Softimage offer open source solutions for 3-D production

Softimage, a subsidiary of Avid Technology, have offered an Open Source set of data interchange tools to provide a direct connection for 3-D content between its Softimage|XSI and Softimage|3D software.
As part of an overall strategy based on the dotXSI format, Softimage are providing a variety of tools and source code at no cost, to help artists and developers export, import, interpret and convert files in this format.
These tools, based on the dotXSI open file format for 3-D media, simplify the process of working with multiple 3-D applications, including Discreet’s 3-D Max and Macromedia’s Director. It is hoped that many companies will connect their products to an expanding list of industry-wide and customer applications that support this standard.
The new tools can also benefit a variety of media. For example, game programmers need to feed game engines with data in internal formats, and film and broadcast users often write custom tools to process scene data. Softimage have designed the dotXSI file with support for real-time IK, enveloping, constraints, NURBs, multiple UVs and real-time shaders.
Softimage's director of business development, Michael Sheasby, said: "With the release of these tools via the Open Source mechanism, 3-D artists and developers will enjoy great flexibility in the construction and customising of their production pipelines."
Softimage, www.softimage.com
(GMcG)