Hello guys,
I’ve recently started using XSI and I would like to know if its possible to hotkey selections such as EDGE RING or EDGE LOOP such as found in 3dsmax and Maya? This would be a great help to my workflow as I’ve almost customized everything to Max outkeys using the Max compatible hotkey default.
I know you can simply use the Alt key with the XSI default to select loops and such.
If you’re completing moving over to XSI, it’s best to learn the XSI work flow.
Otherwise it will restrict you and it will take longer to get comfortable. Also all tutorials will assume you’re using the XSI keyboard shortcuts.
But… you can assign your own keybard shortcuts if you want, just read up on keyboard mapping.
have fun,
rob
with default XSI settings you can loop select by just alt+middle clicking on an edge. to ring select just alt middle click an edge, and then drag over to the next edge in the ring and it’ll select the rest.
I don’t think it’s possible to change this aspect of xsi, though you could probably find a script that does the same thing and bind that to a hotkey.
I didn’t like the loop selection method in XSI at first. But now I love it, and find it to be more flexible than a (typical) hotkey based solution.
Glad you made the switch. It takes a bit of time to learn, but for modeling, as well as many other tasks, the hotkey interface of XSI is what sets it apart from the rest. A lot of attention to detail is put into the layout of the default hotkeys, where as I find other applications just throw new tools in as they come but don’t fully integrate them into the interface.
I recommend making sure that File>Pref>Tools>Camera>Wheel Zoom is set to either off or navigation only. I also recommend in the same Pref’s window, setting Interaction>Tools tab to have both sticky options turned on. These used to be defaults prior to XSI 7 and were, possibly still are, not set IMO properly in recent Softimage releases. Other than that, definitely go for the default Softimage key sets, it’s well worth the trouble if your making the full switch.
Gotta agree with the others. I use both Max and Softimage and feel that by not using the default Softimage hotkeys you are taking away part of what I, and many others, consider a superior workflow. The keys may seem foreign at first, but once you know the program you will see that they are placed in a way that makes Softimage feel very fast. Sticky/supra keys in my opinion are one of the greatest things Softimage has brought to the table and can’t believe the others have not adopted them.
BTW. Welcome to the community! 
Thanks for the input guys, really appreciate it! I think I’ll stick to learning XSi workflow, because of all the suggestions from this thread. After all it makes the most sense!
On the subject of 3ds max, does anyone know how to open a 3ds max file in Softimage? I hate to hijack this thread, but this question is killing me.
I agree with sticking with the xsi method of doing things to a certain extent… A lot of new users want to immediately remap alt for camera navigation. But you lose a lot great functionality that comes with alt when using various tools.
I did change the viewport maximize… (I moved it to z as I don’t care about zoom) I also changed to the alternate orbit pan zoom instead of pan zoom orbit. In preferences-> camera.
I also changed the key framing hotkeys for translate, scale, and rotate I moved to combinations of… shift+v for translate. shift+c for rotate. shift+x for scale. Basically it’s mimicking maya’s keyframing hotkeys in an xsi environment.
I disabled ctrl+s for save because a few times I’ve saved when I didn’t mean to.
From what I know there still isn’t a great way to make a shortcut for changing display modes for wireframe and shaded in a viewport. But you can mmb the viewport buttons to switch back to a previous mode view mode.
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