Tag Archives: Reviews

Friday Flashback #635

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PIXEL 92 July/August 2004

SOFTWARE… HARDWARE… TECHNOLOGIES… ETC.

test bench

3D CREATION

XSI 4.0

The new version of Softimage XSI is betting everything on implementing highly productive features to make the software as accessible as possible and highly collaborative with production professions.

The developers of Softimage XSI have visibly made a very clear choice: to prioritize user friendliness above all else, even for non-specialists, and to make the most complex functions accessible. In short, to create a tool that is fast from every point of view. There are therefore not many major innovations in version 4.0 on the market; there aren’t any! This seems to be a general trend today among 3D software publishers, who all seem to be slowing down on innovation to prioritize product stability, user comfort, etc.

It is as if, ultimately, everything had gone too fast over the last four or five years and there was a felt need to take a little breather…

A Redesigned Interface

Many new features are worth noting around the user interface, which is less rigid and brings more ease of use. For instance, the famous Net View, which gives access to all available internet resources, is enriched with a good search engine. We see the appearance of new toolbars, notably to store shader presets, plus a certain number of new views and new Layouts (screen arrangements).

A strong emphasis is also placed on openness and development possibilities with the SDK view, which will appeal to technical directors of production. Other notable new views: those dedicated to textures and materials, like the Material and Texture Explorer, which aligns with a more visual use of the software.

…the software, in a constant effort to manage libraries of material elements in a more intuitive way.

More modern configurations make their appearance, such as the AutoHide mode, which allows you to automatically hide all menus using the TAB key, just like in Photoshop. Staying with Adobe inspiration, the addition of the Texture Layer is sure to please all users who struggled with the Render Tree and prefer a more linear organization of work rather than a tree structure: you then have the impression of managing textures like layers of a Photoshop image, and it works very well.

The most surprising thing about the new interface is the ability to load other applications directly within an XSI window using the custom display host module.

Modeling-Animation: The Pipeline!

A few new true modeling features, but above all a new architecture that allows for geometry modifications at any time during the production process, and especially after animation—which is quite a rarity among competitors. Here, modifying a character is possible even after UV mapping, skinning, a complex rigging setup, and multiple animation steps! This is a minor technological feat worth highlighting. This new architecture relies on construction modes that can, however, severely penalize their histories.

We also note the arrival of new selection modes, which was admittedly a bit of a weakness in previous versions.

However, let’s add new deformers (smooth and relax) that allow for quick editing (in a very advanced way, with numerous control parameters) of the general shape of 3D models. XSI also features an excellent polygon reduction tool that is even animateable (a small exploit, fully complementing the previous one). This highly advanced reduction is coupled with the automatic generation of LODs (Level of Detail displays depending on the required level of detail). Previously available as a plugin, the Slice Polygons command allows you to cut meshes very easily. Similarly, the Add Edges command is quite spectacular: you can add edges to an object, wherever and however you want!

Furthermore, working with curves is enriched! You can create polygon objects from curves, make surface-of-revolution objects around a specific axis. Likewise, curves can be converted into polygons, which is very practical for creating 3D text, for example. Conversions of these types of objects tend to generalize, as you can now convert Nurbs surfaces into polygon meshes.

The same goes for vertices, which can be merged into a single one (not just two, but a whole group), or disconnected from the surfaces they belong to (along with the edges and faces), allowing you to break apart geometries more easily.

We also like the arrival of advanced polygon extrusion, duplication, and Inset (reductions in place) features, as well as offsetting for contours, plus the improvement of beveling operations.

The Best for Clothing

Just as they did for hair (with Hair, an adaptation of Shave and a Haircut), XSI developers have called upon what is best on the market (rather than reinventing the wheel): the integration of the Syflex module.

In another register, audio is handled significantly better, featuring the display of phonemes in the animation curve editing window, and numerous parametric options for importing and listening to the audio track.

Friday Flashback #435

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From Computer Graphics World, January 2001 (volume 24, issue 01)

Softimage|XSI

By George Maestri

After many years and two changes of ownership, Softimage finally released its long-awaited successor to Softimage|3D. The software codenamed Sumatra now goes by the name of Softimage|XSI, and it includes many of the company’s high-end animation tools, plus a nice user interface and numerous new features including scripting, paintable deformations, and nonlinear animation. The software comes in two versions: the Essentials package, reviewed here, and Soft image|XSI Advanced, which includes integrated particles, soft bodies, and an additional Mental Ray license.

Softimage’s new interface retains the feel of the original but adds a number of new features, including floating windows.

For any software company, a ground-up rewrite such as this is painful. Like a newly constructed building, Softimage|XSI’s architecture is there, but not all the features have moved in yet. Some of those waiting to be added are polygonal modeling with subdivision surfaces, a dope sheet, and advanced NURBS modeling tools such as trims and blends. A few are already slated for inclusion in Version 1.5, which was in beta at press time.

Seasoned Softimage users should take to the new interface-which includes features such as object orientation and floating windows-fairly quickly. As in Softimage|3D, most functions are accessed through a series of buttons running vertically along the left side of the application.

Those familiar with object-oriented packages such as Maya, Max, and Houdini will be happy that Softimage is now part of the club. Most tools, including deformations, are non-destructive and are manipulated through Softimage’s Properties panel, enabling you to tweak object modifications at any time.

Other interface tweaks include the ability to float windows such as the Scene Explorer, Schematic window, and Animation Editor above the workspace. You also can create and add custom toolbars at will.

Scripting is a new feature that enables you to write custom scripts and interfaces quickly and easily. To create a custom button, for example, simply highlight the commands and drag them to a toolbar. For custom script writing, Softimage|XSI supports several standard languages, including Perl, VBScript, and Java Script.

For animators who don’t like writing expressions, Softimage|XSI includes Linked Parameters, which enable you to create relations between objects. For example, having a character’s teeth drop as a slider when the jaw is lowered is accomplished simply by linking the motion of the teeth to the jaw.

Modeling in Softimage|XSI is NURBS based. One welcome addition to the toolkit are stock deformers, such as bend, bulge, shear, twist, and taper, which you can apply to all or part of an object. Sub-object editing in XSI is powerful because deformations can be weighted. You assign these weights using a paint tool, which you also can use to paint almost any type of property-deformations, NURBS weights, etc. When you use the paint tool in conjunction with the push deformer, you get a modeling tool that enables you to sculpt surfaces.

Improvements in inverse kinematics include a friendlier user interface for setting joint limits and behaviors, and support for different types of IK solvers. XSI ships with two solvers, but you can implement custom solvers as plug-ins. You also can create an IK chain from a curve, then use the curve to animate the chain.

XSI boasts an excellent nonlinear animation editor, the Animation Mixer. By offering tools for positioning, cycling, scaling, warping, bouncing, and mixing multiple animation channels, the Animation Mixer enables animators to manage animation and motion-capture data quickly and efficiently, and therefore puts Softimage|XSI at the cutting edge of animation. Users still will need to manually write expressions (or set up Linked Parameters) to create an interface for controlling the tools. Animators shouldn’t be doing this-the task should be automated.

Materials also need some fleshing out. Softimage|3D never had the shader balls that are so common in other packages, and XSI doesn’t either, making it difficult to fine-tune shaders. I also expected to see the interface that Softimage demonstrated a few years ago as “Twister,” which was an interactive interface for Mental Ray.

Overall, this software holds great promise. It has an excellent architecture, and some killer animation tools. Several important features are missing, however, particularly in the area of modeling. With a 1.5 release already on the way, however, it seems as though these problems are being addressed quickly.

George Maestri is a writer and animator living in Los Angeles.

Price: $7995
Minimum system requirements: Windows NT/2000: Intel Pentium processor; OpenGL graphics card; 128MB of RAM; 200MB of free disk space. Irix: SGI workstation with MIPS R10000; 128MB of RAM; 345MB of free disk space.
Avid|Softimage
http://www.softimage.com