Strata, a leading producer of 3D design software for the Mac, this month announced the latest version of its award-winning Strata Design 3D CX software. Designed for creative professionals, Version 8 introduces several important new features within an enhanced design workflow. Importantly, it also leverages several new technologies in Apple’s Mac OS X operating system to provide access to more memory and faster rendering.
Strata Design 3D CX 8—Features Overview
Key new features in version 8 include all new 64-bit rendering enhancements. LiveRay, Strata’s interactive photo-real renderer, lets users quickly interact with their models to perfect their textures and lighting.
Other new features include Publish 3D for outputting to augmented reality (AR) applications, SketchFab support (for online interactive visualization) and i.materialize (a 3D printing platform). Software shadows are now available from all light sources, including global lights. New anti-alias filters and HDRI image adjustments provide more control over final renders.
HDR Light Studio is integrated and available as a plugin application, allowing users to easily create studio-like lighting and interactively place reflections by clicking on 3D surfaces.
01 – Strata Design 3D CX 8 is the company’s flagship product. Strata Design SE is their entry level version app. (shown above)
Direct linking of Adobe Illustrator files to surface textures has been added to the existing Photoshop linking, allowing designers to automatically update surface textures when saving the source file. This features was a top request from packaging designers who can now link 2D print production files to their 3D visualizations.
Strata Design 3D CX 8 supports a robust import/export functionality for working with graphics design packages, including Adobe Photoshop (in/out), Illustrator (in/out) and font apps. Additionally, for CAD users, the program supports OBJ (in/out), DXF (in/out), Collada (in/out), STL (in/out), and 3DS, MiniCAD, and U3D (in).
To learn more about the many details of the new Strata Design 3D CX 8, visit here online.
Pricing and Availability
Users of the existing 7 series product can upgrade to Design 3D CX 8 for as little as $19.95.USD per month or purchase a standard upgrade license starting at $199.USD. Both subscription and standard licenses are available for new users as well. Strata Design 3D CX 8 is only available for Mac OS X at the moment (version 7.5 is available for Windows) and requires Mac OS X 10.9.x or later, 4 GB of memory, 5GB hard drive and a 1028 x 768 capable display. There is also a free trial version available here.