dotXSI is an
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...
file format of
Softimage
Autodesk Softimage, or simply Softimage () was a 3D computer graphics application, for producing 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling, and computer animation. Now owned by Autodesk and formerly titled Softimage, XSI, the software has been predomi ...
Corporation for storing scene data.
It includes support for
mesh
A mesh is a barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible or ductile materials. A mesh is similar to a web or a net in that it has many attached or woven strands.
Types
* A plastic mesh may be extruded, oriented, exp ...
es,
NURBS
Non-uniform rational basis spline (NURBS) is a mathematical model using B-spline, basis splines (B-splines) that is commonly used in computer graphics for representing curves and Surface (mathematics), surfaces. It offers great flexibility and pr ...
, 2D and 3D chains,
polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
s, materials, hierarchies, skeletons,
animation constraints,
Hermite spline In the mathematical subfield of numerical analysis, a Hermite spline is a spline curve where each polynomial of the spline is in Hermite form.
See also
* Cubic Hermite spline
*Hermite polynomials
*Hermite interpolation
In numerical analysis, Her ...
s, custom effects, and user data.
Common applications are
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
design and
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s, becoming popular after Valve pioneered its use in ''
Half-Life 2
''Half-Life 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Valve Corporation, Valve. It was published by Valve through its distribution service Steam (service), Steam. Like the original ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life'' (1998), ''Half- ...
''.
It was based on
DirectX's ''
X file format'', and extended to handle much of those specific data structures.
The 'Crosswalk' SDK includes the ability to transfer data between dotXSI files and the formats of other autodesk products.
Computer file formats
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