Hello everyone.
I have been wanting to learn XSI for a while, but being a Maya user since version 1 it has taken me some time to pluck up the courage, and find the time, to make the transition. So far I am very impressed, skinning etc is blowing me away, animation is a dream, but a few things I am finding tricky and I can't seem to find any relevant answers in the manuals, on the DVD's or in forums. So here we go, bear with me this may be a long post!
1: Interface. I know it is supposed to be fully configurable to suit individual taste. I am a modeller mainly and would like to set it up so it is minimal, with maybe a small side panel or a Maya style shelf with just the functions i need. I know the Poly and Sub'D modelling in XSI is very powerful but many of the features seem hidden for no good reason (try Silo for perfect modelling interface and workflow). I would like to have buttons or a marking-menu style system for extrude, select loop, split loop, soft select etc but nothing else. When I am modelling I don't need all the extra functionality. Is this possible?
2: Modelling with mirror. I have tried making an instance mirror, using a mirror map etc but it seems they only work with certain tools. Can XSI let me mirror with a central seam preserve so that the two halves stick together? Or even better can I choose the point of symmetry and have the mirror work from that point, so that I can work on both sides of one object at a time?
3: Raycast selection. Can I set this mode as a default so I don't have to keep selecting it? I like to use a paint style selection rather than a marquee select.
That is all I can think of for now, I am sure otehr questions will pop into my head from time to time. Many thanks for reading the post, and thankyou in advance for any help.
Regards.
Larky.
As a newbie to XSI myself, I've learned that the best resources to XSI can be found at http://xsibase.com/
Those guys know everything XSI, it's pretty much the home of all XSI users. 
I stand corrected...XSI Base is not the best bet for you...pick up some learning materials....even school...XSI Base is the last place I'd want to send you...
Hey Larky!
it's janimatic from silo forum! glad to see you are switching to xsi like me...
1.
Rememder the glen southern ui ported from silo to maya ?
It would be really nice to make a similar one for xsi.....
XSI doesn't use icons by default but of course you can make shelves and put icons in it , this way we would have the same modeling interface" under silo xsi and maya !
I'll see what i can do , let's post links to the result here ...
2.
I start the general model using instanced mirror but as soon as my uvs are ok, i am using get>prop>symetry map + modify polymesh>symetrize polys + using the sym button .
It seem to work fine and there is no more seams since symetrize polygons welds the points using a tolerance.
3.
i really don't know but pressing u is not too painfull , though of course an icon based interface could be nice for this kind of things too..
Hey Pixel sorry to hear that your experience at xsibase has been bad, anyway i am happy to see people making xsi board alive on highend !!
I'm happy to see any XSI board alive. Everywhere I go XSi users are a rare breed. No one talks about XSI on the net. Even on XSI Base there isn't much going on, and when there is, you'll most likely get an XSI expert try to make you feel as if you're not welcomed.
I'm gonna have to try my best and light up this board...as for I like Highend3D...you can tell that most of these guys are accomplished, however, don't act like arrogant kuckleheads...
I'm trying to get a group of XSi that are on the same level to form some type of learning group...ya know...something useful...nothing major....
I'm licensed with 4.2
So, I'll look forward to anything you guys got in mind. I have a domain....I'm a pretty good web designer (easy to press the template button of Front Page)...nah I can design ok...point is, I really would like to get at least 4 or 5 guys that are willing to simply put up CG content and learn from one another...
hey pix
yes some nice guy here in france made a an xsi website (in french... http://xsilounge.com/forum/ ) where newbies are always welcome but in fact very skilled professionals like to come there and share there stuff too ...
I wish a similar site could exist in english with a wide user base, a huge advantage would be to share material, scripts and etc... (as a fnd user i am focusing on fnd workarounds using script for instance, which is of limited interest for advanced users)
But i think highend is really a good place to do, because of the high traffic of maya users, it could show us that xsi is alive.... In fact the fnd user base is growing a lot in game and tv (also feature film industry using advanced but i am less sure about this).
So let's upload our stuff here at highend and build userfriendly tools and ui !
And your own website could be a good place to share experieces too!
And please don't be upset by the xsibase guys they are very happy to share their knowledge and nice finally....
regards
Howdy. I am a maya user myself and swapped to XSI for work at the end of last year. Version 5 has customs shelves which are pretty handy. So far I have been pretty knocked out by XSI but like all these things the advantages/disadvantages even out as you get to know the software better.
Creating and Editing Shelves
To create a custom shelf
hey
i just started to port the southern ui to xsi.
By the way if you want to add bitmaps you need to do this :
-create a "bitmaps" directory in your toolbar directory
(ex : C:\users\userName\Softimage\XSI_versionName\Application\toolbars > create "bitmaps" directory here)
- put your bmp files there
- When you add a script button , you can put the name of your bitmap in the "bitmap" field, without the extension ....
here is an example (not including Glen's icons because he didn't reply to me....)
so you need to replace bitmaps/001_sgfx_extrude.bmp and bitmaps/001_sgfx_cut_loop.bmp by your own ....
(glen if you read this please reply... it's ecxellent to use the same ui for modeling in many softwares !)
Please if you work on the xsitb file, post the result here ! thanks
southernUI.xsitb :
CODE
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<![CDATA[ApplyTopoOp("ExtrudeComponentAxis");
]]>
<![CDATA[SplitEdge(null, 50, true, true);
]]>
PS:
also have a look at this icon based ui if you didn't already :
http://www.xsibase.com/tools/layouts.php?detail=1354
sincerly yours
Julien Stiegler