XSI vs "others"?

[michaela]

Hi, I am currently considering XSI (have not used 3D since Alias PA a few years back). I am less in need of sophisticated character animation and modelling than I am in organic "design" tools;

sophisticated and integrated dynamics (hard and soft, "hypermatter", liquids, cloth/fur) and particles

sophisticated lighting control (volumetric, caustics if possible, glows, etc.)

3d tracking

Is XSI "overkill" in it's "character animation" for my needs, would Maya or even (gasp) 3D-Studio meet my needs better?

[lushgardens]

XSI 1.5 currently has the most advanced NURBS, nurbs-net and Sub-d implementations, so if you're doing organic design this is a point to consider. As far as sophisticated lighting goes, nothing touches XSI, it's far more advanced than the others.

3d tracking... in XSI it's a separate bundled app by realviz. Better than maya's tracking IMHO although maya's is more integrated. Max has camera tracking and I've used it in production but MAN its crude and totally basic. Lightwavers have to use a separate app as well, last I checked.

I would say that you should look at XSI, Lightwave, Max and Maya in that order. But everyone's needs are different and all 4 are impressive applications.

[peder521]

I have been using Maya 3.0 for several months and just got XSI 1.5. I may switch soon to XSI 1.5 as my main 3D app! It is VERY impressive. Softbodies are cool and cloth works nicely. Rendering, is of course, the best. I wouldn't even bother with LightWave or Max 3.x (v4 is another story)