SoftImage XSI

#21 @Louis - be sure to check out XSI's "RenderMap" features to really be impressed. From the manual:

"RenderMap properties allow you to bake a variety of surface attributes into
different image files. For example, you can bake complex blended texture,
lighting, and bump-map information into a single surface color map, or
create the kind of normal and tangent maps that are used to compute bumpmapping
for games, all from the same RenderMap property."

#22 The Softimage XSI foundation ($495) is that all we really need to make Models and animations or do we need to flesh out more money for the essential package ($1,995)?

#23 Http://www.softimage.com/products/Xsi/v4/comparison/default.asp

look there for a comparison of the three XSI packages


I wonder at what stage Matt is with the DTS exporter....
Been very long time now.... and no indication of a release date.
He is busy on other projects as well, so I guess we may even never see a DTS exporter for XSI at all.
A bit of a bummer for XSI users.
But thanks to Matt never the less for working on it whenever he can.

On the Torque side, yes the ability to read .x and .FBX would be a great features.
At least .x would be already a geat start...

Actually they are re-writing (apparently) stuff for TSE,
I wonder if TSE will support any of the following,
.x, .fbx, dotXSi.

A lot of artists and designers are now going with XSI because the Foundation package Features/Price and because the MOD TOOLS for XSI/Unreal and XSi/HalfLife...

I know, the idea of having to get content out of XSI and into Milkshape (or other very low end package) just to export to DTS stinks; to go from you preferred 3D package to the engine would be ideal.... but for now we may 'have to' use 3rd party bits and bops to get things going.

#24 @Jason - XSI Foundation is all you need for Models and Animation, and a whole lot more. It really has everything you would need for game development. The higher end packages are geared more towards film/tv/cinematics and much of the additional cost goes towards additional Mental Ray licenses for rendering.

#25 @hokuto There was a recent post by Matt about how the skeleton system in Truespace/Gamespace SUCKS to I would guess that his XSI exporter is being actively developed. But yes it has been like 6 months since he originally announced the exporter was in development.

@jason as you can see from the matrix, Foundation is missing a few things: rigid body physics, hair system, polygon reduction/smoothing, texture layer editor. But I can attest there is so much that is in Foundation, you can do just about anything with it unless you are a serious 3d professional. and you need those specific features for some reason.

#26 Any news on this? The last official post seems to be on Dec. 15 2004.

#27 The last comment from Matt Summers in his .plan was in March 2005. Matt you out there? We are groveling :-)

#28 Any XSI users out there, be sure to check out the new obj2dts resource on this site. (While waiting for the full-fledged dts exporter) obj2dts is great for static (non-animated) objects!

For XSI Foundation users- you don't have a polygon reduction tool in xsi for creating level of detail meshes, so you can use filter polygons in xsi foundation, but that looks trashy. So instead use free 3rd party tools like nvidia melody, or vizup, for creating LOD.

Also don't forget to learn XSI's rendermap feature. It's so awesome you can texture and shader a hi-poly model to your hearts content, then bake the textures onto low-poly model(s) with UV map and single texture image. In addition to surface color and lighting it supports normal mapping and bumpmapping I think which would probably useful if you were using TSE instead of TGE.

#29 Hi there to all. I am currenlty working on my game project which evolves a [prisoner running inside ajil who must escape. i would be gratefull if you please answer the following questions!!!!

1. Ok I know that I need milkshape to covert XSI objects and characters. I have converted the SCN Files to xsi files, but when i try to import the model a message in milkspahe 3d says:

Model found with more than 1 vertices: skipping and the model is not exported at all!!!! any ideas to help??????????

2. Shall I sue QuaRK for the rooms of the jail?????????or softimage xsi is ok???
3. There is a demo of torque available for download but I also want to add enemies in my game to chase me around!!!! Is the demo ok to use for these featuires or is it prefferable to buy full version of torque??????????????????????

please reply!!

thank you

#30 Also where can I find documentation of how to sue the torque demo.... I ve seen that here are a lot of articles on thsi site but it says that it is only for registered users , what shall i do?

#31 You need to buy Torque, then you'll get full access to all the TGE documention.

#32 Ok, so back to the subject. What is the status of the XSI exporter. Is this a TSE generated item or from Softimage? I too have become comfortable with the workings of XSI and would love to use its features with Torque.

#33 Jack,

I understand Matt Summers is still working the exporter. and its being coordinated with Garage Games. There have been updates in other topics here, and the basic message has been that he's still working on it.


I plan on making a dotXSI convertor soon as a personal project, using dtsSdkPlus and Softimages File Tool Kit. I know C++, but I'm new to 3d software, so I don't know how far I can get with it.

#34 I was talking with a Softimage Rep at Siggraph and he said it would probably help if we left some requests on the Softimage community page. I believe that XSI is aggressivly marketing their product and would probably react to a number of posts. They would certainly respond if they truly knew the level of interest.

#35 Has there been any recent updates on the status of this project?

#36 I didn't hear anything new

#37 It's been a while since I've checked on the updates on the XSI exporters any news on the release or anything

#38 Matt Summers said in this other thread

Quote:Feb 07, 2006 12:10
The XSI exporter is in the hands of a few beta testers and an updated version is being is almost ready. Stay tuned...

February, March, April, May... 2005, 2006
We are staying tuned Matt

#39 I'm still waiting with bated breath, but meanwhile, we do have options, like:

1)Export to fbx, and open in a program that has an exporter (i.e. lighwave, Max)
2)Export to Collada and open in Blender. (I haven't tried this yet)
3)Model in XSI, animate in Milkshape or Blender
4)Model in XSI, export to FBX and obj. Open FBX in Milkshape. Export animations to BVH. Open obj and BVH in Blender and tie them together. (I haven't tried this yet.)
5)Write your own exporter.

I started 5), and focused on an FBX exporter, and I can tell you that working on an exporter at home, by yourself, during your free time, isn't very easy. Its not a very "fun" project, and the hard part is motivation.

#40 Anyone who has interest in helping test the XSI exporter please feel free to email me.