This tutorial will guide you through the entire start-to-finish process of building your ICE tree simulations and rendering the final results, with special emphasis on the concepts and workflows that you can incorporate into your own Softimage projects. We will learn how to create ICE trees and add dynamic forces such as wind and gravity to our simulations, we will learn how textures can be used to drive particle appearance and behavior, we will learn how to incorporate realistic light dispersion and absorption properties into our ICE volume particles, as well as many additional features, techniques, and workflows that will prove to be invaluable to all Softimage users who wish to use ICE tree simulations in their own projects.

We'll start the tutorial by giving you the foundational skills and vocabulary you'll need in order to move around within Softimage, and then we'll jump right into the Modeling section of the tutorial. After completing the Modeling section, you'll get the chance try your hand at Texturing, Rigging, Animation, ICE Dynamics, and finally, Lighting and Rendering your own animation. Our goal is not to weigh you down with technical information, but rather to help you develop good workflow habits and allow you to reach a point where you can be very comfortable using Softimage.

We’ll start off by covering what ICE is and what it is used for. We'll then take a look at working in the ICE tree so you learn how to use ICE in your own projects. After that, you’ll learn how to add forces to particle and create compounds. To wrap up this project, we'll go over how to work with Strands and Lagoa. This series of step-by-step videos were developed with artists new to ICE in mind so we will be moving at a steady, easy-to-follow pace making sure you understand terms and basic techniques. To view more Beginner’s Guide courses; visit our library where you'll find the largest collection of free, high-quality CG training videos.

The objectives for this fast-pace, intensive course include successfully transferring data between two ICE trees, create custom particle effects and understand how data flows in Softimage. By the end of this training, you will have the ability to solve these types of ICE problems in your own projects. Before following along with this tutorial, you should have experience using Softimage and ICE as we cover what would normally take hours to accomplish in a shorter span of time. If you are an artist new to Softimage, ICE or Lagoa, we have several courses to get you started.

We will begin this project by learning how to create Lagoa simulations using the create menu presets. We will then learn about the four essential parts of a Lagoa ICE tree. We will then learn some of the force and accuracy settings we can use to control our simulation. We will then get into the heart of the Lagoa system, the Lagoa Main Material. We spend several lessons breaking down each aspect of the material, as different settings can create completely different looks and particle interactions. We will then learn some tips and tricks for working with Lagoa in Softimage including viewing an ICE cache as it simulates, using the Polygonizer to create a mesh around our particles, and how to use the Lagoa Fluid Shaper to create a more realistic fluid. Finally, we will learn how to apply Cached Sim Post Effects to changed our particle cloud without re-simulating.

We'll begin this project by learning the basic concepts behind ICE such as the main uses of ICE, the basic workflow of ICE and how ICE nodes work together. We'll then learn about the various data types and the importance of context while working in ICE. Once we understand the ideas behind ICE, we will take a few lessons to familiarize ourselves with the Softimage interface. Then we will begin building a particle simulation from the ground up and learn about various ICE nodes and workflows. We'll finish by rendering out an image sequence of our finished particle simulation. This series of lessons was designed to launch someone who has never touched Softimage into being comfortable with the interface and working with ICE. This will allow us to create particle simulations in ICE quickly and easily and begin exploring this powerful platform.

Over this course we will learn how to use states and state machines as well as conditionals to trigger specific reactions and how to switch to new states. We will also cover how to work with multiple states to build interesting particle interactions using beneficial projects.

Popular highlights include: Strands Overview; Creating and Editing Strands; Generating Strand Trails; Strand Construction and Shaping; Strand Alignment and Rotation; Strand Animation; Shading and Rendering Strands; Using Various Strand Compounds; Strand-related ICE Attributes; Randomizing Strand Colors; Applying Colors and Properties Along Strands; Applying Forces; Particle Goals; Building Strand-based Systems; Strand Profile Curves; Repeating ICE Processes; Generating Points; Initializing ICE Attributes; Assets and Compounds Provided.

Popular highlights include: Detailed Overview of all ICE Nodes; When to Use Specific Nodes; Understanding How and Why Nodes Work; Working with Vectors and Matrices; Applying Color Effects to Particles and Meshes; Using and Distorting UVs with ICE; Working with Strands; Setting Random Values; Conversion Tricks and Techniques; Driving Parameters with Other Parameters; Building Various Deformers; Creative Solutions to Various Scenarios; Emission and Simulation Control; Particle Generation; Mathematical and Geometric Concepts in ICE; Particle Behavior and Motion Control; Condition Testing and Execution.

Popular highlights include: In-depth Overview of XSI Interface; Navigation and Tools; Customizing User Experience; Polygon Modeling Workflows; Extruding Faces and Edges; Extracting Geometry; Assigning Materials and Textures; Material Manager; Creating Shader Networks with Render Tree; Texture Layer Editor; UV Projections and Sub-projections; Creating Custom Shelves and Toolbars; Rotoscope Preparation; Lights and Shadow Types; Creating ICE Tree Networks; Applying Dynamic Forces to ICE Particles; Building Particle Volume Shaders for Rendering; Deformers; Path Animation; Parenting Objects; Utilizing the Render Region; Automating Animation with Linked Parameters; Keying Panel to Create and Manipulate Keyframes; Understanding the Operator Stack.

Popular highlights include: Understanding ICE; ICE Framework; Navigation in ICE; Working with ICE Nodes; Types and Contexts; Intrinsic and Dynamic Data; Sharing Data Between ICE Trees; ICE Compounds; ICE Particle Simulations; ICE Rigid Bodies; Using ICE Attributes in Render Tree; Visualizing ICE Data; Previewing ICE Data; Rendering ICE Particles and Meshes; Building Deformers; Building Complex Systems with ICE; Importance of Comments; Learning Best Practices and Workflows; Tips and Tricks.

Popular highlights include: Hair Overview; Hair Styling; Hair Based on Curves; Growing and Scalping Techniques; Brush and Cut Tools; Scale, Puff and Stand Tools; Popping Hairs and Attenuation; Connect Maps; Dynamic Setups; Displacement Effects; Simulating Hair Curves with Cloth; Hair and Forces; Alternative uses with Hair Instancing; Transfer Hair.

Popular highlights include: Rigid Body Simulations; Active and Passive Rigid Bodies; Forces; Environments; ODE and physX Rigid Body Engines; Converting Simulations to Animations; Soft Body Simulations; Objects; Clusters; Animating Soft Bodies; Influencing Soft Body Dynamics; GATOR; Simulation-based Rigs.

Popular highlights include: All Forces in XSI; Particle Clouds; Emitters and Particle Types; Particle Interactions with Obstacles; Goals; Events; Render Tree; VBScript; Particle Simulations; Snowflakes; Fire; Oil Slick; Fireflies; Sparks; Eruptions and Blasts.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Grouping geometry for instancing; Adding the group into the hair; Tweaking the hair; Defining the location of the hair by painting a weight map; Placing hair on an object that is already instances. For a comprehensive guide to learning XSI Hair check out Introduction to XSI Hair, an in-depth resource to learning how to create, style, texture, render, and dynamically drive hair.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Learning various ways of changing hair color; Using a weight map to trim hair; Attaching a hair material to multiple hair systems. Gain a complete understanding of XSI with HDRI Workflow with XSI and Photoshop, an in-depth guide to creating and using HDR Images for a multitude of scenarios and projects.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Cutting Hair; Moving Hair; Transferring Maps; Using a Cut Map to control the Hair. For a comprehensive guide to learning XSI Hair check out Introduction to XSI Hair, an in-depth resource to learning how to create, style, texture, render, and dynamically drive hair.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Creating Hair through selection; Displaying Guide Hairs; Beginning to style the Hair using the Comb tool; Using the powerful Brush tool for styling Hair. For a comprehensive guide to learning XSI Hair check out Introduction to XSI Hair, an in-depth resource to learning how to create, style, texture, render, and dynamically drive hair.

Try using the PhysX engine if you have a scene with a lot of dynamic interactions. Topics covered in this tutorial: Setting up active and passive Rigid Bodies; Changing collision properties; Turning on simulation caching. To learn more about dynamics in XSI check out Soft and Rigid Bodies in XSI, an essential guide to learning the fundamentals of soft and rigid body dynamics.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Accessing the Hair Generator Operator; Changing the Emitter Sub-D Level; Connecting the Subdivision Render Level to the Emitter Sub-D Level. To learn more about modeling in XSI check out Polygon and Sub-D Modeling in XSI, a fundamental guide to learning organic modeling.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Adding deformers to XSI hair; Working with the Wave deformer; Changing the Hair Geometry Shader. To learn more about modeling in XSI check out Polygon and Sub-D Modeling in XSI, a fundamental guide to learning organic modeling.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Different Collision types; Constraining Passive Rigid Bodies to other geometry; Fixing a common constraint problem; Animating the doors opening; Finishing creation of the collision objects. For a comprehensive overview of dynamics in XSI check out Soft and Rigid Bodies in XSI, an essential guide to learning the fundamentals of soft and rigid body dynamics.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Selecting multiple objects with a wildcard; Creating Active Rigid Bodies; Adding initial velocity to the cans; Assigning gravity to the environment; Creating new geometry for collision objects; The difference between Passive Rigid Bodies and Active Rigid Bodies. To learn more about dynamics in XSI check out Soft and Rigid Bodies in XSI, an essential guide to learning the fundamentals of soft and rigid body dynamics

Topics covered in this tutorial: Loading the PhysX engine; Using Duplicate Multiple to create the cans; Setting up the cans correctly for beginning the simulation. To learn more about this topic in XSI check out Soft and Rigid Bodies in XSI, an essential guide to learning the fundamentals of soft and rigid body dynamics.

With this workflow you can create an entire scene filled with models very fast. Remember to use multiple objects in your hair instance to break up unnatural uniformity. Topics covered in this tutorial: Creating hair on an object; Turning on hair instancing; Adding instance objects; Modifying hair. Gain a complete understanding of rendering in XSI with Introduction to XSI Render Tree, an in-depth resource to learning rendering techniques and workflows.

Particle Instancing is a fast way to create hundreds of objects without slowing down your scene. However, the original object will just stay still while all its instances move around. If you want to keep access to your instanced original, but keep it out of your renders, try hiding it through the particle settings. Topics covered in this tutorial: Setting up particle instancing; Fixing improper particle scaling; Hiding only the Instance master. More information on XSI check out Introduction to XSI 7, a complete introductory guide to learning the fundamentals of modeling, texturing, lighting, animating, rigging, rendering, and a production-proven workflow to ICE.

Adding obstacles and events introduce attention-grabbing behavior to particles. Experiment with adding multiple events onto your particles to create unique special effects. Topics covered in this tutorial: Creating particles; Applying a gravity force; Using geometry as obstacles for particles; Using particle Events to implement a consequence whenever an obstacle collision occurs; Assigning new particles to a new (source) emission. To learn more about particles in XSI check out Particles and Forces in XSI, a project-driven guide to learning the intuitive particle system within XSI.

Unlike Rigid Bodies, forces and obstacles can deform a Soft Bodies' shape. Other uses for Soft Bodies include nets, falling paper, rubber bands, and so on. Topics covered in this tutorial: Setting up an object as a Soft Body; Applying forces to Soft Bodies; Creating obstacles for Soft Bodies; Tweaking various SoftBodyOp properties; Using built-in presets. For more detailed information on dynamics in XSI check out Soft and Rigid Bodies in XSI, an essential guide to learning the fundamentals of soft and rigid body dynamics.

Particles are an interesting simulation tool used to create an effect that would be too complicated or time consuming to do with regular animation. Most natural phenomena like fire, tornados, dust storms, and rain can be done with particles. Try using particles to create your own rain effect. Topics covered in this tutorial: Creating particles from objects; Learning various parameters and tabs of the Particle Operator, Emission, and PType; Using the Render Tree to change how the particles look when rendered. More information on particles in XSI check out Particles and Forces in XSI, a project-driven guide to learning the intuitive particle system within XSI.

Rigid Body simulations move objects by sending data to the simulation engine that solves the objects motion. Although they are not really useful for character animation, rigid body simulations can come in handy when you need to realistically animate objects influenced by natural forces (like gravity and wind) or by collisions with other objects. Topics covered in this tutorial: Using Active and Passive Rigid Bodies; Utilizing Forces in environments to affect the active rigid bodies; Adjusting the Collision Shapes for different collision behaviors; Bounding Boxes and Spheres are the most efficient Collision Shapes but they work very poorly with any object that doesn't look like a box or a sphere.. To learn more about dynamics in XSI check out Soft and Rigid Bodies in XSI, an essential guide to learning the fundamentals of soft and rigid body dynamics.