Throughout the lessons we will model, pose, texture and shade a 3D character. We will use lot of different techniques within ZBrush and Softimage to bring to life a bio-mechanical concept. Along the way we will learn creative ways to use a wide set of tools to build details in a quick and effective way. All the techniques shown can be translated in different kinds of pipelines and can bring up a huge speed up to your usual modeling and texturing workflow.

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 will start the tutorial by learning how to properly set up and align your Rotoscope images in something like Photoshop. From there, we will learn how to begin importing your Rotoscopes into Softimage, we will learn how to resize and reposition your Rotoscope images within the Softimage viewports to make sure they are properly aligned in all your views, we will learn how to import animated Rotoscopes, as well as other tools and features that will allow you to use image references effectively in Softimage.

We’ll begin this tutorial by learning the new terms and nodes we have access to, such as the topology data type, modeling ICE Trees, and empty meshes. Next we'll learn about some limitations of the topology nodes by creating an ICE tree that deletes all polygons outside a Null. We'll then begin our main shatter project by creating all the objects and nodes to shatter our own object. Then we'll learn methods of controlling our shatter points and correctly setting the Chunk IDs. Finally we will break our chunks out into separate meshes with a compound we will create using the topology nodes. As a bonus, we will set-up a basic rigid-body simulation and learn how to set the center of mass using a quick custom compound.

We’ll begin the tutorial by creating ICE extrusions with curves and strands to create our base stair element. We'll then create copies of our element inside an empty mesh. Then we'll create a control curve, find the transformations at various locations along the curve, and transform our copies to be on the curve. We'll then create a second curve to control other aspects of our copies and package everything into a compound. We'll then learn how to create controls to easily modify our copies without having to understand our ICE tree.

When rigging and animating, it's always nice to have an appealing character to work with. In these tutorials, we'll cover the building of a simple character with emotive eyes and eyebrows which you can then rig and animate. We will look at methods for building the head, body, arms, and legs and methods for connecting them all together. During the modeling process, we will emphasize the use of proper topology and discuss how topology and edge flow can impact the outcome of the rigging and animation process.

This tutorial will take you through every step of the creation process, so we will start by setting up rotoscopes within Softimage to use as reference. From there, we will use a variety of polygon modeling techniques to create low-resolution and high-resolution versions of our asset. Once that stage is complete we will use the Softimage Ultimapper to transfer all of the hi-res detail back to our low-res mesh using normal maps.

Popular highlights include: Modeling with Blueprint References; Establishing Automotive Line Flow; Building Volume with Curves; Shaping Geometry to Avoid Dents; Generating Curves from Geometry; Modeling Contoured Panels; Re-directing Edge Flow; Adding Scoops to Curved Surfaces; Re-paramaterizing Curves; Converting Geometry Types; Mirroring Detail; Merging and Extracting Geometry; Welding Points and Edges; Creating Fitted Panels; Creating Complex Body Details; UV Mapping Techniques; mental ray Materials; Building Car Paint Shaders; Creating Brushed Metal Effects; Overcoming Modeling Challenges; mental ray Lighting Setup; Adding Tire Tread with Bump Maps; Final Gather for Indirect Lighting.

Popular highlights include: Rotoscope Preparation; Building to Reference Art; Blocking-in Forms; Working with Polygon Budgets; Adding Muscle Flow; Modeling with Symmetry; Reducing Model Resolution Manually; Merging and Welding Geometry; Creating Efficient Geometry; Strategically Adding Detail; Extruding Geometry; Splitting and Adding Edges; Extracting Geometry; Simplifying Shapes; Proportional Modeling; Adjusting Pivot Points; Creating Useful Topology; Modeling from Primitives; Checking Character for Appeal.

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: Overview of Modeling Tools in XSI; Overview of Geometry Types; Polygon Modeling Workflow; Using Rotoscopes as Modeling Reference; Optimizing Geometry; Mirroring Geometry; Working with Curves, Surfaces, and Trims; Lofting Curves to Create Geometry; Adding Edge Resolution; Scene Organization Techniques; Principles of Creating Clean Topology; Creating Custom Toolbars and Shelves; Edge-loop Selections; Strategically Adding Resolution; Removing Resolution; Merging Multiple Pieces of Geometry; Lofting Surfaces; Bridging and Welding Components; Splitting Parallel Edge-loops; Re-routing Geometry Flow; Generating Symmetrical Geometry; Reusing and Re-purposing Geometry; Modeling with Deformers; Extruding Geometry Along Curves; Edge Creasing; Naming and Organizing Assets; Interactively Adding Edges Around Objects; Building High-res Geometry with Low-res Cages.

Popular highlights include: Establishing Scale and Measurement; Edge Loop Splitting; Enhancing Edge Details with Bevels; Optimizing Geometry for Lighting; Merging Polygon Meshes; Re-purposing Geometry; Polygon Extrusion Techniques; Creating Complex Geometry with Deformers; Hard Surface Modeling Techniques; Adding Realism with Randomization; Breaking Lines for Visual Aesthetics; Strategically Adding Details; Welding Points and Edges; Selecting and Manipulating Component Loops; Complex Scene Management.

Popular highlights include: Setting Up Rotoscopes; Working with Different Surface Meshes; Polygon Modeling Techniques; Extruding Faces & Edges; Extracting Geometry; Assigning Materials & Textures; Working with Texture Layer Editor; Creating & Modifying UVs with Texture Projections; Utilizing Deformers; Parenting Objects into Animation-friendly Hierarchy; Optimizing Workflow with Keying Panel; Automatic Movement with Path Animation; Setting and Modifying Keyframes with Animation Editor; Understanding the Material Manager; Efficiently UV Mapping; Exploring Various Light and Shadow Types; Applying Rendering Techniques; Developing Shader Networks in Render Tree; Creating Smoke Effects with Particles.

Popular highlights include: Normal Maps; Occlusion Maps; Depth Maps; UV Layout; Implementing Ultimapper; Painting Textures in Photoshop; Baking Indirect Lighting and Shadows into Texture Maps; Game-Friendly Animation Rigs; Adjusting Envelope Weights; Walk Cycle Animation; Exporting Game Assets to OGRE; C++ Programming; Real-time Normal Mapping; Real-time Parallax Mapping; Polygon Reduction Tool; * XSI Essentials and higher is recommended for several lessons.

Popular highlights include: Rotoscope Preparation; Add Polygon Tool; Symmetrizing Geometry; Cleaning Geometry; Extruding Faces; Localized Subdivision; Welding Points; Merging Multiple Surfaces; Subdivision Methods; Edge Loop Splitting; Collapsing Components; Modeling According to Musculature; Extracting Polygons; Proportional Modeling; Deformers; Modeling Tools Overview.

Popular highlights include: Polygon Modeling; Projection Master; Morph Targets; UV Mapping Techniques; Advanced Geometry Tools; Rendering with mental ray; Geometry Sculpting; Displacement maps; Cavity Maps; Normal Maps; Brushes.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Creating basic geometry for candy cane shape; Adjusting deformer properties to get desired results; Applying deformers to localized areas of geometry. 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.

When modeling with polygons, you sometimes need to extrude a continuous row of faces, without having them all merged together. This technique is useful for making bumps on a dinosaur's back, a serrated knife blade, or a spiked mace head. You can create interesting geometry using this technique. Topics covered in this tutorial: Extruding faces without merging them; Transforming extruded faces. Gain a complete understanding of XSI with Next-Generation Game Techniques in XSI, a comprehensive guide to learning game development techniques.

Trimming is an effective way to create complex NURBS geometry quickly. Once you learn this technique, you have much more control over your NURBS meshes. Topics covered in this tutorial: Using curves to cut shapes or holes into a mesh; Choosing between trims; Reversing the trim to only retain the surface inside the curve. Gain a complete understanding of modeling in XSI with Automotive Modeling in XSI, a comprehensive guide to automotive modeling and design.

Lofting is a useful modeling technique that allows you to create complex geometry from simple NURBS curves. Try using lofting next time you need to create a NURBS object. Topics covered in this tutorial: Making and duplicating multiple curves; Lofting curves through a pick session; Inverting Normals on surfaces; Every curve used in a loft needs to have the same number of points. Duplicating a single curve ensures that all the curves have the same point count.; The picking order during lofting is very important to the final result.. For a comprehensive overview of XSI check out the XSI Extreme Bundle, a complete library of project-driven training with interactive lessons, proven tips and tricks, and advanced techniques to learning XSI.

Converting NURBS to Polygons is a good process to learn, because not all rendering engines support NURBS. The added flexibility of converting to polygons allows geometry to be created using a NURBS workflow, but be outputted as Polygons. Experiment with conversions to find out what works best for you. Topics covered in this tutorial: Converting a NURBS surface to a new Polygon mesh; Increasing steps to make the mesh smoother; Adding some details to the new mesh. Gain a complete understanding of XSI with Next-Generation Game Techniques in XSI, a comprehensive guide to learning game development techniques.

This is a useful technique for reusing your geometry and then merging it back together for texturing. Topics covered in this tutorial: Merging two polygon meshes; Troubleshooting the merge process; Transferring materials from the old mesh onto the new one; Extracting polygons out of a mesh. To learn more about modeling in XSI check out Polygon and Sub-D Modeling in XSI, a fundamental guide to learning organic modeling.

Pivot points are important for interacting with your objects they define the object's center. Moving the pivot point is a useful modeling technique. Topics covered in this tutorial: Adjusting pivots of objects; Accessing and adjusting pivots of components. For a comprehensive overview of XSI check out the XSI Extreme Bundle, a complete library of project-driven training with interactive lessons, proven tips and tricks, and advanced techniques to learning XSI.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Applying lattice deformations to an object; Editing and modifying your objects with a cube ; Turning on the Shader Display node; Changing the subdivision of the lattice; Deforming the lattice cube. 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.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Removing spikiness or bumps for our surface; Making harsh objects appear smoother without changing topology; Running the smooth operator from any deform menu. Gain a complete understanding of modeling in XSI with Automotive Modeling in XSI, a comprehensive guide to automotive modeling and design.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Extracting curve geometry ; Building a new curve on top of our existing curve; Changing the number of subdivision; Controlling the number of points. 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: Creating and editing Bezier-knot curves; Using the Tweak Curve tool; Revolving Bezier curves. To learn more about modeling in XSI check out Polygon and Sub-D Modeling in XSI, a fundamental guide to learning organic modeling.

An interesting feature of the Tweak Component tool is the ability to model proportionally. Proportional modeling will move surrounding components based on their distance from the original selection. This is great for modifying smooth objects like faces because it moves the components evenly, resulting in a clean surface. Experiment with using the Tweak Component tool in your own modeling workflow. Topics covered in this tutorial: Moving components with the Tweak Component tool; Sliding components; Welding points very quickly. For a project-based guide to learning XSI 6 check out Introduction to XSI 6, a complete resource to learning the entire creative process of modeling, texturing, lighting, animation, and rendering.

These are two fundamental skills of working in XSI, so make sure you get comfortable with them. Topics covered in this tutorial: Using the Multi-Purpose Navigation tool (the S key) to Orbit, Tack and Dolly; Scaling, Rotating and Translating (SRT) objects using each of the 3 mouse buttons (Left, Middle and Right) to transform in each of the 3 axes (X, Y and Z); Using Alternate Mouse mapping and 3D Manipulators. For a complete resource to modeling in XSI check out Interior Modeling Techniques in XSI, a detailed guide to learning a time-saving workflow to interior set modeling and production techniques that can be used for film, visualizations, and games.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Using the component selection modes for mesh components; Going over shortcuts to access polygon components; Utilizing the Rectangular and Raycast selections. Gain a complete understanding of modeling in XSI with Automotive Modeling in XSI, a comprehensive guide to automotive modeling and design.

Topics covered in this tutorial: Keeping track of your mesh's triangle count; Lowering the triangle count; Using XSI's Info Selection page ; Displaying how many edges, vertices, triangles, quads and n-gons are in our mesh. Gain a complete understanding of modeling in XSI with Automotive Modeling in XSI, a comprehensive guide to automotive modeling and design.

Extruding along a curve is a great technique to model complicated geometry quickly. This video shows it being used to create a ponytail, but it has many other uses complex pipe systems, knots, rope, wiring, or vents. Try using curve extrusion in your next modeling project to achieve better results. Topics covered in this tutorial: Drawing curves; Utilizing the Extrude Along Curve command; Learning how to use the Extrude Along Axis tool; Using the Vertex Bevels; Making changes to the Extrusion operator. For an in-depth guide to modeling in XSI check out Modeling Next-Gen Characters in XSI, a project-driven resource to creating clean topology, working within polygon restrictions, and building assets from reference art.

Extruding is one of the most used tools in modeling. It is an integral part of almost every polygon modeling workflow. Experiment with extruding different polygon components to find a technique that you are comfortable with. Topics covered in this tutorial: Transforming vertices and faces to alter the mesh shape; Extruding faces; Duplicating faces; Increasing Subdivision levels; Using Edge Creases to maintain edges.

Adding splits into the mesh lets us add more detail, because we have more points to move around. Experiment with the various splitting tools to find a solution that works for you. Topics covered in this tutorial: Utilizing the Add Edge tool - splits edges and connects edges to vertices, vertices to vertices, and edges to edges; Learning how to use the Knife tool - cuts straight into the geometry; Using the Split Edge tool - splits edges and parallel edges. Splitting edges is just one aspect of modeling inside of XSI. For a complete understanding of modeling in XSI check out Introduction to Modeling XSI, an in-depth guide to modeling tools and workflow.

XSI treats its polygon components equally, in that extrusions and bevels work not only with edges and polygons, but also with vertices. This is very well-designed to create interesting models quickly because you can literally create new faces anywhere on the mesh. Topics covered in this tutorial: Making clusters out of point selections; Using the Skirting ratio attribute of the ExtrudeOp; Altering the quality of the Render Region tool. For an in-depth guide to modeling in XSI check out Modeling Next-Gen Characters in XSI, a project-driven resource to creating clean topology, working within polygon restrictions, and building assets from reference art.

With this technique you can generate complex shapes with little effort. Try creating interesting and unique meshes by experimenting with different curve shapes. Topics covered in this tutorial: Using two curves (a circle curve and a spiral curve) to make a spring coil; Altering the spiral curve to get the path of a spring; Making changes to the attributes in the Extrusion page to get different surfaces. Lofting curves is just one aspect of modeling inside XSI. For a complete understanding of modeling in XSI check out Introduction to Modeling XSI, an in-depth guide to modeling tools and workflow.

Symmetric curves have many applications but they are difficult to create without this technique. XSI has a symmetry mode that will make the other half of any curve that you draw. After you have these two curves, you can merge them to create a perfectly symmetrical shape. Topics covered in this tutorial: Using Symmetry mode to mirror drawing actions to produce two symmetric curves; Merging the two curves to make one new curve; Tweaking the continuity of the new curve; Closing curves using Open / Close. For a comprehensive overview of XSI check out the XSI Extreme Bundle, a complete library of project-driven training with interactive lessons, proven tips and tricks, and advanced techniques to learning XSI.

Revolving curves is a neat way to create many mechanical or manufactured surfaces, such as cups, pipes, nails, candles, tires. Try revolving a curve the next time you need anything cylindrical in shape! Topics covered in this video: Drawing curves using the Draw Cubic by CV's tool; Revolving those curves around a specific axis; Modifying the surface by setting various properties; Tweaking the curves to further modify the surface?s shape; Freezing the Operator Stack to keep the revolved objects after deleting the creation curve. For a comprehensive overview of XSI, watch our Introduction to XSI 6 training. With over 7 hours of easy to use instruction, new XSI users will learn the entire process of modeling, texturing, lighting, animation, and rendering within XSI.

These features are excellent ways to cut out unnecessary time spent in selection mode. Think about how much more time you will have to model after learning these techniques. Topics covered in this tutorial: Adding to selections; Using Range selections, which select all the components between two selected components; Loop selections, which select all the components in a loop. Gain a complete understanding of modeling in XSI with Automotive Modeling in XSI, a comprehensive guide to automotive modeling and design.

Try using this technique to quickly generate landscapes or rough natural surfaces. Topics covered in this tutorial: Painting deformation on geometry, as opposed to pushing / pulling the points. Attaching a weight map and a Push deformer to the surface; Assigning the weight map to the deformer; Painting on the weight map; Creating inward and outward deformation. 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: Using the Proportional Modeling tool to move multiple points; Increasing the Distance Limit or the Radius to move more or fewer points; The Falloff profile determines how much other points move. If the profile is a straight line, all the points move equally as if in Tag mode. 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.

One thing to keep in mind is that a polygon modeling Boolean operator is different from expression Boolean operators. While the former is using in mesh modeling, the latter is used in writing logic expressions. Topics covered in this tutorial: Examining two polygon meshes to create a new polygon shape; Combining one mesh with another (union); Obtaining geometry only in a common space (intersection); Carving one mesh out of the other (difference). To learn more about modeling in XSI check out Polygon and Sub-D Modeling in XSI, a fundamental guide to learning organic modeling.

While a lot of text / caption work can be done in post-production, some looks are difficult to achieve in post. Once you have learned this technique you can create attractive text effects using XSI. Topics covered in this tutorial: Utilizing the Text tool and the Curves, Planar Mesh and Solid Mesh text; Using many parameters to modify the look of the text mesh; Deforming 3D text along a curve for animation effects. For a comprehensive overview of XSI check out the XSI Extreme Bundle, a complete library of project-driven training with interactive lessons, proven tips and tricks, and advanced techniques to learning XSI.