SoftImage HALP!

[praetor242]

So, I've figured out how to make a cube, scale that cube, and subdivide that cube. WHOO HOO!

But...

I can't figure out how to select a face or an edge or vertices, etc.

I've been following this guy doing a SI demo, but I'm stuck at the part where he's selecting faces to extrude them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVPawEVWDT8

Sadly there are next to zero tutorials for SI 4 so I'm taking what I can get.

[SiliconClassics]

You need to choose the selection mode (object, polygon, etc) using the buttons at the bottom right of the screen - this guide should be helpful. Then you need to hold down the spacebar while you click an item to select / deselect it.

This online reference manual is a good place to start - it will tell you everything you need to know to navigate Soft|3D, and it includes a clickable interactive interface with information about each command.

[praetor242]

THANK YOU, siliconclassics!! This is exactly what I need

[praetor242]

WHOO HOO!! I've been spending the morning going over those tutorials and have my first {shitty} render of something.



Once you learn the interface, it's really intuitive. Unlike Blender. I hate Blender. It's so not user friendly.

I plan on getting Inside Softimage.

[SiliconClassics]

Baby steps, haha. Looks like you're building a Cornell box? I presume you've got the Extreme version of Soft so you can get some radiosity going with Mental Ray?

[praetor242]

Yup. Building a Cornell Box. Now just need to figure out how to do things like radiosity, caustics, etc. I have that book coming, Inside Softimage. I only got it for $3 from Half Priced Books. It was like $37 on eBay!

I like SoftImage though. Once you go through the interface walkthrough, it really does make alot of sense. I think I'll have alot of fun with it.

[foetz]

keep in mind that things like radiosity or caustics were just starting when the irix era ended so the support for that is neither great nor fast. in most cases the rendertimes are more than long enough by just using soft area shadows already.
the irix stuff is used best for what it was made and that's mostly non GI things. just throwing in an environment light and one as key and expecting your lighting to be done as it is with many modern renderers is not the right way in this case. it needs a bit more creativity and skills to get a decent result.

as to softimage in particular, one simple but major thing is that by default there's some ambient light active. a first step on the road to a good result is to turn that down or off.

[vishnu]

Indeed the sad fact is that Maya Unlimited 6.5 on IRIX has vastly more utilitarian utility than Softimage...

[praetor242]

I tried Maya 6.5 on my O2 and it puked. Softimage is super snappy. I've been watching alot of demo videos on Youtube (not that there are a ton) and it seems to be very capable for the things I want it to do, which is fart around with it and impress my friends on Facebook

[vishnu]

I tried Maya 6.5 on my O2 and it puked.

I can believe that, it even strains my dual-600 MHz Octane II with a V12 and 8 gig of RAM.

[foetz]

I tried Maya 6.5 on my O2 and it puked. Softimage is super snappy.

second gen. software (maya, xsi, houdini) did not run so well on everything less than an octane. especially late versions of these (xsi did actually never run well ). hence the last maya on an o2 is not such a good idea.
for the real irix feeling (and gui speed) you want the first gen. apps like poweranimator, prisms or the softimage you have right now. they run significantly better.

[praetor242]

I read somewhere (I think it was highend3d.com), that when Microsoft bought Softimage and turned it into Softimage|XSI, the IRIX version was just a half baked wrapper around the win32 version using something shitty like wine. Almost like they _intentionally_ made XSI on IRIX suck.

A few of these demo vids for S|3D are on Windows NT, and I don't buy for a second a Softimage on a Windows NT machine was faster than an IRIX machine. But I'm an SGI fanboy, so maybe I'm biased (but most likely not).

[foetz]

I read somewhere (I think it was highend3d.com), that when Microsoft bought Softimage and turned it into Softimage|XSI, the IRIX version was just a half baked wrapper around the win32 version using something shitty like wine. Almost like they _intentionally_ made XSI on IRIX suck.

that's true. the wrapper they used was called "mainwin". it was also used for the linux version practically forcing the users to windows by that.

A few of these demo vids for S|3D are on Windows NT, and I don't buy for a second a Softimage on a Windows NT machine was faster than an IRIX machine. But I'm an SGI fanboy, so maybe I'm biased (but most likely not).

it wasn't faster but cheaper because you could buy a bunch of x86s for the price of one sgi and then it was faster if you ran them all at once.

[praetor242]

it wasn't faster but cheaper because you could buy a bunch of x86s for the price of one sgi and then it was faster if you ran them all at once.

I can see that. A decked Octane would have been $40k, and an Origin to do rendering would cost a small fortune. There is something that seems so....gross....about Windows doing production 3D work though.

[foetz]

There is something that seems so....gross....about Windows doing production 3D work though.

hehe i agree which is why i never did that