Avid Unveils SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0 at SIGGRAPH 05

Avid unvieled the latest version of Softimage/xsi VER 5.0 at SIGGRAPH recently. The product starts shipping in September.

SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0 introduces 3-D teams to innovative new features, like Ultimapper, a map generation tool for producing cinema-quality maps in a few clicks; and GATOR, a unique property transfer system for merging fully textured and animated 3-D models. In addition to running on standard 32-bit CPUs, SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0 will also be available in a native 64-bit configuration, allowing users to model, animate and render extremely complex scenes in their entirety with billions of polygons and layers of 3-D, film, and video content.

Advanced Character Tools and Maya Migration Features Improve Ease of Use
Customers using SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0 will discover that unique character rigs are easy to create and customize, streamlining the process for making modeling, texturing, and rigging changes to characters without re-constructing bones, bone weights or shape animation. SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0 also includes a comprehensive set of migration tools for Maya users, such as a customizable user interface with new menu, keyboard and mouse navigation properties, all of which make it easy for Maya artists to use their current skill sets within the Softimage production environment.

Additional features in SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.5.0 include:

- Native XSI Hair. XSI Advanced delivers a significant update to XSI Hair with a new grooming tool that gives artists precise creative control for creating and styling realistic content, such as hair, fur, grass and trees. A new instancing system allows users to quickly replicate this content throughout entire environments.

-Syflex 3 advanced cloth simulation. XSI Advanced also offers the industry-leading technology of Syflex 3, which incorporates a fast, stable simulation engine that allows artists to create a broad range of cloth effects with ease.

-High-performance rigid-body dynamics. With tight integration of the state-of-the-art AGEIATM physXTM physics simulation engine, XSI v.5.0 delivers high-performance simulation, including precise actual-shape collision handling.

-New dotXSITM v.5.0 export & import with full source code. Using XSI v.5.0, artists can easily import and export the dotXSI v.5.0 file format for XSI models, materials, shaders, animation, skeletons and envelopes. Version 5.0 also adds support for shape morphing, subdivision approximation, and blind user-data.

The Indian pricing for the products is as follows

Foundation - Rs 25,300 /-

Essentials - Rs 100,000/-

Advanced version - Rs 3,60,000/-