Time FX is a cool, attractive clock App for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad that uses Jos Stam’s amazing fluid dynamics solver to emit the current time in dynamic and interactive ways. Time Fx features both analog and digital effects, alarm functions (including the ability to wake to your own iPod playlists), and a ton of themes to choose. You may never leave your iPad sleeping again.
via Time FX for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store.
A bit OT because it’s not Softimage, but it’s still interesting…
Based on the credit to Mir Vadim, I think it is safe to assume this was done with 3ds Max and the Rayfire plugin.
Q: Can I use groups and tabs to organize the exposed ports on my compound PPG? Can I add PPG logic (callbacks)?
A: Yes, you can add groups, but not tabs or PPG logic.
Most of what you can customize on a ICE compound PPG is available in the UI through the exposed port properties.
Unlike shader compounds, you’ll notice there’s no way to specify groups, tabs, or PPG logic.
To define groups, you’ll have to edit the .xsicompound file and manually add your groups in the layout element.
For example, here’s the layout for the Deform by Curve compound. This xml shows the full available syntax for the layout section. No other elements (like ) are supported: I checked the code that loads ICE .xsicompound files.
<layout> <item type="input" name="Mute"> </item> <item type="input" name="Curve_Name"> </item> <item type="input" name="Reference"> </item> <item type="input" name="Axis" min="0" max="0"> <enum value="0"><![CDATA[X Axis]]></enum> <enum value="1"><![CDATA[Y Axis]]></enum> <enum value="2"><![CDATA[Z Axis]]></enum> </item> <group type="input" name="Scaling Along"> <item type="input" name="Scale_Curve" min="-10" max="20"> </item> <item type="input" name="Scale_Normal" min="-10" max="20"> </item> <item type="input" name="Scale_BiNormal" min="-10" max="20"> </item> </group> <group type="input" name="Roll"> <item type="input" name="Roll" min="-360" max="360"> </item> </group> <group type="input" name="Translate"> <item type="input" name="Along_Curve" min="-20" max="20"> </item> <item type="input" name="Along_Normal" min="-2" max="2"> </item> <item type="input" name="Along_Binormal" min="-2" max="2"> </item> </group> <group type="input" name="Constraint"> <item type="input" name="Constrain_To_Deformer"> </item> <item type="input" name="Constrain_To_Deformee"> </item> </group> <group type="input" name="Profiles"> <item type="input" name="Use_Scale_Profile"> </item> <item type="input" name="Scale_Profile"> </item> <item type="input" name="Use_Roll_Profile"> </item> <item type="input" name="Roll_Profile"> </item> </group> <item type="output" name="result"> </item> </layout>
Someone on the XSI Mailing list asked about the old “10 reasons to try XSI”, which was published back in 2007 I believe. I managed to find a copy.
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Here’s a comparison of the “10 reasons to try XSI” with the top reasons to buy Autodesk Softimage 2011 |
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2007 (XSI 6)
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2010 (Softimage 2011)
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And here are some other top 10 (or 9 or 11) lists:
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Top ten new features in SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0
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Top Ten Key Features in SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.4.2
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Top 10 Reasons to Care About XSI 3.0 Long-Form Film/Series Broadcast
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Thanks a lot for interest and the great response regarding the Subaru “Car Parts” Commercial. I will try to give you some insides about our workflow in addition to the info Sebastian allready gave you More…
Florian Bruchhaeuser, ceo/founder/TD of Lafourmi Postproduction.
via Subaru “Car Parts” Commercial – Softimage Mailing List Archive | Google Groups.
Not everyone likes folder names like “Softimage 2011 Subscription Advantage Pack” 😉 For example, if you’re creating a deployment, it’s pretty common to exceed the Windows path length limit and hit an error.
The setup doesn’t allow you to change the name of the install folder (you can change the location from the default C:\Program Files\Autodesk, but you can’t change the root folder of the Softimage install).
However, you can use any MSI editor (such as InstEd) to change the install folder. All you have to do is edit the ADSK_INSTALL_PATH property. I thought it would be INSTALLDIR, but after a few tries, I figured out that it was ADSK_INSTALL_PATH.
Use at your own risk.
the whole production was about 8 weeks long, and softimage only. it was a really crazy time. like you can see in the credits we were a rather small team, but the greatest ive worked with so far. so big up to my “geile typen” ;p
it was the first big project with arnold as render, and our new pipeline (in house project, asset and render management).
as the idea was to create worlds consisting out of car parts we were facing a lot of diffuse reflection..there is glossy all over the place. and instancing. it is incredible how fast arnold chew through all this data. our farm was rendering for 3 weeks non stop *without* any failed frames. i really doubt we could do that with mental ray
– Sebastian Kowalski
via Subaru “Car Parts” Commercial – Softimage Mailing List Archive | Google Groups.
Volkswagen: The Making of the “Black Beetle” Commercial
Softimage sightings at 1:29 and at about 1:33-35
via YouTube – Volkswagen: The Making of the “Black Beetle” Commercial.
Something I found the other day: 3ds Max has this Small Annoying Things forum on autodesk.com. It’s kinda neat because you get a certain number of votes, so you can vote for what annoys you most. I assume that Big annoying things are covered in the regular user forums, just like for Softimage.
eX-SI 