The People vs The FxTree
December 16th, 2005 by Luc-Eric - Viewed 3803 times - Popularity: 4%What did Softimage trade off to get the Fx Tree?
A common question that comes back often, usually when the flames are high and the knives are flying low!
Could the time spent on the XSI compositor have been used instead to build a particle engine, integrate Render Man, do a PaintFx clone, or that thing that’’s cool on that link you just got a minute ago?
That’’s quite an explosive question!
The answer is no.
How can I be so sure about this? Very simple. I know this because I don”t know how to do any of these things!
In these last 7 years at Softimage, I”ve been involved with various parts of the Softimage|DS, Twister, Sumatra and XSI. I was involved on the user interface side with the team building the basis that XSI and DS is built on. Moving on to XSI, I”ve done various obscure things underneath, some interactive tools such as weight painting, and various widgets, views and workflows that define XSI. Today, after about 11 years of doing user interface professionnally, I”m the team leader and designer on XSI, and we”re working on various aspects of the software such as the dopesheet, animation editor, etc, to push them forward. This application is definitely vibrant with developement.
However, starting around in 2000, Marc Petit gave me a CDRW from england and I”ve begun pooking around source code owned by Avid to see whether I could refactor any of it to be used in XSI. I was looking in particuliar to the source code of an application the Parallax division of Avid Uk was working on before the project got cancelled around 1999. It was a windows port of their IRIX application, Media Illusion, in the context of a paint application which would replace Matador.
Comming to work on weekends and during vacations, I”ve learned the code and developped code generation and refactoring methods in order to be able to re-use as much pre existing code, while integrating it inside XSI’’s architecture and keeping quality assurance and maintenance under control. This was on top of my normal “day job” on XSI. At one point of course got a green light to work full time on the project, while still serving as a technical resource for the rest of the XSI team. During this time, I”ve deepened my knowledge of various parts of XSI, because of course I did everything from the look and interaction design, to the opengl display of the fxtree and fxviewer, to the property pages, to the operator DAG, the image loaders, to the persistance, to the scripting, to the SDK. The kind of stuff that if I”d put it all on my CV, they”d think I”m bullshitting. Then I went to siggraph and did a few demos for clients in the suites, careful to refer to myself as “the team”. I”m very fond of my “Compositing Team Leader” business card, and you can get one if you see me in Montreal. I did get some help at a couple of points, because as you can imagine I got exausted at various moments. After the big crunch, I moved my main focus back onto XSI, and contributed as well to Avid3D.
So that’’s it. In short, if XSI didn”t have an fxtree, I”d probably have a girlfriend, be a few pounds thinner and not addicted to coffee, but you wouldn”t have gotten a particle system. :-D
December 16th, 2005 at 7:04 pm
That was a great story. Too often we assume that anything good has to be created by a large team. I commend you for leading the way in integrating the FX tree into XSI. Thank you for your efforts.
I hope that XSI continues to develop the FX tree. There is so much potential in a fully-integrated compositor. I create mainly non-photoreal animations and FX tree has been very helpful.
Hopefully your post will be refered to when anyone complains about Softimage mis-allocating their resources to the FX tree.
December 16th, 2005 at 7:09 pm
Hehe! A very interesting read! I for one appreciate every second spent (or should that be every kilo gained!) on the FXTree.
It’’s a *vital* part of my workflow and something I use *every single day*… so…errr….cheers! Great job!
December 17th, 2005 at 12:10 am
thanks for posting this Luc, at least now I can post a link to the blog in threads and mails rather then rinsing and repeating the same old story everytime people bring up the idiotic argument you referred to in the very first line.
you just saved me several minutes, if not several hours in the years to come, of copying and pasting and revising the same post for new threads.
I”ll now go and spend 5 of those saved minutes for a celebrative coffee and a cigarette, a toast to you.
December 17th, 2005 at 7:53 am
thank you very much!
December 17th, 2005 at 11:08 am
I remember, some time ago, someone at Softimage - was it you, Luc-Eric, or was it Marc - asking me if I thought bolting some compositing onto XSI was a good idea. I felt at the time that it wasn”t. Like some of the sceptics here I thought time was better spent on more fundamental things. And back then, the arguments against were far stronger than they are now.
But it was a wise move. Softimage’’s comp programme, Eddie, was nearing the end of it’’s life and there was a real gap. I used Eddie extensively as a gash post tool but with the SGI machines falling behind in the performance stakes it was becoming harder to cling to as a tool and I really needes something to take it’’s place.
I beta”d the FXtree release and from the outset I was hooked. Anyone who does any real CG work needs some post tools but to have them sitting alongside your 3D like that is a big plus. I”ve recently invested in Fusion and I use it all the time but I”m still going to be using the FXtree a fair bit.
A lot of people owe Luc-Eric a big drink for the FXtree. They need to get them in nice and quick so he can be pissed in time for Christmas.
December 17th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
I bought XSI Essentials 4.0 and got the free 4.2 upgrade. Boy was I surprised and hugely impressed when the FxTree was added! I have it integrated into my main layout so I can have images loaded as reference. One thing that gripes me is how it zooms from the bottom left corner, rather than the center (like regular xsi), but I guess ”ve gotten used to it.
The latest thing that I”ve been using the FxTree for is comping together stereoscopic renders. I haven”t even started to use Vector Paint, except for painting my red and blue overlays. It works great for viewing stills. I need to FileOutput render a quicktime in order to view it at speed, though. Too much math computations for my home and work computers.
The fact that no other 3d software has a compositor in it is a big plus for XSI. It’’s a real benefit that I”m sure others will be looking to duplicating.. It’’s good to see RevisionFX develop for it. Hopefully more will start. Isn”t there a plugin for Avid to use After Effects plugins? Too bad that couldn”t be repurposed.
Anyways, great work Luc-Eric. Very appreciated!
December 20th, 2005 at 9:48 am
It is unfortunate that a small subset of users has been vocal about the FX tree and comparing the development ‘worth’ to other areas of the app. Seems like a contradiction to suggest pulling resources from the FX Team to expand the Simulation/Particle Team. The FX artists I’ve worked with have 2 apps open at all times…. a simulation app and a comp app, so I really question the professionalism of anyone making such a suggestion. Seems like an FX artist would want to axe modeling and animation.
I hope the FX tools keep expanding and their development continues. The ability to extract 3d data from a scene to drive a composite is an extremely powerful weapon. Andy Nicholas’ Post Light Tool, which was recently posted here, is an amazing tool that redefines the way lighting setup is accomplished in 3d. The Post Light Tool can light in nearly real-time and it’s computation is independent of scene complexity. This tool is integrated into a the standard XSI passes/partition workflow. Without an FX tree, this way of working wouldn’t have been possible in XSI.
Having the FX tree for real-time games development is also a huge benefit. Using the FX tools for normal map dissolves, masking FX, and as a sequencer is very powerful. With the integrated FX Tree we have the ability to see the results in a Direct X viewport and make realtime edits to adjust the FX. Using the FX Tree to drive real-time data is a field that is completely open to artist innovation. I expect to see some crazy stuff being produced with these types of methods.
December 22nd, 2005 at 6:08 am
I used Parallax Advance which later became Avid Media Illusion, extensively and it was a sad day indeed when the product was discontinued. So I was one happy camper when i learned of FX Tree and that it
contained a lot of Illusion code.
I use FX Tree almost every day and I just couldn”t do the things I do as fast and effectively without it. I use it for projects of all sizes - features and small commercial jobs alike and it performs (almost) flawlessly. I create animated textures, assemble animatics and do final compositing with it, and when tweaking shots for better edits it is invaluable to be able to switch quickly between 3D and 2D. I also use it all the time to check if a particular 3D pass works as planned in compositing, and these tasks would just be a major hassle if I had to book an edit or compositing suite and move everything forth and back. FX Tree also allows me to pursue visual effects solutions more effectively because I am not tied to doing 3D only and let some Inferno or Combustion artist do the 2D and 2,5D part of the thinking - I can try things out straight away and often choose to deliver different and more passes for the compositor after precomping myself, if I don”t deliver a final composite.
So thank you Luc-Eric for your effort - it is much appreciated!
I think I may have mentioned this once or twice earlier but I grab every opportunity to repeat it: The one thing I really miss in FX Tree is a rudimentary editing tool like the clip reel editing in Illusion. I couldn”t be
bothered to learn editing in a proper editing app when all I need is simple cuts, splices, frame repetitions and the like, all of which was a breeze in Illusion. I need to do those a lot, and it is pretty hard work in
FX Tree with dissolves and clip offsets.
Now it appears to me that all the basic tools for this functionality is available in XSI already, like handling offsets in the mixer - it is “merely” a question of putting it together comprehensibly. I know Graham
Clark did some edit scripts but they are not straightforward to use, so this is my wish for Christmas this year.
I really hope FX Tree will be developed further alongside the 3D side of things - I am sure neither Softimage nor the userbase will have reason to regret that.
December 22nd, 2005 at 10:06 am
Graham’’s stuff to put clips on the Animation Mixer is obsolete, in XSI 5.0 all you have to do to get the file inputs on the Animation Mixer is to select the fxtree or an operator in it (for example, simply click “e” on one file input) and open or refresh an animation mixer. Tracks will be created for each file input and you can edit the repeat and extrapolation settings that were added also in XSI 5.0 as you would for animation clips.
January 5th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Luc-Eric,
to have FxTree is a great honour and it’’s one of the most important weapon here at VR. Not really finshed yet for all kind of comp tasks but we are proud to use it 80-90% for all missions here.
Sincerely Yours
Mr. President
January 11th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
Luc-Eric,
If it hadn”t been for the FX-tree, I wouldn”t be compositing now
( I used to use Illusion (actually I started compositing with Parallax Advance), then i when i had to go to the ”dark side” tried with shake, but they stop developing for Windows)
for us, your big efforts are invaluable!! Keep on like that!!
I”m honoured to thank you,
Pablo
February 3rd, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Though it doesn”t compare to some of the professional endorsements you”ve received for the fxtree, I used it exclusively for my student film compositing, I love the interface and found it very intuitive to use. I rave about it often as an example of good interface design. Thank you for your hard work!
will.