Experience XSI 4: The Official SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 Guide to Character Creation [Paperback]

Aaron Sims (Author), Michael Isner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1592002102 | ISBN-13: 978-1592002108 | Publication Date: June 21, 2004 | Edition: 1

XSI is the next generation in digital animation software. It was used to create some of the first realistic CG characters developed for film and it continues to be used by artists and animators worldwide in new and creative ways and in many different fields-from computer games to the film industry, from commercials to music videos. This official Softimage guide will show you how you can effectively use XSI to create compelling, lifelike characters. You'll cover each step-from designing and modeling to rendering and compositing. Learn how you can use Behavior to create intelligent characters that can interact with one another to form a realistic 3D animated crowd. You'll also cover scripting and how it can be used to save time and increase productivity.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

As a teenager growing up in Arlington Texas, Aaron Sims began his career working for famed commercial illustrator Don Ivan Punchatz. After moving to Los Angeles in 1985, Aaron began designing, sculpting, and painting creatures for the movie makeup effects. In 1988, Sims joined Rick Baker?s Academy Award? winning Cinovation Studios Inc. He further developed his skills as a team member on "Gremlins 2" (Head Painter), "Baby?s Day Out" (Head Painter/Cosmetic Supervisor), "Batman Forever" (Painter/Sculptor), and "Batman and Robin" (Painter/Sculptor). Sims went on to lead various projects at Cinovation, designing and sculpting the Grandma Klump prosthetic makeup on "The Nutty Professor", the Worm Guys and other aliens in "Men in Black", the Willie character prosthetic make-up in "Life", and the new Grandma Klump prosthetic make-up in "The Nutty Professor 2". Sims became Project Supervisor on "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" Sims sculpted and painted the Baby Grinch character, oversaw its construction, and puppeteered the character on set. He designed many of the `Who? Character prosthetics as well. Always looking for ways to expand his artistic ability, in the late 90?s Sims began exploring the medium of computer animation. Sims joined Stan Winston Studio in 2000 and began building a digital design shop within the Academy Award winning effects house. In 2001, he joined SW Digital, the design division at Stan Winston Studio. SW Digital has since designed characters for "Terminator 3", and completed and all digital promotional trailer TRAKK for Stan Winston Creatures, the action figure and comics division of Stan Winston Studio.

Michael Isner is the Character Animation Lead for Softimage. He works with high-end production clients from both the California film industry and Tokyo Gaming. He specializes in character setup, crowd and multi-character animation, and complex 3D problems. Michael?s early background was in art and architecture, but was drawn into technology as one of the original founders of XSI and was behind its content and first production tests. He did the original proto-typing for many XSI tools such as web integration (Netview), UV texturing and pivot based animation mixing. He has implemented many features in XSI such as the character menu, the spine, motion deformation and envelope copying. Michael continues to be leading force in Softimage?s research on embedded and interactive rigging. He has participated in character seminars and panels worldwide, from Montreal to Tokyo. More information can be found at www.isner.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology PTR; 1 edition (June 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592002102
• ISBN-13: 978-1592002108
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,080,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is it with XSI books?, January 15, 2005

By 

M. Bhangal "S" (Somewhere in Northern England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Experience XSI 4: The Official SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 Guide to Character Creation (Paperback)

I recently decided to get back into 3D after a number of years out of the loop. After experimentation with the top applications (Maya, XSI, 3DMax and Lightwave, plus a number of less well known applications such as Cinema4D), I decided to go with XSI. Maya came a close second: XSI just seemed easier and more intuitive.

The next problem was finding some teaching material to learn XSI with. There are literally hundreds of courses, books and DVDs for Maya, but only a handful for XSI. This was a fact that almost made me go for Maya (there is no point getting a high powered application if you dont know how to use that power!), but I took the precaution of actually reading some of the XSI books, and boy was I impressed - although there are far fewer XSI books out there, the quality of them exceeds many other digital authoring and computer books I have read. As a computer book author and freelance web designer myself, thats no mean feat... I get through a lot of books!

There are only two books you need to get up to speed with XSI: The XSI:Illuminated:Foundation (published by Mesmer) and this book.

The expertise of the authors of the Experience XSI 4 books is obvious just by flicking through the pages. One of the authors was actually involved in the development of XSI itself, and the other is a noted CGI professional. You just can't go wrong with tutors like these!

The other surprise was the high production values and low price of the book: full color gloassy paper throughout. This is not a showy color book with little technical depth though, far from it. It is packed with concise and totally practical tutorials.

Perhaps one downside of the book is that the authors push you straight in at the deep end: the character you create is commercial quality (ie it would not look out of place in a Hollywood motion picture). For me, thats an advantage not a pitfall: I'd rather be working slowly through a book that showed me how to create a believable, realistic character than fly through 300 pages creating cubes, matchstick men and simple rotating logos!

Highly recommended.

S

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for anyone interested in characters in XSI!, July 26, 2004

By 

Jonathan Jordan (Venice, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Experience XSI 4: The Official SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 Guide to Character Creation (Paperback)

This is a great book for anyone interested in working with characters in SoftImage XSI. Not only does it provide a thorough overview of all the new features in the latest version of XSI, with regards to character rigging and animation, it also includes great insights into the basic mechanics of the building blocks that make up a character rig.

The fact that the authors, Michael Isner and Aaron Sims, are production artists is apparent, and that really guides the whole process. It's invaluable to have the insights of people working day-in and day-out with the tools they are writing about. Their goal is to show you how to get a character up and running so you can start creating as soon as possible, and if you're a production artist, or want to be, that is the goal.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that you can finally sink your teeth into!, July 20, 2004

By 

3D Instructor (Los Angeles, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Experience XSI 4: The Official SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 Guide to Character Creation (Paperback)

I have been a 3D instructor for several years. 99% of my students demand that we structure the course so that the content reflect a real world production environment. In addition, we design the courseware so that the student/professional would walk out the door with a demo reel he/she would be proud of. This exceptional book will do just that. I am currently on page 102 of this book, and I can't seem to put it down.

I think this book is going to provide the "student" in all of us, more insight into the steps/workflow that an experienced 3D Artist must follow at a groundbreaking studio like, Stan Winston's. It's not about the location of the buttons per se, but more about the process by which one begins with Aaron's renderings, and ends with a hi resolution creature intended for a live action production. The quality of the material in the tutorials cannot be found in any other 3D book on the market. Furthermore, for those of you who prefer to reverse engineer a character rig or shader network, you can download the finished product from the book's website.

In addition, at the same time I had begun to work through the tutorials, I came across this more elaborate review of the book.

Link to the article: http://www.xsibase.com/articles.php?detail=51