To cut a long thread short… Side Effects is a privately governed company, hence no giant like AD can come in and just buy them.

As of XSI, I've been using (and still using it) for some tasks, but more and more gets relayed over to Houdini as my learning progresses.

As of Mantra Renderer, it has many of the same features of the Man. (PRMAN) but is easier to use, and is actually both fast, scalable and stable. Many houses are solely using Mantra on both small, medium and large projects.

Actually I'm in the process of switching from AD / Softimage leftovers to Houdini myself, and as I write this post, I do comparison renderings with Mantra, MR and Vray. Looks very promising.
Mantra is a great micropoly renderer with features well worth looking into.

Sorry I just couldn't resist after laughing so hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7UWImpG54 [youtube.com]

Wren
Sorry I just couldn't resist after laughing so hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7UWImpG54 [youtube.com]

Yes. It's good. It's been around on Softimage forums for a couple of days…

lynbo
Horrible as the thought is that SESI would be bought by Autodesk,
I'd like to turn it around, how about SESI nab the ICE developers at this point
and get on with some really serious dev work?

just thinking out loud

Well, the ICE technology was developed years ago by SESI…
Just because it's now wrapped in reflective foil, and a rap artist sings Ice Ice Baby, doesn't change much, besides making Softimage look ridiculous.

And hey… That Siggraph moon with a rocket hitting it could have been made in blender…

What AD plans is their business. I doubt it will be wery good, as the company is just to big to get down to the consumer level to do improvements.

Wren
Sorry I just couldn't resist after laughing so hard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR7UWImpG54 [youtube.com]

Oh…my.. GOD. Thank you. That was hilarious.