What we're learning about XSI: the voyage through a deep tool

Rendering strategies | other stuff...

Above: environments from a recent project. Below: one of many RC model plane product renderings.

This section of CraneDigital.com is dedicated to the study of Softimage | XSI. XSI is Canadian SoftImage's leading 3D package and widely acknowledged as the professional standard by which all other 3D applications are judged.

CraneDigital added XSI to the 3D tool kit in early 2005 and after only a short while have fallen hard for the power, control, stability and look of XSI compared to other tools. This power comes at a price, however: XSI is a bit of a bear to learn. In many ways it is user friendly, in many other ways it is challenging to discover where the tools are you may already know and love. Hence this site.

CraneDigital will be posting samples of work done with XSI in this section, as well as simple tutorials, Render Trees, screen shots and other goodies for those moving to XSI from other applications. Consider this a resource and a gallery. We've made the decision to focus our 3D development efforts on XSI because it's a tool worthy of deep exploration and understanding.

Visit the SuperCobra AH-1T+ Project in progress:

As with the very first 3D illustration created years ago, I find that learning a tool is easier when you set out to accomplish a specific project. Years ago it was Ant Acid, which went on to win National & even International recognition from the likes of New York Society of Illustrators. The approach taken to learningSoftimage | XSI is the same, with a different project. For this project I took on the daunting task of building the AH-1T+ SuperCobra attack helicopter. It worked well into a larger project I'm working on, and provided more than adequate challenge. As this project progresses (in my spare time), I'll be posting images and clips here. Please visit to view progress so far.

To visit the SoftImage web site, please click here.

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