@Shekn :
I tried HDRMaster but I saw it doesn't cast shadow at all. Could you tell me if it's normal or not ?
I suppose the best way is to use SkyTexture.
Thanks
Phil
Cycles for Softimage
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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
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wireframex
- Posts: 425
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- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
"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
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Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
Re: Cycles for Softimage
HDRMaster is actually only a preset for using hdr-maps as environment light. When background light is created, it does not link to any hdr-map. In this case this map is solid white. The render result in the first picture. But when I select any hdr-map from the library, then this map start using as background light source. The render on the second picture. If the hdr-map contains contrast sun, then there is visible shadow on the render. If the hdr-map is not contrast, then it looks like soft ambient light.
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wireframex
- Posts: 425
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- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Thanks a lot 
"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
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i.m.p
- Posts: 8
- Joined: 14 Apr 2019, 21:10
Re: Cycles for Softimage
I'm having issues when using alpha/opacity maps. Can you show me the proper nodal setup when using the cycmixclosure and transparent bsdf shader ?
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Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Here the screen with typical setup:
viewtopic.php?p=61380#p61380
If you have some problems or something works wrong - post here the screenshot with your shader tree and render result.
viewtopic.php?p=61380#p61380
If you have some problems or something works wrong - post here the screenshot with your shader tree and render result.
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i.m.p
- Posts: 8
- Joined: 14 Apr 2019, 21:10
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Thanks for the input. I also found this to be quite helpful:
https://www.cgbookcase.com/textures/how ... in-blender
https://www.cgbookcase.com/textures/how ... in-blender
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sirdavid32
- Posts: 309
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- Location: Ecuador
Re: Cycles for Softimage
This is so frikken cool! I feel I am not waisting my time with Blender, since I can also jump and work with the same shader tree from blender to softimage.
You know what this marvelous Sycles is missing? a GUI export/import of .blend cycles materials.
But I guess that´s a lot of intertwained .dlls to tweak on softimage side to "open" a .blend and navigate to their "materials" folder and pickup whatever shadertree it needs.
But hey... who knows?
I ask of this because of online render farms. If there was only a chance to tell old Online render farms who previously supported Softimage, that they can use this open source SYCLES materials and render engines, we would wake up some renders even faster.
Right now, as it is, Sycles speed is limited by the amount of Vram and Cores your actual system has.
If you want a speedier setup, there´s no renderfarm because of EOL.
You know what this marvelous Sycles is missing? a GUI export/import of .blend cycles materials.
But I guess that´s a lot of intertwained .dlls to tweak on softimage side to "open" a .blend and navigate to their "materials" folder and pickup whatever shadertree it needs.
But hey... who knows?
I ask of this because of online render farms. If there was only a chance to tell old Online render farms who previously supported Softimage, that they can use this open source SYCLES materials and render engines, we would wake up some renders even faster.
Right now, as it is, Sycles speed is limited by the amount of Vram and Cores your actual system has.
If you want a speedier setup, there´s no renderfarm because of EOL.
Portfolio: https://www.behance.net/3dcinetv
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/3dcinetv
Web: http://www.3dcinetv.com
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/3dcinetv
Web: http://www.3dcinetv.com
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Shekn
- Posts: 254
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Re: Cycles for Softimage
You can import material from Blender to Softimage by using this addon: https://ssoftadd.github.io/gesPage.html
But not from Softimage to Blender, because this direction in future plans.
But not from Softimage to Blender, because this direction in future plans.
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sirdavid32
- Posts: 309
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- Location: Ecuador
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Awesome! Thank you!
Portfolio: https://www.behance.net/3dcinetv
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/3dcinetv
Web: http://www.3dcinetv.com
Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/3dcinetv
Web: http://www.3dcinetv.com
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yashugan
- Posts: 115
- Joined: 30 May 2012, 18:58
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Hi, i have found a bug, can i write in private or i describe it here?
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Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
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Shekn
- Posts: 254
- Joined: 30 Dec 2016, 19:18
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Small update. Version 1.7.8, download here: https://ssoftadd.github.io/download/Syc ... 8.xsiaddon
Update contains realization of two small feature requests:
1. Add additional formats for output of a rendered images. Now render result can be saved in the following ldr formats: png, bmp, tga, sgi, iff, jpg, jp2, ppm, and following hdr formats: tiff, exr, dpx, fits, hdr, rla, pfm.
2. Add support for rendering image sequences as textures. ImageTexture and EnvironmentTexture nodes contains additional parameter "Image Source". If this parameter is equal to "Single Image", then the render engine use selected texture. But if this parameter is equal to "Image Sequence", then some additional parameters appear, and render engine use different texture for different frames. File for selected texture should have the name similar to "someTexture_1.png" or "someTexture.1.png". It's important that there is a section at the end of the name with a number, and this section separated by "." or "_". Then this number will be replaced by frame number.
Update contains realization of two small feature requests:
1. Add additional formats for output of a rendered images. Now render result can be saved in the following ldr formats: png, bmp, tga, sgi, iff, jpg, jp2, ppm, and following hdr formats: tiff, exr, dpx, fits, hdr, rla, pfm.
2. Add support for rendering image sequences as textures. ImageTexture and EnvironmentTexture nodes contains additional parameter "Image Source". If this parameter is equal to "Single Image", then the render engine use selected texture. But if this parameter is equal to "Image Sequence", then some additional parameters appear, and render engine use different texture for different frames. File for selected texture should have the name similar to "someTexture_1.png" or "someTexture.1.png". It's important that there is a section at the end of the name with a number, and this section separated by "." or "_". Then this number will be replaced by frame number.
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wireframex
- Posts: 425
- Joined: 08 Jun 2009, 21:02
- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Thanks a lot
"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
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wireframex
- Posts: 425
- Joined: 08 Jun 2009, 21:02
- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Open Image Denoise V1.0
Changes in v1.0.0:
- Improved denoising quality
- More details preserved
- Less artifacts (e.g. noisy spots, color bleeding with albedo/normal)
- Added maxMemoryMB filter parameter for limiting the maximum memory consumption regardless of the image resolution, potentially at the cost of lower denoising speed. This is internally implemented by denoising the image in tiles
- Significantly reduced memory consumption (but slightly lower performance) for high resolutions (> 2K) by default: limited to about 6 GB
- Added alignment and overlap filter parameters that can be queried for manual tiled denoising
- Added verbose device parameter for setting the verbosity of the console output, and disabled all console output by default-
- Fixed crash for zero-sized images
Changes in v1.0.0:
- Improved denoising quality
- More details preserved
- Less artifacts (e.g. noisy spots, color bleeding with albedo/normal)
- Added maxMemoryMB filter parameter for limiting the maximum memory consumption regardless of the image resolution, potentially at the cost of lower denoising speed. This is internally implemented by denoising the image in tiles
- Significantly reduced memory consumption (but slightly lower performance) for high resolutions (> 2K) by default: limited to about 6 GB
- Added alignment and overlap filter parameters that can be queried for manual tiled denoising
- Added verbose device parameter for setting the verbosity of the console output, and disabled all console output by default-
- Fixed crash for zero-sized images
"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
Update 1.8. Download here: https://ssoftadd.github.io/download/Sycles_1.8.xsiaddon
What's new:
1. Compiled with the latest version of the Cycles. So, now Sycles contains all bugfixes and improvements of the original Cycles.
2. Area lights now supports elliptic shapes.
3. All lights contains parameter "power", which allows to change light intensity without changing shader parameters. In particular, it allows to use several lights with different intensity but with the common shader.
4. Two new nodes for the shader tree: Map Range and Clamp.
5. Output Cryptomatte passes. How to use - tutorial 30 in the manual.
What's new:
1. Compiled with the latest version of the Cycles. So, now Sycles contains all bugfixes and improvements of the original Cycles.
2. Area lights now supports elliptic shapes.
3. All lights contains parameter "power", which allows to change light intensity without changing shader parameters. In particular, it allows to use several lights with different intensity but with the common shader.
4. Two new nodes for the shader tree: Map Range and Clamp.
5. Output Cryptomatte passes. How to use - tutorial 30 in the manual.
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wireframex
- Posts: 425
- Joined: 08 Jun 2009, 21:02
- Location: France
Re: Cycles for Softimage
Thanks a lot Shekn
Tell me what do you think about e-cycles https://evermotion.org/articles/show/11 ... in-blender ?
Tell me what do you think about e-cycles https://evermotion.org/articles/show/11 ... in-blender ?
"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