How To Make A Test Sphere in Softimage

Let's assume you're starting from scratch, and want to create a sphere inside Softimage that has texture coordinates so we can use it to render the ShadeTree procedural marble texture.
1. Startup softimage by typing soft.
2. Use Matter -> Get -> Primitive -> sphere
to create a sphere, with the options:
Object Type: quadratic
Radius:1
Step: 6

3. Zoom in; Camera -> Zoom, then in the perspective window, click middle mouse to zoom in.
4. Enter the Matter main menu.
5. Use Preview -> Setup and select Mental Ray as the Preview Renderer.
6. Use Texture -> 2D Local to assign texture coordinates to the sphere, by the questionable method:

   1. Set Picture Filename to an EMPTY STRING, and hit Enter.
   2. Set the Mapping Method to UV coordinates
   3. Set Overall Blending to zero
   4. Hit OK

   The screen should look like:

   

7. Hit Preview -> All to see a Mental Ray render of the sphere.

Rendering a ShadeTree Shader in Soft

The ShadeTree/Soft Development Cycle

A typical ShadeTree/Softimage development cycle:
1. Create a shader in ShadeTree.
2. Hit F7 to export the shader to the Softimage database.
3. Assign the new shader to an object inside Softimage.
4. Render the shader in Softimage.
5. Tweak the shader in ShadeTree.
6. Return to step #2.

In step #5: if you added or removed any of the shader arguments, or tweaked anything that affects the shader dialog (.mat file, etc), you will need to re-assign the shader inside Softimage, or it won't render correctly.

The key to a smooth development cycle is to do as much testing with the shaders as possible inside ShadeTree, then send them to Softimage using the F7 hotkey.

Hitting F7 saves out all the shader files in one keystroke; the str file, the compiled shader, shader source, and the accompanying dialog file (.mat, .dis, etc). Softimage needs to see these files in different places, so its up to you to tell it where to save them using the File->Export Options Editor, or EOE.

The EOE tells ShadeTree where to save all these files whenever you hit Export All (F7).

Reassigning Shaders in Softimage

Whenever you make changes to the ShadeTree shader that involve changes to the dialog file, Softimage won't 'see' the changes unless you reassign the shader to your Softimage objects.

This can be done by either re-assigning the object, or reloading your Softimage database. Unfortunately, the current 3.7 version of Softimage provides no easier way to do this.

To reassign a material shader to an object:

1. Enter the Matter->Material dialog.
2. Delete the filename for Material Shader by selecting it, then hitting BACKSPACE.
3. Either hit OK in the lower right, or just hit ENTER several times until the dialog goes away. This is important, or it will still remember the previous shader!
4. Re-invoke the Matter->Material dialog
5. Click on the check box for Material Shader, and re-select your shader