Autodesk Softimage was a 3D animation application comprising a suite of computer graphics tools.
Modeling tools allowed the generation of
polygonal or
NURBS models. Subdivision modeling required no additional operators and worked directly on the polygonal geometry. Each modeling operation was tracked by a construction history stack, which enabled artists to work non-destructively. Operators in history stacks could be re-ordered, removed or changed at any time, and all adjustments propagated to the final model.
Control rigs were created using bones with automatic
IK, constraints and specialized solvers like spine or tail. Optionally, the ICE system could be used to create light-weight rigs in a node-based environment. The rigging process could be sped up through the use of adaptable biped and quadruped rigs, FaceRobot for facial rigs and automatic lip syncing.
Animation features included layers and a mixer, which allowed combining animation clips non-linearly. Animation operators were tracked in a construction history stack that was separate from the modeling stack, enabling users to change the underlying geometry of already animated characters and objects. MOTOR was a feature that transferred animation between characters, regardless of their size or proportions. GATOR could transfer attributes such as textures, UVs, weight maps or envelopes between different models. Softimage also contained tools to simulate particles, particle strands,
rigid body dynamics,
soft body dynamics, cloth, hair and fluids. The default and tightly integrated
rendering engine in Softimage was
mental ray. Materials and shaders were built in a node-based fashion. When users activated a so-called render region in a camera view, it would render this section of the scene using the specified rendering engine and update completely interactively. A secondary rendering mode was available for rendering real-time GPU shaders written in either the Cg or HLSL languages. Also included is the VFX Tree, which was a built-in node-based
compositor that had direct access to image clips used in the scene. It could thus not only be used to finalize and composite rendered frames, but also as an integral part of scene creation. The VFX Tree could be used to apply compositing effects to image clips being used in the fully rendered scene, allowing Softimage to render scenes using textures authored or modified in various ways within the same scene. In addition to the node-based ICE platform described below, Softimage had an extensive API and
scripting environment that could be used to extend the software. The available scripting languages included
C#,
Python,
VBScript and
JScript. A
C++ SDK was also available for plug-in developers, with online documentation available to the public. Softimage used the
dotXSI ASCII file format for storing scene data. It was based on
DirectX's
X file format.
ICE Interactive Creative Environment indices. On July 7, 2008, the
Softimage, Co. announced Softimage XSI 7, which introduced the ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) architecture. ICE is a
visual programming platform that allows users to extend the capabilities of Softimage quickly and intuitively using a node-based dataflow diagram. This enables artists to create complex 3D effects and tools without scripting. Among the main uses for ICE are
procedural modeling, deformation, rigging and particle simulation. It can also be used to control scene attributes without the need to write expressions, for example to add camera wiggle or make a light pulsate. ICE is a parallel processing engine that takes advantage of multi-core CPUs, giving users highly scalable performance. ICE represents Softimage functionality using a collection of nodes, each with its own specific capabilities. Users can connect nodes together, visually representing the data flow, to create powerful tools and effects. Softimage ships with several hundred nodes; among them are both low-level nodes, such as
Multiply or
Boolean, as well as a number of high-level nodes called compounds. Compounds serve as "wrapper nodes" to collapse ICE graphs into a single node. Softimage allows users to add custom compounds to its main menu system for easy reusability. The screenshot on the right shows an example of a simple geometry deformation ICE graph. In a practical scenario, one would collapse the graph into a compound and expose important parameters, for instance the deformation intensity. After adding the tool to the user interface, it can easily be applied to other objects. Compounds can also be shared between installations because their entire functionality is stored in
XML files. The graph-based approach of ICE allows for the creation of effects previously attainable only through the use of scripting and/or compiled code. Due to its visual nature and interactivity, it is very accessible for users with no programming experience. Many free and commercial ICE tools have been made available by users and 3rd party developers. Softimage contains an ICE-based fluid and physics simulator called Lagoa as well as an ICE-based version of the
Syflex cloth simulator. ==Industry usage==