softimage basic

The Basics Guide

Basics 3

Copyright and Disclaimer

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Disclaimer

THIS PUBLICATION AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS MADE AVAILABLE BY AUTODESK, INC. "AS IS." AUTODESK, INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE REGARDING THESE MATERIALS.

Documentation Team

Judy Bayne, Grahame Fuller, Amy Green, Edna Kruger, and Naomi Yamamoto.

11 2009

Copyright and Disclaimer

4 Softimage

Basics 5

Contents

Welcome to Autodesk Softimage! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Section 1Introducing Softimage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13The Softimage Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Getting Commands and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Setting Values for Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Working with Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Working in 3D Views. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Exploring Your Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Section 2Elements of a Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Whats in a Scene? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Selecting Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Components and Clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Parameter Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Section 3Moving in 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Coordinate Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Center Manipulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Freezing Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Resetting Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Setting Neutral Poses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Transform Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Transformations and Hierarchies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Snapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Section 4Organizing Your Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Where Files Get Stored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Scenes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Importing and Exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Section 5General Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Overview of Modeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Geometric Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Accessing Modeling Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Starting from Scratch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Operator Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Modeling Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Attribute Transfer (GATOR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Manipulating Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Deformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Section 6Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103About Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Drawing Curves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Manipulating Curve Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Modifying Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Creating Curves from Other Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Importing EPS Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

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Section 7Polygon Mesh Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Overview of Polygon Mesh Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114About Polygon Meshes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Converting Curves to Polygon Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Drawing Polygons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Subdividing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Drawing Edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Extruding Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Removing Polygon Mesh Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Combining Polygon Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Symmetrizing Polygons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Cleaning Up Meshes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Reducing Polygons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Polygon Normals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Subdivision Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Section 8NURBS Surface Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131About Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Building Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Modifying Surfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Projecting and Trimming with Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Surface Meshes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Section 9Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Bringing It to Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Playing the Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Previewing Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Animating with Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Animating Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Editing Keys and Function Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Layering Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Constraints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Path Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Linking Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Expressions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Copying Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Scaling and Offsetting Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Plotting (Baking) Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Removing Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Section 10Character Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171Character Animation in a Nutshell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172Setting Up Your Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Building Skeletons for Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Enveloping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Rigging a Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187Animating Characters with FK and IK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Walkin the Walk Cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Motion Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Making Faces with Face Robot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Section 11Shape Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201Things are Shaping Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Using Construction Modes for Shape Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Creating and Animating Shapes in the Shape Manager . . . . . . . . 205Selecting Target Shapes to Create Shape Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Storing and Applying Shape Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Using the Animation Mixer for Shape Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Mixing the Weights of Shape Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Section 12Actions and the Animation Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211What Is Nonlinear Animation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212The Animation Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213Storing Animation in Action Sources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Working with Clips in the Animation Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Mixing the Weights of Action Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

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Modifying and Offsetting Action Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Sharing Animation between Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Adding Audio to the Mix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Section 13Simulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Simulated Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Making Things Move with Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Hair and Fur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Rigid Body Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Cloth Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Soft Body Dynamics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Section 14ICE: The Interactive Creative Environment . . . . . . . . . . . 241What is ICE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242The ICE Tree View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244ICE Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Forces and ICE Simulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250ICE Deformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252Building ICE Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255ICE Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Section 15ICE Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Making ICE Particle Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Particles that Bounce, Splash, Stick, Slide, and Flow. . . . . . . . . . . 277Particle Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279Spawning New Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281Particle Strands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Particle Instances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285ICE Particle States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287ICE Rigid Bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289ICE Particle Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Section 16Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295The Shader Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296About Surface Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300Basic Surface Color Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302Reflectivity, Transparency, and Refraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303Applying Shaders to Scene Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306The Render Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307Building Shader Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310Creating Shader Compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Section 17Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315About Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316The Material Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317Creating and Assigning Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319Material Libraries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Section 18Texturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323How Surface and Texture Shaders Work Together . . . . . . . . . . . . 324Types of Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Applying Textures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326Texture Projections and Supports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327Editing Texture Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333UV Coordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335Editing UV Coordinates in the Texture Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336Texture Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338Bump Maps and Displacement Maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342Reflection Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344Baking Textures with RenderMap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345Painting Colors at Vertices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

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Section 19Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347Types of Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348Placing Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349Setting Light Properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350Selective Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352Creating Shadows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352Global Illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355Caustics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357Final Gathering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358Ambient Occlusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359Image-Based Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359Light Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Section 20Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361Types of Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362The Camera Rig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363Working with Cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Setting Camera Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365Lens Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366Motion Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

Section 21Rendering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369Rendering Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370Render Passes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371Render Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375Setting Rendering Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375Different Ways to Render . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Section 22Compositing and 2D Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381Softimage Illusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382Adding Images and Render Passes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383Adding and Connecting Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384Editing and Previewing Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386Rendering Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3872D Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388Vector Paint vs. Raster Paint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389Painting Strokes and Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390Merging and Cloning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392

Section 23Customizing Softimage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393Plug-ins and Add-ons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394Toolbars and Shelves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395Custom and Proxy Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396Scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399Key Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400Other Customizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Basics 9

Welcome to Autodesk Softimage!

Softimage is a powerful 3D system that integrates modeling, animation, simulation, compositing, and rendering into a single, seamless environment. Softimage incorporates many standard 3D tools and functions, but goes far beyond that in terms of tool sophistication and artistic control.

The Interface

Softimages interface is laid out in a way that gives you both a large viewing area as well as easy access to all the tools you need, all the time. You can easily resize any panel or viewport in the Softimage interface, as well as customize its layout to exactly what you want.

Modeling

The modeling tools are designed for creating and editing seamless animated models of any sort. Softimage offers many tools for creating, editing, and deforming polygons and subdivision surfaces, as well as NURBS curves and surfaces.

Animation

Softimage provides you with a complete set of both low-level and high-level animation tools. All the fundamental low-level tools are there with keyframing, fcurve editor, dopesheet, constraints, linked parameters, and expressions. You can also layer keyframe animation on top of animation, such as motion capture (mocap) data.

Shape animation is achieved using a number of techniques and tools, including the popular and easy-to-use shape manager.

For high-level animation, you have the animation mixer which lets you mix, transition, and combine all forms of animation, shapes, and audio in a nonlinear and non-destructive manner.

Character Animation

Building and animating characters is fully supported with all the regular animation tools, as well as special character tools such as skeletons that use inverse kinematics, envelopes and weight maps, and easy-to-create character rigs and rigging tools. As well, you can retarget any type of animation, including mocap data, to any type of rig.

The Face Robot module lets you make faces in a unique way. You first set up a facial rig by going through several simple stages. Once the facial rig is created, you can animate the facial controls and sculpt and tune the soft facial tissue using a special set of tools.

Copyright 2005 by Paramount Pictures Corporation and Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Nickelodeon, Barnyard and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.


10 Softimage

Simulation

You can simulate almost any kind of natural, or unnatural, phenomena you can think of using rigid bodies, soft bodies, or cloth or grow some hair! Simulation-type objects can then be influenced by forces and collisions to create simulated animations.

ICE: Interactive Creative Environment

ICE is a visual programming environment available directly within the Softimage interface. Using a node-based data tree format, you can modify how any tool works, create custom tools and effects, and see the results interactively, all without scripting a line of code. ICE is currently used mostly for creating particle and deformation effects.

Using ICE trees, you can create almost any type of particle effect you want. You can make natural phenomena, such as smoke, fire, and rain, but you can also use objects or characters act in a simulated environment: rocks tumbling, glass pieces breaking, grass or hair growing, or humans running about.

Shaders and Texturing

Using a graphical node-based connection tool called the render tree, you can create an unlimited range of materials by connecting any type of shader to any object. You can also project 2D and 3D textures into texture spaces, which can then be manipulated like a 3D object.

Rendering

Drawing upon the integration of mental ray rendering technology, Softimage offers full-resolution, interactive rendering, caustics, global illumination, and motion blur, not only for the final render, but also within a render region that can be drawn in any Softimage viewport. It renders everything in Softimage, letting you adjust your render parameters at any stage of modeling, animating, or even during playback.

As well, you can embed unlimited render passes into a single scene and for each pass, generate multiple rendered channels such as specular or reflections. Softimages render passes and render channels are extremely easy to create, customize, and edit.

Painting and Compositing

Softimage has a built-in compositor, called Softimage Illusion. Softimage Illusion is designed to edit textures and image-based lighting in real time. You can use it to rough out final shots, touch up your textures, morph, warp and rig images, create custom mattes, and tweak the results of a multi-pass render, all within Softimage.

Basics 11

About this Guide

This guide provides an overview of the main features, tools, and workflows of Softimage, helping you get a headstart in understanding and using the software:

If youre new to Softimage, it gives you a foot in the proverbial Softimage door. You may be new to 3D, or just new to Softimage but familiar with other 3D software packages. Either way, you can skim through this guide and quickly see whats possible in Softimage, as well as discover what the different tools and elements are called.

If youre an old hand at Softimage, this guide may provide you with a quick start for areas of Softimage that youve never needed to use before. For example, if modeling is your thing and now you have to do some animation, this guide can help you get a sense of whats possible in animation and what tools you can use.

This guide has been updated for Softimage 2010, but because it covers the fundamental concepts and workflows of Softimage, the information it contains will apply to Softimage well beyond this version.

If youre eager to take Softimage for a spin, theres enough information in this guide to get you started without needing to do more homework. Many workflow overviews are included, as well as command names that tell you where to find things.

Remember that all the detailed information and procedures are covered in the Softimage Users Guide and the Softimage SDK Guide available from the Help menu on the main menu bar in Softimage (or press the F1 key): weve just filtered out the main goodies for you here.

Now, go fire up Softimage and have some fun!

The Softimage Documentation Team


12 Softimage

Basics 13

Section 1

Introducing Softimage

New to Softimage? Take a quick guided tour through the interface and basic operations.

What youll find in this section ...

The Softimage Interface

Getting Commands and Tools

Setting Values for Properties

Working with Views

Working in 3D Views

Exploring Your Scene

Section 1 Introducing Softimage

14 Softimage


Welcome to your new homethe Softimage interface. The interface is composed of several toolbars and panels surrounding the viewports that display the elements in your scene. Each part of the interface is designed to help you accomplish different aspects of your work.

The image below shows the default layout. Take a minute to become familiar with the names and locations of the parts of the interface. You

can toggle parts of the standard layout using View > Optional Panels. Other layouts are available from the View > Layouts menu. You can even create your own layout for a customized workflow.

Softimage has many preferences for many tools, editors, and working methods (choose File > Preferences). If you want to change something, chances are theres a preference for it!

A B

F

C

D

E

G

Basics 15


Sample Content

Softimage ships with a sample database XSI_SAMPLES containing scenes, models, presets, scripts, and other goodies. Open a Softimage file browser (View > General > Browser or press 5 at the top of the keyboard), then click Paths and choose Sample Project.

A Title bar

Displays the version of Softimage, your license type, and the name of the open project and scene.

B Viewports

Lets you view the contents of your scene in different ways. You can resize, hide, and mute viewports in any combination.

See Working with Views on page 21 for details.

C Main menu bar

D Main Toolbar

Contains commands and tools for different aspects of 3D work. Press 1 for the Model toolbar, 2 for Animate, 3 for Render, 4 for Simulate, and Ctrl+2 for Hair. You can also access these controls from the main menu bar.

For more information about other controls that can be displayed in this area, see The Main Toolbar, Weight Paint Panel, and Palette Toolbar on page 16 and Switching Toolbars on page 16.

E Icons

Switch between toolbar and other panels, or choose viewport presets.

See The Main Toolbar, Weight Paint Panel, and Palette Toolbar on page 16 as well as Viewport Presets on page 22 for details.

F Main command panel (MCP)

Contains frequently used commands grouped by category. Switch between the MCP, KP/L, and MAT panels using the tabs at lower right.

See The MCP, KP/L, and MAT Panels on page 17 for details.

G Lower interface controls

The controls at the bottom of the interface include a command box, script editor icon, the mouse/status line, the timeline, the playback panel, and the animation panel.


16 Softimage


There are several different types of menus in Softimage. Each menu typically contains a mixture of commands and tools:

Commands have an immediate effect on the scene, for example, duplicating the selected object.

Tools activate a mode that requires mouse interaction, for example, selecting elements, translating an object, orbiting the camera, or drawing polygons and curves. A tool stays active until you deactivate it by pressing Esc or by activating a different tool.

Menu Buttons

Buttons with a triangle open up a menu of commands and tools. You can middle-click on a menu button to repeat the last action you performed on that menu.

Context Menus

You can right-click on elements in the views to open a menu with items that relate to the element under the mouse pointer. This is a quick and convenient way to access commands and tools, for example, when modeling.

In the explorer or schematic view, right-click on an element to open its context menu.

In a 3D view, Alt+right-click (Ctrl+Alt+right-click on Linux) on an object to open its context menu, or on the background to open the Camera View menu.

When object components like points, polygons, or edges are selected, right-click anywhere on the object for the selected components context menu. Right-click anywhere else for the Camera View menu.

Some tools like the Tweak Components tool have their own right-click menus with options specific for each tool.

The Main Toolbar, Weight Paint Panel, and Palette Toolbar

The three buttons at the lower left switch between the main toolbar, the weight paint panel, and the palette:

The main toolbar is where youll do most of your work.

The weight paint panel contains a specialized layout for editing envelope weights. See The Weight Paint Panel on page 182.

The palette contains some wire color and display mode presets, as well as a custom toolbar where you can store custom commands.

Switching Toolbars

The main toolbar on the left side of the interface can display categories for modeling, animation, rendering, simulation, and hair. You can switch between these categories by clicking on the toolbars title as shown at right, or by pressing 1, 2, 3, 4, or Ctrl+2 (use the number keys at the top of the keyboard, not on the numeric keypad).

If you prefer, you can also access the same commands from the main menu bar:

Main toolbar Palette

Weight paint panel

Basics 17


The MCP, KP/L, and MAT Panels

The three tabs at the bottom of the panel on the right side of the interface switch between the MCP, KP/L, and MAT panels:

MCP is the main command panel. It is divided into sub-panels with controls for selection, transformation, constraints, snapping, and editing. The tools and commands available here are described in context throughout this guide.

KP/L contains the keying panel as well as controls for working with animation and scene layers. See Keying Parameters in the Keying Panel on page 147, Layering Animation on page 159, and Scene Layers on page 49.

MAT is the material panel. It provides similar controls to the texture layer editor, but in a different arrangement. See Texture Layers on page 338.

Collapsing MCP Panels

You can collapse panels in the MCP by right-clicking on their main menu buttons. To expand a collapsed panel, simply right-click on it again. This is useful when working on small monitors, like on laptops.

Tearing Off Menus

To tear off a menu, click on the dotted line at the top of a menu or submenu and drag to any area in the interface.

The menu stays open in a floating window until you close it.

Hotkeys: Sticky or Supra

Using hotkeys, tools can be activated in either of two modes:

Sticky: Press and release the key quickly. The tool stays active until you activate a different tool or press Esc.

Supra: Press and hold the key to temporarily override the current tool. The new tool stays active only while the key is held down. When you release the key, the previous tool is reactivated.

Repeating Commands and Tools

Press . (period) to repeat the last command, and press , (comma) to reactivate the last tool (other than selection, navigation, or transformation).


18 Softimage


Property editors are where youll find an elements properties. They are a basic tool that you use constantly to define and modify elements in a scene. Select an object or property and press Enter to open its property editor, or click its icon in an explorer. In addition to property editors, you can enter values in many of the text boxes in the main command panel, such as the Transform panel, and use virtual sliders to change values for marked parameters in the explorer.

A B

C D E

F

G

IH

J

K

L

A The title bar of the property shows the name of the element being edited. When multiple elements are selected for editing, the title bar shows multi.

B Control how property editors update:

Focus updates only for properties of the same type when other elements are selected.

Recycle updates with the properties of the currently selected elements.

Lock does not update when other elements are selected.

C Click the key button to set or remove a key on all parameters in all property sets in the editor.

Right-click the key button to access a menu of commands that affect all parameters.

Use the arrows to move between next and previous keys on any parameter.

D The arrow buttons move along the sequence of property editors (up a level, previous, and next).

E Revert changes, or save and load presets.

F Use the tabs to quickly move between different property sets in an editor.

Click the triangle to collapse a property set (like Scene Material in this picture) or expand it (like Phong).

For help on the parameters in a property set, click the corresponding help icon (?).

G Within a property set like Phong, tabs switch between groups of parameters.

H The animation icon shows if and how the parameter is animated.

Click to set or remove a key.

Right-click to access animation commands for that parameter.

I Drag a slider to change values.

To change R, G, and B values simultaneously for a color, press Ctrl while dragging any one of them.

Basics 19


Entering Values Outside of Slider Ranges

Many parameters with sliders let you set values outside of the slider range. For example, the range of the Local Transform property editors Position sliders is between -50 and +50, but objects can be much farther from their parents origin than that.

If a parameter supports values outside of the slider range, you can set such values by typing them into the associated numeric box or by pressing Alt while using the virtual slider tool.

When you set a value outside the slider range, the displayed range automatically expands to twice the current value. For example, if the default range of a parameter is between 0 and 10 and you set the value to 15, the new range is 0 to 30. However, the change is not permanentif you set the parameter to a value within the default range and then close and reopen the property editor, the displayed range is back to its default.

Virtual Sliders

Virtual sliders let you do the job of a slider without having to open up a property editor. Select one or more objects, mark the desired parameters, then press F4 and middle-drag in a 3D view. Use Ctrl, Shift, and Ctrl+Shift to change increments, and Alt to extend beyond the sliders display range.

J Type a numerical value in a text box to change the parameters values precisely. You can sometimes enter values beyond the slider range.

Drag the mouse in a circular motion over the text box to change values (scrubbing). Scrub clockwise to increase and counterclockwise to decrease.

Increment values using [ and ]. Ctrl and Shift change the increment size. For example, press Ctrl+] to increment by 10. You can also press Ctrl or Shift with the arrow keys to change values by increments.

Enter relative values with the addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), and division (/) symbols after the value. For example, 2- decreases the value by 2. On the other hand, -2 enters negative two.

With multiple elements, use l(min, max) for a linear range, r(min, max) for random values, and g(mean, var) for a normal distribution.

K Click a color box to open the color editors, from which you can pick or define the colors you want. See Color Editors on page 20.

You can copy colors by dragging and dropping one color box onto another.

Click the label below the box to cycle the color space for the sliders through RGB, HLS, and HSV.

L The connection icon links a parameter value to a shader, weight map, or texture map which modulates it.

Click the icon to inspect the connected element, or right-click for options.


20 Softimage

Color Editors

Instead of using the RGB color sliders, you can click on a color box to open a color editor.

A To set a color, click in the color area and then adjust it using the slider. To select which color components appear in the color area and which one appears on the slider, click the > button.

B The color box on the left shows the previous color for reference.

C The color box on the right shows the current color.

D Use the numeric boxes to set color values precisely. To select a color model, click the > button.

A

I

K

H

F

C

BG

D

E

J

L

E To pick a color:

Click the color picker button (the eyedropper) and click anywhere in the Softimage window. This tool can be especially useful when trying to match a color in the Image Clip editor.

On Windows systems, you can click outside of the Softimage window to pick a color, even though the mouse pointer does not show that the color picker is active outside of the window. This does not work on Linux systems, but you can import an image clip and load it into the Image Clip editor as a workaround.

To cancel the color picker, click the right mouse button.

The color picker takes the color you see on the screen rather than the true color of the objects. There may be rounding errors because most display adapters have only 256 levels for each of the RGB channels.

F Click on the browse (...) button to open the full color editor, where you can use additional controls.

G Click the palette button to choose a preset color.

H Click the > button to open the menu shown.

I The Color Area commands specify the configuration of the color area and slider.

J The Numeric Entry commands select the color model for the numeric boxes.

K The Normalized option specifies whether numeric values are represented as real numbers in the range [0.01.0] or as integers in the range [0, 255].

L The Gamma Correction option toggles gamma correction display for all color controls in the color editor.

Basics 21

Working with Views

Working with Views

Views provide a window into the current scene, whether they display a 3D view of geometric objects such as in the Camera view or a hierarchical view of the data such as in the explorer. Views can be displayed docked in a viewport, or floating in separate windows.

Views Docked in the Viewports

There are four viewports in the view manager at the center of the default Softimage layout. Each viewport is identified by a letter. When you start Softimage, viewport A (top left) shows the Top orthographic view, viewport B (top right) shows the Camera perspective view, viewport C (bottom left) shows the Front orthographic view, and viewport D (bottom right) shows the Right orthographic view.

Switching Views in the Viewports

You can change the view displayed by a viewport using the menu on the left of its title bar. Middle-click to display the previous view.

The 3D views show the geometry of your scene and include:

Any cameras that are present in your scene.

The orthographic Top, Front, and Right views.

The User view, which is not a real camera but an extra perspective view that you can navigate in without modifying your main camera setup or its animation.

Any spotlights that are present in your scene.

The Object view, which shows the selected object in isolation.

See Working in 3D Views on page 23.

The other views include alternative representations of your scene data such as the explorer or the schematic views (see Exploring Your Scene on page 32), as well as tools for specialized tasks.

Resizing Viewports

Viewports can be resized, maximized, or expanded vertically and horizontally. Drag the horizontal and vertical splitter bars (or their intersection) to resize the viewports. Middle-click the bars to reset them.


22 Softimage

Use the Resize icon at the right of a viewports toolbar to maximize, expand, and restore:

Left-click to maximize a viewport, or restore a maximized viewport. Alternatively, press F12 while the pointer is over the viewport.

Middle-click to expand or restore horizontally.

Ctrl+middle-click to expand or restore vertically.

Right-click on the Resize icon to open a menu as shown.

Viewport Presets

Instead of switching views and resizing viewports manually, you can use the buttons at the lower left to display various preset combinations.

Muting and Soloing Viewports

The letter identifier in the upper-left corner of the title bar allows you to mute and solo viewports. Muting a viewports neighbors helps speed up its refresh rate.

Middle-click the letter to mute the viewport. A muted viewport does not update until you un-mute it. The letter of a muted viewport is displayed in orange. Middle-click the letter again to un-mute the viewport.

Click the letter to solo the viewport. Soloing a viewport mutes all the others. The letter of a soloed viewport is displayed in green. Middle-click the letter again to un-solo the viewport.

To control how viewports update when playing back animation, see Selecting a Viewport for Playback on page 143.

Floating Views

You can open views as floating windows using the first group of submenus on the Views menu. Some floating views also have shortcut keys. Depending on the type of view, you can have multiple windows of the same type open at the same time.

You can adjust floating windows in the usual ways:

To move a window, drag its title bar.

To resize a window, drag its borders.

To bring a window to the front and display it on top of other windows, click in it.

To close a window, click x in the top right corner.

To minimize a window, click _ in the top right corner.

You can cycle through all open windows, whether minimized or not, using Ctrl+Tab. Use Shift+Ctrl+Tab to cycle backwards.

You can collapse a floating view by double-clicking on its title bar. When collapsed, only the title bar is visible and you can still move it around by dragging. To expand a collapsed view, double-click on the title bar again; the view is restored at its current location.

A Word about the Active Window

The active window is always the one directly under the mouse pointerits the one that has focus and accepts keyboard and mouse input even if it is not on top.

For example, you can open a floating explorer window, then move the pointer over the camera viewport and press F to frame the selected elements. If you pressed F while the pointer was still over the explorer, the list would have expanded and scrolled to find the next selected object.

Be careful that you dont accidentally send commands to the wrong window.

Basics 23

Working in 3D Views

Working in 3D Views

3D views are where you view, edit, and manipulate the geometric elements of your scene.

A B C D E F G H

A Viewport letter identifier: Click to solo the viewport or middle-click to mute it.

B Views menu: Choose which view to display in the viewport.

C Memo cams: Store up to 4 views for quick recall. Left click to recall, middle-click to save, Ctrl+middle-click to overwrite, and right-click to clear.

D Camera icon menu: Navigate and frame elements in the scene.

E Eye icon menu (Show menu): Specify which object types, components, and attributes are visible in the viewports. Hold down the Shift key to keep the menu open while you choose multiple options.

F XYZ buttons: Click on X to view the right side, Y to view the top side, and Z to show the front side. Middle-click to view the left, back, and bottom sides respectively. These commands change the viewpoint but you can still orbit afterwards unlike in the Top, Front, and Right views selected from the Views menu. Click again to return to the previous viewpoint.

G Display Mode menu: Specifies how scene elements are displayed: wireframe, shaded, and other options.

H Resize icon: Resizes viewports to full-screen, horizontal, or vertical layouts.

Click to maximize and restore.

Middle-click to maximize and restore horizontally.

Ctrl+middle-click to maximize and restore vertically.

Right-click for a menu.


24 Softimage

Types of 3D Views

There are many ways to view your scene in the 3D views. These viewing modes are available from the Views menu in viewports and from the View menu in the object view.

Except for camera views, all of the viewing modes are viewpoints. Like camera views, viewpoints show you the geometry of objects in a scene. They can be previewed in the render region, but they cannot be rendered to file like camera views.

Camera Views

Camera views let you display your scene in a 3D view from the point of view of a particular camera. You can also choose to display the viewpoint of the camera associated to the current render pass.

The Render Pass view is also a camera view: it shows the viewpoint of the particular camera associated to the current render pass. Only a camera associated to a render pass is used in a final render.

Spotlight Views

Spotlight views let you select from a list of spotlights available in the scene. Selecting a spotlight from this list switches the point of view in the active 3D view relative to the chosen spotlight. The point of view is set according to the direction of the light cone defined for the chosen spotlight.

Top, Front, and Right Views

The Top, Front, and Right views are parallel projection views, called such because the objects projection lines do not converge in these views. Because of this, the distance between an object and the viewpoint has no influence on the scale of the object. If one object is close and an identical object is farther away, both appear to be the same size.

The Top, Front, and Right views are also orthographic, which means that the viewpoint is perpendicular (orthogonal) to specific planes:

The Top view faces the XZ plane.

The Front view faces the XY plane.

The Right view faces the YZ plane.

You cannot orbit the camera in an orthographic view.

User View (Viewports Only)

The User view is a viewpoint that shows objects in a scene from a virtual cameras point of view, but is not actually linked to a scene camera or spot light.

The User point of view can be placed at any position and at any angle. You can orbit, dolly, zoom, and pan in this view. Its useful for navigating the scene without changing the render cameras position and zoom settings.

Top

Front Right

Basics 25

Working in 3D Views

The Object View

The object view is a 3D view that displays only the selected scene elements. It has standard display and show menus, and works the same way as any 3D view in most respects. Selection, navigation, framing, and so on work as they do in any viewport. There are also some custom viewing options, available from the object views View menu, that make it easier to work with local 3D selections.

To open the object view, do one of the following:

From any viewports views menu, choose Object View.

or

From the main menu, choose View > General > Object View.

A B C C E F G

A View menu: Choose the viewpoint to display, and set various viewing options. This is similar to the viewports Views menu, but includes special viewing controls for the object view.

B Show menu (equivalent to the eye icon menu): Specify which object types, components, and attributes are visible in the viewports. Hold down the Shift key to keep the menu open while you choose multiple options.

C Memo cams: Store up to 4 views for quick recall. Left click to recall, middle-click to save, Ctrl+middle-click to overwrite, and right-click to clear.

D XYZ buttons: Click on X to view the right side, Y to view the top side, and Z to show the front side. Middle-click to view the left, back, and bottom sides respectively. These commands change the viewpoint but you can still orbit afterwards unlike in the Top, Front, and Right views in viewports. Also unlike in the viewports, they are not temporary overrides and you cannot click them again to return to the previous viewpoint.

E Lock: Prevent the view from updating when you select a different object in another view. Click again to unlock.

F Update: Refresh the view if it is locked.

G Display Mode menu: Specifies how scene elements are displayed: wireframe, shaded, and other options.


26 Softimage

Navigating in 3D Views

In 3D views, a set of navigation controls and shortcut keys lets you control the viewpoint. You can use these controls and keys to zoom in and out, frame objects, as well as orbit, track, and dolly among other things.

Activating Navigation Tools

Most navigation tools have a corresponding shortcut key so you can quickly activate them from the keyboard. However, some tools are only available from a viewports camera icon menu. In either case, activating a navigation tool makes it the current tool for all 3D views, including object views which do not have an equivalent to the camera icon menu.

After you activate a tool, check the mouse bar at the bottom of the Softimage interface to see which mouse button does what.

Tool or Command

Key Description

Zoom mouse wheel

By default, zooms in and out in various views and editors.

You can control how the mouse wheel is used for zooming in your Tools > Camera preferences.

Navigation S Combines the most common navigation tools:

Pan (track) with the left mouse button.

Dolly with the middle mouse button.

Orbit with the right mouse button.

In your Tools > Camera preferences, you can change the order of the mouse buttons as well as remap this tool to the Alt key.

Selecting navigation tools fromthe camera icon menu activates

them for all 3D views.

Pan/Zoom Z Moves the camera laterally, or changes the field of view:

Pan (track) with the left mouse button.

Zoom in with the middle mouse button.

Zoom out with the right mouse button.

In your Tools > Camera preferences, you can activate Zoom On Cursor to center the zoom wherever the mouse pointer is located.

Rectangular Zoom

Shift+Z Zooms onto a specific area:

Draw a diagonal with the left mouse button to fit the corresponding rectangle in the view.

Draw a diagonal with the right mouse button to fit the current view in the corresponding rectangle.

In perspective (non-orthographic) views, rectangular zoom activates pixel zoom

mode , which offsets and enlarges the view without changing the cameras pose or field of view.

Orbit O Rotates a camera, spotlight, or user viewpoint around its point of interest. This is sometimes called tumbling or arc rotation.

Use the left mouse button to orbit freely.

Use the middle mouse button to orbit horizontally.

Use the right mouse button to orbit vertically.

In your Tools > Camera preferences, you can set Orbit Around Selection.

Dolly P Moves the camera forward and back. Use the different mouse buttons to dolly at different speeds. In orthographic views, dollying is equivalent to zooming.

Tool or Command

Key Description

Basics 27

Working in 3D Views

In addition to the above, there are other tools available on the camera icon menu, such as pivot, walk, fly, and so on.

Undoing Camera Navigation

As you navigate in a 3D view, you may want to undo one or more camera moves. Luckily, there is a separate camera undo stack that lets you undo navigation in 3D views.

To undo a camera move, press Alt+Z. To redo an undone camera move, press Alt+Y.

Display Modes

You can display scene objects in different ways by choosing various display modes from a 3D views Display Mode menu. The Display Mode menu always displays the name of the current display mode, such as Wireframe.

Roll L Rotates a perspective view along its Z axis. Use the different mouse buttons to roll at different speeds.

Frame F Frames the selected elements in the view under the mouse pointer.

Frame (All Views)

Shift+F Frames the selected elements in all open views.

Frame All A Frames the entire scene in the view under the mouse pointer.

Frame All(All Views)

Shift+A Frames the entire scene in all open views.

Center Alt+C Centers the selected elements in the view under the mouse pointer. Centering is similar to framing, but without any zooming or dollying. The camera is tracked horizontally and vertically so that the selected elements are at the center of the viewport.

Center (All Views)

Shift+Alt+C

Centers the selected elements in all open views.

Reset R Resets the view under the mouse pointer to its default viewpoint.

Tool or Command

Key Description

Wireframe

Shows the geometric object made up of its edges, drawn as lines resembling a model made of wire. This image displays all edges without removing hidden parts or filling surfaces.

Bounding Box

Reduces all scene objects to simple cubes. This speeds up the redrawing of the scene because fewer details are calculated in the screen refresh.


28 Softimage

Depth Cue

Applies a fade to visible objects, based on their distance from the camera, in order to convey depth. You can set the depth cue range to the scene, selection, or a custom start and end point. Objects within the range fade as they near the edge of the range, while objects completely outside the range are made invisible. You can also display depth cue fog to give a stronger indication of fading.

Hidden Line Removal

Shows only the edges of objects that are facing the camera. Edges that are hidden from view by the surface in front of them are not displayed.

Constant

Ignores the orientation of surfaces and instead considers them to be pointing directly toward an infinite light source. All the objects surface triangles are considered to have the same orientation and be the same distance from the light. This results in an object that appears to have no shading.

This mode is useful when you want to concentrate on the silhouettes of objects.

Shaded

Provides an OpenGL hardware-shaded view of your scene that shows shading, material color, and transparency, but not textures, shadows, reflections, or refraction. By default, selected objects have their wireframes superimposed, making it easy to manipulate points and other components.

Basics 29

Working in 3D Views

Textured

Similar to Shaded, but also shows image-based textures (not procedural textures).

Textured Decal

This is like the textured, viewing mode, but textures are displayed with constant lighting. The net effect is a general brightening of your textures and an absence of shadow. This allows you to see a texture on any part of an object regardless of how well that part is lit.

Realtime Shaders

Evaluates the real-time shaders that have been applied to objects. In the example shown here, the same textures have been used as for the non-realtime shaders, so the result is similar to the textured mode.Several realtime display modes are available, depending on your graphics card:

OpenGL: displays realtime shader attributes for objects that have been textured using OpenGL realtime shaders.

Cg: displays realtime shader attributes for objects that have been textured using Cg realtime shaders as well as Softimages Cg-compatible MetaShaders.

DirectX: displays realtime shader attributes for objects that have been textured using DirectX realtime shaders.


30 Softimage

Rotoscopy

Rotoscopy is the use of images in the background of the 3D views. You can use rotoscopy in different 3D views (Front, Top, Right, User, Camera, etc.) and any display mode (Wireframe, Shaded, etc.). Furthermore, you can use different images for each view.

Single images are useful as guides for modeling in the orthographic views.

Image sequences or clips are useful for matching animation with footage of live action in the perspective views.

To load an image in a view, choose Rotoscope from the Display Mode menu and select an image and other options.

There are two types of rotoscoped images:

By default, rotoscoped images in perspective views have Image Placement set to Attached to Camera. This means that they follow the camera as it moves and zooms so that you can match animation with live action plates.

On the other hand, rotoscoped images that are displayed in the orthographic views (Front, Top, and Right) have the Image Placement option set to Fixed by default. This allows you to navigate the camera while modeling without losing the alignment between the image and the modeled geometry.

Fixed images are sometimes called image planes, and they can be displayed in all views, not just the one for which they were defined.

Navigating with Images Attached to the Camera

Normally when a rotoscoped image or sequence is attached to the camera, it is fully displayed in the background no matter how the camera is zoomed, panned, or framed. However you can activate Pixel Zoom mode if you need to maintain the alignment between objects in the scene and the background, for example if you want to temporarily zoom into a portion of the scene.

Attached to Camera

Fixed

Pixel Zoom

Basics 31

Working in 3D Views

In Pixel Zoom mode, you can:

Zoom (Z + middle or right mouse button, S + middle mouse button)

Pan (Z + left mouse button, S + left mouse button)

Frame (F for selection, A for all)

The original view is restored when you exit Pixel Zoom mode. Be careful not to orbit, dolly, roll, pivot, or track because these actions change the cameras transformations and will not be undone when you deactivate Pixel Zoom.

Setting Viewing Options and Preferences

There are several places you can go to set options and preferences related to viewing.

Colors

You can modify scene, element, and component colors (such as the viewport background) by choosing Scene Colors from any viewports camera icon menu. For instance, by default a selected object is displayed in white and an unselected object is displayed in black; points are displayed in blue, knots are displayed in brown, and so on.

Camera and 3D Views Display

You can set display options to control how cameras and views display scene objects. These camera display options can be set for individual 3D views, or for all 3D views at once.

To open an individual 3D views Camera Display property editor, choose Display Options from any viewport or object views Display Mode menu.

To open the Camera Display property editor for all 3D views, choose Display > Display Options (all cameras) from the main menu.

Object Visibility

Each object in the scene has its own set of visibility controls that allow you to control how objects appear in the scene, or whether they appear at all, as well as how shadows, reflections, transparency, final gathering, and other attributes are rendered.

For example, you may wish to temporarily exclude objects from a render but retain them in the scene. This can come in handy when you are working with complex objects and want to reduce lengthy refresh times.

You can open an objects Visibility property editor from the explorer by clicking the Visibility icon in the objects hierarchy.

Object Display

You can control how individual objects are displayed in a 3D view. Giving an object or objects different display characteristics is particularly useful for heavily-animated scenes.

For example, if you want to tweak a static object within a scene that has a complex animated character, you could set the character in wireframe display mode while adjusting the lighting of your static object in shaded mode.

You can open an objects Display property editor from the explorer by clicking the Display icon in the objects hierarchy.

The ability to view different objects in different display modes works only when you turn off Override Object Properties in a views Display Mode menu.


32 Softimage


Three of the most important tools for exploring your scene are the explorer, the quick filter box, and the schematic.

The Explorer

The explorer displays the contents of your scene in a hierarchical structure called a tree. This tree can show objects as well as their properties as a list of nodes that expand from the top root. You normally use the explorer as an adjunct while working in Softimage, for example, to find or select elements.

To open an explorer in a floating window, press 8 at the top of the keyboard, or choose View > General > Explorer from the main menu.

A B C D E

F

G

H

I

A Scope of elements to view. See Setting the Scope of the Explorer on page 33.

B Viewing and sorting options.

C Filters for displaying element types. See Filtering the Display on page 33.

D Lock and update. This works only when the scope is set to Selection.

E Search by name, type, or keyword.

F Expand and collapse the tree.

G Click an icon to open property editor.

H Click a name to select. Use Shift to select ranges and Ctrl to toggle-select.

Middle-click to branch-select.

Right-click for a context menu.

I You can pan the view by dragging up and down in an empty area within the explorer.

You can also use the mouse wheel to scroll up and down. First make sure the explorer has focus by clicking anywhere in the explorer.

Basics 33


Keeping Track of Selected Elements

If you have selected objects, their nodes are highlighted in the explorer. If their nodes are not visible, choose View > Find Next Selected Node. The explorer scrolls up or down to display the first object node in the order of its selection. Each time you choose this option, the explorer scrolls up or down to display the next selected node. After the last selected item, the explorer goes back to the first.

Choose View > Track Selection if you want to automatically scroll the explorer so that the node of the first selected object is always visible.

Setting the Scope of the Explorer

The Scope button determines the range of elements to display. You can display entire scenes, specific parts, and so on.

The Selection option in the explorers scope menu isolates the selected object. If you click the Lock button with the Selection option active, the explorer continues to display the property nodes of the currently selected objects, even if you go on to select other objects in other views. When Lock is on, you can also select another object and click Update to lock on to it and update the display.

Filtering the Display

Filters control which types of nodes are displayed in the explorer. For example, you can choose to display objects only, or objects and properties but not clusters nor parameters, and so on. By displaying exactly the types of elements you want to work with, you can find things more quickly without scrolling through a forest of nodes.

The basic filters are available on the Filters menu (between the View menu and the Lock button). The label on the menu button shows the current filter. The filters that are available on the menu depend on the scope. For example, when the scope is Scene Root, the Filters menu offers several different preset combinations of filters, followed by specific filters that you can toggle on or off individually.

A Click the Scope button to select the range of elements to view.

B The current scope is indicated by the button label. It is also bulleted in the list.

C The bold item in the menu indicates the last selected scope. Middle-click the Scope button to quickly select this view.

A

B

C

Preset display filter combinations.

Individual display filter toggles.


34 Softimage

Other Explorer Views

You can view other smaller versions of the explorer (pop-up explorers) elsewhere in the interface. They are used to view the properties of selected scene elements.

Select Panel Explorer

Explorer filter buttons in the Select panel offer a shortcut by instantly displaying filtered information on specific aspects of currently selected objects.

The Explore button opens a pop-up menu of additional filters for specifying the type of information you wish to obtain on the scene.

Click outside a pop-up explorer to close it.

Object Explorers

You can quickly display a pop-up explorer for a single objectjust select the object and press Shift+F3. If the object has no synoptic property or annotation, you can press simply F3. Click outside the pop-up explorer or press those keys again to close it.

The Quick Filter Box

The Quick Filter box on the main Softimage menu bar lets you find scene objects by name.

A Explorer filter buttons

1 Example: Click the Selection filter button...

2 ...to display a pop-up explorer showing all property nodes associated with the selected object.

A

1

2 A Enter part of the name to search for. Softimage waits for you to pause typing before it displays the search results. You can continue typing to modify the search string, and the updated results will be displayed when you pause again.

Softimage finds the elements that contain the search string anywhere in their names (substring search). Strings are not case-sensitive.

Alternatively, you can also use wildcards and a subset of regex (regular expressions) just like in the explorer.

B Recall a recent search string.

C Clear the search string and close the search results.

D Open the floating Scene Search window with the current search and additional options.

A B C D

EF

Basics 35


The Schematic View

The schematic view presents the scene in a hierarchical structure so that you can analyze the way a scene is constructed. It includes graphical links that show the relationships between objects, as well as material and texture nodes to indicate how each object is defined.

To open a schematic view in a floating window, press 9 at the top of the keyboard, or choose View > General > Schematic from the main menu.

Press the spacebar to click and select nodes. Use the left mouse button for node selection, the middle mouse button for branch selection, and the right mouse button for tree selection.

Press M to click and drag nodes to new locations. The schematic remembers the location of nodes, so you can arrange them as you please.

Press s or z to pan and zoom.

Relationships between elements are displayed as lines called links. You can display or hide links for different types of relationship using the Show menu.

You can also click a parent-child link to select the child. This is useful if you have located the parent but cant find the child in a jumbled hierarchy. Again, use the left, middle, or right mouse buttons to select the child in node, branch, or tree modes.

When other types of link are displayed, you can click and drag across the link to select the corresponding operator, such as a constraint or expression. When a link is selected, you can press Enter to open the property editor related to the associated relationship (if applicable), or press Delete to remove the operator.

E The search results are listed here. They obey the current settings in the Scene Search view for sorting and name/path display.

To select an element, click on it.

To select a range of elements, click on the first one and then Shift+click on the last one.

To toggle-select an element, Ctrl+click on it.

To deselect an element, Ctrl+Shift+click on it.

To rectangle-select a range of elements, click in the background first and then drag across the elements to select. This is easier if only names are displayed, rather than paths.

To select all elements found, press Ctrl+A.

To rename the selected elements, press F2.

Right-click on any element for a context menu. If you right-click on a selected element, then some commands apply to all selected elements.

F To dismiss the list of results, click anywhere outside the pop-up or press Escape.


36 Softimage

A E F G

H

I

B C D

A Scope: Show the entire scene, the current selection, or the current layer.

B Edit: Access navigation and selection commands.

C Show: Set filters that specify which elements to display.

D View: Set various viewing options.

E Memo cams: Store up to 4 views for quick recall. Left click to recall, middle-click to save, Ctrl+middle-click to overwrite, and right-click to clear.

F Lock: Prevent the view from updating when you select a different object in another view (if Scope = Selection). Click again to unlock.

G Update: Refresh the view if it is locked.

H To select a node, click its label. Middle-click to branch-select and right-click to tree-select.

To open a nodes property editor, click its icon or double-click its label.

Alt+right-click (Ctrl+Alt+right-click on Linux) on a node to open a context menu for the node.

Press F2 to rename the selected node.

I Alt+right-click (Ctrl+Alt+right-click on Linux) in an empty area to quickly access a number of viewing and navigation commands.

Basics 37

Section 2

Elements of a Scene

This section provides a guide to the objects, properties, and components you will find in Softimage scenes, and describes some of the workflows for working with them.

What youll find in this section ...

Whats in a Scene?

Selecting Elements

Objects

Properties

Components and Clusters

Parameter Maps

Section 2 Elements of a Scene

38 Softimage

Whats in a Scene?

Scenes contain objects. In turn, objects can have components and properties.

Objects

Objects are elements that you can put in your scene. They have a position in space, and can be transformed by translating, rotating, and scaling. Examples of objects include lights, cameras, bones, nulls, and geometric objects. Geometric objects are those with points, such as polygon meshes, surfaces, curves, particles, hair, and lattices.

Components

Components are the subelements that define the shape of geometric objects: points, edges, polygons, and so on. You can deform a geometric object by moving its components. Components can be grouped into clusters for ease of selection and other purposes.

Properties

Properties control how an object looks and behaves: its color, position, selectability, and so on. Each property contains one or more parameters that can be set to different values.

Properties can be applied to elements directly, or they can be applied at a higher level and passed down (propagated) to the children elements in a hierarchy.

Element Names

All elements have a name. For example, if you choose Get > Primitive > Polygon Mesh > Sphere, the new sphere is called sphere by default, but you can rename it if you want. In fact, its a good idea to get into the habit of giving descriptive names to elements to keep your scenes understandable. You can see the names in the explorer and schematic views, and you can even display them in the 3D views.

You can typically name an element when you create it. You can rename an object at any time by choosing Rename from a context menu or pressing F2 in the explorer or schematic.

Softimage restricts the valid characters in element names to az, AZ, 09, and the underscore (_) to keep them variable-safe for scripting. You can also use a hyphen (-) but it is not recommended. Invalid characters are automatically converted to underscores. In addition, element names cannot start with a digit; Softimage automatically adds an underscore at the beginning. If necessary, Softimage adds a number to the end of names to keep them unique within their namespace.

Points on different geometry types: polygon mesh, curve, surface, and lattice.

Basics 39

Selecting Elements

Selecting Elements

Selecting is fundamental to any software program. In Softimage, you select objects, components and other elements to modify and manipulate them.

In Softimage, you can select any object, component, property, group, cluster, operator, pass, partition, source, clip, and so on; in short, just about anything that can appear in the explorer. The only thing that you cant select are individual parametersparameters are marked for animation instead of selected.

Overview of Selection

To select an object in a 3D or schematic view, press the space bar and click on it. Use the left mouse button for single objects (nodes), the middle mouse button for branches, and the right mouse button for trees and chains.

To select components, first select one or more geometric objects, then press a hotkey for a component selection mode (such as T for rectangle point selection), and click on the components. Use the middle mouse button for clusters.

For elements with no predefined hotkey, you can manually activate a selection tool and a selection filter.

In all cases:

Shift+click adds to the selection.

Ctrl+click toggle-selects.

Ctrl+Shift+click deselects.

Alt lets you select loops and ranges. You can use Alt in combination with Shift, Ctrl, and Ctrl+Shift.

A Select menu: Access a variety of selection tools and commands.

B Select icon: Reactivates the last active selection tool and filter.

C Filter buttons: Select objects or their components, such as points, curves, etc.

D Object Selection and Sub-object Selection text boxes: Enter the name of the object and its components you want to select. You can use * and other wildcards to select multiple objects and properties.

E Explore menu and explorer filter buttons: Display the current scene hierarchy, current selection, or the clusters or properties of the current selection.

These buttons are particularly useful because they display pre-filtered information but dont take up a viewport.

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

F Group/Cluster button: Selects groups and clusters.

G Center button: Not used for selection.

H Hierarchy navigation: Select an objects sibling or parent.


40 Softimage

Selection Hotkeys Selection Tools

To select something in the 3D views, a selection tool must be active. Softimage offers a choice of several selection tools, each with a different mouse interaction: Rectangle, Lasso, Raycast, and others. The choice of selection tool is partly a matter of personal preference, and partly a matter of what is easiest or best to use in a particular situation. They are all available from the Select > Tools menu or hotkeys.

Rectangle Selection Tool

Rectangle selection is sometimes called marquee selection. You select elements by dragging diagonally to define a rectangle that encompasses the desired elements.

Raycast Selection Tool

The Raycast tool casts rays from under the mouse pointer into the sceneelements that get hit by these rays as you click or drag the mouse are affected. Raycast never selects elements that are occluded by other elements.

Lasso Selection Tool

The Lasso tool lets you select one or more elements by drawing a free-form shape around them. This is especially useful for selecting irregularly shaped sets of components.

Freeform Selection Tool

The Freeform tool lets you select elements by drawing a line across them. This is particularly useful for selecting a series of edges when modeling with polygon meshes, or for selecting a series of curves in order for lofting or creating hair from curves, as well as in many other situations.

Key Tool or action

space bar Select objects with the Rectangle selection tool, in either supra or sticky mode.

E Select edges with the Rectangle selection tool, in either supra or sticky mode.

T Select points with the Rectangle selection tool, in either supra or sticky mode.

Y Select polygons with the Rectangle selection tool, in either supra or sticky mode.

U Select polygons with the Raycast selection tool, in either supra or sticky mode.

I Select edges with the Raycast selection tool, in either supra or sticky mode.

' (apostrophe) Select hair tips with the Rectangle selection tool, in either supra or sticky mode.

F7 Activate Rectangle selection tool using current filter.

F8 Activate Lasso selection tool using current filter.

F9 Activate Freeform selection tool using current filter.

F10 Activate Raycast selection tool using current filter.

Shift+F10 Activate Rectangle-Raycast selection tool using current filter.

Ctrl+F7 Activate Object filter with current selection tool.

Ctrl+F8 Activate Point filter with current selection tool.

Ctrl+F9 Activate Edge filter with current selection tool.

Ctrl+F10 Activate Polygon filter with current selection tool.

Alt+space bar Activate last-used selection filter and tool.

Basics 41

Selecting Elements

Rectangle-Raycast Tool

The Rectangle-Raycast selection tool is mixture of the Rectangle and the Raycast tools. You select by dragging a rectangle to enclose the desired elements, like the Rectangle tool. Elements that are occluded behind others in Hidden Line Removal, Constant, Shaded, Textured, and Textured Decal display modes are ignored, like the Raycast tool.

Paint Selection Tool

The Paint selection tool lets you use a brush to select components. It is limited to selecting points (on polygons meshes and NURBS), edges, and polygons. The brushs radius controls the size of the area selected by each stroke, which you can adjust interactively by pressing R and dragging to the left or right. Use the left mouse button to select and the right mouse button to deselect. Press Ctrl to toggle-select.

Selection Filters

Selection filters determine what you can select in the 3D and schematic views. You can restrict the selection to a specific type of object, component, or property. Press Shift while activating a new filter to keep the current selection, allowing you to select a mixture of component types.

Selection and Hierarchies

You can select objects in hierarchies in several ways: node, branch, and tree.

Node Selection

Left-click to node-select an object. Node selection is the simplest way in which an object can be selected. When you node-select an object, only it is selected. If you apply a property to a node-selected object, that property is not inherited by its descendants.

A Selection filter buttons: Select objects or their components in the 3D views. The component buttons are contextual: they change depending on what type of object is currently selected.

B Click the triangle for additional filters.

C Click the bottom button to re-activate the last filter.

B

A

C

Effect of node-selecting Object.


42 Softimage

Branch Selection

Middle-click to branch-select an object. When you branch-select an object, its descendants inherit the selection status and are highlighted in light gray. You would branch-select an object when you want to apply a property that gets inherited by all the objects descendants.

Tree Selection

Right-click to tree-select an object. This selects the objects topmost ancestor in branch mode. For kinematic chains, right-clicking will select the entire chain.

Selecting Ranges and Loops of Components

Use the Alt key to select ranges or loops of components. Softimage tries to find a path between two components that you pick. In the case of ranges, it selects all components along the path between the picked components. In the case of loops, it extends the path, if possible, and selects all components along the entire path.

For polygon meshes, you can select ranges or loops of points, edges, or polygons. Several strategies are used to find a path, but priority is given to borders and quadrilateral topology.

For NURBS curves and surfaces, you can select ranges or loops of points, knots, or knot curves. Points and knots must lie in the same U or V row. In addition, paths and loops stop at junctions between subsurfaces on assembled surface meshes.

Range Selection

Alt+click to select a range of components using any selection tool (except Paint). This allows you to select the interconnected components that lie on a path between two components you pick.

Effect of branch-selecting Object.

Effect of tree-selecting Object.

1 First specify the anchor.

2 Then specify the end component to select the range of components in-between.

1 2

Basics 43

Selecting Elements

1. Select the first anchor component normally.

2. Alt+click on the second component. Note that the anchor component is highlighted in light blue as a visual reference while the Alt key is pressed.

All components between the two components on a path become selected.

3. Use the following key and mouse combinations to further refine the selection:

- Use Shift to add individual components to the selection as usual. If you want to add additional ranges or loops using Alt+Shift, the last component added to the selection is the new anchor. If you want to start a new range anchored at the end of the previous range, you must reselect the last component by Shift+clicking or Alt+Shift+clicking. Once you have selected a new anchor, you can Alt+Shift+click to add another range to the selection.

- Use Ctrl to toggle-select. Once you have selected a new anchor, you can Alt+Ctrl+click to toggle the selection of a range.

- Use Ctrl+Shift to deselect. Once you have selected a new anchor, you can Alt+Ctrl+Shift+click to deselect a range.

Loop Selection

Alt+middle-click to select a loop of components using any selection tool (except Paint). When you select a loop of components, Softimage finds a path between two components that you pick. It then extends the path in both directions, if it is possible, and selects all components along the extended path.

1. Do one of the following:

softimage basic

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