![]() ![]() “Early on, XSI had huge advantages over Maya, particularly mental ray integration, Modelling was fast. Nick Webber from Milk VFX said about this: This introduced a non-linear animation editing and mixing system, strong interactive rendering, a particle system, compositing, and ActiveX scripting. Softimage struck back with the redeveloped-from-the-ground-up Softimage|XSI in 2000. “When Maya 1.0 arrived, it was a superior system with the power of MEL scripting language, Many larger film FX companies built their pipelines around Maya, and when XSI was released it had a lot to catch up with.” Martin Chamney. Around this time the problems of Softimage started to rise to the surface. This had some immediate advantages over Softimage. ![]() The fact that Softimage was doing so good in the late 90’s made it so valuable because in 1998 Avid bought it from Microsoft for whooping $285 million – though there were hints it was more after Softimage|DS to complement Avid’s own Symphony finishing system.Īround the same time, in February 1998, SGI subsidiary Alias|Wavefront was releasing its character animation and visual effects software, Maya 1.0. Softimage 3D was used to create all the animations and the characters were created in a hybrid manner, with overall motion created using Softimage 3D and signature facial expressions created using ILM’s proprietary CARICATURE software.” With the new version, ILM was able to write a single expression for twisting the dinosaur body which provided realistic rotation that tapers along the length of the body.”Īlso if you are old enough you probably remember “Men in Black 1997, This movie was packed full with entertaining 3-D elements ranging from space bugs, aliens, and flying saucers to a 3-D supercar that flies around and drives on a tunnel’s ceiling. For instance, in the earlier version of “Jurassic Park,” to rotate a dinosaur’s head, animators had to manually enter rotations for the individual chains in the neck to make the motion taper realistically down the neck. Using constraint controls, expressions, and other tools in Softimage 3D, ILM redefined its methods for chaining characters. The 28 minutes of visual effects in Jurassic Park of 1997 we talked about actually included more than 11 types of dinosaurs, with some scenes showing as many as 40 dinosaurs at a time, all animated using Softimage 3D. Microsoft acquired Softimage when it was at its peak because around that time things were so hot in the industry with many amazing movies coming out each year. Softimage|DS was launched in 1997, an editing and effects system that was tied to high-performance hardware (for the time) to allow finishing of commercials and music videos (this was back in the day when hardware restrictions meant that most editing was done using relatively low-quality previews). ![]() 3D paint functionality was added a year later in version 3.7. Softimage|3D Extreme 3.5, released later that year, included particle effects and the mental ray renderer, which offered area lights, ray tracing, and other advanced features. ![]() The first Windows port of Softimage|3D, version 3.0, was released in early 1996. In January 1995, Softimage|3D was announced as the official 3D development tool for the Sega Saturn. with the intention of introducing high-end 3D animation software to its Windows NT platform, and subsequently renamed it “Softimage|3D. Intended for non-commercial use, watermarks will appear on rendered images.In 1994, Microsoft acquired Softimage. SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP v.3.0 is available as a free download from the Softimage Website ( or as part of a complete CD-based training kit available for purchase. The SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP v.3.0 also includes six tutorials, which provide instruction on learning the user interface and mastering the integrated compositing capabilities, to connecting the SOFTIMAGE|XSI software to other applications in a 3D pipeline, as well as free online access to the SOFTIMAGE|XSI EXP community for forums, galleries, customer stories and advanced tutorials. Users may open files and learn from the professional version of 3.0, which has been recently used in high profile projects like the feature film MINORITY REPORT, the "Pepsi Twist with the Osbournes" commercial and games such as RESIDENT EVIL 0. Users can access all features found on the advanced version, offering the ability to create game content using the SOFTIMAGE|XSI realtime shaders, utilize the fully integrated compositing environment, render film-quality images with mental ray v.3.1 technology and save files. The upgrade to SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.2.0 Experience CD, offers a wider range of capabilities for both professionals and 3D novices. A free version of Softimage's 3D nonlinear production software SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.3.0 designed for training purposes, is available to download for use with the Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2000 platforms. ![]()
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