dotXSI Templates

This section answers questions you might have about how to use the dotXSI format:

• What Is a Template?

• How Do I Extract Information from the dotXSI File?

• Are All Versions of the dotXSI File Format Supported?

• What Programming Environments Are Supported?

What Is a Template?

The dotXSI file is organized into several different sections, according to functionality. For example, in version 3.6 there is a section called SI_Ambience that describes the ambient color in the Softimage scene. It consists of three values (mapping to Red, Green, and Blue). Here is an example of the SI_Ambience section in a typical dotXSI file:

       SI_Ambience {
           0.200000,
           0.200000,
           0.200000,
       }

Each section in the dotXSI file follows a pattern, or template, so that you can know what to expect when you are trying to interact with the information in any dotXSI file. The specification for these templates are detailed in Template Reference. For example, you can find the following information in the SI_Ambience template:

       SI_Ambience
       {
           <red>,
           <green>,
           <blue>,
       }

How Do I Extract Information from the dotXSI File?

You can access the contents of a dotXSI file either by using the IO Layer or the Semantic Layer of the Crosswalk SDK. See Crosswalk SDK for specific information on the tools available.

For more information on how the dotXSI file is constructed, see Template Reference.

Are All Versions of the dotXSI File Format Supported?

No. Crosswalk SDK v5.0 supports reading and writing of dotXSI v3.0 and later.

| For more information, see Compatibility.

What Programming Environments Are Supported?

Since the dotXSI file format encoding is text-based, anything that can read text can use the text-based dotXSI files. However, the binary compressed encoding is only readable by the Crosswalk SDK. The functionality of the Crosswalk SDK is currently available as a C++ API.

Autodesk Softimage v7.5