Softimage to 3ds Max: Supported Scene Elements and Attributes

The following tables list the features supported when exporting from Softimage and importing into a Crosswalk-enabled installation of 3ds Max using the dotXSI (*.xsi) format.

Geometries

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Mesh	Yes
Triangles	Yes
Polygons	Yes
Nulls	Yes	Converted to dummy objects.
UVs	Yes
Vertex Color	Yes
Normals	Yes
Splines	No
NURBS	No

Lights

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Omni	No
Directional	No
Spot	No
Light Common Shading	No

Cameras

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Perspective Lookat	No
Perspective Rotation	No
Orthogonal	No
Extra Camera Data	No

Hierarchies

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
SRT Node Transforms	Yes
Advanced SRT Node Transforms	Partial	Support for pivot, neutral pose, etc. Shearing is not supported.
Object Offset Transforms	Yes	In 3ds Max, when a geometric object has an object offset, a null is created and replaces that geometry in the hierarchy, maintaining the relationship of the existing child objects. The offset geometry becomes a child of this new null and is called <name>_ObjOff. The geometry's local transform is set to that of the object offset. When re-importing, this hierarchy is detected and the null/geometry pair is imported as one object with its object offset transform intact.
Instances (model)	No
Instances (primitive)	No

Deformations

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Skinning (Envelopes)	Yes
Shapes	Partial	Support for morph targets only. No weight animation.
Bones	No	Converted to dummy objects.

Animation

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Fcurves (constant)	Partial	Animation is plotted as linear on import into 3ds Max.
Fcurves (linear)	Partial	Animation is plotted as linear on import into 3ds Max.
Fcurves (spline)	Partial	Animation is plotted as linear on import into 3ds Max.
Fcurves (hermite)	Partial	Animation is plotted as linear on import into 3ds Max.
Fcurves (per key interpolation)	No

Constraints

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Constraints	No	Plotted on export using Animation Resampling options.
IK	No	On export, Preserve IK Chains option must be turned off.

Physics

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Rigid Body Dynamics	No

Shading

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Common Shading	Partial	The specular component is not supported well. 3ds Max has an inversely proportional system.
DirectX	No
Cg Profile Effects	No

User Data

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Custom Psets	No
User Data Blob	No

File Referencing

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Model Files	No
Images	Yes
Shaders	No

Update Mechanism

Element	Softimage Export vs. Max Import	Comments
Update	Yes	Match and update scene elements in current scene on import into 3ds Max. See Updating Scene Elements.