Cycles for Softimage
Plugins linking to this thread: (hide)
Sycles 2.4.1 V 2.4.1 released August 2026 —
This is a full integration of the Blender Cycles renderer into XSI. Version 2.4 is compiled with Cycles 5.3 (state of July 2026). The second generation of the addon (since 2.0) is a complete rewrite and works with Softimage 2015 SP2.
New since version 2.1.3 (from the github release notes): 2.4.1: fixed incorrect transforms of instances when the master model has rotation or scale, repacked with missing DLLs 2.4: Cycles 5.3. New Alpha parameter for the ImageTexture node, Sky Texture with Single and Multiple Scattering models, Thin Film for Metallic and Glass BSDF, new Raycast and Scene Time nodes, OSL custom camera, Linear 3D curve shape (also as per-object override), Geometry Approximation mode for NURBS surfaces, Render Time pass (CPU), texture optimisation (resolution, limit, tx texture cache) and a detailed scene export timing log 2.4: renders MaterialX shader trees from the MaterialXSI addon (converted to OSL). Note: OSL shading works on CPU render devices only 2.3.x: Cycles 4.5, OSL support is back, new Metallic BSDF and Set Normal nodes, phase function for Scatter Volume, Diffuse Roughness for Principled BSDF, more Noise Texture types, subdivision with motion deform, per-frame texture images, rendering of NURBS surfaces and curves (via custom properties), tile rendering, fixed shadow catcher, vector input ports for OSL shaders 2.2.x: nodes of Blender 4.3 (Ray Portal BSDF, Sheen BSDF, Gabor Texture, redesigned Principled BSDF), current Blender OCIO color profiles, custom velocity grids for VDB primitives, Particle Info node fed by ICE attributes, denoising of the final passes with OIDN or OptiX
Supported Softimage features (quoted from the download page):
Polygon meshes and hair geometry Texture coordinates Vertex colors Shaderball preview. For materials, shader nodes and texture nodes Basic limited support of the following built-in Softimage shader nodes: Phong, Lambert, Hair Shading, Image, converters between vector, color and scalar Ambience global environment light Limited support of built-in Softimage light sources Model instances ICE strands geometry ICE pointcloud instances ICE geometry attributes (vector, color and scalar) with context per-point and per-object Volume rendering. In particular supports emFluid, Explosia FX and openVDB for Softimage volumes Special VDB Primitive for rendering vdbs without ICE Output multilayered exr file with all rendered passes Rendermaps
The following features from Cycles itself are supported: CPU and GPU rendering. In particular multidevices are supported. This allows you to use cpu and gpu simultaneously. The libraries for GPU rendering are included in the package. All Cycles shader nodes OSL shaders OpenColorIO profiles (Blender profile included) All Cycles output passes (Combined, Depth, Normal and so on) Color and value shader AOVs Lightgroups Cycles camera properties, in particular all panorama modes Cycles light sources Denoising by using Open Image Denoise and OptiX denoiser
For more information, full documentation and a list of the available Cycles nodes see the download page linked below. There is no local backup because the addon is still frequently updated - the plugin can be downloaded on Shekn's github releases. The source code is available on github there as well.
This is a full integration of the Blender Cycles renderer into XSI. Version 2.4 is compiled with Cycles 5.3 (state of July 2026). The second generation of the addon (since 2.0) is a complete rewrite and works with Softimage 2015 SP2.
New since version 2.1.3 (from the github release notes): 2.4.1: fixed incorrect transforms of instances when the master model has rotation or scale, repacked with missing DLLs 2.4: Cycles 5.3. New Alpha parameter for the ImageTexture node, Sky Texture with Single and Multiple Scattering models, Thin Film for Metallic and Glass BSDF, new Raycast and Scene Time nodes, OSL custom camera, Linear 3D curve shape (also as per-object override), Geometry Approximation mode for NURBS surfaces, Render Time pass (CPU), texture optimisation (resolution, limit, tx texture cache) and a detailed scene export timing log 2.4: renders MaterialX shader trees from the MaterialXSI addon (converted to OSL). Note: OSL shading works on CPU render devices only 2.3.x: Cycles 4.5, OSL support is back, new Metallic BSDF and Set Normal nodes, phase function for Scatter Volume, Diffuse Roughness for Principled BSDF, more Noise Texture types, subdivision with motion deform, per-frame texture images, rendering of NURBS surfaces and curves (via custom properties), tile rendering, fixed shadow catcher, vector input ports for OSL shaders 2.2.x: nodes of Blender 4.3 (Ray Portal BSDF, Sheen BSDF, Gabor Texture, redesigned Principled BSDF), current Blender OCIO color profiles, custom velocity grids for VDB primitives, Particle Info node fed by ICE attributes, denoising of the final passes with OIDN or OptiX
Supported Softimage features (quoted from the download page):
Polygon meshes and hair geometry Texture coordinates Vertex colors Shaderball preview. For materials, shader nodes and texture nodes Basic limited support of the following built-in Softimage shader nodes: Phong, Lambert, Hair Shading, Image, converters between vector, color and scalar Ambience global environment light Limited support of built-in Softimage light sources Model instances ICE strands geometry ICE pointcloud instances ICE geometry attributes (vector, color and scalar) with context per-point and per-object Volume rendering. In particular supports emFluid, Explosia FX and openVDB for Softimage volumes Special VDB Primitive for rendering vdbs without ICE Output multilayered exr file with all rendered passes Rendermaps
The following features from Cycles itself are supported: CPU and GPU rendering. In particular multidevices are supported. This allows you to use cpu and gpu simultaneously. The libraries for GPU rendering are included in the package. All Cycles shader nodes OSL shaders OpenColorIO profiles (Blender profile included) All Cycles output passes (Combined, Depth, Normal and so on) Color and value shader AOVs Lightgroups Cycles camera properties, in particular all panorama modes Cycles light sources Denoising by using Open Image Denoise and OptiX denoiser
For more information, full documentation and a list of the available Cycles nodes see the download page linked below. There is no local backup because the addon is still frequently updated - the plugin can be downloaded on Shekn's github releases. The source code is available on github there as well.
download page: https://ssoftadd.github.io/syclesSecondGenPage.html / wiki with tutorials / all of Shekn's plugins / author on vimeo / si-community thread
-
wireframex
- Posts: 425
- Joined: 08 Jun 2009, 21:02
- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Great
"without mastery, power is nothing" - Softimage Addict User
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
-
Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Very small update with the fix of the very stupid bug in material previews: https://github.com/ssoftadd/SSoftAdd.gi ... 1.xsiaddon
-
wireframex
- Posts: 425
- Joined: 08 Jun 2009, 21:02
- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Thanks man 
"without mastery, power is nothing" - Softimage Addict User
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
-
Surface_VR
- Posts: 39
- Joined: 11 May 2020, 12:22
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Excellent!
And thanks for fixing the problem with GES import/export not installing on Blender 2.9x, as mentioned on GitHub!
And thanks for fixing the problem with GES import/export not installing on Blender 2.9x, as mentioned on GitHub!
-
SPJ
- Posts: 75
- Joined: 14 Jun 2014, 13:38
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Thanks! 
Will give this a try soon.
Will give this a try soon.-
Maximus
- Posts: 1122
- Joined: 09 Jun 2009, 13:45
Re: Cycles for Softimage
hello, i have a problem with the latest addon, there isnt anymore the option to select GPU on any render option panel in scycles now, am i the only one?
also the cpu render usage never goes above 50% during heavy high sample renders, while before i had 100% fully utilization, something is off
also the cpu render usage never goes above 50% during heavy high sample renders, while before i had 100% fully utilization, something is off
-
wireframex
- Posts: 425
- Joined: 08 Jun 2009, 21:02
- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Hey Maximus,Maximus wrote: 06 Sep 2021, 08:41 hello, i have a problem with the latest addon, there isnt anymore the option to select GPU on any render option panel in scycles now, am i the only one?
also the cpu render usage never goes above 50% during heavy high sample renders, while before i had 100% fully utilization, something is off
Just create a new scene with a null
then File/merge your scene with it --> it will works
Save your scene and erase the null
Phil
"without mastery, power is nothing" - Softimage Addict User
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
-
Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
Re: Cycles for Softimage
If you see only CPU device in Performance - Devices List, then it means that system can not find correct devices of other types. In Sycles\Application\Plugins\lib folder there are severel *.cubin files. The system use it to recognize gpus. If these files are not compatible with gpu, then it can not be founded. I dont't know why it happens and how to fix it. You may try to get these files from different versions of the Blender distributive, but the result is not predicted. With some files the system can recognize device, but the render result may differ from cpu tasks or even have artifacts.
About cpu load. In Sycels render settings in Performance tab there is a paramter "Thread Mode". When it set to "Auto-detect", then the renderer use all threads of the cpu. But if it set to "Fixed", then it's possible to set explicit number of cores, which will be used for rendering. May be you activate this option?
About cpu load. In Sycels render settings in Performance tab there is a paramter "Thread Mode". When it set to "Auto-detect", then the renderer use all threads of the cpu. But if it set to "Fixed", then it's possible to set explicit number of cores, which will be used for rendering. May be you activate this option?
-
wireframex
- Posts: 425
- Joined: 08 Jun 2009, 21:02
- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
I have the same Maximus problem and the only solution you gave before was the null tip and it works for me
"without mastery, power is nothing" - Softimage Addict User
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
CPU 3990x 128 Threads / 2 x 3090 RTX - 24 Go / 96 Go memory
-
Hirazi Blue
- Administrator
- Posts: 5113
- Joined: 04 Jun 2009, 10:15
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Wanted to try the new version, but I now get a red triangle in the Plug-in Manager for all versions (1_10_1, 1_11 and 1_11_1).
So I guess Softimage finally has stopped working after the recent Windows Update...
Version 1_10_1 did work in the past, but now has stopped working as well...
Update: 1_9_1 does still work...
So I guess Softimage finally has stopped working after the recent Windows Update...
Version 1_10_1 did work in the past, but now has stopped working as well...
Update: 1_9_1 does still work...
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Stay safe, sane & healthy!
-
Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Try to uninstall all vc-distributives from the system. May be this will help, because the last version of the Sycles 1.11.1 contains all necessary files in the addon package.
-
Hirazi Blue
- Administrator
- Posts: 5113
- Joined: 04 Jun 2009, 10:15
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Sadly that won't be an option as that would inevitably break other important software...
You don't have a version handy without the built-in dependencies?
You don't have a version handy without the built-in dependencies?
Stay safe, sane & healthy!
-
Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Of course, you can delete *.dll files from the Sycles addon directory. You need only the following files: cyclesPrimitives, cyclesRenderer, SyclesICENodes (these files contains actual addon functionality) and necessary dependencies for it: OpenColorIO, openvdb, tbb and yaml-cpp.
May be you have installed some other addon, which conflict with the Sycles? It's potentially possible.
May be you have installed some other addon, which conflict with the Sycles? It's potentially possible.
-
Hirazi Blue
- Administrator
- Posts: 5113
- Joined: 04 Jun 2009, 10:15
-
Maximus
- Posts: 1122
- Joined: 09 Jun 2009, 13:45
Re: Cycles for Softimage
so yeah i tested this engine quite a lot lately, cranked the sh*t out of it
here is a 44 mins render with insane samples and light bounce.
cpu amd 5950x and 2x 1080 nvidia
here is a 44 mins render with insane samples and light bounce.
cpu amd 5950x and 2x 1080 nvidia