I haven't studied the scripting in XSI yet, but I think there are something like 5 languages you can work in. There is also a c++ sdk if you want. You'll be able to easily create a .b3d exporter if you've got the skills and desire.
There is also an ftk. (File Transfer Kit) I think that's the name of it. You'll be able to port dotXSI into other engines easily. XSI is really flexible in a 3d pipeline.
Skitchy, I love the CDH. But I think that's not included in foundation. You'll have to go one level up to get it. That will give you
Floating interactive XSI seat
Smooth\Relax
texture layering
polygon reduction and custom display host
Advanced Rigs
Guides and Motion Deform
Rigid Body Dynamics
Standalone mental ray v.3.3 rendering ("ray.exe")
Satellite distributed tile acceleration
Creation and Editing of Referenced Models*
Creation and Editing of Scripted Operators.
$2000 for this level "Essentials" I don't think many Blitz game developers would be wanting anything over the Essentials level. The advanced level costs $7000 and adds these tools. (mostly tools for film and video work)
Hair and Fur
Syflex Advanced Cloth
Additional Batch Rendering
FX Tree Compositing
2D Vector and Raster Paint
2D Tracking and Stabilizing
I'm assuming the FX Tree compositing will work with realtime shaders as well as the 2d Vector and Raster Paint. If you're going to be doing a project with shaders then this is a powerful combination.
I ordered my upgrade about a week ago, so far I've been waiting for them to send it. It looks like Softimage is doing a lot of business right now. They've been backlogged to about a week's turn around time.
There is also an ftk. (File Transfer Kit) I think that's the name of it. You'll be able to port dotXSI into other engines easily. XSI is really flexible in a 3d pipeline.
Skitchy, I love the CDH. But I think that's not included in foundation. You'll have to go one level up to get it. That will give you
Floating interactive XSI seat
Smooth\Relax
texture layering
polygon reduction and custom display host
Advanced Rigs
Guides and Motion Deform
Rigid Body Dynamics
Standalone mental ray v.3.3 rendering ("ray.exe")
Satellite distributed tile acceleration
Creation and Editing of Referenced Models*
Creation and Editing of Scripted Operators.
$2000 for this level "Essentials" I don't think many Blitz game developers would be wanting anything over the Essentials level. The advanced level costs $7000 and adds these tools. (mostly tools for film and video work)
Hair and Fur
Syflex Advanced Cloth
Additional Batch Rendering
FX Tree Compositing
2D Vector and Raster Paint
2D Tracking and Stabilizing
I'm assuming the FX Tree compositing will work with realtime shaders as well as the 2d Vector and Raster Paint. If you're going to be doing a project with shaders then this is a powerful combination.
I ordered my upgrade about a week ago, so far I've been waiting for them to send it. It looks like Softimage is doing a lot of business right now. They've been backlogged to about a week's turn around time.