single spot on it's own. I really could use direct info from a Maya user to really get into it, but it is certainly the first and best choice as I had seen.

[stoopdapoop]

if you have a .edu emailaddress through your school you can download the full version for free for non-commercial use.

http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=download_center

I can't blame you for wanting to use XSI, I use it myself and I really disliked using maya for school and work.

[Epifire]

That good sir I have actually gone through, but the only issue that I rest with is that they still provide a limit and I can't export directly to Source from it because the valve exporter is not compatible. However you reminded me that I still have that. Only thing is I have to export a obj file to revert to the old version to export to Source.

The actual price for XSI 12 is the real killer though. I swear they used to sell the basic versions much cheaper years ago, as I saw in the old adds on start up for those versions. I thought there was a option around $300 for the basic version, and then it jumped into the thousands if you wanted advanced and such. Just wondering if stuff like that still exists for sale some where.

[Smurftyours]

Probably not, I would guess the licenses only last so long.

[Epifire]

So that being said, does anyone know of a place that sells older software like this? I know one time I saw XSI 5.0 on some place around $400, I just don't know where that was. As these are older they are getting increasingly rare so I can see why they would be harder to find.

[Smurftyours]

Move to 3ds max on your .edu account. Its fully compatible with source and you can most likely get a four year license on an engine before they will make you update.

[Major Banter]

XSI Modtool? Limited, but does the job. And it's free.

[Gary]

Blender.

[Epifire]

XSI Modtool? Limited, but does the job. And it's free.

U'm that is what I have been using this whole time. What I would really like is to pay a bit of extra so I boost quality in some areas where the modtools cannot. The modtools have been cut down in what they can do. Here is what the Valve developer Wiki says....

"Only DXFX and CGFX material types are supported; mental ray materials are not supported.
Supports polygonal mesh primitives only.

Exported geometry is limited to 64000 triangles.

Mental ray renderer is used only for Rendermap and Ultimapper; all other mental ray rendering is disabled.

Maximum resolution for Ultimapper maps is 512x512.
Images output using the hardware renderer are limited to a maximum resolution of 512x512."

Now that is not the end of the world, but I would really like to have a hard copy for work on this stuff before it finally does vanish if not already.

[Major Banter]

In which case Smurft and Gary are right. It's either the almighty 3DS or Blender.

[source-maps]

maya is oke.. but 3dsmax is definitely superior

[Epifire]

3dsmax is definitely superior

How might that be? People really haven't given examples into why they think their program is better. However that is what I would like to know.

So far out of all the programs I have tried they are not very straight forward, and they do not have very in depth tools (namely for animation). I get along with XSI fine because it works well for me and I like the way it is all managed. I just can't seem to get that kind of work flow out of something else.

[source-maps]

3dsmax way of working with 'layers' is just really neat and gives you a lot of opportunity to mess around without being worried bout fucking it up.
the old fashion hold and fetch features are nice too

the way you can select edge and ring loops, or convert selections is also way more logical and has a faster workflow than maya.. don't get met started about ctrl being a subtraction from your selection, and if you hold shift and want to select some extra stuff.. but go over stuff you already selected.. it subtracts that from the selection.. goes against the logic of every other piece of software I've ever used... but I'm sure those last 2 points can be changed.. I couldn't be arsed (and you do get used to it after a while too)

in maya you have stuff like interactive split tool and insert edge loop tool, and sure you have options to make the edge loop tool to behave similar.. but the connect tool for edges in 3dsmax works superior in my opinion

also simple stuff like how you extrude, that small pop up control box you have just works faster than it's equivalent in maya, it's all so awkward in maya