Siggraph 2002 in San Antonio, where Softimage announced XSI 3.0, Discreet launched 3ds Max 5, Alias/Wavefront showed Maya 5, Pixologic had ZBrush 1.5, and Newtek demoed Lightwave 7.5.
softimage.com web page from 21 July 2002
eX-SI
ICE, scripting, and other tech stuff about Softimage aka XSI
eX-SI 