![]() ![]() In 1994, Microsoft acquired Softimage, Co. with the intention of introducing high-end 3D animation software to its Windows NT platform, and subsequently renamed it "Softimage|3D." In January 1995, Softimage|3D was announced as the official 3D development tool for the Sega Saturn. The first Windows port of Softimage|3D, version 3.0, was released in early 1996. Softimage|3D Extreme 3.5, released later that year, included particle effects and the mental ray renderer, which offered area lights, ray tracing, and other advanced features. 3D paint functionality was added a year later in version 3.7. Development was delayed during a 1998 acquisition by Avid Technology, and in the summer of 2000 Softimage|3D's successor was finally released as Softimage XSI.īegan developing a successor to Softimage|3D codenamed "Sumatra," which was designed with a more modern and extensible architecture to compete with other major packages like Alias|Wavefront's Maya. Release history Edit Versionīeta debuted at Siggraph '88, v1.0 commercial release in 1989 Because of Softimage|3D's entrenched user base, minor revisions continued until the final version of Softimage|3D, version 4.0, was released in 2002. New selection & viewing tools, RenderMap, Nintendo 64 supportĪdded animation sequencer, polygon/color reduction toolsįirst release by Avid Technology, Plus & Performance options Introduced Extreme edition (particles, metaballs, mental ray) Introduced Actor module, IK, constraints, deformation latticesĪdded clusters, weighted envelopes. Softimage Creative Environment 2.66 - Matter module with Render Setup dialogue box Mental Ray 2.1, Surface Continuity Manager, DropPoints & SlidePoints, GoWithTheFlowĪdded multi-UV texturing, vertex colors. Model: Tools for creating spline, polygon, patch, and NURBS primitives (later releases also included Metaballs). Boolean operations, extrusions, revolves, and bevels, as well as lattice deformations and relational modeling tools. Subdivision surface modeling was available via a third-party plugin from Phoenix Tools called MetaMesh. Motion: Animation of objects and parameters via keyframes, constraints, mathematical expressions, paths, and function curves. Animatable cluster and lattice deformations. Motion capture through a variety of input devices.Īctor: Rigging and animation of digital characters using skeletons, as well as dynamics tools for physics simulations of object interactions. Included inverse kinematics and weighted / rigid skinning. Matter: Creation of materials and rendering images for output. Standard features included 2D and 3D textures, field rendering, fog, motion blur, and raytracing. ^ "An Acquisition by Microsoft", The New York Times.^ 3D Software Reviews: Softimage, Jeremy Birn.^ Softimage: 16 Years of Leadership and Innovation, Softimage, archived from the original on.Tools: Utilities for viewing, editing, and compositing rendered image sequences, color reduction, and importing/exporting images and 3D geometry. ^ Microsoft Delivers High-End 3-D Animation Software for Microsoft Windows NT (press release), Microsoft, Jan 16, 1996, archived from the original on, retrieved.^ "Sega and Sony Announced their 32-Bit Systems for the U.S.". ^ Microsoft Introduces Major Upgrade to Softimage 3D (press release), Microsoft.I may do very little 3d animation on a professional level anymore, as I just do not have the time, my love for these software packages has not dwindled at all. I entertained the idea of finally discarding them this past summer, but I am so glad I decided against it. So much so, that I saved my copy of all the original software and documentation, as you can see here in these pictures. Today my software of choice is Maya, but there is a soft spot for Softimage. My career eventually went the editor/producer route, but to this day, I still spend a good amount of time keeping my 3d skills up-to-date. (for some additional memories of the t-rex, see this article on )Īt the time I was really developing as an editor, but I spent countless hours learning Softimage, and thought I would eventually make my living creating CGI. The very software that created the T-Rex. After convincing our production company we needed to get on the bandwagon, we eventually came back to the office with a beautiful Xmas present. ![]() Back in the late 90's, while I was working in advertising, producing TVCs, I was getting extremely interested in learning how to create the magic of CGI I had seen in Jurassic Park several years earlier. ![]() With the recent announcement of the EOL for Softimage XSI, it brought back memories from many years ago, when I was initially learning 3d Animation.
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