Element

Imported?

Notes and exceptions

Workarounds

Automatic Envelope

Yes

If the envelope is a patch object, the envelope weights are not imported.

See Preserving Envelope Weights on Patch Objects.

Bounding Volumes

Yes

Bounding volumes are imported as implicit primitives. Note that you cannot deform implicit geometry in Softimage by manipulating its points.

Curves: Linear, Bézier, Cardinal, and B-Spline Curves

Yes

The object is converted to a NURBS curve. For example, a Bézier curve is converted to a cubic NURBS curve with Bézier knots. Clusters are deleted.

Custom Effects (Modeling Plug-ins)

Yes

Any object with a “persistent” effect imports into Softimage, but the parameters won’t. You will see the object, but the parameters are frozen at the current frame.

(A custom effect is identified in the SI3D menu by a “+” that appears after its command name, it also displays an icon in the scene and its parameters can be modified by using Info > Custom Effect.)

Third-party persistent effects are not imported into Softimage.

Envelope Weights

Yes

If the envelope is a patch object, the envelope weights are not imported.

See Preserving Envelope Weights on Patch Objects.

Global Envelopes

Yes

If the envelope is a patch object, the envelope weights are not imported.

See Preserving Envelope Weights on Patch Objects.

Grouped Skeletons

Yes

Objects grouped as a skeleton only import if they are assigned to an envelope.

If you import a scene which contains a null used as a skeleton and a local texture is applied, if converted from patch, the textures appear to “swim” on the envelope. You may be able to resolve this problem by converting the object to polygon or NURBS in SOFTIMAGE|3D first.

Instances

Yes

Instances are expanded. Expressions and constraints are not copied to expanded instances.

If the imported instances display undesirable results in Softimage, expand the instances in SOFTIMAGE|3D first and import again.

Local Envelope

Yes

If the envelope is a patch object, the envelope weights are not imported.

If you have applied deformation parameters or curves, these do not import.

See Preserving Envelope Weights on Patch Objects.

Meta-Clay™

Yes

The object is converted to polygon mesh. Note that rigid envelopes do not import.

NURBS (Surfaces and Curves)

Yes

Patches

Yes

The object is converted to a NURBS surface. If the object was an envelope, the envelope weights are deleted. Clusters are also deleted.

See Preserving Envelope Weights on Patch Objects.

Polygon Meshes

Yes

If the polygonal object has holes, the importer triangulates the polygon mesh. May lose surface approximation attributes.

Before importing a polygon mesh object into Softimage, use Effect > GC_ValidateMesh in SOFTIMAGE|3D first. This helps eliminate problems that may be caused by invalid meshes.

Relational Models

Yes

Relational models are imported, but the modeling relation is not preserved.

Rigid Envelopes

No

Shared Models

Yes

Text/Faces

Yes

The object is converted to polygon mesh.

In some cases, the object may import as a null. If this is the case, convert the object to polygon or NURBS in SOFTIMAGE|3D first.

User data

Yes

User data on components is imported as user data (blobs).

User data on objects is imported as custom properties.

Wireframe Colors

No

Note, however, that joint and vertex assignment colors are imported.

Element

Imported?

Notes and exceptions

Workarounds

2D Textures

Yes

Any texture attribute you’ve applied to an object is imported into the Material property page, which you can access from the explorer.

Local textures appear in the Material node found under the object’s node > Polygon Mesh > Clusters > Polygon.

If you have animated the textures, scaling, rotation, or transformation, its animation is not imported.

Multiple UV properties (available in SOFTIMAGE|3D version 4.0) are imported as multiple explicit texture projections.

Some animated properties may not import properly. This is due to the conversion that occurs when some SOFTIMAGE|3D attributes are converted to mental ray parameters—there may not be a one-to-one correlation between all parameters.

Texture may appear flipped in the Textured view. When you draw a render region, the texture appears correctly.

3D Textures

Yes

Some animated properties may not import properly. This is due to the conversion that occurs when some SOFTIMAGE|3D attributes are converted to mental ray parameters—there may not be a one-to-one correlation between all parameters.

Ambience

Yes

Ambience is imported as ambient lighting.

Camera

Yes

Some animated properties may not import properly. This is due to the conversion that occurs when some SOFTIMAGE|3D attributes are converted to mental ray 3.1 parameters—there may not be a one-to-one correlation between all parameters.

Custom Effects (Shading and Rendering Plug-ins)

Any object with a “persistent” effect imports into Softimage, but the parameters won’t. You will see the object, but the parameters are frozen at the current frame.

There are two exceptions to this: ToonAssistant and FXDirector.

(A custom effect is identified in the SI3D menu by a “+” that appears after its command name, it also displays an icon in the scene and its parameters can be modified by using Info > Custom Effect.)

Third-party persistent effects are not imported into Softimage.

Depth-fading

Yes

Depth-fading is imported as the soft_fog shader.

Some animated properties may not import properly.

Fog

Yes

Fog is imported as the soft_fog shader.

FXDirector

Yes

FXDirector is an effect based on mental ray shaders, if you freeze the effect before importing it, you can continue modifying the shader parameters in Softimage. If you do not freeze the effect, the shader parameters are not imported into Softimage.

Freeze the effect before importing.

Note that freezing the effect deletes any animation you’ve applied using the plug-in.

Lights

Yes

Lights imported into Autodesk Softimage from a SOFTIMAGE|3D scene are assigned a default light shader called soft_light. This shader appears as a subnode under the light object node.

The soft_light shader implements the infinite (directional) lights, point lights, and spotlights supported by SOFTIMAGE|3D. When lights are imported into Softimage, the soft_light shader recognizes the light and behaves according to the light type: spot, point, or infinite.

Sun light-types are not supported. They’re converted to Infinite lights.

Area lights whose geometry is disabled imports with U and V values set to 0.

Some animated properties may not import properly. This is due to the conversion that occurs when some SOFTIMAGE|3D attributes are converted to mental ray 3.1 parameters—there may not be a one-to-one correlation between all parameters.

There is a default light in the Softimage default scene. When you import your SOFTIMAGE|3D scene, the default light is not replaced. If your imported scene seems overly bright, delete the default light.

Materials

Yes

All geometric objects defined in a SOFTIMAGE|3D scene are assigned the soft_material shader when imported into Softimage. For more information, see Using the soft_material Shader.

• SI3D local materials appear under the object’s Polygon Mesh > Clusters node.

• SI3D shared materials are assigned to the appropriate object nodes. If materials are shared, applied expressions may not be imported.

Some animated properties may not import properly. This is due to the conversion that occurs when some SOFTIMAGE|3D attributes are converted to mental ray parameters—there may not be a one-to-one correlation between all parameters.

Note: Materials in Softimage don’t have quite the same function as they do in SOFTIMAGE|3D. What are called materials in SOFTIMAGE|3D are more accurately named surface shaders in Softimage. The Material node acts as a container for all of the possible shaders that can be applied to an object.

If you want to replace soft_material with a an Softimage-based render tree, see Materials and Surface Shaders [Material and Shader Basics].

mental ray shaders (SI3D)

Yes

The importer supports all of the SOFTIMAGE|3D mental ray shaders.

You can modify the imported parameters. You cannot, however, use the render tree to augment the effect.

If you want to augment the imported shader effect, you can do either of the following:

• Delete the imported shader and replace it with one of the Softimage shaders and build from there.

• Activate the Convert to Shade Tree option in the SI3DLoader property editor. This converts SOFTIMAGE|3D materials to the best approximation using sets of connected shaders in the Softimage render tree. If this option is off, the SOFTIMAGE|3D legacy shaders are used instead.

See The Render Tree [Material and Shader Basics] for more information.

mental ray shaders (Third-Party Plug-ins)

No

The importer does not import shader parameters from third-party plug-ins based on mental ray shaders.

Motion blur

Yes

When importing, make sure that Linear/Exact motion blur is on and that you have saved the scene with Motion Blur on.

Motion blur works only if the scene contains motion vectors. Make sure that the .dsc file has enough motion vectors to produce motion blur.

Palettes

No

Photon Director

Yes

Render Settings

Yes

Global rendering options for the default pass are read in from the imported scene. All settings defined in .dsc, or other scene files are added to the beauty pass. This includes any environment, output, and volume shaders that have been set for the scene.

A new pass is created for every imported SOFTIMAGE|3D scene in addition to the Default pass (beauty pass).

RenderMap

Yes

Objects modified by Softimage plug-ins can be imported.

SetVertexColour

Yes

Texture support objects

Yes

May be hidden by default.

ToonAssistant

Yes

ToonAssistant is an effect based on mental ray shaders, if you freeze the effect before importing it, you can continue modifying the shader parameters in Softimage. If you do not freeze the effect, the shader parameters are not imported into Softimage.

Freeze the effect before importing.

Note that freezing the effect deletes any animation you’ve applied using the plug-in.

Element

Imported?

Notes and exceptions

Workarounds

Actions

No

Animated Booleans

No

Audio

No

Refer to the command log for information about any sound files associated with the imported scene. See Audio and Animation [Nonlinear Animation] for information about reloading the audio file.

Camera roll

No

Channels

No

Cluster

Yes

Clusters are deleted unless they belong to a NURBS or polygon object.

Expressions applied to clusters do not import.

Collisions

No

You can create these effects from scratch in Softimage.

Constraints: position, orientation, direction, scaling, bounding plane

Yes

In SOFTIMAGE|3D, you could pick either another object (any other object) or use world space as the reference for the positional constraint. Softimage only recognizes the parent object as a valid reference for a positional constraint.

Constraints: Position and rotation limits

Yes

Constraints: Cluster to object, Object to cluster

Yes

Object to cluster is imported as a cluster centre.

Constraints: Cluster centre, two and three points

Yes

Constraints: tangency

Not correctly

Tangency constraints are not calculated correctly when you import a scene from SOFTIMAGE|3D.

Constraints: Up vector

Yes

Imports the up vector if coupled with an IK chain, path animation, direction constraint, or two-point constraint.

When you import an object from SOFTIMAGE|3D that has built-in up-vector constraints, the Up Vector option for that object will be activated in Softimage. This affects the Trajectory, Curve (Path), 2-Point, and Direction constraints.

Constraints: Normal to surface

No

Controls

No

Custom Effects (Animation Plug-ins)

Yes

Any object with a “persistent” effect imports into Softimage, but the parameters won’t. You will see the object, but the parameters are frozen at the current frame.

(A custom effect is identified in the SI3D menu by a “+” that appears after its command name, it also displays an icon in the scene and its parameters can be modified by using Info > Custom Effect.)

Third-party persistent effects are not imported into Softimage.

Deformations

Yes

Deformations (including animated branch and node deformations) by curve and surface are imported, but may not display the same results.

You can adjust them once they’re imported.

Dynamics

No

You can create these effects from scratch in Softimage.

Expressions

Yes

The complete syntax is imported. If a variable is encountered, it is expanded and placed in the expression syntax. However, “has relation” is not imported.

Expressions applied to shape animated objects do not import.

Expressions applied to clusters do not import.

Expressions applied to instances do not import.

Expressions applied to materials and textures may not import.

You cannot open a binary .exp format expression file from SOFTIMAGE|3D directly. Instead, import a scene or model with the expression in it.

See SI|3D Expressions.

Flock

Yes

Function curves

Yes

Deactivated function curves (set in the Dopesheet) are imported as activated.

Lattice

Yes

Lattice animation is converted to cluster animation.

Lattice animation transition curves may not be exactly the same as in SOFTIMAGE|3D.

Extrapolated function curves are not imported with lattice animation.

Path

Yes

If the original path is a closed B-spline, the first control point may not be at the same position as the original curve when it is converted to a NURBS curve. Convert the curve to NURBS in SOFTIMAGE|3D first—you’ll have the same problem, but you can adjust it before importing.

Particles

No

You can create these effects from scratch in Softimage.

Play Control Options

Yes

Play control options (Frame In, Frame Out, Frame Rate, etc.) are imported from the SI3D scene.

To view the play control settings, in an explorer, set the scope to Application > Data > Play Control.

If you have set your frame step to 0 in your SOFTIMAGE|3D scene, the importer does not set the equivalent playback setting in Softimage.

To improve playback in your imported scene, click the All button below the timeline in the Softimage window so that it toggles to RT (real time) to have real-time playback. See the Animation guide for more information about improving playback quality in Softimage.

Quickstretch

No

You can create these effects from scratch in Softimage.

Shape

Yes

Shapes are converted to clusters.

Expressions applied to shape-animated objects do not import.

Simulation

No

You can create these effects from scratch in Softimage.

Skeletons

Yes

Chains loaded from a SOFTIMGE|3D scene retain their original hierarchical structure: the effector is a child of the last bone instead of being a child of the chain root, as is the default in Softimage.

The effectors’ orientation and position also remain global, not local.

If the effector’s rotation was constrained to the last bone, the Affected by Last Bone option is automatically selected in Softimage. Otherwise, the skeleton uses global rotation coordinates (the option is off).

When you import a skeleton with a chain that has its local X rotation animated, its animation is transferred to its Roll parameter in Softimage (and the static values are kept in the preferred angles as well).

See Working with Character Rigs.

SRT Animation

Yes

Tangency

Yes

Softimage only imports one type of tangency: if the object is on a path and is constrained to be tangent to the curve on that path. The two other types of tangency constraints available in SOFTIMAGE|3D (as described in the SOFTIMAGE|3D Reference guide under Constraint > Tangency) are not imported.

Wave

No

You can create these effects from scratch in Softimage.

Element

Imported?

Notes and exceptions

Workarounds

Named selections

Yes

Named selections appear as group nodes in the explorer. Click on them to select the objects assigned to the selection.

Schematic view data

Yes

The position and collapse state of all nodes in a SOFTIMAGE|3D schematic view are preserved when importing into Softimage. All imported nodes, including non-user positioned nodes, will have their position read and set in the Softimage schematic view. User-positioned nodes are not affected when their hierarchy is rearranged either manually or automatically. All other nodes move during a rearrange.

In the Loader SI3D Options property editor, make sure the Load SI3D scenes in a model and Put objects who's prefix differ from project in a model options are activated to properly import SOFTIMAGE|3D schematic data. These options are activated by default when importing into Softimage.

Visibility and Selectability

Yes

Visibility and selectability in your SOFTIMAGE|3D scene are preserved and imported.