Chapter

Introducing the dotXSI File Format


This chapter provides an overview of what comprises the SOFTIMAGE|XSI dotXSI file format and the SOFTIMAGE|XSI FTK, including a brief look at the dotXSI file format and the tools that complement it:

About the Softimage dotXSI File Format

The dotXSI file format is an ASCII file format defined by Softimage Co. to store SOFTIMAGE|3D and SOFTIMAGE|XSI scene data. You can use it to simplify the import and export of characters, models, and animation for complete customization of any game-development pipeline. The file format lets you include user data, making it straightforward to introduce new types of custom information.

The dotXSI file format is optimized for current game engine technology, and it can be easily:

SDK Support for the dotXSI File Format

The following tools and toolkits are available for use with the dotXSI file format.

XSI Viewer

The XSI Viewer is a visualization tool for dotXSI files. It supports dotXSI 3.0, 3.5 and 3.6 in both the text and binary compressed format. The XSI Viewer can load one or more files and display a subset of their content using either OpenGL or DirectX 8.0. It's usually used as an interactive content validation tool, a pre-visualization tool or as a 3D prototyping tool.

XSI Viewer Professional

The difference between the XSI Viewer and the XSI Viewer Professional is that the professional is designed to be extensible and customizable through its SDK. It includes:

SOFTIMAGE|XSI File Tool Kit (FTK)

The SOFTIMAGE|XSI FTK is an API designed to read, write and manipulate dotXSI files. It maintains both a low level, generic representation and a high level, semantic representation of the dotXSI file's content. The XSI Viewer uses this representation to maintain 3D data in memory.

It supports dotXSI 3.0, 3.5, 3.6 in both the text and binary compressed format.

Compatibility

The current version of SOFTIMAGE|3D can read and write versions 1.3, 2.0, and 3.0 dotXSI files. Note, however, that while an older version of SOFTIMAGE|3D can load more recent versions of dotXSI files, it ignores templates that it does not recognize.

SOFTIMAGE|XSI v3.0 can read and write v3.0, v3.5, and v3.6 dotXSI files.

dotXSI version
SOFTIMAGE|3D v4.0
XSI Viewer v3.0
SOFTIMAGE|XSI v3.0.x
SOFTIMAGE|XSI FTK v3.6
XSI Viewer v3.6
1.1
Read/Write
Read
No support
No support
No support
1.3
Read/Write
Read
No support
No support
No support
2.0
Read/Write
Read
No support
No support
No support
3.0
Read/Write
Read
Read/Write
Read/Write
Read/Write*
3.5
No support
No support
Read/Write
Read/Write
Read/Write*
3.6
No support
No support
Read/Write
Read/Write
Read/Write*

* Only available with the Professional version of the XSI Viewer.

About the Binary Format

With v3.0, v3.5, and v3.6 of the XSI file format, you can create a binary file. The binary format provides an easy way to compress the data in the XSI file.

Downloading the FTK

You can download the SOFTIMAGE|XSI FTK from Softimage’s web site (www.softimage.com).

System Requirements

Windows

In order to build applications using the SOFTIMAGE|XSI FTK v3.6, you need to have the following software installed:

Linux

In order to build applications using the SOFTIMAGE|XSI FTK v3.6, you need to have the following software installed:

What’s New for Version 3.6 and 3.6.2?

In addition to the enhancements listed below, with v3.6 you can now use Linux as your development platform.

A lot more functionality has been added as of version 3.5. The templates available for dotXSI have been upgraded and expanded, a new semantic layer has been added to the FTK, and the XSI Viewer has been extended with a new SDK:

SOFTIMAGE|XSI dotXSI

Version 3.6 of the dotXSI file format introduces a variety of new templates for storing SOFTIMAGE|XSI scene data:

SOFTIMAGE|XSI Viewer Professional

3.6

The XSI Viewer has been extended with more platform support and an extended SDK:

3.6.2

The Viewer now runs on Linux platforms. With the Professional version, you can develop plug-ins on Linux to run on this operating system.

SOFTIMAGE|XSI FTK

3.6

The FTK has been extended with:

3.6.2