It was the first commercial package to feature Inverse kinematics for character animation. Its first product was called the Softimage Creative Environment, later renamed to Softimage 3D. At the time, there were only three employees.

He was joined in 1988 by founding director, Char Davies, a Virtual Reality artist who became vice-president of Virtual Research. Softimage was founded in 1986 by National Film Board of Canada filmmaker Daniel Langlois. ĭuring the Microsoft years, Softimage also developed a non-linear video-editing and compositing suite named Softimage|DS, which was available from Avid Technology under the name Avid DS, until its EOL on September 30, 2013. In 1997, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Softimage a Scientific and Engineering Award for the development of the 'Actor' component of Softimage|3D. Its successor, Softimage XSI, was used in the production of the Academy Award-winning feature film Happy Feet, 300 and Charlotte's Web (2006) and the production of games such as Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Its first product, Softimage 3D, was used in the creation of special effects for movies such as Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, Titanic and The Fifth Element. A subsidiary of Microsoft in the 1990s, it was sold to Avid Technology, who would eventually sell the name and assets of Softimage's 3D-animation business to Autodesk. ˌ s ɒ f t ɪ ˈ m ɑː ʒ/ was a company located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that produced 3D animation software.

Softimage 3d 1999