Using Crosswalk for XSI

Using Crosswalk for XSI

The Crosswalk for XSI integration allows you to easily transfer assets using the latest dotXSI, COLLADA, and FBX standards.

Getting Crosswalk Updates

• To get the latest updates to the Crosswalk for XSI integration, you can download the Softimage|Crosswalk toolset for free from Softimage.com/downloads. The Crosswalk for XSI plug-ins are components of this toolset and they can be installed on any system running a supported XSI installation.

• You can also click the Check For Updates button in the Import and Export Crosswalk Options property editors.

• For descriptions of the files and install paths for the Crosswalk for XSI integration, see Crosswalk Setup [Advanced Setup and Configuration].

dotXSI and COLLADA Are Unified

Support for COLLADA in SOFTIMAGE|XSI and by extension the Crosswalk for XSI integration has been rewritten from the ground up since the first COLLADA 1.3.1.3 plug-in release. The COLLADA code base sits inside of the FTK (now known as the Crosswalk SDK), a file exchange toolkit used for most converters in XSI. As a result, existing FTK and Crosswalk SDK-based applications can import and export COLLADA files. The low level parser (known as the IO layer) is based on XercesC and works in SAX mode to reduce the memory footprint when importing COLLADA files. The high level classes (known as the Semantic Layer) have been updated with classes that reflect the COLLADA elements.

Elements that are common to dotXSI and COLLADA have been subclassed to ease the transition between the two file formats. As a result, the current dotXSIConverter in XSI also supports COLLADA.

In the XSI user interface:

• The importer determines the correct format by the extension of the file and by reading the header.

• The exporter allows you to specify the format to be exported in the Format text box.

Scripting Crosswalk for XSI

Crosswalk for XSI includes the XSI FBX plugin. You can script the export and import of FBX files using the FBX Batch Processing Commands.

You can script the export and import of Crosswalk files (dotXSI or Collada format) using the ExportCrosswalk and ImportCrosswalk commands. To create the options, you use CreateExportCrosswalkOptions and CreateImportCrosswalkOptions.

Exporting

CreateExportCrosswalkOptions , "ExportCrosswalkOptions"
SetValue "ExportCrosswalkOptions.Filename", "C:/temp/test"
SetValue "ExportCrosswalkOptions.Format", 3
ExportCrosswalk "ExportCrosswalkOptions"

Importing

CreateImportCrosswalkOptions , "ImportCrosswalkOptions"
SetValue "ImportCrosswalkOptions.Filename", "C:/temp/test.xsi"
ImportCrosswalk "ImportCrosswalkOptions"

Topics

• Importing and Exporting dotXSI Files

• Supported Scene Elements and Attributes for dotXSI

• Importing and Exporting COLLADA Files

• Supported Scene Elements and Attributes for COLLADA

• Importing and Exporting FBX Files

• Supported Scene Elements and Attributes for FBX

SOFTIMAGE|XSI v.7.0