A 3dsMax-Pipeline is nice, but take care that it won't be the only "full-featured" pipeline with material support etc...
XSI has one major advantage: it's cheap and affordable by indies who don't have the big bucks for 3dsMax. I know, 3ds vs. XSI is a religious thing, but in my opinion investing a lot of work into a pipeline for a program most users can't afford isn't a good idea unless you want to sell it to AAA-developers.
XSI has one major advantage: it's cheap and affordable by indies who don't have the big bucks for 3dsMax. I know, 3ds vs. XSI is a religious thing, but in my opinion investing a lot of work into a pipeline for a program most users can't afford isn't a good idea unless you want to sell it to AAA-developers.