formZ 7 Highlights

The whole program has been dramatically updated, including a streamlined user-interface (UI). formZ 7 has some new dramatic dynamic modeling tools with new parametric capabilities.

There is a new roof tool that quickly builds simple and complex roofs. And the parametric stairs tool has been updated as well. There is also a new Contour Doctor tool that helps clean up contour line data.

formZ 7 features non-destructive clipping planes (sectioning planes) just like SketchUp and you can model directly inside these clips. formZ 7 has a top class-A NURBS modeling engine and can produce dramatic shapes and forms. While SolidSmack remarks that formZ has always been a great architectural modeler the new formZ 7 will bring powerful new tools to the product design market.

This is significant for AutoDesSys because the “maker” market and digital prototyping are both powerful new trends in design. formZ 7 will feature tools helpful for digital fabrication makers.

To read the article and see some of those YouTube videos go here.

This week the company previewed Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac. As part of the Inventor product family, Inventor Fusion is primarily a 3D mechanical CAD modeler application designed to engage emerging young engineers and designers.

Kevin Schneider, Sr. Product Line Manager for Autodesk Design, Lifecycle and Simulation Product Group, noted that Inventor Fusion is the first dedicated mechanical CAD product from Autodesk that is a Mac product.

01 - Autodesk Inventor Fusion for Mac. A new Mac-native ground-up mCAD modeling program for emerging mechanical engineers and design professionals.

“When we look at the next generation of designers and engineers,” says Schneider “we see their expectations of choice and software is very different than the current generation.” Autodesk told Architosh that the company is adapting to trends that show that the future generation of engineers and designers are increasingly coming both to and out of college with an affinity for Apple’s platforms.

While Autodesk Inventor is the company’s Windows-only full-fledged professional mechanical CAD product, Inventor Fusion for Mac is a simplified entry-level product that has been written from the ground-up on Mac OS X. It has a ’state-of-the-art’ modern user-interface and advanced modeling functionality.

The formal release of the product is aimed for the first quarter of 2012. Professionals and students interested in the Mac-based Inventor Fusion can learn more at a special page on Facebook setup by Autodesk (http://www.facebook.com/InventorFusion)

Final pricing has also not been set but those who engage in the public technology preview can try out Fusion for the Mac for free. You can sign up here.

formZ 7 has a new modern user interface with a lot of new functionality and enhancements to existing formZ functionality. Many steps have been automated with the new UI. There is less picking and more doing, the company says.

01 - formZ 7 has bold new features and a modern interface

Discovering formZ 7 – Seminars

January 18, (which is today) there will be a new webinar titled: What’s new in formZ 7, Part 1: Parametric modeling in a modern fluid interface. This free event takes place at 1pm-2pm EST and you can register for it here.

Part 2: Visualization, rendering and fabrication and presentation, takes place on January 25, 2012, and is at 1pm – 2pm. EST. You ca register for it here.

There are also Webinars On Demand covering bonzai 3D and formZ. A full list is here.

We generally don’t write about Apple’s patent trail but this jot covers an interesting patent related to the world of 3D. AppleInsider uncovered a patent from Apple that describes a Microsoft Xbox Kinect-like interface technology that is sans physical controller. Instead users use their hands to move items in the UI.

Entitled “Three-Dimensional Imaging and Display System” the Apple patent (application #20110298798) attributed to Christopher Krah of Apple. In a nutshell, the Apple patent describes a method that allows the control of a 3D computer interface via a 3-dimensional imaging and display apparatus that scans and detects physical movement within a volume of space. With the system, a user could perform gestures with their hands within a given volume of space in order to control the user-interface of their Mac computer. To learn more read here.

Ad Agency Walter Isaacson uses modo

For the recent holidays Walter Isaacson was hired by Philips Norelco to produce a new TV commercial for their new SensoTouch 3D rechargeable razor. They decided to re-imagine one of Norelco’s most popular holiday ads of all time, which was a stop-motion ad featuring Santa sledding through the snow atop one of their products.

For this new ad Isaacson turned to computer graphics studio re:think studios, of Chicago. re:think studios is a big-time Luxology modo user and turned to modo to produce the ad. “mod is blazing fast!” said Brian Bulock, director of CGI and partner at re:think studios. “And with the deadline we had on this spot, we needed every minute. I vote we put modo on the nice list.” You can watch the spot here at Vimeo.

Adobe to update Critical 3D Bugs in Acrobat

Adobe is slated to update critical 3D vulnerabilities in its Acrobat and Reader applications across platforms today. The bugs were discovered in December where the 3d file format .u3d contained memory corruption issues that could lead to code attacks. These were limited in practice to the Windows platform, says Adobe. To learn more visit this eWeek news report.

LumenRT Customer Story

Vue software maker e-on software has had a new product out for awhile now called LumenRT, a plugin product for SketchUp. The photorealistic rendering plugin has received good reviews in the industry.

You can learn a little bit about this product by watching and reading the customer profile of Matthew Stone, a landscape design professional in Australia, who switched from Autodesk 3D Studio Max to SketchUp with LumenRT for its rendering platform. Read the interview here.

With these editions you can “test drive” the leading digital nature solutions for 3D artists and graphics professionals. While Vue 10 Infinite is a stand-alone professional application that can be easily integrated into a studio pipeline, Vue 10 xStream operates seamlessly inside of Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Newtek Lightwave, Maxon’s Cinema 4D and Autodesk Softimage.

New editions in the Vue 10 PLE include such items as spline and road tools, physical transparency and water engine, and things like its EcoSystem Phasing. The Personal Learning Editions allow you to save your work, export to other applications, render stills and animations without size or length limits and experience Vue’s power directly inside leading 3D software suites.

To learn more about Vue 10 software options visit e-on Software online here.

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.

What’s New in Mudbox 2012

Autodesk Mudbox 2012 continues to advance itself and in this year’s release the design software giant added support for 64-bit Linux in addition to Windows and Mac OS X 10.6.x support. In this update Autodesk touched on all three major areas of Mudbox (sculpting, painting and posing) adding useful improvements, but in general the largest updates are concentrated in the area of 3D painting and posing.

Before we get into those we’ll briefly touch on some general improvements. Version 2011 added 64-bit support for Mac and now as we mentioned we have the same for Linux. A big new improvement in this update is the ability to create and edit stencils. You can bring in images to use for stencils directly from the Mac clipboard.

Autodesk also has introduced new single-step “round-trip” workflows for other related Autodesk software, such as: Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk Softimage. Imagining a scene origin from your DCC software of choice, you can export to Mudbox to add painting or sculpting effects and detail and then merge back to your digital content creation (DCC) software. That improves work flows for those working with Autodesk DCC suites. There is a new Send To option in the File menu.

Another useful and related new feature is the new Maya-like “Hot Menus” introduced in Mudbox 2012. Clicking the spacebar quickly creates a “heads-up” hot menu system. For whose who do not use such menu systems it may take getting use to. (see image 01).

01 - Autodesk Mudbox 2012 features new "heads-up" Maya-like hot menu system.

Some significant minor changes include the ability to use tools like Grab and Pinch to manipulate stencils to more closely conform to the shape of your model. There are new selection tools with region and lasso modes. This gives you more control over how you control your model. (see image 02).

02 - Mudbox 2012 features expanded selection tools with new lasso and region modes.

There are two new Grab brush options–Grab Silhouette and Follow Path–that allow you to create innovative new shapes. And this release vastly improves on texture data sets.

next page: Painting Improvements

Lightwave 3D 11 features tons of new features. Instancing enables you to create mass duplicates of objects in a scene with very little overhead. These “virtual” polygon counts will not cause your machine to run out of memory. Instances are not mere clones they can be randomly different via scaling, position, rotation and even surface complexity.

Flocking enhances natural motions with such things as schools of fish, birds, et cetera. Fracture is a new modeler tool and was designed specifically to compliment Bullet dynamics in the Lightwave Layout. It allows the 3D artist to “pre-fracture” an object ready for destruction. Bullet is a fast, production-proven, open-source physics engine that does what you think it does. Lightwave 3D 11 features the Bullet engine directly in Layout.

Lightwave 3D 11 now has a much enhanced Virtual Studio Tools, allowing the user to configure various third-party device controllers (e.g.: SpaceNavigator, Playstation Move). GoZ is a new interchange technology in this version that enables users to send model and texture data to and from Pixologic’s ZBrush.

Rendering is improved thanks to new improvements in the Render Buffer. Saving and viewing various buffers produced by the render engine to make up an image is now more powerful and easier to use. This improves renders out for compositing.

Version 11 now includes Python scripting. Python is an industry standard for scripting and further allows the customization of Lightwave 3D. FiberFX has a new volume rendering mode called Stroke. Version 11 allows you to now make very realistic fibers. FiberFX now uses the new instancing technology as well.

Other Improvements

The user interface has been enhanced, especially in the area of the node editor. There are IK rigs improvements, huge speed boosts in areas such as loading scenes, many modeler optimizations and enhancements. Items can now be modeled off axis. There are OBJ file format support improvements, shader improvements and a whole lot more.

Lightwave 3D 11 is offered today for registered current users as a pre-release advanced beta. The full final release is scheduled for end of year.

To learn more about the new Newtek Lightwave 3D 11 visit them online here.

Xfrog 5 is a procedural organic 3D modeler that allows you to create and animate 3D trees, flowers, nature based special effects or architectural forms. Xfrog 5 includes several bug fixes, performance optimizations, including an over 20 percent speed up over Xfrog 4.4, as well as full compatibility with CINEMA 4D R13.

Xfrog is one of the most popular plugins for Maxon’s C4D software because it enables even the casual user the powerful ability to create and animate organic models. Common uses include tree growth, blossoming flowers, complex nature-based effects and many other uses. Customers who have purchased Xfrog 4.4 in the past six months are eligible to upgrade for no additional cost.

01 - Xfrog 5 is now out ofr CINEMA 4D. The procedural organic modeler adds power to Maxon's flagship tool.

Xfrog Inc., is a world leader in organic plant modeling and ecosystem software research and development. To learn more visit: www.xfrog.com

Strata 3D CX 7 is the latest release of the company’s flagship program which over the years has been redesigned to integrate highly with Adobe’s Creative Suite software, targeting traditional 2D design professionals and helping them bring 3D to their creative arsenal. CX 7 brings end-to-end power for the entire 3D workflow with a simplified learning curve and familiar toolset.

“We had an excellent response and a lot of positive feedback from our recent launches of the Design 3D CX 7 for Mac and the Cxi release in the Mac App Store. Designers really love the new features and functionality and we’re excited to finally place it in the hands of our PC customer base,” said Ken Bringhurst, Strata President.

To learn more about Strata Design 3D CX 7 for Windows or the Mac, go to the Strata website here. Training for Strata is available online at Strata University here.

AutoDesSys has three job posts listed and given that they are still posted we assume that these positions are still available. The company may be in the process to hire as it expands its product offerings with the rollout of the updated formZ 7.0–a major modernization to a highly regarded and heavily used 3D software tool.

One position is focused on just 3D Rendering. This person will be responsible for helping to set future directions for 3D rendering across its product offerings. There is mention of experience with rendering API’s like OpenGL and Direct 3D, which are OS-oriented. There is also mention of API’s like Mental Ray, LightWorks, Vray and others. It may be interesting to see if AutoDesSys expands formZ to support other renderers. In the past the company has had a long-term relationship of sorts with Electric Image, but that company and its famous and quick rendering and animation solution has fallen behind in both public attention and studio use.

These days integration with newer renderers is a vital consideration for any powerful product design, architectural modeler or general modeling application like formZ or bonzai 3D. Such tools should integrate with the newer generation of rendering tools, with new generation GPU tools and possible with the four main professional 3D suites.

Mobile – Android and iOS

AutoDesSys may be looking to not just modernize formZ’s user interface–which it did with version 7–but update other tools. A new opportunity exist for an application OS interface engineer. The advert mentions Android and Apple iOS operating systems experience in addition to Windows. This person will be responsible for the integration between our application suite and the operating systesms on which they run.

There is a third position open for a modeling expert or programmer. This person will joint the formZ development team.

All of these positions seem like good opportunities. It will be interesting to follow this company has it wraps up and rolls out formZ 7 and how it moves forward from here now that both its longtime flagship program and its newer bonzai both have been modernized.

To learn more about these positions click here.

formZ 7 News

formZ 7.0 has what the company is calling a “game-changing” ‘intuitive interface. All model building is dynamic, intentionally tentative, and continuously changeable, which allows you to explore and experiment with no restrictions during the design process.

Back in October the company showcased the new formZ 7 at the ACADIA Conference, referring to the newly updated program as outfitted for the new parametrics of digital design. That day the new Reshape tool was covered to explain how to sculpt and conceptual design ideas with ease. New parametric controls allow for endless experimentation and iterative design.

This new game-changing interface gains on what the company learned from creating bonzai 3D, its powerful NURBS program that is as easy to use as SketchUp but with true class-A NURBS. New intelligent smart interface guides help you model in formZ 7 more efficiently. New parametric, numeric and free-from modeling choices can be dynamically changed during design. There are powerful new digital fabrication tools, plus easier NURBS modeling.

Get Your Copy

You can donwload a free beta 5 version of the new formZ 7 here by just filling out a form. There are also webinars covering the new formZ 7. Unfortunately, the company often gives very little notice with such webinars and the first one passed yesterday. Part 2 of the new webinar series covers Visualization, Rendering, Fabrication and Presentation and will give potential users a good view of the new formZ 7 and its new interface.

That webinar is scheduled for 17 November 2011. To register click here.

Autodesk sees the maker movement as a key step in the next industrial revolution, whereby local manufacturing and product making becomes a growing industry. A Young and Rubicon study puts the DIY (do it yourself) market at $700 billion.

Autodesk 123D Make is Mac OS X only at the moment and allows you to slice up a 3D model into flat plates or sheets which can easily be cut out by hand or via a laser cutter or similar device. These flat plates are then assembled together to create a physical 3D model. Autodesk 123D Catch is the new name for the old Autodesk Labs Photofly technology and is only for Windows at the moment. With 123D Catch you capture photographs of an object you are interested in from various angles and create a 3D model from the photographic data. This is photogrammetry and we’ve written about such products here at Architosh in the past.

01 - Autodesk 123D Make for Mac. Allows you to produce cut-out flat-section physical models from your 3D model data.

All these new 123D tools are essentially quite young and Autodesk is pushing them out into the wild while they are still in Labs. The goal is to get people to use them and give them key feedback for their evolution.

You can download these tools for free today. Go here to get Autodesk 123D Catch (Windows) and here to get Autodesk 123D Make (Mac).

Autodesk has been acquiring many smaller software firms and so the inconsistent platform coverage is a reflection of where the tools have emerged from–which software teams and players working on such and such platforms–and not a reflection of the company’s OS coverage or organization. The goal is to make them work across multiple and even platforms as best suited to markets.

Using the company’s free Maide Connect desktop software, you can connect your iPad to Google SketchUp or Rhino. The connection is authenticated and secure to protect your computer and its contents. Connections can be via WiFi or an ad hoc network.

01 - Maide has developed software that turns your iPad into a 3D input device for your professional modeling apps. These at the moment include Rhino and SketchUp.

Maide Control Details

• Control — Use the multi-touch screen to pan, orbit, and zoom around your 3D SketchUp or Rhino model, as well as snap to orthogonal views. You can even control your mouse and keyboard from the iPad opening up further application commands and options
• Present — Using your iPad you can present your model with style
• Share — Take screen shots of your model as you are zooming around during a presentation and then save them to your iPad for future reference and display or for emailing them to others
• Collaborate — Connect multiple iPads to one model while discussing a design. Everyone can control the model when they need to. Anyone can save screenshots of the model while you present.
• Model — Because you can activate commands through our directional menu, you can actually do limited modeling via the iPad

Mac Support

At the moment the Maide Control only works with Windows but a Mac version is in the works. To learn more and to request they hurry up that Mac support we suggest you go visit them online here: http://www.maideinc.com/

01 - Maide Control - new software turns your iPad into 3D modeling app controller.

Inside this rigging course modo users will discover and learn concepts and techniques essential to rigging models for animation in modo 501. Rich Hurrey leads students from the basics of the modo interface and tools on towards such challenging topics as inverse kinematics and schematic viewports. With the basics behind you students can then approach tackling a tutorial that ultimately leads them to a production-ready asset.

There are 26+ hours of searchable video with indexed chapters in this interactive training series. Items are cross-referenced and linked to online documentation. There is an extensive FAQ section as well. All of this is packaged up in a beautiful and easy to use interface. All materials are downloaded from the Web. Users will need modo 501 SP4 or later to complete the course plus the basic requirements of QuickTime software from Apple.

01 - rigging master course at Luxology is new.

The price is 149.USD until 24 October 2011 and then it will be 199.USD. To learn more visit here.

Strata Design 3D CX is a modeling and animation software suite for creatives who desire superior results and usability. It provides an end-to-end 3D workflow, with a simplified learning curve and a familiar toolset developed to help 2D designers easily transition to the world of 3D design. The program also provides deep tie-ins with Adobe Creative Suite, improving the workflow between 2D and 3D environments.

Key New Features in Strata Design 3D v7 for Mac

• Faster rendering and advances for blurred effects, anisotropy and more
• Sun and Sky feature for natural lighting effects
• Native UV editing environment for perfect texture control
• New texture features, including channels for Normal and Anisotropy maps
• Subdivision surface modeling enhancements, with pro level features
• New Boolean modeling engine
• Grid Templates that act like ‘virtual tracing paper’ for modeling from images
• Match Motion features for putting 3D design work into video
• Project templates with ‘predefined’ lighting, environments and backgrounds
• Customizable shortcuts and user sets
• Compatible with Mac OS X Lion (10.7)

“Everyone at Strata is really excited about this major update to our flagship product,” said Ken Bringhurst, Strata President. “We set out with an ambitious plan to update the program with the most requested enhancements from our customer base and I think we nailed it with this effort. Even our most discriminating pro users have been raving about the new features and improved functionality.”

Options for Suites

The Strata 3D CX Suite can include Design 3D CX and also Strata Foto 3D, Strata Enfold 3D and Strata Live 3D, all at 50 percent less than regular price in conjunction with the suite. Strata Design 3D 7 for Mac is available immediately at the Strata website. There is an introductory price of 545.USD available now. Regular price for a new license is 695.USD.

To learn more visit them online.

01 - Strata Design 3D CX 7 for Mac. New flagship 3D product suite includes numerous feature improvements in the areas of modeling, rendering, animation and workflow. It is also Lion ready!

“Though necessary, I find modeling and texture painting tedious and time consuming,” Ridlen explains. “I knew there had to be a toolset that could quickly guide me through this process so I could spend more time doing what I love: realistic animation. DAZ 3D’s professional-quality models and software provide exactly what i need to tackle the complex previsualization requirements of any project.”

In  2005, Ridlen was commissioned to create a three minute CG previsualization involving multiple characters and several props for the film project titled Archangel. Instead of diving head-first into what could easily take several weeks  worth of modeling work, Ridlen scoured the Web for an inexpensive solution that would easily integrate into his existing animation pipeline and help to expedite the character modeling process altogether. In a matter of minutes, he stumbled upon DAZ Studio.

“I was astounded to find such a strong and useful program for free,” he notes. “DAZ Studio allowed me to quickly generate all the characters and I was able to purchase and customize additional costumes and props with surprising detail at very little cost. The versatility, range and quality of the morphs provided fast creation of several different characters, all from a few base models.”

Utilizing the affordability of the DAZ 3D models, combined with the time-saving amenities offered through DAZ Studio’s robust posing features, Ridlen was able to reduce his estimated modeling process by nearly 75 percent, allowing him to spend more time animating, lighting and adding visual effects to bring dazzling detail to the production.

However, it wasn’t just the time saving and cost-effective solution DAZ Studio provided that convinced Ridlen to continue his use of DAZ 3D tools for additional projects. It was the compatibility with his existing software suite.

Working primarily in Newtek’s Lightwave – with additional help from eyeon’s Fusion and Next Limit’s Realflow – DAZ 3D tools and assets seamlessly integrate into Ridlen’s pipeline, providing a highly streamlined workflow: “DAZ 3D offers a variety of morphs that allow quick modification of character features without opening an outside modeling program,” says Ridlen. “However, if I want to further modify or finely texture in Lightwave, it just requires a simple export. There is also a Lightwave plug-in that allows me to convert many objects into morphs for a base model, all at once. With a workflow like this, I was immediately hooked.”

DAZ 3D proved its worth once again when, in April 2010, Ridlen was contracted by visual effects production house Pixel Magic to help with asset creation for New Regency’s spoof film, Vampires Suck. With a mere $20 million budget for all production costs, the visual effects share was remarkably low, considering the amount required.

To create a fully CG baby that would be “juggled” by the film’s main character, Ridlen called upon DAZ 3D’s Millennium Baby 3. Using DAZ Studio’s morph sliders, he reshaped the model’s facial features and resized the head and limbs to achieve the look he was striving for. “Human form, particularly faces, are about the toughest thing to make convincing in CG,” he admits. “DAZ Studio’s texture maps helped to provide nice detail, while the UV maps created an ideal template for adding to the existing texture maps or painting new ones.”

Using a human character rig, Ridlen was able to simply drop the modeled baby into Lightwave for finishing. Additionally, the rig pose was saved within DAZ Studio for easy application to any other figures as needed, then exported directly into the Lightwave rig with very little tweaking.

The use of the DAZ 3D model and DAZ Studio not only saved time, but meant that Pixel Magic could bid the sequence at a lower cost than it would have required to develop the model from scratch or scanning. This also helped the CG team land the client amongst a sea of qualified bids. “Once again, DAZ 3D allowed me to jump right into rigging, lighting and shot set up,” notes Ridlen. “We were very happy with the outcome, and the sequence makes people laugh. Mission accomplished.”

Throughout his nearly 15 years as a CG artist, Ridlen has utilized DAZ 3D tools and assets for multiple projects. His main goal has been to provide a quality product, and DAZ 3D has become synonymous with this goal.

“It has become a bit of a running joke between me and my colleagues,” Ridlen recalls. “Every time we face a daunting CG challenge, we always turn to each other, nod and immediately say: ‘DAZ!’ The funny thing is, it’s no joke. DAZ 3D is a fun little secret weapon.”

To learn more about DAZ 3D visit here: http://www.daz3d.com/

“Hands down, 3Dconnexion 3D mice provide the most intuitive way to work in Blender and are a must-have tool on today’s design workstations,” said Nathan Letwory, chief technology officer, Studio Lumikuu and Blender core developer. “Using a 3D mouse in Blender means you can position your model while simultaneously sculpting or modifying with a traditional mouse or tablet. You have to try it to believe it!”

01 - Buck Bunny tells the story about how 3D mice rock in Blender.

Blender 2.59 will now support SpaceNavigator, SpaceExplorer or SpacePilot PRO. The intuitive and precise control makes users feel like they’re holding the digital model in their hand. Check out what “Big Buck Bunny” has to say about 3D mice here. (YouTube link).

“The introduction of 3D mouse support in the latest release of Blender underscores our ongoing commitment to extending the support and reach of superior 3D navigation to all 3D software users,” said Antonio Pascucci, vice president of products, 3Dconnexion.

To learn more about Blender go here. To learn more about 3Dconnexion visit them on the web.

McNeel & Associates has updated iRhino 3D recently. The latest version is version 1.2 and it supports additional functionality in addition to fixing minor bugs. Key new items are:

• Autodesk Blocks are now supported
• There is new DropBox support
• A missing Thumbnail issue has been resolved
• iOS 3.2 or above is now required/supported

To learn more about iRhino 3D for your iPad or iPhone go here: http://www.irhino3d.com/

For those interested in Rhino on the Mac go here.

Dosch News

Dosch has announced several new products for 3D professionals. These media libraries are: Awards & Trophies (45 detailed 3D models of awards and trophies); Classic Cars (20 highly detailed 3D models of classic cars); Stylish Bathroom Design (50 detailed 3D models for modern bathroom design); and finally Voice-Over Background Music, featuring 11 tracks for use with animations and presentations.

Model products include support for the following formats: 3DS, 3ds Max, Lightwave, Maya, OBJ, Softimage, Cinema 4D, and VMRL.

To learn more and buy visit them online here.

“CINEMA 4D R13 is supercharged with numerous productivity enhancements that cater to the multi-collaboration challenges our customers face every day,” said Harald Egel, founder and CEO of Maxon. “Artists interested in expanding their capabilities will love the new character tools. And, of course, the physical renderer with stereoscopic functionality is incredibly important as the new way to deliver immersive entertainment.”

01 - Maxon CINEMA 4D Release 13. Features new stereoscopic rendering capabilities and a new physical rendering engine.

Major Highlights in CINEMA 4D R13

New and Enhanced Rendering Engine:

• Physically-accurate Rendering: – A new physical render engine is based on real camera properties (eg: blur, depth of field (DoF), lens distortion, focal length, aperture and shutter speed of camera)
• Efficient Subsurface Scattering: – Now users can efficiently create translucent materials such as milk, skin and wax with the subsurface scattering shader included with both the new Physical Render and CINEMA 4D’s standard render engines
• Shared Image Sampler: – Combine sampling effects and save tons of time on items like motion blur, area shadows, ambient occlusion, etc.
• New Anti-Aliasing Filters: – New Mitchell and Gauss algorithms

Stereoscopic 3D Workflow:

• Stereoscopic Camera Conversion: – Gives users control to easily convert any camera to a Parallel, On Axis, Off-Axis or Radial Stereoscopic Camera
• Stereo Image Workflow and Preview: – Stereo images can be previewed directly in the 3D editor
• Stereo Render Options: – Allows customers to easily render the merged stereoscopic image or separate images for each individual camera to create a true 3D experience
• Picture Viewer Support: – review animated stereo renders

New Suite of Character Animation Features:

• New Character Object: – This includes an auto-rigger and template support
• New CMotion System: – Apply parametric walk cycles based on cyclic motion; characters can be made to walk over terrain or on a spline
• New Muscle System: – Create custom shaped muscles and anchor them to multiple joints within a rig
• New Collision Deformer

02 - Maxon CINEMA 4D Release 13. New physical rendering engine provides stunning visual results.

Workflow, Modeling and Animation Improvements:

• Revamped Navigation System: – C4D R13 has a new cursor-based navigation system that greatly improves an already excellent ease-of-use system
• Sticky Keys: – Allows users to activate a tool only while its shortcut is pressed and immediately return to the previous tool
• New Spline Data User Interface:
• Location Indicator:
• Surface Manipulation: – Offers flexible options with infinite Axis mode
• Animation Enhancements: – Better curve handling, markers, including clamping, etc.

Operational Efficiency:

• Superior XRef Object: – Improves artist efficiency with fully embedded XRef (external reference) commands in R13 so referenced objects can be textured, animated, and included in expressions or simulations within the master file, greatly enhancing work in a collaborative environment
• Improved Scripting Language Support:
• File Format Support: – Multi-pass files can now be stored in multiple channels within a single OpenEXR file. FBX and COLLADA have been updated to latest versions
• After Effects Exchange: – Gives customers using R13 unparalleled integration with Adobe After Effects with the introduction of stage object support, timeline marker exports and support for 29.97fps

Other Comments

CINEMA 4D Release 13 also includes many new shaders and other assets. System requirements for the Mac are now OS X 10.5.8 or later running on Intel-based Macs and 1024 MB of RAM. Up to 256 threads now supported. Standard DVD installation can take up to 2.5 GB of disk space.

CINEMA 4D R13 and BodyPaint 3D R13 are schedule to ship in September through Maxon and its authorized dealers worldwide. Customers with an active Maxon Service Agreement (MSA) valid through September 2nd will automatically receive the upgrade.

There are four flavors of CINEMA 4D Release 13 designed for graphics professionals, visualization professionals, broadcast and 3D artists in large studios. To learn more visit Maxon online here.