This is a mental ray shader which simulates the pixelization that occurs when viewing all kinds of raster displays at a close-up range. A library of "pixel-images" for recreating the looks of a variety of screens is provided with the addon. From the download page: There are many options: Pixel Resolution of the simulated screen Color depth, for display from 3bit (8 colors) to 24bit (16M colors) distance visibility of gap between pixels distance visibility of RGB pattern and, on softimage : dead pixels, non uniform color chunks and some other picture degradations.

See this video for a demonstration of this shader.

local backup: Image2screen.xsirtcompound

Junki's new plugin is also known as NyowbowToTatamiToSceneWaAtarashiiHouGaE.

Usage : Select Model(s) and launch this tool. It exports the models to your disk, then discards the current scene and starts a brand new scene, then imports the EMDL you've just exported into that new scene, then deletes the EMDL file from the disk with one click. Useful when you have to deal with somebody's scene and don't like the viewport settings, visibility and display settings etc but also don't want to bother change them back to default. You can just transfer the Models to a new scene with one click using this tool. Caution: this tool DISCARDS the current scene WITHOUT warning. So, SAVE before you launch the tool.

local backup: NyowbowToTatamiToSceneWaAtarashiiHouGaE.js

Also known as Feather Rig Helper. A simple addon to add some weighting to bones that control rotation of other chains. It links the rotations of some controls bone chains to constrained chain to simplify the animation of a feather like system.

Usage: You just need to select all your chains and add "CTRL" to the beginning of your control chains names and thats it ! It is package for softimage 2013 and i won't provide support for version below that.

local backup: TLS_ANIM_TOOL.xsiaddon

A tool to transfer animation to After Effects. Quoted from the mailing list:

Put the scene-Camera and the nulls that you want to export into a group Select the group and run the script A .jsx script is created that you can run inside AfterFX. It creates a new Comp with Camera and Nulls Loosely based on an old Script from Helge Mathee's Mindthink-tools.

This one was spotted on si-community in a thread started by Werner asking for a lost script that transfers cameras, nulls and lights to AE.

Related: Some other tools were mentioned as well in that thread: ScreenInfo, junki's AEtoXSI script. A collada based workflow was proposed as well using this AE-Plugin: http://www.clintons3d.com/aecollada/index.html.

local backup: tv_SI2AFX.zip

Here's an addon which sets arbitrary mental ray string options.

Usage: create a geoshader primitive, apply this shader. The items are strings, interpreted internally this way: numbers only in string (394) -> sets an integer string option numbers and decimal point in string (232.1) -> set a float string option comma in the string (20,10.34,105.0) -> sets a vector2, 3 or 4 string option - depending on the # of commas string = on or true -> sets a boolean string option (true) string = off or false -> sets a boolean string option (false) in all other cases, or if the string is inside double quotes -> set a "string" string option

Source code is available from here

local backup: custStringOptions.xsiaddon

Updated April 2013 with the ability to fetch the texture offset from an ICE attribute. Previous update added texturable scale X/Y.

The basic function of this shader is to stamp an instance of the selected texture at each particle location on the shaded object.

The shader requires an ICE particle cloud as a texture placing source which has to have its material shared with the object. It has features such as: Modify texture base scaling and rotation, various lookup options for fractal-like patterns, random position offset in texture, rotation by ICE particle vector attribute, random rotation, orient towards a vector or a tangent map. Mental ray only. See the si-community thread for some interesting looking renders created by Rob Chapman.

Mad props to Paul Smith aka pooby for inventing this wonderful method. If you haven't already, check his videos page for loads of ICE inspiration. Btw Paul's first video introducing the method is here. Btw #2: Since, he's created two videos demonstrating this shader: Texture Instancing Shader (archive) and Lizard texinstancing (archive).

local backup: Texture Instancing.1.5.xsirtcompound

The Basic Measure Tool measures the length of a line segment or a series of line segments. In an alternative mode (middle mouse button to toggle), it measures the angle between two lines. It is a custom tool that works fully interactively, with snapping to points/grids/etc., and without changing the scene.

local backup: BasicRuler.xsiaddon

Improved version of the factory stamp feature - generates an EPS file from a UV set for import in applications such as Photoshop. Thanks to EPS being a vector file format, files can be imported at any required resolution.

local backup: UVStamp.xsiaddon

Updated November 2012. Formerly known as ET_Naming. This is a renaming utility that allows you to rename multiple objects, add suffixes / prefixes, strip underscores, and search and replace.

I've rewritten this from scratch with better python code. It also allows you to customize the nomenclature for each type of object. For instance you can change whether the system uses »con« instead of »ctrl« for the end token for a control object. Your changes will be saved for use in the future as well. The layout dynamically updates with the different functions, hiding any fields that aren't used in that particular function.

You can find the utility under the MCP panel in the Edit menu.

This plugin is part of Eric's ET_Tools collection which he released here on github under an open source license. For a screenshot of an earlier version, have a look here on creativecrash.com. The latest version offers both a PyQt and a standard PPG interface. 3.0 Video demo.

local backup: ET_Naming_3.10.xsiaddon

This is a mental ray shader based on the paper »A Practical Analytic Model for Daylight« presented at Siggraph 1999 (http://www.cs.utah.edu/~shirley/papers/sunsky/sunsky.pdf (archive)).

Original Mental Ray shader created by Fredrik Brännbacka from http://www.madcrew.se (archive)

local backup: mad_physicalSky_v1.0.zip

From the author's site: Open rendered sequence by defined program Explore rendered sequence Copy path of rendered sequence.

A video demo, also viewable on the download page. A testimony by bottleofram @si-community: Very nice plugin, btw. Really ties things together. Thanks for sharing.

local backup: TR_Sequencer_v1.1.xsiaddon

From the author's site: One click solution how to set camera for all passes as render camera.

A video demo, also viewable on the download page.

local backup: TR_ActivateCamera.xsiaddon

From the author's site: Merge polymesh with original name and hierarchy position (merge only polygons clusters it possible in case that you have assigned material per cluster) for Softimage 2013 merge all types of clusters.

A video demo, also viewable on the download page.

local backup: TR_Merge.zip

From the author's site: Open rendered sequence by defined program Explore rendered sequence Copy path of rendered sequence (V1.1) bugfixes.

A video demo, also viewable on the download page.

local backup: TR_Extract.xsiaddon

With this custom tool you can visualize and edit trails of fcurve animated objects directly in the viewport. As with all custom tools, this must be mapped to a hotkey.

The recent updates include these features: Fix Bug about neutral pose and pivot Fix Bug about keyboard shortcut Add option "Don't deselect when you click on empty space" Add option "Display only limited frames" Manipulator ( Global Translate only ) Insert Key by Middle Click Remove Key by shortcut Delete Break Tangents by shortcut O Auto Slope by shortcut Shift+A Context Menu by Right Click Fixed Bug ( when parent animate, it was weird ) Slope Size by shortcut PageUp and PageDown Change Custom Preference Faster than v1.2 ( maybe ).

See this thread for a discussion on v1 of this plugin. The author has since created his own thread on si-community (link below) to facilitate the upload of his updates - this new thread is also recommended for new posts.

local backup: MotionTrail_v1.5.zip

Exocortex Fury 2 is a production proven particle renderer for Autodesk® Maya® and Autodesk® Softimage® for Windows (with Linux and Mac OSX support coming soon.) Fury 2 leverages the full power of modern GPUs to deliver exceptional render times without reducing your flexibility nor sacrificing your render quality.

Fury's architecture is designed around parallelizing the task of rendering millions of particles. Modern graphics processing units have many hundreds of streaming cores which can operate on large sets of data in parallel. By capitalizing on this technology, Fury is able to rasterize particles with motion blur, depth of field, emission and diffuse effects more than 20x times faster than alternatives. [..]

Continue reading on the product page. Price for 1 license is $399 ($299 until Oct 15th 12). Upgrade of SlipstreamVX's internal renderer from Fury 1 to Fury 2 is available for $299.

The Softimage Realflow plugin is available for free with the (not time-limited) demo version of NextLimit's Realflow. The plugin imports .bin, .sd, .rw, mesh and .rf5 proxy formats, and exports .bin and .rw. The download of the Realflow demo version requires registration on the site linked below.

This plugin also allows import and synchronization with the free spartaproject (archive) (Softimage workflow outlined here (archive)). Spartaproject is an external application that lets you import, modify and export a plotted particle animation using sculpting strokes.

Here is the .ASE Importer for Softimage. Most excellent tool for importing hair Splines as Curves into Softimage. Great for Grass, Hair, beards and many other hairy things!

This script was developed by Steven Caron for Lee Perry-Smith's HQ 3D scanning service Infinite-Realities for the purpose of importing Max Hair-Farm splines into Softimage for rendering with Arnold. For the result and some information on the workflow, see this page (archive).

This is a runnable script which outputs curves. For converting to strands, Florian Eberle's »FiberMesh to Strands« plugin might work.

local backup: simple_ase_importer.zip

Taro, the author of the Motion Trail tool, also recently released this tool which combines the most used properties of the factory translation and rotation manipulators in one tool.

See the si-community thread for a discussion on this tool.

local backup: AnimationManipulator_v1.0.zip

Calculates fractals and outputs the result as a normalized scalar from 0.0 (bailout) to 1.0 (max iteration). A second component receives the scalar and decides what color these points should have.

Result is a fractal - in realtime depends on render quality - texture that can plug into a regular shader like lambert, phong. You can use other texture shaders - like Vein, Grid - and plug it into the colors.

Available for SoftImage|XSI 2012 - 32bit and 64bit for Windows 100% working XSI 2012 - 64bit Windows Should Work - but not tested XSI 2012 - 32bit Windows Linux Version can follow

local backup: whFractalSuite_v1_Windows.zip

Part of the downloadable files from Ola's online tutorial Rigging an accordion lamp: The accordion lamp consists of a series of individual arms which are mounted in pairs creating an X-Shape. Rotating any of the arms will cause all arms to rotate which either expand or contract the lamp. Start by open the scene Accordion_Lamp.scn. The scene consists of a number of null objects and the arms, which are parented under the null representing their respective centre joint. [..]

Visit Ola's blog caffeineabuse for a lot of technical insight and tutorials like this one, most of them including ready-to-use project files.

local backup: AccordionLampRig.zip

Part of the downloadable files from Andy's comprehensive Building A Car Rig tutorial, which was first published in the November 2008 issue of 3D World magazine.

The tutorial consists of the following parts: Stage 1: Introduction Stage 2: Setting up suspension dynamics Stage 3: Constructing the main rig Stage 4: Rigging the CoG (center of gravity) Stage 5: Adding pitching motion to body Stage 6: Attaching the 3D mesh to the rig Stage 7: Animation and Automatic Steering. See here for a demo.

local backup: CarRig_TutorialFiles.zip

Updated/ported to C++/win64. Just a very basic collision detection custom operator for Softimage written in Python. I've heard animators (or other departments after them ) complain so much about feet not making contact with the ground because they don't have time to check due to super tight deadlines. Anyway, it was a great exercise in trying to learn how custom operators work and in the process I got a better understanding on Quaternion rotations. Just copy to your workgroup or user »ApplicationPlugins« folder and restart Softimage.

Introduction video. Visit Michor's blog displaying his traditionally inspired 3D character art.

local backup: CppCollisionConstrainOp.zip

Updated September 2012 with straight/curved line drawing. Mesh Paint lets you paint meshes or mesh instances interactively on the surface of another mesh. Not only for placing rows of bolts but with every conceivable placement option like follow stroke, stack clones, adjustable spacing, delete overlapping, alignment, randomization, size falloff and mouse position interpolation (for evenly-spaced placement even when painting quickly).

To-be-placed objects are organized in a list with the option of randomizing through the list, or cycling through the list while painting. There's also a »drop« mode for placing individual objects more precisely (like a simpler version of Piotrek's QuickPrimitive tool).

For more information, visit the si-community thread linked below. Videos available: Introduction, and added features in v0.91 & v0.93. The roses in the thumbnail have been created with a combination of follow stroke/stack clones/ramp scale, moving the mouse around in little circles. For regularly spaced placement like the zipper in the thumbnail, turn off the »delete overlapping« option. Source code available here (Check the thread for a newer version of this, too).

local backup: meshpaint_095.xsiaddon