Getting Started Part 1: XSI Basic Controls.

Before you read too far ahead you will need the following:

Autodesk Softimage XSI Mod Tool 7.5 (available here: https://www.moddb.com/downloads/autodesk-softimage-mod-tool-75)

Star Wars Battlefront 2 Mod Tools (available here: https://www.moddb.com/games/star-wars-battlefront-ii/downloads/star-wars-battlefront-ii-mod-tools-pc)

XSIZETools (addon for XSI available here: https://schlechtwetterfront.github.io/xsizetools/)

You will also need a copy of Star Wars Battlefront 2 (Classic 2005). I recommend downloading either the GOG or the Steam releases (these have been patched to have full multiplayer support). Even if you have an older PC CD or DVD copy I would recommend repurchasing over steam or GOG (simple reality is the multiplayer patch is worth the price and with a difference in scripting the only way to ensure anything you make will work for all versions is to purchase a newer patched version via Steam or GOG)

Please make sure you follow the XSIZETools install instructions as laid out on the website for the download. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT AS THIS WILL BE OUR MODEL EXPORTER.

If all else is done and you are ready to start your journey open Softimage XSI Mod Tool.

Now we are going to go over some basic movement controls is XSI but before we do lets create a Cube so we can visualize whats going on.

OPTIONAL: if you want in the upper right corner of the menus Select View > Optional Panels > Main Shelf. The Main Shelf is completely optional for XSI however I (and most other users) find this to be a very quick method to access a lot of what you need (including primitives)

Now lets create a simple cube primitive:

If you chose to use the Main Shelf go to the “Primitives” tab (Red Box) then click on the Cube icon (Green Box).

OR if you chose not to use the Main Shelf alternatively you can use Model > Primitive > Polygon Mesh > Cube from the top menu.

With your new cube created your scene should look something like this:

In the middle of this screen shot we see the Primitive properties menu of the Cube we can use this to manage things such as Subdivisions of the cube (how many edges / points / faces the cube will have) as well as its length (units for length are cubed and all faces are exactly equal by default) We will get more into this later. In the upper corner of that menu you can Click the X to close this window.

Now further we see our 4 view port windows in XSI. displaying the image Top, Front, Right and User Camera. For the most part you will be using only the user Camera window (I legitimately never use the other cameras).

If you want you can actually display only the User Camera Window by Clicking on the small box in the right hand corner of the window (displayed below in green box).

Now we will go over a few basic camera controls:

First: The “S” key on your keyboard will default use the cameras Navigation Tool, This will allow you to Drag the camera Up, Down, Left and Right without rotating you view. Below is a picture of our scene after we use the navigation tool to move UP.

Second: The “O” Key on your keyboard will allow you to use the Orbit Tool. This will make the Camera “orbit” around its target (or the point the camera is focused to). Basically this will allow use to rotate around our Screen. Below is a picture of our cube after I have orbited the camera slightly.

Third: The “P” key will allow us to Pan our camera forward or backward in the direction our camera is currently facing. Below is a picture of the cube after we have panned forward.

There are a few other ways to rotate your camera (which we will not fully cover in this section such as the zoom tool, the pivot tool and the roll tool) I am choosing not to Cover these in this section because With the “S”, “P” and “O” keys you should be able to do enough camera movement to make most thing and the others you will use so infrequently that its not necessary to cover them here.

If at any point you feel the need to reset your Camera you can do so by clicking the camera icon (green box in picture below) or you can press the “R” key. you can also centre your cameras focus around your selection by clicking on the same camera icon and clicking “centre selection”.

That wraps up our first section on basic camera controls. Take some time and fiddle with the “S”, the “P” and the “O” keys and familiarize yourself with how the scene is moving. When you are comfortable doing so you can now move onto the next section.