Softimage 3D, stylized as Softimage|3D, is a discontinued high-end 3D graphics application developed by Softimage, which was used predominantly in the film, broadcasting, gaming, and advertising industries for the production of 3D animation. It was superseded by Softimage XSI in 2000.
History In 1986, National Film Board of Canada filmmaker Daniel Langlois, in partnership with software engineers Richard Mercille and Laurent Lauzon, began developing an integrated 3D modeling, animation, and rendering package with a graphical interface targeted at visual artists. The software was initially demonstrated at SIGGRAPH in 1988 and was released for Silicon Graphics workstations the following year as the Softimage Creative Environment..
Softimage Creative Environment was adopted by major visual effects studios like Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Digital Domain for use in their production pipelines, which also typically included software from Alias Research, Big Idea Productions, Kroyer Films, Angel Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Pixar Animation Studios as well as a variety of custom tools. Its character animation toolset expanded substantially with the addition of inverse kinematics in version 2, which was used to animate the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.. In 1994, Microsoft acquired Softimage with the intention of introducing high-end 3D animation software to its Windows NT platform, and subsequently renamed it "Softimage 3D".. In January 1995, Softimage 3D was announced as the official 3D development tool for the Sega Saturn.
The first Windows port of Softimage 3D, version 3.0, was released in early 1996.. Softimage 3D Extreme 3.5, released later that year, included particle effects and the mental ray renderer, which offered area lights, ray tracing, and other advanced features.. 3D paint functionality was added a year later in version 3.7.
In the late 1990s, Softimage began developing a successor to Softimage 3D codenamed "Sumatra", which was designed with a more modern and extensible architecture to compete with other major packages like Alias|Wavefront's Maya. Development was delayed during a 1998 acquisition by Avid Technology, and in August 2000 Softimage 3D's successor was finally released as Softimage XSI.. Because of Softimage 3D's entrenched user base, minor revisions continued until the final version of Softimage 3D, version 4.0, was released in 2002.
Release history VersionPlatformRelease dateNotesSoftimage Creative Environment 1.0IRIXJanuary 1989Beta debuted at SIGGRAPH '88, v1.0 commercial release in 1989Softimage Creative Environment 1.51989 Softimage Creative Environment 1.651989Added texture mappingSoftimage Creative Environment 2.01991Introduced Actor module, IK, constraints, deformation latticesSoftimage Creative Environment 2.51991 Softimage Creative Environment 2.61993Added clusters, weighted envelopes. Used in Jurassic ParkSoftimage Creative Environment 2.651994 Softimage 3D 3.0January 1996First Windows releaseSoftimage 3D 3.5May 1996Introduced Extreme edition (metaballs, mental ray)Softimage 3D 3.7April 1997Added 3D paint, NURBS surface blendingSoftimage 3D 3.7 SP1August 1997 New selection & viewing tools, RenderMap, Nintendo 64 supportSoftimage 3D 3.8July 1998Added animation sequencer, polygon/color reduction toolsSoftimage 3D 3.8 SP1January 1999First release by Avid Technology, Plus & Performance optionsSoftimage 3D 3.8 SP2August 1999Mental Ray 2.1, Surface Continuity Manager, DropPoints & SlidePoints, GoWithTheFlowSoftimage 3D 3.9March 2000Improved envelope weighting, updated GUISoftimage 3D 3.9.1May 2000 Softimage 3D 3.9.2December 2000 Softimage 3D 3.9.2.2May 2001 Softimage 3D 4.0May 2002Added multi-UV texturing, vertex colors. Final release
Features The Softimage 3D feature set was divided between five menu sets: Model, Motion, Actor, Matter and Tools, each corresponding to a different part of the 3D production process:.
Model: Tools for creating spline, polygon, patch, and NURBS primitives (later releases also included Metaballs). Boolean operations, extrusions, revolves, and bevels, as well as lattice deformations and relational modeling tools. Subdivision surface modeling was available via a third-party plugin from Phoenix Tools called MetaMesh.
Motion: Animation of objects and parameters via keyframes, constraints, mathematical expressions, paths, and function curves. Animatable cluster and lattice deformations. Motion-capture through a variety of input devices.
Actor: Rigging and animation of digital characters using skeletons, as well as dynamics tools for physics simulations of object interactions. Included inverse kinematics and weighted/rigid skinning.
Matter: Creation of materials and rendering images for output. Standard features included 2D and 3D textures, field rendering, fog, motion blur, and raytracing.
Tools: Utilities for viewing, editing, and compositing-rendered image sequences, color reduction, and importing/exporting images and 3D geometry.
Credits Feature Films 1989: All Dogs Go To Heaven, The Abyss, The Little Mermaid, Knick Knack, Kiki's Delivery Service, Cranium Command, Back to the Future Part II, Ghostbusters II, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids 1990: The Rescuers Down Under, Jetsons: The Movie, Predator 2, The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, Back to the Future Part III, Total Recall 1991: An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, Beauty and the Beast, Rock-a-Doodle, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Rover Dangerfield, Muppet*Vision 3D 1992: Aladdin, FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Porco Rosso, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Bebe's Kids, Off His Rockers, The Lawnmower Man, Sleepwalkers, Alien 3 1993: Jurassic Park, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, Once Upon A Forest, Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas 1994: The Mask, The Lion King, The Swan Princess, Asterix in America, A Troll in Central Park, Felidae, Forrest Gump, Thumbelina, Pom Poko, The Pagemaster, Stargate 1995: Balto, Casper, Jumanji, Pocahontas, La Cite des Enfants Perdus, The Pebble and the Penguin, Whisper of the Heart, Aaron's Magic Village, Toy Story, A Goofy Movie, Village of the Damned 1996: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Space Jam, James and the Giant Peach, Beavis and Butt-head Do America, Muppet Treasure Island, Hugo the Movie Star 1997: Hercules, Anastasia, Princess Mononoke, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Titanic, Cats Don't Dance, Men in Black, The Fearless Four, The Fifth Element, Flubber, Geri's Game, Starship Troopers, Casper: A Spirited Beginning, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation 1998: Kite, Mulan, Quest for Camelot, Godzilla, The Prince of Egypt, The Rugrats Movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, Antz, Armageddon, Blade, A Bug's Life, Small Soldiers, It's Tough to Be a Bug!, Casper Meets Wendy, The Avengers 1999: The Matrix, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Tarzan, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, The Iron Giant, The Nuttiest Nutcracker, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, Pokémon: The Movie 2000, The King and I, Toy Story 2, Fantasia 2000, Bartok the Magnificent 2000: The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Pokémon 3: The Movie, Titan A.E., The Emperor's New Groove, Help! I'm a Fish, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, Dinosaur, An Extremely Goofy Movie, Casper's Haunted Christmas, Digimon: The Movie 2001: Aida of the Trees, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Jurassic Park III, Spirited Away, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Celebi: Voice of the Forest, The Trumpet of the Swan, Barbie in the Nutcracker, The Happy Cricket, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Monsters, Inc., Shrek 2002: Lilo & Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Powerpuff Girls Movie, Treasure Planet, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Pokémon Heroes: Latios and Latias, Hey Arnold!: The Movie, The Cat Returns, Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, Barbie as Rapunzel, Santa vs. the Snowman 3D, Ice Age, Eight Crazy Nights, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Men In Black II 2003: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Finding Nemo, Barbie of Swan Lake, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular, Brother Bear, Rugrats Go Wild, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Pokémon: Jirachi—Wish Maker, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Jungle Book II, 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, Stitch! The Movie, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, The Cat in the Hat
Television Hello! Lady Lynn Himitsu no Akko-chan The Simpsons Ranma ½ Sally the Witch Rugrats Sailor Moon Floral Magician Mary Bell The Moxy Show Hilbur & Co ReBoot Jim Henson's Animal Show Liquid Television Walking with Dinosaurs South Park Spider-Man The Legend of Snow White Insektors Wedding Peach Detective Conan Kodocha The Story of Cinderella Dexter's Laboratory The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest Donkey Kong Country Blue's Clues Cutie Honey Flash Yume no Crayon Oukoku Teletubbies Sesame Street The VeggieTales Show Wheel 2000 Pokémon TopCat Live! Initial D Shadow Raiders Rolie Polie Olie Jay Jay the Jet Plane The Powerpuff Girls Macaroni Tout Garni Cowboy Bebop Fancy Lala Alice SOS Cardcaptor Sakura Elmo's World A Little Curious Ojamajo Doremi SpongeBob SquarePants Télétoon Advance One Piece Di Gi Charat Love Hina Hamtaro Inuyasha The Fairly OddParents Super GALS! Prétear Galaxy Angel Pecola Molly, Star-Racer Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat Tokyo Mew Mew UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie Les Vacances de Piwi Princess Tutu Make Way for Noddy Petite Princess Yucie Naruto Piano Wolf's Rain Machine Robo Rescue Dessine avec Piwi The World of Narue Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Di Gi Charat Nyo! Sonic X Ikki Tousen Saiyuki Reload Midnight Horror School Fullmetal Alchemist Tropicana Products TV commercials Volkswagen Polo French TV commercials Toys "R" Us TV commercials La Poste French TV commercials Coca-Cola TV commercials Chips Ahoy! TV commercials Barbie TV commercials My Little Pony G2 TV commercials Fisher-Price TV commercials Disney Princess TV commercials Play-Doh TV commercials My Little Pony G3 TV commercials The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? Playhouse Disney TV station IDs Nick Jr. TV station IDs PTV (PBS) TV station IDs Télétoon TV station IDs Rede Globo TV station IDs SBT TV station IDs Rede Manchete TV station IDs Rede Bandeirantes TV station IDs RecordTV TV station IDs Piwi TV station IDs Toonami TV station IDs Beast Wars: Transformers Beast Machines: Transformers Futurama Space Ghost Coast to Coast Star Wars: Clone Wars Time Team Lilo & Stitch: The Series Digimon Adventure Digimon Adventure 02 Digimon Tamers Digimon Frontier Yu-Gi-Oh! Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Games Virtua Fighter Wipeout Resident Evil Resident Evil 2 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis Daytona USA Ecco: The Tides of Time Shining Wisdom Star Wars: Dark Forces Star Wars Arcade Super Mario 64. Wave Race 64 Sailor Moon SuperS Mario Kart 64 Super Mario RPG Crash Bandicoot Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped Crash Team Racing Spyro the Dragon Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage Spyro: Year of the Dragon Nights Into Dreams... PaRappa the Rapper 3D Movie Maker Crazy Taxi Dark Cloud Knuckles' Chaotix Rayman 2: The Great Escape Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc Shadow of Memories Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Sonic & Knuckles Sonic 3D Blast Sonic the Fighters Sonic Jam Sonic R Sonic Adventure Sonic Adventure 2 Sonic Heroes Yoshi's Island Yoshi's Story Bomberman 64 Bomberman Hero Bomberman 64: The Second Attack Star Fox 64 Casper Wing Commander 3 Wing Commander 4 Final Fantasy VII Riven. Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!? The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Banjo-Kazooie Um Jammer Lammy Claw Conker's Bad Fur Day Spider-Man Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro Mario Party Mario Party 2 Mario Party 3 Mario Party 4 Mario Party 5 Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure Animal Crossing The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy