Luxion has recently announced support for Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya, allowing faster, more direct import of these file types into KeyShot, the GPU-based real-time rendering system.

This new capability was demonstrated last week at Autodesk University, 2011, in Las Vegas. Already KeyShot supports direct import of Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Alias, AutoCAD and FBX formats. To learn more about KeyShot go here. www.luxion.com

formZ News

AutoDesSys has recently announced the public beta of formZ version 7, a major update to the venerable innovator in the area of modeling, rendering and animation. FormZ 7 features a new interface and new parametric modeling capabilities that allow either numeric “parametric” manipulation or what the company is calling “free-form” manipulation.

The company’s previous webinars are also all available on-demand for viewing at your own leisure. You can click here to check things out, including new webinars on version 7 FormZ, plus webinars on bonzai 3D.

Vectorworks Modeling Webinar

Nemetschek Vectorworks will be hosting a “Best Modeling with Vectorworks 2012″ webinar December, 15, 2011. Wes Gardner, Assoc. AIA, Architect Industry Specialist at Nemetschek Vectworks, Inc., will be presenting the webinar.

Wes will be presenting some of the latest new modeling tools in Vectorworks 2012 and showing how to model an object appropriate to any industry and how to create a great looking presentation using Renderworks, the program’s affiliated rendering software package.

The webinar is on Dec 15, at 2pm EST. To sign up for the webinar visit this link.

The new intelligent navigation technology automatically determines the optimal center of rotation based on the user’s point of interest. In addition, the center of rotation can be seen through an icon to give the designers a reference point when controlling spin, tilt, and roll motion, resulting in an extremely intuitive 3D navigation experience.

“Our innovative intelligence 3D navigation feature provides unprecedented levels of control,” said Antonio Pascucci, vice president of products, 3Dconnexion. “By automatically establishing and displaying the optimal center of rotation, designers are free to focus more on the creative elements of their designs without having to think about positioning the model or navigating the scene.”

Autodesk Maya users are free to switch between different intelligent 3D navigation modes including object mode, camera mode and target camera mode to suit their project or personal preference.

To learn more about 3Dconnexion visit them online here.

The V-Ray for Maya 2.0 product is one of the latest developments by Chaos Group. Developed to meet needs of the most demanding VFX and film studios around the world, the rendering engine delivers uncompromising stability, interactivity, ease-of-use and unprecedented speed, says the company.

V-Ray for Maya 2.0 includes new features like VrayCarPaint, Ptex textures and VRayLightSelect Render Element. You can now create car paint shaders, complete with base, flake and coat layers. Ptex textures help you with UV coordinates and the VRayLightSelect Render Element helps to extract the contribution of each light to the scene and compose all the lights back together and change their intensity in real time in any compositing software.

V-Ray for Maya 2.0 also comes with interactive GPU rendering but only on the Windows side. Mac versions do not support this feature. To learn more visit them online.

SIGGRAPH news

Chaos Group is in booth #135 as well as inside the NVIDIA booth as a partner.

Chaos Group has recently introduced V-Ray 2.0 for Autodesk Maya. “We are very excited to release the latest version of V-Ray for Maya,” said Chaos Group CEO, Peter Mitev. “Speed increases are always something our users want to hear, and we are glad to deliver just that.”

The latest V-Ray 2.0 for Maya combines the power of the CPU and the GPU for full and interactive rendering within Maya. It will be a significant upgrade for many users. To learn more visit them online at: www.chaosgroup.com

In other Chaos News, the company is presenting V-Ray at the Bluefx Expo in Ravensbourne, UK.

ParaCloud Webinar Coming Up

Eyal Nir, an architect and IT specialist from Israel, will be presenting 3D Pattern Modeling with ParaCloud Modeler live, 11 May 2011, from 11:00 am PDT. (8:00 am EDT). You can sign up for this free webinar here.

This webinar on ParaCloud GEM is for architects, 3D artists and modelers using programs like SketchUp, Rhino and 3ds Max. To register go here.

(see our recent news article on ParaCloud GEM here.)

Nvidia GPU and NAB News

Nvidia has uploaded six new videos to the Nvidia Quadro section of their YouTube page. If you are a visual effects professional and didn’t get to go to NAB this year, there are some Nvidia videos you may want to check out, including especially for Mac users this video:

• Autodesk Smoke for Mac Demonstration at NAB 2011 — Autodesk demonstrates how the latest Nvidia Quadro Fermi GPUs accelerate the finishing processes on the Mac using Autodesk Smoke

To see the Mac version of the Nvidia Quadro 4000 card for Mac Pros go here.

The company is therefore calling on CD4 and Maya users (on both Mac and Windows) to help them finalize plugin development by joining their internal beta program for Carbon Scatter.

What is Carbon Scatter?

For those C4D and Maya users not in the know, Carbon Scatter is e-on software’s plugin software tool that integrates e-on’s powerful EcoSystem algorithms directly into the host application, allowing users to populate native scenes with millions of instances, and render them within their renderer of choice.

01 - Carbon Scatter has powerful population technology, runs inside other 3D apps like Maya and Cinema 4D.

Notes on Carbon for Maya and C4D

• Carbon Scatter will initially work with the mental ray and V-ray renders for Maya only
• Carbon Scatter for CINEMA 4D will work with that program’s excellent native rendering engine
• Carbon Scatter will work within Maya 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and C4D R 11.5 and R12 for 32 and 64-bit versions on Mac and Windows.

To learn more visit: www.e-onsoftware.com

Used in both entertainment, media and technical engineering fields, the Autodesk DEC products include the following products for Mac-based design and creative professionals: Autodesk Maya 2012, Autodesk Mudbox 2012, Autodesk Flame 2012, and Autodesk Smoke 2012.

The 2012 products enable iterative workflows and help users manage complexity and provide new creative tools. Autodesk products have been used in the creation of popular movies like “Black Swan” and chart-topping video games such as “Medal of Honor.”

Marc Petit, senior vice president of Autodesk Media & Entertainment, said that “Movie, video and game and television audiences are demanding more sophisticated content, which is causing production complexity to outpace budgets.”

New 2012 Digital Entertainment Creation Products include:

• Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 — windows
• Autodesk Maya 2012 – mac and windows
• Autodesk Softimage 2012 — windows
• Autodesk Mudbox 2012 — mac and windows
• Autodesk MotionBuilder 2012 — windows

Finishing products include Autodesk Flame and Smoke 2012 which are aimed at both the Windows and Mac video editing world. Game middleware products include Autodesk HumanIK 2012 and Autodesk Kynapse 2012.

To learn more visit www.autodesk.com

To read our review of Autodesk Mudbox 2011 go here.

Dassault Systemes of France has announced a new CAD product and online community resource called DraftSight. The company says DraftSight is a “professional-grade, easy-to-use 2D CAD product for users who want a better way to read, write and share DWG files.”

Dassault also says DraftSight will be available for multiple operating systems including Mac and Linux alongside multiple flavors of Windows. Currently a free open beta available for download the Mac version is slated for later on in the year. To learn more visit this Dassault webpage.

V-ray for Maya Update

In other news V-ray for Maya has been updated to version 1.50.SP1. New features include support for V-ray fur, support for Maya Hair, Reflection occlusion in V-ray Dirt texture, V-ray Light Dome texture and environment textures and the addition of V-ray Bump Mtl that allows the addition of bump to any other material. More information can be found on the Chaosgroup.com website.

Key New Features in Maya 2011

There are several key new features in Maya 2011 some of which are specifically aimed at Mac OS X users. Starting with the Mac features first:

• Mac OS X 64-bit Availability – Mac users can now access considerably larger memory to handle complex scenes with a new 64-bit executable.
• FBX technologies have been brought up to speed with Maya 2011 format
• Redesigned User Interface – Nokia’s Qt software development technology is behind Maya 2011’s modern user interface, offering more power and flexibility.
• High Performance Core – Maya 2011 has a brand new graphics pipeline that helps speed up overall performance, especially related to the feedback speed in viewports.
• Improved Maya Composite – A new Vector Paint feature in Maya Composite dramatically improves its painting and rotoscoping capabilities.
• Accelerated 3D Editorial Workflow – new Camera Sequencer adds powerful multicamera editorial capabilities to help facilitate pre-visualization and virtual movie-making production using the Maya timeline. The Camera Sequencer supports import of both AAF and Apple Final Cut Pro EDLs.
• Enhanced Skinning Workflow – A new dual quaternion option for smooth skinning, interactive volume binding and enhancements to Paint Skin Weights tool.

Maya 2011 will be available in English and Japanese in April 2010. (SRP) for Autodesk Maya 2011 stand-alone license is 3,495.USD while the (SRP) for the upgrade is 1,745.USD.

You can check out some features on Autodesk’s YouTube channel here.

“Titles like Dante’s Inferno, Dragon Age: Origins, EVE Online and God of War III prove Turtle to be a lighting tool that any Maya game studio should consider,” says Magnus Wennerholm, CEO of Illuminate Labs.

Turtle is a top notch photo-realistic rendering engine and while the software is popular in the gaming market, non-gaming clients include industrial heavy-weights like Lockheed Martin, Volvo and Sony.

To learn more about Turtle visit them here: www.illuminatelabs.com

Nemetschek and PanzerCAD announced this week that PanzerCAD has upgraded its CameraMatch plugin software to be compatible with Vectorworks 2010 line of design software products. This tool allows Vectorworks users to quickly and accurately align a 3D view to an existing photograph.

“In CameraMatch 201 the control line interface has been reworked to give greater flexibility and feedback,” explains Matt Panzer, president of PanzerCAD Services, Inc. Other new features include a streamlined Tune View dialog with the addition of a “live slider” which allows view tuning in real time. The user will be able to tune faster and more intuitively.

CameraMatch 2010’s mask object command has been improved to accept surface commands such as “Add Surface”, “Substract Surface,” and “Intersect Surface.”

CameraMatch 2010 can be purchased from PanzerCAD’s website for 100.USD and 40.USD for an upgrade from the 2009 version of the plugin. CameraMatch 2010 is also free for students and teachers using the 2010 educational version of the software.

Maxwell Render version 2 Released

Next Limit Technologies has announced the general release of version 2.0 of Maxwell Render. For the past two weeks version 2 has only been available for existing clients via an upgrade path and the upgrade rate has been excellent. Now the company has opened up Maxwell Render 2.0 to new clients.

Major new features in Maxwell Render 2.0 include items such as improvements in speed and noise reduction in the renders, as well as optimizations in caustics and emitters. A powerful new feature is Stacked Layers where materials can be applied in layers much like in photo editing programs.

Thin SSS or subsurface scattering in version 2.0 now has a special mode which can handle singled-sided geometry. This mode is very useful for such things as lamp shades for example. Besides overall quality improvements and support for IES and EULUMDAT files, Maxwell Render 2.0 now has support for a new modo plugin and built-in compatibility with RealFlow.

To learn more visit them here: www.maxwellrender.com

Houdini Plugin for RealFlow

In more news regarding Next Limit, the company also recently announced a new Houdini plugin for the company’s Oscar-winning RealFlow application. They also last month updated a plugin for Cinema 4D and this month updated a plugin for Maya.

To learn more visit: www.realflow.com

Courses will take place in Miami (Oct 15), Seattle (Nov 10), London (Nov 17), and Provo, Utah, (Dec 3). All of these sessions are for Rhino and T-Splines training. 

The course outline includes: 1- basic properties of T-Splines surfaces, 2- multiple approaches for modeling with T-Splines, including using an input of NURBS curves and surfaces, box modeling, and completely organic modeling, 3- How to integrate T-Splines with Rhino and NURBS in a production workflow. During the course of the training all T-Splines commands will be introduced. 

In more T-Splines news the company is pleased to point users and prospective users to a review of T-Splines for Rhino in Desktop Engineering as the “Pick of the Week.”

You can also see T-Splines in action at the IBEX Boat Show, Oct 12-14, 2009. Booth 1309. Visit T-Splines, Rhino and Orca 3D.

Bundles Only

As of November 2, 2009, users will only be able to obtain a license of ImageModeler 2009 when they purchase a license of Autodesk  3ds Max 2010, Autodesk 3ds Mac Design 2010 or Autodesk Maya 2010 software with Autodesk Subscription. 

Autodesk says this decision was made to refine and simply their product range, while at the same time providing their customers with an improved and more complete workflow solution. 

Existing ImageModeler clients, of which Autodesk says there are fewer than 100, have been informed of this decision.

mental ray 7.5.x for Maya 2010

mental ray 7.5.x Standalone 3D rendering software is a high-performance ray-tracing engine for producing photo-realistic imagery. The new standalone version is supported on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux platforms and will run as the rendering engine option within various Autodesk 2010 products. 

For Mac users this will be limited to Autodesk Maya 2010 for Mac. mental ray standalone will also be available for Autodesk 3ds Max 2010, Autodesk Softimage 7.5 and Autodesk Softimage 2010. 

This Autodesk web page gives an overview of the new standalone mental ray option.

Two Entertainment Suites

There are two entertainment suites to choose from. One suite is the Autodesk Maya Entertainment Creation Suite 2010. This consists of Autodesk Maya 2010, MotionBuilder 2010 and Mudbox 2010. 

The second suite is the Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite 2010. This suite consists of Autodesk 3ds Max, Motionbuilder 2010 and Mudbox 2010. In both suites only a portion of the software is Mac native compatible, so officially Autodesk does not list Mac OS X or Linux as supported for these suites although some products within the suites are officially supported on both Linux and Mac OS X. 

Again, our advice for readers to Autodesk is to complain about this. For instance, MotionBuilder in older versions is native on Mac OS X. Perhaps they should allow the older version to round out the native Mac support in the Maya suite since all products would then be fully supported on the Mac. Mac-based Autodesk users will likely feel cheated that they cannot save up to 35 percent on bundled suites such as these.

Turtle 5

A new redesigned user interface streamlines the unified workflow for easier handling of applying surface transfers and texture/vertex baking. Performance has been heavily optimized throughout Turtle 5, especially for global illumination calculations, which together with a new adaptive anti-aliasing scheme allows for superfast previews as well as very high quality images. 

“We are very happy to see the result of Turtle lighting in titles like Gran Turismo, Mass Effect, Killzone 2 and Tomb Raider Underworld” says Magnus Wennerholm, chief executive officer of Illuminate Labs. “Turtle 5 raise the bar even further, setting a new standard for pre-computed lighting.”

Turtle, its product for Autodesk Maya, is the only product on the market that combines advanced rendering technology with sophisticated baking functionality in one integrated toolset.

Ozone 4.0 Atmospheric Plugin

This plugin works with leading 3D software suites like Autodesk 3DS Max, Maxon’s Cinema4D, NewTek’s LightWave, Autodesk Maya and Autodesk Softimage XSI. 

Ozone 4.0 implements Spectral 2 cutting-edge technologies that provide accurate simulation and rendering of atmospheric effects. New features include:

• Breakthrough Spectral 2 and Volumetric atmosphere models – based entirely on real-world atmosheric behavior including volumetric clouds, accurate light dispersion, and natural phenomena such as Godrays. 
• Real 3D Clouds – high optimized volumetric cloud layers that you can fly through or easily simulate realistic low-lying fog.
• Super-fast rendering technology – highly optimized rendering technology to power through complex effects.
• Animated Clouds and Sunsets
• Extensive Library – Over 150 predefined atmospheres

Open Beta

The big news was that Autodesk was making big news at Macworld Expo. 

However, their announcements, which we have covered in detail here on Architosh, were noteworthy for themselves as much as what they portend. 

The Augur Says…

If the Mac world had its own official augur he or she might suggest that Autodesk’s statements to Architosh during this private press meeting bode to a changing world within the computer industry.

In fact, as far as “signs” are concerned Autodesk’s presentment at Macworld Expo is as bold and forthwith as Apple’s unashamed statements that they were no longer really interested in attending Macworld Expo in the future. 

But much like IBM’s tantrum over Mark Papermaster’s hitch-up with Apple, Autodesk’s flat out statements about serving Mac customers came as a bit of a shock. And like the IBM versus Apple battle over Papermaster, both indicate a changing world within the computer industry. 

Apple and the Mac Matter

The tone of the meeting with Autodesk was very clear. In fact there were two tones bound together into a single timbre. It said: Apple is important to our customers…ever growingly so. And the second part said: Autodesk intends to fully meet this demand. 

Rob Hoffmann, Sr. Product Marketing Manager 3D for Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment division, said quite plainly that “the Mac market is extremely important to Autodesk.” “If you asked me four years ago about the Mac I would have said they were a rare sight within the production studio, but now they are a common sight,” says Rob. “The Mac is just like any other platform within entertainment sharing the same roles as Windows and Linux.” 

Outside M&E

Beyond the Media & Entertainment division Rob could not elaborate to the same extent as a man whose been serving the entertainment-driven 3D software market for over 14 years. But he did say “we are experiencing across the entire Autodesk software portfolio…strong demand for Mac support.”

But while the Mac is growing at an accelerating rate within the markets Autodesk serves, customers shouldn’t get too hopeful for particular Autodesk apps they would like to see on their beloved platform. Rob told us that how Autodesk will respond to Mac demand within its portfolio depends on a matrix of factors, least of which is development ease and cost…and opportunity for growth.

Up there in the complexity curve would be applications like Autodesk AutoCAD and maybe some of its very Windows-API oriented design applications. Easier apps to deliver to the Mac would be those they just started developing or those that were developed by others first (pre-acquisition) that developed around more portable software development models. 

Rob Hoffmann, Senior Product Marketing Manager for 3D in Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment division was visually excited to show us Toxik 2009 on the Mac. Toxik 2009 is designed to work in tandem with Autodesk Maya. It shares the same hot-keys as Maya so artists familiar with Maya can easily learn and run with Toxik. 

Autodesk Toxik 2009. Color Remapping Anaglyph. Toxik 2009. This version of Toxik can provide stereoscopic functionality to facilitate the production of stereoscopic films and virtual set extensions.

Rob Hoffmann said Autodesk Toxik 2009 can import and work with Autodesk Maya 2009 layers. Toxik 2009 can generate compositions based on Render Pass and Render Layer setups imported from Maya. Artists are able to pre-visualize their scene as it will appear when composited, allowing them to only iterate and refine required elements.

Autodesk Toxik 2009's user interface on the Apple Mac platform.

Autodesk Toxik 2009 for Mac works seamlessly with many of the tools that 3D artists and film production studios already incorporate. The user interface is more related to film-editing and special effects tools than general 3D suites. The dark grey interface allows artists to work accurately with color. 

Autodesk Meeting: Autodesk Toxik 2009 Mac. The new Mac software from Autodesk was created to address a burgeoning need within creative studios: to meet the needs of Autodesk customers who are asking for support of the Mac.

In our view above and below you can see Autodesk Toxik 2009 on running on an eight-core Mac Pro. The application runs quickly and efficiently on Apple’s powerful Mac Pro workstations, and compliments the creative studio pipelines that in the film and special effects industry are seeing more and more Macs. 

If you asked me four years ago about the Mac I would have said they were a rare sight within the production studios, but now they are a common sight,” says Rob Hoffmann, Senior Product Marketing Manager for 3D at Autodesk. “The Mac is just like any other platform within entertainment sharing the same roles as Windows and Linux.”

Render Pass. Autodesk Toxik 2009 works hand and glove with Autodesk Maya 2009.

And when it comes to knowing what visual effects and film production studios are like and what they are asking for Rob Hoffmann would know. Hoffmann has spent over 14 years in the digital media software market industry and very few individuals have developed such a strong understanding of the digital content creation space. 

Prior to Autodesk he worked at NewTek and Intergraph Corporation in senior business development or product management roles. In 2002 he joined Alias as a Product Marketing Manager. When Alias was acquired by Autodesk in 2006 Rob Hoffmann came with the company. He now oversees nearly all product marketing activities for Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment division, including Maya, Toxik, MotionBuilder, mental ray, FBX and more. 

Autodesk Meeting: Autodesk Toxik 2009 Mac. With stereo 3D glasses on you could experience the stereoscopic film experience on this Mac running Toxik 2009.

Autodesk Toxik 2009 features new FBX file format import. You can import FBX geometry directly from Maya or other 3D applications. You can also project a matte painting or rendered image onto it through the camera. 

The illusion of depth and perspective can be further enhanced through a new mesh displacement feature. Stereo output can be viewed while playing back and interacting with a scene. New visual effects tools include a new Warp 2D tool, a non-linear, spline-based image warping tool. There is also a new Lens Blur tool to help simulate real-world camera effects such as rack de-focus. 

Toxik 2009 also features a new file-based data model, facilitating collaborative workflows without adding complexity for those who prefer to work standalone. 

Fernando Zorilla, visual effects executive producer at Bling Imaging, said, “We’re already working with Autodesk Maya and Autodesk Flame, so Toxik was a natural choice for our pipeline. It gives us the power of a node-based compositor — necessary for professional, high-end post production work, along with the look and feel that’s completely comfortable.” 

Autodesk Toxik 2009 for Mac will be available within 60-90 days from the Macworld Expo announcement. The anticipated price for Toxik is $3,495.USD. To learn more visit them at: www.autodesk.com

“We’re thrilled that Autodesk is expanding its Mac 2D and 3D software offerings for our creative professionals.” said Ron Okamoto, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations.

Available Mac Products

While some products were previously announced for the Mac today Autodesk is unveiling Mac OS X support for Autodesk Mudbox 2009, Autodesk Toxik 2009, and Autodesk ImageModeler 2009 for the first time. Additional Mac products coming from Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment software division include Autodesk Maya 2009 and Autodesk Stitcher 2009. 

Outside of the M&E division Autodesk makes a few other native Mac OS X products, most notably Autodesk SketchBook Pro (a product formerly belonging to Alias) and Autodesk MotionBuilder 2008 (edit. note: the 2008 version is one version behind but available for Mac users to purchase, future versions for the Mac are in the works). 

Autodesk makes a big splash at Macworld SF 2009 - Introduces Five New Native Mac OS X Applications

“Given the growing adoption of Mac OS X and the production requirements of the Mac community, we’re excited to offer these premiere creative tools to Mac artists,” said Stig Gruman, Digital Entertainment Group vice president of Autodesk Media & Entertainment. “Autodesk’s product offerings will empower artistic vision and provide Mac users with the tools to bring their creative ideas to life.” 

As noted in this story yesterday, Autodesk’s announcements for Mac OS X signal a surging trend in Mac adoption and demand for Mac products from the world’s largest software developer of design software. With this major announcement, Autodesk is clearly signaling that it intends to fully meet that demand from its growing customers who prefer to work on Apple’s UNIX-based Mac OS X operating system. And this is a very exciting thing.

“The goal of Craft FreeWare is to share the same high-quality, time-saving and cost-effective animation processes previously experienced by professional users with a larger audience,” said Craft Animations’ Co-founder and Head of Research, Luigi Tramontana. “By providing modified versions of Craft Director Tools, beginning animators may now take advantage of our real time technology and gain a sense of education before graduating to the next level.”

Craft 4-Wheeler Free, Craft ObserverCam Free and Craft Airplane Free are available for Autodesk Maya Mac and Windows platforms. For additional details see the Craft Animations Website here.