Softimage has announced SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7, the latest version of its professional 3D animation software for games, film and television. SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7 software will introduce a transformative open platform called ICE, designed to capture the infinitely creative vision of content producers.
With a visual interface and an easy-to-use node-based programming model, users will be able to quickly create complex visual effects. ICE will allow artists to explore, learn and modify the robust library of particle-based visual effects and deformation tools that will ship in SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7 software, or simply build new ones from scratch.
ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) is an open, scalable platform that allows anyone to extend the capabilities of XSI quickly and intuitively using a node-based dataflow diagram.
Multi-Threaded GigaCore II
Powering the ICE platform in SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7 software will be the GigaCore II, a parallel processing engine that will deliver optimum performance on any modern workstation. Designed from the ground up to take advantage of multi-core workstations, the Softimage ICE platform will directly scale with the number and speed of processing cores available.
Fire and ICE!
SOFTIMAGE ICE Particles and Deformations
Softimage will offer numerous pre-built, production-ready ICE ‘compounds’ for particle-based effects and deformations that will allow artists to jump right into production. Unlike tools in other 3D systems, these pre-built compounds are open, and will allow users to examine and learn how they work—and even modify them. Customers who create their own ICE compounds can share them in their facility or with the global community on SOFTIMAGE|NET, in either an open XML format, or a locked binary file to protect their Intellectual Property (IP).
The change to the modular construction of the workflow has been called, going from 'Code to Node.'
Other new features in SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7
* Support for mental ray v.3.6 with new rendering ‘stand-ins’ that will allow users to offload objects along with rigged and animated characters to the disk until render time, resulting in light-weight scene assembly for much larger rendered scenes, and optimized controls for final gathering and global illumination.
* Delta IIa major update to the lightweight referencing system in SOFTIMAGE|XSI, with enhanced support for clusters and cluster properties, including materials, textures and UVs.
* RTS III -- a new Real-Time Shading architecture that will allow fragment and vertex shaders to exist in one node, and will be programmable and controllable from any ICE attribute.
* Streamlined licensing process dongle-less, with a new temporary licensing fail-safe feature.
SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7 will ship with a FREE Training DVD with Official Softimage Training Material provided exclusively for this newest version by Digital-Tutors. Softimage will also offer many ICE tutorials and demonstration videos that will be posted on the SOFTIIMAGE|NET community training page. SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7 is expected to be available in Q3 2008.
Rec. Retail Pricing for SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7 Essentials will be US$2,995. Rec. Retail Pricing for SOFTIMAGE|XSI 7 Advanced will be US$4,995.
