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Supported Scene Elements and Attributes for dotXSI

 
 
 

| Geometry | Lights | Cameras | Hierarchies | Deformations | Animation | Constraints | Physics | Shading | User Data | File Referencing | Update Mechanism

The following tables list the features supported when importing into and exporting from Softimage using the dotXSI 6 (*.xsi) format.

Geometry

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Meshes

Yes

 

Triangles

Yes

 

Polygons

Yes

 

Polygon Clusters

Yes

Subdivision and triangulation are not supported. If you export your geometry as subdivided (Apply Subdivision to Geometry option) or triangulated (Convert Geometry to Triangles option), then polygon clusters will not be exported.

Refer to the following templates: XSI_PolygonList, XSI_IndexList, and XSI_ClusterInfo.

Polygon Vertex Clusters

Yes

 

Polygon Edge Clusters

No

 

Nulls

Yes

 

UVs

Yes

 

Vertex Colors

Yes

Also referred to as color at vertices (CAV) properties.

Normals

Yes

 

Splines

No

 

NURBS

No

 

Tangents

Yes

Tangents and binormals are stored in color at vertices (CAV) properties. Crosswalk identifies whether or not a CAV property contains tangent or binormal data as follows:

Crosswalk looks for the TangentOp2 operator.

  • IIn Softimage 6.5 and earlier, if the operator is present, tangent data is assumed and exported (binormals were not directly supported). When exporting, binormals should be recomputed by the cross product of the normals and the tangents.

  • In Softimage 7.0 and later, if the operator is present, then Crosswalk reads the Operator Type flag which indicates whether tangents or binormals should be exported.

If Crosswalk does not find a TangentOp2 operator, then it looks for the sub-string tangent or binormal in the CAV property's name.

If you renamed the property and did not retain tangent or binormal as part of the name, the property will be exported as vertex colors only.

For more information, see Working with Tangent and Binormal Maps [Texturing].

Binormals

Yes

 

Lights

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Omni

Yes

 

Directional

Yes

 

Spot

Yes

In Softimage, when you create a spotlight it always has an interest (null) which is direction constrained to the spotlight. But if you create another light type and then change it to a spotlight, no interest gets created. Crosswalk expects all spotlights to have a properly defined interest. If not, the spotlight's interest position will be automatically computed based on the spotlight's rotation.

Keep in mind that this solution does not handle the case where the spotlight's rotation is animated. You can use the following workaround to avoid this issue:

  1. Make the spotlight the child of a null.

  2. Set the spotlight's translation relative to this null (0,0,0).

  3. Animate the null in rotation (instead of the spotlight directly) and it will be exported.

Light Common Shading

Yes

 

Cameras

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Perspective Lookat

Yes

 

Perspective Rotation

Yes

 

Orthogonal

Yes

 

Extra Camera Data

Yes

Lens data, aspect ratio, etc.

Hierarchies

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

SRT Node Transforms

Yes

 

Advanced SRT Node Transforms

Yes

Pivot, neutral pose, etc.

Instances (model)

Yes

 

Instances (primitive)

No

 

Deformations

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Envelopes

Yes

 

Shapes

Yes

Shape sources (Shape Keys) with weight animation are supported. Refer to the following templates: XSI_ShapeReference and XSI_ActionClipContainer.

Bones

Yes

 

Animation

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Fcurves (constant)

Yes

 

Fcurves (linear)

Yes

 

Fcurves (spline)

Yes

 

Fcurves (hermite)

No

 

Fcurves (per key interpolation)

No

 

Constraints

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Constraints

No

Plotted on export using Animation Resampling options.

IK

Yes

 

Physics

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Rigid Body Dynamics

No

 

Shading

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Common Shading

Yes

 

Shader Compounds

Yes

Supports the import and export of shader compounds that are instantiated in the library. To do this, you need to name the compound (give it a unique Type) and then export it. See Shader Compounds .

DirectX

Yes

 

Cg Profile Effects

Yes

 

User Data

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Custom Psets

Yes

 

User Data Blob

Yes

 

File Referencing

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Model Files

No

 

Images

Yes

On export, you can select the Keep Referenced Paths Relative checkbox (default), otherwise paths are resolved to absolute paths.

On import, any referenced paths within the Crosswalk file are automatically resolved to absolute paths.

Shaders

Yes

 

FX and CGFX Files

Yes

On export, you can select the Keep Referenced Paths Relative checkbox (default), otherwise paths are resolved to absolute paths.

On import, any referenced paths within the Crosswalk file are automatically resolved to absolute paths.

Update Mechanism

Element

Softimage Export vs. Softimage Import

Comments

Update

No

 
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