There's a few places you can look inside of XSI:
You can get a generic polygon mesh man or woman from Model > Primitive > Model > Man (or woman). These meshes will automatically fit the various skeletons and rigs from the same menus.
If you want a fully rigged skeleton, then apply the man/woman mesh as an envelope to the Biped rig (Model > Primitives > Model > Biped - Rig). If you select any of the yellow components and press F3, a synoptic view will appear with some pre-built sliders, example poses, and clickable hotspots on images to simplify the posing process.
If you want to rig it yourself, you can choose the simple or fully detailed skeletons from Model > Primitives > Model > Skeleton (man/woman).
If you want fully textured characters with some starter animation clips, go to the netview and drag n' drop Club Bot, Etho, Jaiqua, or Aibo into a viewport to load the model. Then go to the animation library of the netview to drag and drop action clips into the respective character's animation mixer. You can then add/modify motion on the character to your heart's desire. Also, Etho, Jaiqua, and Club Bot share the same skeletal structure so you can share/transfer the motion between the 3 characters.
Matt
Matt Lind
Animator / Technical Director
Softimage certified instructor:
Softimage|3D
Softimage|XSI
Matt@Mantom.net