XSI TO SINS: COMMANDS & SHORTCUTS

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I. Commonly Used Basic Modeling
Commands and Shortcuts in XSI:
Section A: The Main Control Panel
(See Fig. 1.1 for a quick visual overview)
Section B: Object Creation
Basic objects in xsi are called primitives. To start off a polymesh model,
under the Get section of the Model Menu, go Primitive > Polygon
Mesh > (then pick the appropriate geometry).
Section C: The Middle Mouse Button
Previous commands can be repeated by middle-clicking on that
commands top-level menu (e.g. if you had previously issued the
command Model > Get > Primitive > Polygon Mesh > Cube, you
can build another cube by simply middle-clicking on the Model menu
header instead of navigating all the way to the Cube command).
Section D: Selection
Note: Softimage|XSI uses several Selection Models, meaning there
are different set-ups by which you can select/deselect objects and
components. This guide assumes that you are using the Softimage|XSI
Selection Model. For additional info on this, go Help > XSI Guides >
Scene Elements > Selecting Objects.
Select Panel
Select Menu
Tr a ns f or m
P a n e l
Snap Panel
C o ns t r a i n
P a n e l
Explore menu and Explorer
lter buttons
Transform Menu
Scale Tool
Rotate Tool
Translate Tool
Snap Menu
Edit Menu
Edi t Panel
XYZ axis-isolation controls
all axes selection control
Snap Filters
Constrain Menu
Freeze buttons
Manipulation modes
Manipulation modiers
Parent/Cut hierarchy
Constraint options
Immediate Mode Freeze
button
Group/Cluster +/- buttons
Fig. 1.1: The Main
Control Panel
Group/Cluster Selection
Center manipulation
Selection lters
Object Selection box
Hierarchy Navigation box
Transform axis text boxes
(can also perform basic
arithmetic calculations)
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Object Selection Mode:
Space Bar - activate Object Selection mode (then click or
marquee/bandbox object to select it).
Component Selection Modes:
t - Rectangle Point mode (select points using mouse-clicks or
rectangular marquee/bandbox selection).
e - Rectangle Edge mode (select edges using a rectangular marquee/
bandbox selection).
i - Raycast Edge mode (select edges using mouse-clicks, or painting
a selection).
y - Rectangle Polygon mode (select polygons using a rectangular
marquee/bandbox selection).
u - Raycast Polygon mode (select polygons using mouse-clicks or
painting a selection).
Component Selection Mode modier keys:
Shift - add to the selection
Ctrl - subtract from the selection
Alt+LMB - select range of components. (LMB first component, then
Alt+LMB last component).
Alt+MMB - select loops of components. (Alt+MMB first component
then drag over to second component. For edges, Alt+MMB on
first edge only, as direction of loop is already implied, unless
you mean to select a loop of parallel edges).
Misc Auto-selection commands:
Ctrl+A - select all objects or select all components
Shift+Ctrl + A - deselect all
Shift++ - grow selection
Shift+- - shrink selection
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Section E: Camera Manipulation
(See Fig. 1.2 for a quick overview of the Viewport tool bar.)
Note: Of the Main Camera Manipulation Tools, the Navigation Tool is
the most commonly used. It is the equivalent of Mayas Alt key.
Main Camera Manipulation Tools:
s - toggle the Navigation Tool
+LMB -pan
+MMB -dolly
+RMB -orbit
o - toggle the Orbit Tool
+LMB -orbit
+MMB -orbit around y-axis of current camera focus
+RMB -orbit around x-axis of current camera focus
z - toggle the Pan and Zoom Tool
+LMB -pan
+MMB -zoom in
+RMB -zoom out
p - toggle the Dolly Tool
+LMB -dolly
+MMB -dolly in smaller increments
+RMB -dolly in larger increments
Auto-adjust based on selection:
a - frame all objects
f - frame selected objects/components
Shift+a - frame visible objects
Alt+C - center selection
Camera History:
Alt+z - undo last camera navigation command
Alt+y - recall last camera navigation command
r - resets current viewport to default camera position
a b c d e f g h
Fig. 1.2: Viewport tool bar
Legend:
a - Hide/solo/show all
b - Views menu (display specialized windows in viewport)
c - Memo Cams buttons (save and recall camera positions)
d - Camera icon Menu (commands for navigations/selection)
e - Eye icon Menu (hide/show scene elements)
f - XYZ Buttons (view standard plane views in 3D)
g - Display Type Menu (control how items are displayed)
h - Resize Viewport icon
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Section F: Transform Tools
Note: Be mindful of the Manipulation Modes and Manipulation
Modier Buttons (see Fig. 1.1 under Transform Panel). If a transform
does not work predictably, try turning these buttons on/off until you
get the desired effect.
Main Transform Tools:
x - toggle the Scale Tool
c - toggle the Rotate Tool (+Shift rotates in 15-degree
increments)
v - toggle the Translate Tool
Note: Hover and click on the colored axis controls on the manipulator
itself to isolate transforms along a certain axis. For Scale and
Translation, Hover and click in-between two axes controls on
the manipulator to isolate along a certain plane. The active axis
or plane will turn yellow.
Section G: Modify Component Tools
Note: (See Note for Section F).
Main Poly-modeling Tools:
Ctrl+D - duplicates the selected component for extrusion
(transform via x,c,v to extrude)
m - toggles the Tweak Component Tool (press l to toggle weld-to-
point tool; press j to toggle sliding)
n - add polygon tool
\ - add edge tool (modifier: Ctrl snaps to center of edge)
] - split edge tool (modifier: Ctrl snaps to center of edge)
+LMB splits selected edge by adding a vertex;
+MMB splits applicable edges in a loop or in a row
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Deletion:
Delete - delete components (does not work on components along
boundary edge)
Alt + Delete - delete components along boundary edge
Ctrl + Delete - collapse components
Proportional Modelling:
also called soft-selection modeling or magnet modeling
activated by the button labelled Prop on the bottom of the
Transform Panel, right above the Snap Panel
use the mouse wheel to adjust the radius of this tool
RMB-click the button to edit options for this tool
for additional info: Help > XSI Guides > Modeling and
Deformation Basics > Manipulating Components > Using
Proportional Modeling.
Model > Create > Poly. Mesh Menu:
Issuing commands from this menu CREATES a new object. In most
cases, the object(s) from which the new object is based on still exists.
The new object is still dependent on the original object(s) and will
remain so until the new object is frozen. For example applying the
command Model > Create > Poly. Mesh > Merge on objects A
and B will create a new object C. Changing either A or B will thereby
change object C until the time C is frozen (See Section H The Freeze
Button).
Model > Modify > Poly. Mesh Menu:
Issuing commands from this menu does not create a new object but
instead merely edits the existing object. Contrast this with the Model
> Create > Poly. Mesh menu which actually creates a new object.

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Section H: The Freeze Button
The Freeze button, located on the Edit Panel, deletes all construction
history on polymeshes and other objects. As a result, it severs
dependencies as well as frees up system resources.
Section I: Floating Views
7 - Render Tree
8 - Explorer
Alt + 7 - Texture Editor
Section J: The Model and Render Tool Bars
1 - Model
3 - Render
Section K: Triangle Counter
To turn on the triangle counter, access the Eye icon Menu (see Fig.
1.2-e, page 3) located on the bar at the top of the viewport. Click
on Selection Info.
Section L: The Texture Editor
Note: Basic navigation, transform, and selection command shortcut
keys merely mirror the shortcut keys for their modeling counterparts,
with the exception of the i key.
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Navigation:
s - toggle the Navigation Tool
+LMB -pan
+MMB -dolly/zoom
Transform:
x - scale (LMB: normal; MMB: isolate Y; RMB: isolate X)
c - rotate (LMB: normal; MMB: 2x iterations; RMB: 4x iterations)
v - translate (LMB: normal; MMB: isolate Y; : isolate X)
Note: the Proportional Tool functionality also extends onto the UV
Editor so be careful when turning it on.
Selection:
t - point selection mode
e - edge selection mode
y or u - polygon selection mode
Ctrl+a - select all
Shift+Ctrl+a - deselect all
i - toggles island selection mode
Ctrl + T - tearing mode (allows you to separate vertices from
each other)
Misc:
Ctrl - hold down to snap to points and simultaneously weld (be
careful of using this too fast, can sometimes cause XSI to
crash)
Ctrl+. - toggles pivot
. - moves the pivot (hold Ctrl while dragging to snap to points
or grid)
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Half-Maps:
The Texture Editors Edit > Transform UVs command creates a mesh
operator that allows for precise scaling of the UVs along the U and V
axes. This is useful for when texture space is optimized for 1:2 (U:V)
proportions (e.g. 512x1024, 1024x2048, etc).
Section M: Reminders
Ctrl+S is your friend.
Freeze constantly.
When in doubt, press F1. =)