Surfed in to flick across the MS forums for inspiration (as I often do), then noticed something...
The long missing logo and banner had reappeared (so used to a blank banner and the "logo" text in the top left it took a while for it to click....)
"Hmmm," thinks I, "I wonder if this means posting works again? I may as well try while I'm here...."
And, lo and behold, it does! So the forums look like they are back in business, for a short time at least.
I doubt it means anything in the long-term; I suspect it's a byproduct of the work they're doing on the site for FirstStage, their VR offering that they've been working on for all this time.
I also highly doubt it means any focus will get turned back towards MS, either now or any time soon, which I believe is a major shame; with iClone now the only "affordable" (for whatever your definition of "affordable" is!) other option in the marketplace for 3d animation these days, there's a massive gap in the market for the ease of use, ease of pick up and ease of production workflow that MS offers (for those of us who don't have a bottomless wallet, a machine capable of challenging Deep Blue for computing capacity and more hours in a day than the 24 we mortals have to operate with!)
While I appreciate iClone (especially the latest version, where the gfx alone are sweeeeet), the majority of people don't have the time and money to pour into a bottomless pit to produce the kind of smooth produce that MS can still come up with. With a bit of focus and effort on development (moving it to a 64 bit base for starters would be a massive help performance wise!), some clever marketing and a lot of extra content options (covering more than just the bog standard "contemporary" stuff it does, very well it has to be said), and a better modding workflow (especially for those of us who just want to reskin a model without needing a degree in rocket science to do so!), I reckon that MS could be lifted from it's position as the "also ran" of the second generation of home animation software into a real contender.
Yeah, I know I gripe about MS a lot here, but that's because I am really bummed that it had massive potential and got kicked into the long grass. I appreciate ShortFuse are a business, and have to look out for their profit margins and their staff, and especially in these volatile, Covid-strewn days that's more important than ever. But they should at least make the code available if they aren't going to do anything with it, or drop the price to a lower level to try to attract people who haven't had a chance to experience it's little foibles yet. 100 sales at £50 or £75 quid for the product must be better than 10 at £150 (even my terrible maths knows that's a much better turnover than it must currently be doing!)
MS was a trailblazer and the real spiritual successor to the mantle that The Movies originally donned, in my opinion. It made movie making accessible for everyone, just like TM did, originally for free then for a very reasonably fee (slightly less reasonable these days as it's been languishing for some long with no-one touching it), and there is so much more it could do if it was given a dust-off, a bit of spit and polish, an update here and there and repackaged for a new decade.
How's about giving it a try, ShortFuse? There's life in that old dog yet. Just don't take it round the back and pop it in the head like they did with Old Yella 😉
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