Softimage 3D
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, 3D graphics |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder | Daniel Langlois, Richard Mercille, Laurent Lauzon |
| Fate | Replaced by Softimage XSI in 2000 |
Key people | Daniel Langlois (founder) |
| Products | Softimage 3D, Softimage Creative Environment, Softimage XSI |
Softimage 3D, presented as Softimage|3D, was a premium 3D graphics software created by Softimage, extensively utilized across the film, broadcasting, gaming, and advertising sectors for producing 3D animations. In 2000, it was replaced by Softimage XSI.
History
In 1986, filmmaker Daniel Langlois joined forces with software developers Richard Mercille and Laurent Lauzon to create a unified 3D modeling, animation, and rendering system featuring a graphical user interface tailored for visual artists. This software was first showcased at SIGGRAPH in 1988 and officially released in 1989 for Silicon Graphics workstations under the name Softimage Creative Environment.
The application quickly became favored by leading visual effects companies including Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain, Walt Disney Feature Animation, and Pixar Animation Studios. Its character animation capabilities notably advanced with the introduction of inverse kinematics in version 2, which was instrumental in animating the dinosaurs featured in Jurassic Park. In 1994, Microsoft acquired Softimage to extend high-end 3D animation tools to its Windows NT operating system, rebranding the software as "Softimage 3D". By January 1995, it was designated the official 3D development platform for the Sega Saturn console.
The initial Windows-compatible version, 3.0, was released in early 1996. Later that year, Softimage 3D Extreme 3.5 introduced particle systems and incorporated the sophisticated mental ray renderer with support for area lighting and ray tracing. Version 3.7, launched in 1997, added capabilities for 3D painting.
During the late 1990s, Softimage worked on a next-generation product codenamed "Sumatra," featuring a modern architecture designed to rival competitors such as Alias|Wavefront's Maya. After being acquired by Avid Technology in 1998, development stalled until August 2000 when this successor was officially released as Softimage XSI. Given the established Softimage 3D user community, incremental updates continued until version 4.0 marked the final release in 2002.
Release history
| Version | Platform | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Softimage Creative Environment 1.0 | IRIX | January 1989 | Beta previewed at Siggraph '88; commercial launch in 1989 |
| Softimage Creative Environment 1.5 | 1989 | ||
| Softimage Creative Environment 1.65 | 1989 | Introduced texture mapping | |
| Softimage Creative Environment 2.0 | 1991 | Added Actor module, inverse kinematics, constraints, and deformation lattices | |
| Softimage Creative Environment 2.5 | 1991 | ||
| Softimage Creative Environment 2.6 | 1993 | Included clusters and weighted envelopes; utilized in Jurassic Park | |
| Softimage Creative Environment 2.65 | 1994 | ||
| Softimage 3D 3.0 |
|
January 1996 | First release compatible with Windows platform |
| Softimage 3D 3.5 | May 1996 | Launched Extreme edition featuring metaballs and mental ray renderer | |
| Softimage 3D 3.7 | April 1997 | Introduced tools for 3D painting and NURBS surface blending | |
| Softimage 3D 3.7 SP1 | August 1997 | Enhanced selection/viewing tools, RenderMap integration, support for Nintendo 64 | |
| Softimage 3D 3.8 | July 1998 | Added animation sequencer and polygon/color reduction utilities | |
| Softimage 3D 3.8 SP1 | January 1999 | First update under Avid Technology ownership; included Plus & Performance editions | |
| Softimage 3D 3.8 SP2 | August 1999 | Upgraded mental ray to version 2.1; introduced Surface Continuity Manager, DropPoints & SlidePoints, GoWithTheFlow features | |
| Softimage 3D 3.9 | March 2000 | Improved envelope weighting and refreshed graphical user interface | |
| Softimage 3D 3.9.1 | May 2000 | ||
| Softimage 3D 3.9.2 | December 2000 | ||
| Softimage 3D 3.9.2.2 | May 2001 | ||
| Softimage 3D 4.0 | May 2002 | Final edition; added multi-UV texturing and vertex color support |
Features
The Softimage 3D package was structured around five principal components, each corresponding to a stage in the production workflow:
Model: Provides a range of tools for generating spline, polygonal, patch, and NURBS primitives; subsequent releases incorporated Metaballs. It supported operations such as Boolean combinations, extrusions, beveling, lattice distortions, and relational modeling techniques. Subdivision surface modeling was facilitated through an external plugin called MetaMesh.
Motion: Enabled animation management via keyframes, constraints, mathematical expressions, motion paths, and function curves; it also allowed animatable cluster and lattice deformations and was compatible with multiple motion capture systems.
Actor: Focused on character rigging and animation by employing skeletal frameworks with dynamic simulations for physics-based behaviors; included features like inverse kinematics and both weighted and rigid skinning methods.
Matter: Dedicated to material design and rendering processes, offering advanced options such as multi-layered textures, environmental effects like fog and motion blur through field rendering, as well as raytracing capabilities.
Tools: Comprised utilities for playback and editing of rendered animations, color palette optimization, compositing functions, and support for importing/exporting both images and 3D geometry to streamline production pipelines.