Autodesk Softimage 2012 and rigging?

[Jusden Jonstone]

I know that i likely am in a very small minority of Softimage users, but I was curious as to whether anyone out there has gotten a working SL rigging that is usable in Softimage or if I should just stick to using Maya? If anyone is working in Softimage feel free to contact me if you are interested in getting SL rigging working in Softimage. TY

Jusden Jonstone

[Chosen Few]

I''m not a SoftImage use, but I would assume that the Croswalk exporter should work.  Have you tried it?  I'd be curious to hear the results if you have.

If you need a skeleton, you can grab the one I've been using for Maya here (generously provided by Reed Steemroller).  You could then export from Maya in XSI format, and to import to SoftImage from there.  In theory, it should work.

 

Now I have a question for you, if you'd be so kind.  

When I get around to upgrading to Maya 2012, which I would like to do, I'll probably end up getting the suite, since that's now the only way to get Turtle, which I really can't do without.  (So angry that Autodesk bought Illuminate Labs, only to make Turtle harder to get.)  I can easily find use for Motion Builder, so not a huge deal there.  But what the heck am I gonna do with SoftImage?

As someone who uses both, Jusden, got any insight on what I might be able to do with SoftImage that I can't already do with Maya?  Would it be behoove me to learn it, or would I be better off just considering it excess baggage in the suite that Autodesk is pretty much forcing me to buy?

[Chip Midnight]

If what Chosen suggested doesn't work you can also try going through FBX with a Maya or Blender rig.

[Jusden Jonstone]

Thanks All. I got my rig working in Softimage.

Jusden Jonstone

[Chosen Few]

You're welcome.  Glad it's working.

Any words on my question?

[Raz Welles]

Hey would you mind posting a demo/example of a working Softimage rig and export? Did you have to send across through maya or were you able to export straight from XSI?

[Jusden Jonstone]

I will post the example working Softimage Rig here for others to work from once I finish tweaking it a bit more

[Chip Midnight]

Chosen, my sub for max is up for renewal before mid December and I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to the suite with mudbox and Softimage. I probably won't this year since I don't have the budget, but for me the reasons I'd want SoftImage in my toolbox is ICE. Max is pretty lacking in the physics sim and particles areas without investing in expensive plugins. Lagoa Multiphysics looks pretty amazing, and the ICE environment looks incredibly powerful. Plus there's automatic lipsynch with Facerobot.

Here's a 50 minute demo of ICE:

[Chosen Few]

Thanks, Chip.  I had not seen ICE before.  Very cool.  From the video, it looks to be one of those things that's so simply powerful, people are still figuring out just how many uses there are for it.  Exciting.

By the way, if you haven't yet used Mudbox, you're gonna love it.  Over the last couple of years, it's become one of my favorite things in the world.

[Chosen Few]

Thanks, Chip.  I had not seen ICE before.  Very cool.  From the video, it looks to be one of those things that's so simply powerful, people are still figuring out just how many uses there are for it.  Exciting.

By the way, if you haven't yet used Mudbox, you're gonna love it.  Over the last couple of years, it's become one of my favorite things in the world.

[Chip Midnight]

Yeah, I think ICE looks amazing, though I imagine the learning curve is pretty steep. Max users got a six month license for mudbox a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I was really busy that six months and didn't have time to use it much but I liked it a lot. I've been doing mainly product viz work the last 15 years so haven't had much use for sculpting (doing all hard surface modeling) but the client I was doing it all for has started doing stuff in house so I'm back on the client hunt (yikes!). Hopefully I'll get to work on some more varied projects in the years ahead.  I really liked the simplicity of mudbox's interface compared to zbrush.

[Chip Midnight]

Yeah, I think ICE looks amazing, though I imagine the learning curve is pretty steep. Max users got a six month license for mudbox a couple of years ago. Unfortunately I was really busy that six months and didn't have time to use it much but I liked it a lot. I've been doing mainly product viz work the last 15 years so haven't had much use for sculpting (doing all hard surface modeling) but the client I was doing it all for has started doing stuff in house so I'm back on the client hunt (yikes!). Hopefully I'll get to work on some more varied projects in the years ahead.  I really liked the simplicity of mudbox's interface compared to zbrush.

[Chosen Few]

Sorry to hear you lost your steady client, Chip.  I certainly know how that goes.  I recently dropped my biggest client, myself.  It was a tough decision to make in this economy, but it had to be done.

Anyway, regarding Mudbox, yeah, the interface is one of its greatest selling points.  Someone who's never used it before can dive right in and be up and running with it no time.  Zbrush is kind of pain, by comparison, in that regard.

What first got me hooked on Mudbox wasn't so much the sculpting tools (although they're superb), but the texturing tools.  I began using the program in earnest a couple of years ago, when a client tasked me with creating 50 unique avatar skins in the last two days of my contract.  The avatar model their in-house guys had produced was, let's just say, less than ideal.  Its UV layout was so screwy, it made the SL avatar UV's look like a DaVinci masterpiece.

Needless to say, painting 50 unique skins in Photoshop on such an unfriendly UV map would have taken forever and a day.  I only had 48 hours, 32 if I slept, which breaks down to less than 40 minutes per skin!  I needed a Hail Mary of texture painting.  So, I whipped up a few base skin swatches in Filter Forge, and projection painted from them onto the model in Mudbox.  I had the first skin completed in about 15 minutes, and the rest is history. 

Mudbox has been an essential go-to program for me, ever since.

[Chosen Few]

Sorry to hear you lost your steady client, Chip.  I certainly know how that goes.  I recently dropped my biggest client, myself.  It was a tough decision to make in this economy, but it had to be done.

Anyway, regarding Mudbox, yeah, the interface is one of its greatest selling points.  Someone who's never used it before can dive right in and be up and running with it no time.  Zbrush is kind of pain, by comparison, in that regard.

What first got me hooked on Mudbox wasn't so much the sculpting tools (although they're superb), but the texturing tools.  I began using the program in earnest a couple of years ago, when a client tasked me with creating 50 unique avatar skins in the last two days of my contract.  The avatar model their in-house guys had produced was, let's just say, less than ideal.  Its UV layout was so screwy, it made the SL avatar UV's look like a DaVinci masterpiece.

Needless to say, painting 50 unique skins in Photoshop on such an unfriendly UV map would have taken forever and a day.  I only had 48 hours, 32 if I slept, which breaks down to less than 40 minutes per skin!  I needed a Hail Mary of texture painting.  So, I whipped up a few base skin swatches in Filter Forge, and projection painted from them onto the model in Mudbox.  I had the first skin completed in about 15 minutes, and the rest is history. 

Mudbox has been an essential go-to program for me, ever since.

[Jusden Jonstone]

ICE and the overall Softimage workflow are two of the primary reasons why I prefer Softimage over other programs for rigging and even much of my general mesh and even sculpt modeling. Talin Sands developed the great Softimage XSI sculpt addon which I have used for awhile doing sculpts. ICE has some amazing abilities and the workflow in softimage is pretty slick imho. 

[Chosen Few]

Thanks, Jusden.  I look foward to playing with it, whenever I can scrape up the money to buy the suite.

I just noticed this in Autodesk's release notes for Maya 2012:

Maya now includes a one-click interoperability workflow that lets you transfer data between Maya and Softimage. Using Send to commands, you can export a scene to Softimage, add a Softimage ICE particle or deformation effect, then send the scene back to Maya. ICE interoperability for Maya lets you take advantage of the ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) to create effects for your Maya scenes. ICE interoperability for Maya is a feature of the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites.

That's cool.  I do have to wonder, though, why they haven't come up with an ICE-like workflow for MEL scripting directly in Maya.  It seems like a no-brainer.  Maybe in future versions (or maybe they'll just leave it as is, as a means of pushing the suite).