The New KeyShot

KeyShot is a realtime, interactive ray tracing rendering program. It utilizes physically correct and CIE verified rendering engine technology featuring many innovations developed by 2004 Academy Award Winner Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen. The program is available immediately for purchase for both Mac and PC operating systems.

KeyShot breaks down the complexity of producing high-end photo-realistic rendered images and is particularly valuable to auto-design studios and product designers. It has also been used in architecture thanks to its SketchUp file support, though it is less ideal to that discipline. The program utilizes unbiased sampling techniques that compute mathematically correct results, generates scientifically accurate materials, multi-core photons and more.

01 - The new KeyShot by Luxion, advanced realtime rendering on Mac OS X.

KeyShot has a technology called Dynamic Light Core that allows users to see results at the same time as changes are being made. Combined with its general ease of use KeyShot gives users remarkable rendering power and speed, independent of the model size. The program supports many native file formats, including: SolidWorks, Rhino, OBJ, IGES, STEP, SketchUp and more.

KeyShot is the next advancement in the last evolution of HyperShot and includes these following key improvements:

• Certification for Mac OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6)
• Faster rendering speed
• Improved overall image quality
• Support for direct import of SolidWorks 2010 data
• All new importer platform that includes support for IGES and STEP on Mac OS X
• New high-quality HDRIs from www.hdri-locations.com and www.hdrlightstudio.com

“KeyShot is based on more than a decade of research in efficient rendering algorithms,” said Dr. Henrik Wann Jensen, Chief Scientist of Luxion. “Being able to create amazing images in realtime on any computer without specific requirements such as special graphics cards is the goal of our research. We have developed several novel algorithms that take full advantage of all the cores in modern CPUs in order to deliver the ultimate rendering tool for end users.”

KeyShot pricing starts at 995.USD, while KeyShot Pro begins at 1,995.USD. Educational and floating license versions are also available. Please contact sales@luxion.com or for more information visit them on the web here: www.keyshot.com or www.luxion.com

Bunkspeed SHOT will be the company’s new revolutionary, easy-to-use, real-time photo-realistic rendering application. Bunkspeed SHOT uses either the CPU, GPU or both to deliver ultra-fast real-time ray tracing in a “virtual digital camera” workflow.

“mental images is very pleased that Bunkspeed has chosen  iray as their official rendering technology,” says Randy Ochs, Vice President of Business Development and Sales, North America for mental images. “We are excited that iray will allow users of the new Bunspeed SHOT to create accurate, photorealistic 3D images by harnessing the power of the GPU and Nvidia’s CUDA architecture for unbelievably fast photorealism.

Bunkspeed SHOT will available in the second quarter of 2010 and will be made available as a free 30 day trial.

To read more about this announcement go here.

Regardless, the company no longer has a license to its raytracing technology software which is the heart and soul of HyperShot. Now in order to obtain a new license of HyperShot you must obtain it from Luxion. So who is Luxion?

The Details and the Drama

Over at DEVELOP 3D blog they have a good story on the goings-on of HyperShot. Apparently Bunkspeed did not pay its license fee for one year. The details of course are a bit messier than that.

As it turns out HyperShot is based on patented CPU based rendering technology by Henrick Wann Jensen, who was formally Bunkspeed’s chief software scientist. Wann Jensen of course is the co-founder of Luxion. Do you see where this is going?

According to a post on DEVELOP 3D blog by Philip Lunn, CEO of Bunkspeed, both Hendrick Wann Jensen and Bunkspeed co-filed for the software patents behind HyperShot’s amazingly fast ray-tracing rendering technology. They apparently belong to both Wann Jensen and Bunkspeed. However, all the coding work behind those technologies belong to Jensen. It is not clear if other software programmers can continue to work from and advance that code base. HyperShot was the first interactive real-time ray-tracing rendering software to ship in a commercial software product.

Henrick Wann Jensen, who is chief scientist and cofounder of Luxion ApS, is now firmly in control of HyperShot which is available on Luxion’s website. Luxion also produces another rendering product called Velux Daylight Visualizer, which was produced for Velux Corporation, the maker of skylight products. That product is not made for the Macintosh however, unlike HyperShot, which was introduced on the Mac (specifically the Octal-core Mac Pro).

It is unclear how both of these companies will resolve their differences and which one will obtain exclusive control over ‘HyperShot’ the brand name. Bunkspeed intends to introduce a new product that will take over from where HyperShot 10 left off. Meanwhile, Luxion seems determined to push the current and anticipated HyperShot 10 forward (according to its website a beta release of the second generation of HyperShot is coming this month).

To read all the rants, cheers and hoo-ha-ha’s over the HyperShot talk go to this post on DEVELOP 3D. In the meantime, we’ll be doing some talking to get to the future of this interesting story.

Earlier this fall Informatix released a plugin for SketchUp version 6 and version 7 to enable SketchUp models to be imported directly into Piranesi v5.1, the market-leading artistic rendering program. Piranesi is often referred to as Photoshop for architectural professionals.

You can see some images created by photoshop and Piranesi v5.1 here.

HyperShot 10 for Mac Beta

Bunkspeed has a beta for the Mac version of the new HyperShot 10. The user-interface (UI) has been completely redesigned for both the Mac and the PC version, making it now look and feel like a truly native application on each platform.

HyperShot 10 for Mac has been in beta for quite some time, reports the company, noting that people absolutely love it. Al Dean of Develop 3D has noted it here. To learn more visit here.

Dassault Systems’ new iPhone 3D App

MacDesign, which is a segment of Develop 3D online, has a post on Dassault Systems’ upcoming 3Dvia iPhone app. There is a video showing the forthcoming application which allows users to connect to a 3D data respository and view data and manipulate it in 3D.

HyperShot 10 was recently demoed to enthusiastic crowds of designers at the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) International Conference held in Miami. 

HyperShot 10 – First Digital Camera for your 3D Data

HyperShot 10 is being billed at the “first digital camera for your 3D data.” The emphasis with HyperShot is in simplicity of image creation from previously generated 3D data. To get your data into HyperShot there are plugins available for Google SketchUp, Rhinoceros (aka: Rhino), Pro/Engineer, SpaceClaim, SolidWorks and KeyCreator. 

01 - HyperShot 10 continues to push the envelope with fast photo-realistic renders that are very easy to setup.

HyperShot 10 features an all new rendering engine to create even faster renders in just minutes.  It is for anyone who needs to see more than standard OpenGL type rendering on screen in minutes, not hours. Because of its extreme speed HyperShot is being highly touted by industrial designers, automobile style centers and visualization professionals. 

To learn more visit them here: http://www.bunkspeed.com/

Bunkspeed continues its popular webinar series. Part 4 of 4 in the HyperShot Architecture Interiors series takes place 25 June 2009. Space is limited so reserve your space now. Click here or register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/183817857

Jeff McCartney, Bunkspeed Applications Engineer and an expert in rendering and animation work is will be presenting materials, textures for architectural interiors and exteriors using HyperShot. 

The webinar takes place 10:00am – 11:00am PST. 

Upcoming Vectorworks Classes in New York City

V-construct will be offering further Vectorworks classes in New York City this summer. Vectorworks 2D Essentials Session 1 (Friday) is slated for 24 July 2009, 9am – 5pm. 

Vectorworks 2D Essentials Session 2 (Saturday) follows on the 25th. Same times. Costs for each session is 425.USD for early registration (before July 17th) and 545.USD after that date. You are required to bring your own laptop loaded with at least Vectorworks 2008 as VectorWorks 2009 will be used for the instruction.

Bunkspeed will be previewing its next great update, HyperShot 1.9 in a webinar on April 9. The webinar will showcase the new features in version 1.9 and talk about performance and usability. It will also touch on lighting, and texturing and decaling. Space is limited so register here now.

CineForm – Industry’s First 3D Editorial Workflow for Final Cut Pro

CineForm’s Neo3D is a new software post production tool that enables Final Cut Pro users to edit 3D projects in real time with full frame rate playback to an external 3D monitor. Traditionally, 3D projects are edited in 2D as independent Left and Right eyes, for final 3D conform. CineForm’s Neo3D simplifies this process. The product was introduced at NAB 2009 this week. To learn more go here.

3D Invigorator Plugin for Photoshop

Digital Anarchy and Zaxwerks have jointly announced a new 3D tool for Adobe’s popular image editing program Adobe Photoshop. The 3D Invigorator plugin enables the creation of 3D art from within Photoshop through the use of Adobe Illustrator outlines or text and from Photoshop text. To learn more go here.

3D Invigorator for Adobe Photoshop - a new plugin.

3D Invigorator supports multiple rendering formats, including raytracing, wireframe and flat shading, among others. The product includes over 100 material presets enabling users to apply shaders to objects enabling them to be reflective, transparent, colored and sculpted. From within Photoshop you can rotate objects in 3D space and apply an unlimited number of lights within that 3D space to illuminate your objects. Go here to learn more.

In fact the company has its own official Bunkspeed HyperShot for SketchUp Blog. On this blog you can read about the latest news on the plugin which is, as mentioned, currently exist only in beta form. On this blog there are several excellent series of examples used. Most focus on architectural or interior environments. 

With the Hypershot SketchUp plugin you can export your entire scene into HyperShot itself. This works differently than other photo-realistic plugins for SketchUp wherein the plugin adds rendering tools to SketchUp. On the blog they write:

“We designed the plug-in and HyperShot with a simplified toolset to help you concentrate on two things: getting your images done as efficiently as possible, and having fun while your doing it.”

HyperShot SketchUp 7 Plugin for Mac and Windows.

To learn more visit this page.

New in hyperShot 1.8

This new version introduces all new texture mapping and decaling which will make the placement of textures and logos on any non-transparent material even easier than before. Other great new features include:

• Retain Materials upon import (from other apps the materials remain)
• New Interactive Dials in the UI
• Remove all geometry from the scene
• New SolidWorks plugin (PC only)
• New SketchUp 7 plugin (Mac/PC)
• FBX support (Mac/PC)

The product is geared towards interior designers and best of all it is free. Developed by eTeks, Sweet Home 3D runs on Java, and has an open source code. There is even the option of using free 3D-model downloads which are represented in large numbers on the official site. Sweet Home 3D has a Russian interface (however we see English in the screen capture), provides the opportunity to preview the interior in 2D (top view) as well as 3D. The latest version adds the ability to import 3D-models for the correct display of which is required for other files (ex. texture), changed the module to read files, OBJ + MTL, increased stability and fixed Sweet Home 3D bugs.

for more info see http://optolog.com/674.html

Bunkspeed News: Webcast to introduce HyperMove ‘09

Feb. 26 (10AM-11AM) PST
Project David Randle will cover
-What is HyperMove
-Who is it for
-What it isn’t
-HyperMove features
-Q&A Session

PC-based Attendees required: Window 2000, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista
Macintosh-based Attendees required: Mac OS 10.3 (Tiger) or newer

Space is limited so see https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/453945296 for details.

Maxon Computer, a subsidiary of Nemetschek Group of Germany, has announced today at Siggraph 2008, the next version of its award-winning 3D software suite, Cinema 4D R11 (release 11). This is big news for Mac users because it marks the first fully native Mac OS X Leopard 64-bit capable 3D package. Only under Leopard does the all-new Cocoa-based architecture support the advantages of 64-bit processing, enabling very large memory assignments to large 3d projects. Other highlights include a new global illumination (GI) render engine and non-linear animation system.

Vue 7

e-on Software has made a major announcement with a brand new Vue-7 series of products for natural 3D environment creation design. The fully native Mac OS X applications includes anew Radiosity renderingengine, the 3rd generation patented EcoSystem, and a new Spectral 2 atmospheric engine.

HyperMove

Bunkspeed, the makers of the world’s fastest 3D rendering technology in HyperShot, an application first introduced at COFES and covered by Architosh, has now introducedHyperMove, an all new next generation animation application, combining sophisticated CGI technology with ease-of-use that is unprecedented in the world of computer graphics. Bunkspeed says that within minutes a user with little or no 3D experience can now create stunning animations of significant complexity with its new HyperMove application.

Bunkspeed (booth 311) will be showcasing its revolutionary CGI applications at SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles from August 12-14, 2008. Throughout the show Bunkspeed will be demonstrating its “CGI Made Simple” with HyperShot and will also have HyperShot on 70 workstations at the SIGGRAPH Studio, an on-site computer lab. Architosh will be covering more Bunkspeed at SIGGRAPH news during our show coverage.

Autodesk’s New App

Autodesk has released a new 3D digital sculpting and texture painting tool calledMudbox. The Windows-only tool allows powerful 3D painting and texturing to high-poly models, using organic brush-based 3D technology. Learn more here.

e-on Software and SIGGRAPH

The e-on Software folks will be at SIGGRAPH in a week showing the new Vue 7 Professional Solutions. The Oregon-based developer will be in booth #1129. Vue is the leading solution for natural 3D environmental creations and works seamlessly with leading 3D software packages. To learn more go here.

OpenCL Apple Article at Washington Post

Peter Cohen of Macworld fame has written a good summary piece on OpenCL and Apple coming up in Snow Leopard, the next iteration of Apple’s industry-leading operating system.

The improvements made in HyperShot V 1.5 include: faster performance, improved rendering and an improved translator. In addition Bunkspeed has changed their product licensing process to allow interactive internet activation of trial and permanent license.

The new HyperShot version 1.5 includes support for Rhinoceros on the Mac, there is a plug-in available specifically for Rhino on Windows. There is improved Pro/E and IGES and SolidWorks file support. For more information on HyperShot, including pricing, or to download a free trial, visit www.bunkspeed.com.

Rhino continues to garner more attention in the highend modeling world with an ever increasing number of application inter-relations. This time Bunkspeed has introduced a free beta version of a new HyperShot plugin for Rhinoceros. HyperShot, introduced at COFES a few years back, is a highly multithreaded rendering application that has become a global leader in near realtime, highend photorealistic rendering aimed predominantly at the automobile design market.

Phillip Lunn, CEO, Bunkspeed, said “This is an example of how 3D design is supposed to work: The users of Rhinoceros are highly talented designers, engineers, and architects who want the best tools available. The addition of this plug-in makes high-end, photographic rendering easy for them to just simply be creative in 3D, and not have to worry about learning how to use it. This is the way it should be.” Because Rhino for Mac OS X is still in development the plugin for HyperShot is only for the Windows version. To learn more go here.

VectorWorks Annual International Distributor Conference

While not a conference that Architosh (or any press perhaps?) attends, a recent newsletter makes note of the fact that the international market richness of VectorWorks products across the globe has much to do with its intrinsic flexibility as a software application the the very specialized and excellent work of international distributors around the globe.

In other Nemetschek VectorWorks news, the company is looking for images of users work for upcoming calendars, marketing materials and the like. You can click here to learn more. PanzerCAD has released Camera Match 2008, a VectorWorks 2008 plugin. Read our full report here.

MacFamily Tree Adds 3D Virtual Tree in version 5.2

While not quite a 3D application the popular genealogy appMacFamilyTree 5 has added some 3D capabilities in its new “virtual 3D” family tree. Version 5.2 cost 49.USD and runs on Mac OS X 10.4.9 or higher.

Mac 3D: Spore Creator spawns 3D Critters

Spore Creator is for those who have dreamed of working at Pixar Animation Studios but happen to work at Starbucks instead. The Mac OS X and Windows app Spore Creature Creator is a easy to use 3D character creation application that is wetting the appetites for Spore the upcoming game from legendary Sims creator Will Wright. Spore the game, coming in September, will support both the Mac and iPhone platforms and will allow the user to create and evolve a race of beings from a single cell organism to a full on advanced civilization. In the meantime Spore Creature Creator comes in both free and 9.99USD versions. System requirements include Intel-only Macs so those with PowerPC machines are out of luck. To learn more go here.

McNeel has updated Rhino SR3. Step export plugin ads the capability to read Altium Designer, Solidworks 2008 and Solid Edge. Step objects are assigned the layer color when appropriate, open polysurfaces are assigned color correctly and block instances with non-rigid transformations are exploded in the step file. Step import plugin adds new capabilities for assembly entity reading and references to external files for part entities. It now finds the color of open polysurfaces. Read more here.

The latest Rhino OS X build is dated from May 19, 2008. This build is Wenatchee 2008-05-08 and has the following changes:

• Lots of new work in the Object Properties dialog in preparation for rendering. Dialog itself is smaller and can be resized and the controls in the materials section now work.
• Bug Fix: Text blocks no longer crash in OS X v10.5
• Bug Fix: Custom display color for objects now works in v10.5
• Bug Fix: Large change operations like Revert do not crash Rhino

EI Technology Group has released an update to the recently released Electric Image Animation Studio 7.0, bringing the update to version 7.0.1. This service pack release addresses several bugs and allows Renderama to now work with Apple’s new Leopard operating system. Renderama now renders properly from Mac to PC.

Making Renderama work properly with Leopard required that the entire system for transferring files be rewritten using UNIX functions instead of Mac Toolbox functions. EI Technology Group says the work took longer than expected but was worth it as the results are now that Mac Universal Binary build of Renderama now transfers files faster than the previous version. To learn more go here.

Bunkspeed Chooses Cadalog for Distribution in Japan

Bunkspeed, makers of HyperShot for Mac, an advanced accelerated 3D rendering program, have announced this week the selection of Cadalog as a major reseller and distributor of HyperShot in Japan. Cadalog has a successful track record of distributing CAD products in Japan, such as Robert McNeel’s Rhinoceros 3D modeling program to Google’s SketchUp. Cadalog has built a network of 25 resellers throughout Asia.

To learn more about HyperShot visit the Bunkspeed website.