Talk:Autodesk Softimage

Compitition
Some Direct Competition 3d software packages are; 3d max, maya studio, cinema 4d, blender (freeware), lightwave, houdini (not as popular for the home user because it cost 17 thousand dollars). some not so direct competition; modo, rhino 3d, cheetah 3d, wings 3d, sketch, Cybermotion 3d (it has its following). please add to the list someone. [warghost]

Note: Houdini Apprentice for home owner costs around $100. Digital tutors has some tutorials one can use with this.

An introduction/overview paragraph would be nice. What can you do with XSI? What is it typically used for? I'm looking for software to make a 3d animated movie, is this a candidate?

What are some competing software packages? 3ds Max, what else?

Crowd Control
Can someone add info about the Crowd Control module?

To answer the question above XSI is a very high end and powerful 3d animation package, fully integratable with Avid's other film production software, it was used on Star Wars attack of the clones, this is what they used to create the clone army, for the most part. Film houses often write their own extensions for this software, to allow it to do even more than it will do out-of-the-box.

It's got a fairly steep learning curve, maybe not the best software to start out on, but appparently fairly easy to learn once you have a basic understanding of animation and film editing.

Softimage offers training in the software and most animators I have spoken to have recommended the training.

Not really a program you can just open up and play with until you get it, theres a lot of features you would never stumble across on your own.

Lots of tutorials available online though. Hope this helps. User:Pedant 20:44, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

History of Softimage?
There needs to be a history section. Who invented Softimage? Microsoft bought the company in the mid 90s. There needs to be more info about this software's past.


 * I agree, in fact I was just browsing through Microsoft's '96/97 pages from the internet archives and was suprised to see Softimage on the list of product offerings, which in turn led me to this Wikipedia entry. There might be some interesting, or at least informative history here. It looks as though there are other products that carry the Softimage name also, like: "Softimage Digital Studio." s P A z z M a t i C 01:34, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
 * See Softimage Co. for the history of Softimage lucericr (talk) 14:34, 1 August 2009 (UTC)