The methods for starting Softimage on Windows and Linux operating systems are described in this section.
There are several ways to start on a Windows system:
Using the command line (see Starting from the Windows Command Line).
From a shortcut you create on your desktop or by double-clicking on the Windows batch file called xsi.bat. By default, the batch file is located in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2014\Application\bin folder.
If you installed in the default configuration, you can start from the Windows Start menu in the lower-left corner of the Windows desktop. To do this:
Starting from the Windows command line lets you specify various startup options, such as the project you want to load.
Open a command-prompt window. If your Start menu is in its default configuration, you can choose Start 
Programs Autodesk Autodesk Softimage 2014 Command Prompt
To start without any options, type:
XSITo start and load a specific project list or scene file, type the startup option on the same line after the above command. For example, to start with a specific scene, type:
XSI <scene_file_name.scn>Once Softimage has started, you can exit the command prompt window at any time.
For a list of command-line options you can use when starting Softimage, type xsi -h.
If you use a standard command prompt instead of the one in the Softimage menu, type the following to start Softimage:
xsi.batThis is a batch file that sets the necessary environment variables before starting Softimage. These environment variables are already set in the Softimage command prompt.
From the Windows Explorer, go to the directory where the Softimage batch file (XSI.bat) resides. By default, this should be in C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2014\Application\bin.
To change the name of the shortcut, click the icon's name once and then type a new name.
Right-click the shortcut icon and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
On the Shortcut tab of the Shortcuts dialog box, add any desired options to the command line in the Target text box. Make sure the entire command, including the options, are enclosed inside quotation marks.
For more information about the desktop, shortcuts, the Windows Explorer, and folder windows, please see your Windows operating system documentation.
xsi (lower case letters) is a script that sources .xsi_2013 (the environment script) and then executes the XSI (upper case letters) software.
You can choose to source the environment script first when you open a shell and then run XSI or you can change directories to <Softimage installation path>/Application/bin/ and run xsi (the script) directly.
There are a number of window managers that you can choose to install on Linux, and therefore, there is no one particular way to create an icon on your desktop or add a menu item to start Softimage. Refer to your window manager's documentation for more information.
If you create a shortcut on the desktop or in the menu bar/task bar, make sure it runs the xsi script directly, which will automatically source the environment script before running Softimage.
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