Softimage SDK Programmer's Guide > Customizing with the SDK > Custom Shaders > Shader Families >

# Creating Custom Shader Families

You can register a custom shader familiy in Softimage with the XSIApplication.RegisterShaderFamily or Application::RegisterShaderFamily method. It allows you to include a default color for an instantiated shader node to display in the render tree, and indicate whether or not the new shader family supports rendering with the shaderball.