Autodesk® Softimage® 2013 software delivers powerful new creative toolsets, a new high-fidelity interactive environment, and extended customizability, helping artists and Technical Directors get more from the product.
Artists will enjoy greater creative freedom across the board: from the completely new CrowdFX simulation feature set; to a new high-quality viewport; to enhanced modeling, animation, physics, and selection tools. In addition, better interoperability with Autodesk® Maya® 2013 software and
Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2013 software; and extensions to the SDK (software development kit) help facilitate integration into existing pipelines.
Top Features and Benefits
CrowdFX
Artists can now create sophisticated crowd simulations in a dedicated environment within Softimage. Using the power of the ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) multi-threaded particle system, artists can create massively complex effects with huge numbers of characters that react intelligently to their environment and each other. CrowdFX simulations can be easily exported to Maya 2013 for integration into existing Maya scenes.
High-Quality Viewport
A new High-Quality Viewport enables artists to refine their content more efficiently, by reducing the need to frequently preview using a software renderer. With the ability to evaluate their work interactively in an environment that closely mimics the rendered output, artists can make better creative decisions in less time.
Rigging and Animation Improvements
A large number of enhancements to the animation and rigging toolset help improve overall productivity for everyday animation workflows. The Animation Mixer, GATOR, the Dopesheet, the f- curve Editor, the Synoptic Editor, and Primitive Bones have all received attention. Among the list of enhancements are: the ability to easily retime f-curves with a new manipulator; support for Python™ scripting language in the Synoptic Editor; an option to add non-normalized weights when painting; the ability to include Animation Layers when creating clips; and a visual cue when Autokey is turned on.
New Modeling Tools
A number of new tools extend the renowned Softimage polygon modeling toolset. Built on the ICE Modeling framework introduced in Softimage 2012, the additions offer new options for thickness, hole capping, edge cutting, and extrusion. In addition, the interactive toolset gains an intuitive new Add Smooth Edge Loop tool, built on the new Softimage 2012 Tool SDK; with this tool, the contoured shape of the object is maintained when adding edge loops, meaning no extra work is required to make the mesh smooth or to keep the object’s continuity.
