Welcome to the world of 3D animation with SOFTIMAGE|XSI 5! Covering everything from modeling to animating, rendering, compositing, and even grooming hair, this official guide is designed to make the complexities of the XSI features accessible to beginning animators. After initial discussion of the fundamental concepts of 3D applications, you’ll quickly move on to more advanced topics that allow you to take advantage of each amazing feature of XSI 5. Full of tutorials designed to allow you to test each new skill, this book is your hands-on guide to the amazing possibilities of 3D animation with XSI 5.

Softimage | XSI Revealed provides a thorough introduction to XSI for the serious 3D animation student. Softimage|XSI offers an awesome rendering system. This book shows readers how they can take advantage of it. It teaches beginning students everything they need to know to render out exceptional frames. It also provides comprehensive information about textures--how they are projected onto models, and how to use them to modulate bump, transparency, reflectivity and other surface properties. Readers will explore lighting and will use caustics, global illumination, and final gathering to add realism and subtle beauty to scenes. They will also learn how the pros use motion blur and field rendering to put the finished touches on animation for TV and film. From using the RenderTree to create a believable metal material, to complex effects using output shaders, this book is a must for all students serious about understanding the formidable rendering power of Softimage|XSI.

One would expect more...

...from a book called "The official guide". I would name it "Beginner’s guide", better. It has everything one would need to start with xsi, but if you want more, you won’t find it in this book.

I regret buying this book, because xsi guides inside the program are far more comprehensive!

Lot’s of information for beginners...

... but i should have been told that this book is the latest "xsi illuminated" book. since mesmer.com is no more, there’s a need for publishing this manual on other channels. it’s pretty decent, but if you already own a mesmer "xsi illuminated" book... you’ll probably don’t need this one. i’ve got the v2.0 version of mesmer’s book and all what’s new in this one is hair and rigid bodies... hmmm, too sad rossano is still happy with the old soft-keysetting and behavior of the old si3d. xsi settings just rock and you can handle the whole app pretty fast! lot’s of new or renew tutorials, especially for beginners of xsi a must!!! ...ah! one more thing, i was missing arima-san. his "toro the happy tuna" was changed to "toro the ravenous"...

anyway, have fun with xsi!!!

Good book, needs better production values

First of all let me start off with first impressions. Not Much.
The paper stock is thin and cheap, it looks recycled. The pages are predominately black and white with very small graphics. Compared to the Official Guide for 4.0 this one looks like junk. But...

This version does have an accompanying CD that contains the samples you will need to work your way through the tutorials. And the tutorials are good and very helpful. I don’t like the procedure step’s layout very much but I understand the reason. I don’t have the book with me right now or I would give an exact example.

Basically each "step" is written as a paragraph such as " Step 1: Get x from the polygons in the render menu. From there set U to 15 and V to 22 then do something else. Select by raycast the face in the top view. Once you have selected the face open the MCM and change the name to `panel switch’ and close the MCM menu. Step 2:..." This method saves space and helps keep the publishing cost down. It also doesn’t freak out the user when they see a task that is 20 steps instead of 100, but it’s not as clear as having each task separate such as:
#1 Get x from the polygons in the render menu.
#2 From there set U to 15 and V to 22.
#3 Do something else.
#4 Select by raycast the face in the top view.
#5 Once you have selected the face open the MCM.
#6 change the name to `panel switch.’
#7 close the MCM menu.

As an absolute newbie with no other 3-D experience. I found myself missing some essential step and thinking that the book was not edited for technical accuracy. Later after CAREFUL reading I realized that most of the time the problem was user error. I’ve found reading the paragraph and numbering each step myself with a pencil helps me get though it better without mistakes.

And again, let me say that the book is good. It covers a wide breath of tasks in a short time. The CD samples are great and make it so much easier to jump right in and get started. This is particularly useful if you want to skip around. That is the reason I gave it 4 stars. It didn’t get 5 because of the reasons I’ve mentioned. I recommend this book on its own merit and because there really aren’t any others for XSI 5.

By the way, I did order XSI #4 after receiving this book. And it is such a beautiful book but it does not come with a CD of sample files. I haven’t gone through it yet though. By the time I received it I understood this one better and so I’m working my way through the steps SLOWLY.

By the way for a general 3-d book not software dependent I recommend 3D Graphics & Animation (With CD-ROM) ISBN: 0735712433. It’s meant to explain concepts and not steps. It’s a little 3D max centric but it’s chocked full of useful tips. Here is an example of one of the "throw-away" tips:

On a layer that you can hide, create a floor and wall grid that is scaled (each square=1 foot) include a polygon that is 5’ 8" (average human height) and a 3’ yard stick with ruler marks for reference - Taking this further I have created polygon blocks of average table and chair heights. All this makes it easier to make sure your models are all scaled the same so as you build your library you can grab your models and know they will fit into the scene without scaling adjustments.

Good book, needs better production values

First of all let me start off with first impressions. Not Much.

The paper stock is thin and cheap, it looks recycled. The pages are predominately black and white with very small graphics. Compared to the Official Guide for 4.0 this one looks like junk. But...



This version does have an accompanying CD that contains the samples you will need to work your way through the tutorials. And the tutorials are good and very helpful. I don’t like the procedure step’s layout very much but I understand the reason. I don’t have the book with me right now or I would give an exact example.



Basically each "step" is written as a paragraph such as " Step 1: Get x from the polygons in the render menu. From there set U to 15 and V to 22 then do something else. Select by raycast the face in the top view. Once you have selected the face open the MCM and change the name to `panel switch’ and close the MCM menu. Step 2:..." This method saves space and helps keep the publishing cost down. It also doesn’t freak out the user when they see a task that is 20 steps instead of 100, but it’s not as clear as having each task separate such as:

#1 Get x from the polygons in the render menu.

#2 From there set U to 15 and V to 22.

#3 Do something else.

#4 Select by raycast the face in the top view.

#5 Once you have selected the face open the MCM.

#6 change the name to `panel switch.’

#7 close the MCM menu.



As an absolute newbie with no other 3-D experience. I found myself missing some essential step and thinking that the book was not edited for technical accuracy. Later after CAREFUL reading I realized that most of the time the problem was user error. I’ve found reading the paragraph and numbering each step myself with a pencil helps me get though it better without mistakes.



And again, let me say that the book is good. It covers a wide breath of tasks in a short time. The CD samples are great and make it so much easier to jump right in and get started. This is particularly useful if you want to skip around. That is the reason I gave it 4 stars. It didn’t get 5 because of the reasons I’ve mentioned. I recommend this book on its own merit and because there really aren’t any others for XSI 5.



By the way, I did order XSI #4 after receiving this book. And it is such a beautiful book but it does not come with a CD of sample files. I haven’t gone through it yet though. By the time I received it I understood this one better and so I’m working my way through the steps SLOWLY.



By the way for a general 3-d book not software dependent I recommend 3D Graphics & Animation (With CD-ROM) ISBN: 0735712433. It’s meant to explain concepts and not steps. It’s a little 3D max centric but it’s chocked full of useful tips. Here is an example of one of the "throw-away" tips:



On a layer that you can hide, create a floor and wall grid that is scaled (each square=1 foot) include a polygon that is 5’ 8" (average human height) and a 3’ yard stick with ruler marks for reference - Taking this further I have created polygon blocks of average table and chair heights. All this makes it easier to make sure your models are all scaled the same so as you build your library you can grab your models and know they will fit into the scene without scaling adjustments.

comprehensive and up to date XSI v5 guide.


Softimage/XSI has made several impressive changes over the last few years in regards to how artists and programmers can both approach their software to work together in creating world class images for video games and film. Version 5 is the next step in bringing these two groups together with a common language and this guide is their Rosetta stone.

I work for a major motion picture company that exclusively uses the XSI software package for production. Most production companies are lucky to have even half of their new hires be proficient in any one software package and having this book on hand has been instrumental in bridging the "where is the button" gap for Maya and Max users.

This guide breaks down the "basics" for the beginners and ties together concepts for the intermediate user to bring their ideas to screen. I own it. I use it.

comprehensive and up to date XSI v5 guide.



Softimage/XSI has made several impressive changes over the last few years in regards to how artists and programmers can both approach their software to work together in creating world class images for video games and film. Version 5 is the next step in bringing these two groups together with a common language and this guide is their Rosetta stone.



I work for a major motion picture company that exclusively uses the XSI software package for production. Most production companies are lucky to have even half of their new hires be proficient in any one software package and having this book on hand has been instrumental in bridging the "where is the button" gap for Maya and Max users.



This guide breaks down the "basics" for the beginners and ties together concepts for the intermediate user to bring their ideas to screen. I own it. I use it.

A good overview of XSI

If you are a new or an intermediate user of Softimage/XSI, you will find a lot of good, useful information in this book. This book is a general, high-level overview of the core features of XSI, accompanied by tutorials covering most of those features. Although I am very familiar with most of the information presented, there were still enough tidbits of cool info to make the book worth the price for me.

If you are an advanced user - or looking to examine any of XSI’s features in depth, however, you will probably be disappointed. A number of the exercises and tutorials come from the older Mesmer XSI series of books (also by Mr Rossano)- which have been updated to be compatible with V5.