Will Softimage XSI be released to OS X?

[tysontabs]

Dose anybody know if Avid's Softimage XSI 6.5 or later versions of the 3D software will be released to the Apple OS X platform?

I currently use Maya 8.5 on my macpro and would like to use Softimage instead. I do have a copy of Vista installed on the Pro but I have Photoshop installed on OS X. Switching between the os's constantly would be a pain.

Tabs:apple:

[TheMonarch]

Just out of curiosity, what's wrong with Maya?

[tysontabs]

Nothing, I love Maya, the only thing I don't love about Maya is the cost. I have the student version of 8.5 U and it is not posable to upgrade my version of Maya. I would like to continue using a high-level 3d program but I cannot afford the seven thousand dollar pricetag. Softimage E sells for $3,200, it is feature similar to Maya Unlimited and its upgrades would cost less then Maya's $1,200 price.

Since Houdini is releasing a Mac version, it may be posable for Softimage to do the same.

I'm just hoping someone may have some information on a pending release for OS X.

Thanks

[fluidedge]

i'm also thinking of moving from maya to something else. I've been using maya as long as i've been doing 3d work, but i recently used some other packages, particularly Vue 6 and realized how behind Maya is in landscape/environment creation - what would take a day in Vue could take 2 weeks in Maya. learning 2 or 3 specialized packages (Vue for landscapes, ZBrush for modelling/texturing, Blender for modelling, etc) might be a much cheaper way to go and in my opinion just a feature filled if you choose the right packages for your work.

There seems to be a shift at the moment of 3D designers starting to move onto the Mac platform. Traditionally it has all been Windows/Linux in the studios but it's starting to change and software companies are starting to go with it and releasing Mac versions of their products. But it's its not just a case of designing some new packaging - it can take months to transfer the code into a Mac binary. So i'd guess XSI will be available one day but i've not heard any news on when.

[Lone Deranger]

I've asked Avid/SoftImage this direct question on several occasions and normally they are very tight lipped. There was one instance however when senior XSI developer Luc Eric spoke out in detail about the complexities in porting XSI over to OSX. I don't remember the exact wording, but the gist of it was that they were not working on it at that point in time (back then/about 1 year ago). And if they were to start that day it wouldn't be out before a brand new Mac would be considered old. (Or so he phrased it more or less).
So unless he was shining everybody on, I wouldn't hold your breath.

However, now that SideFX has announced their Macintosh allegiance it will put extra pressure on SoftImage. Especially considering the fact that their Apprentice HD edition blows XSI Foundation's offer out of the water in terms of value for money.