In this news brief we will do some catch-up on some announcements made in recent weeks not yet covered. We’ll start with Luxion.
Luxion unveils KeyShot 4 at SolidWorks World
Back in late January Luxion unveiled KeyShot 4 at SolidWorks World 2013. Luxion is a world-leader in advanced rendering and lighting technology and the maker of KeyShot, the first real time ray tracing and global illumination program.
A big update in the new version is “Live Linking” capability with SolidWorks so that users can update their models in SolidWorks after they have been brought into KeyShot and yet not break all the work they have already started.
Other new features include an updated user interface with the ability to dock the library, project and timeline in a single window mode. Enhancements to the material editing touch on PANTONE and RAL color libraries and all new material types that turn any geometry into a local light source. There is also enhancements to translucent materials, material templates, importation, animation and much faster rendering.
01 - KeyShot 4 was unveiled at SolidWorks World 2013. New features include faster rendering, materials improvements and a refined user-interface. (image courtesy of Luxion. All rights reserved.)
KeyShot 4 is currently in a private beta and is expected to be released in Q1, 2013. A purchase of KeyShot 3 will automatically get you version 4 when released. KeyShot is available for Mac OS X and Windows. To learn more visit them here.
Arcom News
Arcom, the maker of the Mac and Windows compatible MasterWorks, has announced that Michael Heinsdorf PE, LEED AP, has joined the Arcom Engineering Specifications Writing Team. An experienced MasterSpec user throughout his professional carreer, Heinsdorf joins Arcom from his most recent position as a lead project engineer with the Philadelphi-based firm The Burns Group. To learn more visit here.
Pixologic has New Video Classroom
Pixologic has introduced new videos at ZClassroom, their online video-based virtual instruction classroom. There is a new five part series on Panel Loops, which were introduced in version 4R5. Panel Loops aid in hard surface modeling.
02 - Some exemplar work using ZBrush from users in ZBrushCentral.
Inside of Pixologic’s ZBrushCentral, their user forums, there is some beautiful new work, most notably “Resurection 2” an Alien inspired theme by Alex Kozhanov and “Blonde”, an absolutely stunning female creation by Sim Ki Yong.
Rand Worldwide Doubles Support for Food Banks
The passionate employees at Rand Worldwide, a global leader in providing technology solutions to organizations with engineering design and information technology requirements, focused on giving back to their local communities this past holiday season by helping replenish supplies at food banks across North America.
The Second Annual Rand Worldwide Food Drive Challenge resulted in a raising of nearly 8,000 pounds of food from nine (9) offices across North America. This doubled the amount of food raised last year.
“Although Rand Worldwide is a global organization, we all have strong ties back to the local communities in which we live and work,” says Carole Trask, vice president of human resources at Rand Worldwide. You can visit the Rand Worldwide Facebook page to see photos and learn more.