Autodesk Softimage 2011

Softimage software is a high-performance 3D character animation and visual effects application. Softimage enables users to use intuitive, non-destructive workflows to create stunning character animation and effects. The unique, multithreaded Softimage® GigaCore architecture and innovative tools like ICE and the Autodesk® Face Robot® facial animation toolset extend an Autodesk® Maya® software pipeline. Quickly and easily create detailed simulated effects, advanced character rigs, and lip-synced facial setups.

Top features:

Node-Based Interactive Creative Environment (ICE)
ICE is a powerful platform for creating custom tools, visual effects, and advanced character rigs eliminating the need to script a line of code. Featuring flexible, intuitive, visual programming interface, ICE is designed to help users be more efficient and to enable them to explore new creative ideas. ICE is based on a high-performance parallel processing engine that takes advantage of modern multi-core workstations to help increase interactivity and boost productivity. ICE effects can be exported to Maya software for greater flexibility in the creation of complex simulations.

GigaCore High-Performance 3D Engine
Softimage GigaCore is a 3D engine that powers the Softimage creative application. Capable of rendering objects with billions of sub-division surface polygons, GigaCore is highly multi-threaded and optimized to take advantage of the latest 64-bit, multi-core CPUs so that users can more efficiently manipulate extremely complex characters and scenes involving millions of polygons and thousands of animated objects.

Complete Face Robot Toolset
Softimage includes the Face Robot toolset, a professional solution for rigging and animating large numbers of 3D facial expressions faster and easily. Face Robot enables games and visual effects studios to create life-like facial animation at incredible speeds, and features automatic lip-syncing for the generation of facial animation from an audio file. Fully-solved Face Robot heads can be exported to Maya for greater flexibility when creating believable characters.

Non-destructive Workflow
Softimage offers users an end-toend non-destructive workflow that enables to make changes to parts of an asset at any point in the process without destroying work or forcing to start from scratch. Make modeling, texturing, and rigging changes to rigged and animated characters without having to re-construct bones, bone weights or shape animation. Easily retarget animations to other rigs and transfer complex surface attributes from one character to another.

Industry-Leading Non-linear Animation and Mixing
Softimage offers extensive non-linear animation capabilities: an interactive timeline for animation editing and playback, powerful animation mixer to help create complex animations much faster and easily. Mix and layer animation clips, composite clips, constraints, and expressions to shapes and textures, as well as create libraries of animations. The mixer helps give you high-level control with low-level precision for increased quality and productivity.

Extensibility
Softimage is a comprehensive 3D solution. For companies wishing to integrate it with their existing pipelines, or to add differentiated new feature development on top, the software offers avenues for customization: Python scripting, support for .NET compliant languages, the Tools Development Environment – to help create and manage custom tools – and an extensive, well-documented C++ application processing interface (API).

System Requirements:

For 32-bit Autodesk Softimage

• Microsoft® Windows 7, Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business (SP2), or Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2) operating systems
• Intel® Pentium® D processor workstation (Intel® or AMD® dual quad core processor recomended)
• Qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL® 1.5 (2.0 and higher recommended) professional graphics card with latest graphics driver available on vendor's site
• DirectX® 9.0c application programming interface and higher (recommended for advanced features of DirectX® 9 application programming interface)
• 2 GB of RAM
• 1 GB free hard drive space (Setup requires additional temporary disk space during installation.)
• 1280 x 1024 screen resolution
• TCP/IP service protocol installed on both client and server computers
• Three-button mouse
• A web browser to view HTML documentation
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 5.5 web browser or later (to use Net View tool)
• Network adaptor with Internet connection for licensing (non-Internet connected licensing is also supported)
• DVD drive to install software or browse media from Softimage

For 64-bit Autodesk Softimage

• Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Vista Business (SP2), or Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP3 or higher)

or

• Softimage for Linux® with Fedora® Core 11 operating system (Recommended Linux Distribution)
• Intel Pentium D (Intel or AMD dual quad core processor recommended)
• Qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL 1.5 (2.0 and higher recommended) professional graphics card with latest graphics driver available on vendor's site
• DirectX 9.0c and higher (recommended for support of the advanced features of DirectX 9 application programming interface)
• 1 GB free hard drive space (Setup requires additional temporary disk space during installation.)
• TCP/IP service protocol installed on both client and server computers
• 4 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
• 1280 x 1024 screen resolution
• Three-button mouse
• A web browser to view HTML documentation
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later (to use Net View tool)
• Network adaptor with Internet connection for licensing (non-Internet connected licensing is also supported)
• DVD drive to install software or browse media from Softimage