Maxon kicks off its New Year with a round of major new Maxon One updates. In an announcement dated 11 January 2023, Maxon has listed significant updates right across the entire Maxon One range.
Maxon’s ZBrush sees some especially big developments within this release. It includes the integration of Redshift in ZBrush. This allows artists to create high-quality renders with first steps integration of Redshift, together with better sculpting workflows.
Maxon CEO, David McGavran.
Maxon CEO, David McGavran explains:
“The integration of Redshift into ZBrush brings artists a level of power and flexibility that was previously unimaginable. This is a major milestone for Maxon and achieves our goal of making Redshift accessible to all artists and creators. This update also brings with it a host of new features and workflows that will help artists push the boundaries of their creativity and bring their visions to life.”
Extensive Maxon One updates
Architectural changes enable Maxon software to utilize the power of M1 and M2-powered Macs. Further improvements to ZBrush include the addition of new sculpting tools such as Slime Bridge, Sculptris Pro, Dynamic Symmetry, Mask Region, and Apply Last Action.
Additional updates to the rest of the product line see Forger continue to expand creative capabilities on iPad beyond sculpting. These include a complete modeling toolset with subdivision surfaces and symmetry. Red Giant Trapcode brings key performance improvements too. These include creating dramatic particle simulations in Adobe After Effects and ongoing delivery of new Capsule content.
Forger
Artists can create anywhere as Forger capabilities on the iPad continue to expand beyond sculpting. Artists gain access to a complete polygonal modeling toolset, including subdivision surfaces and symmetry.
Maxon Capsules
Maxon continues to deliver useful Capsule content on a regular basis, giving subscribers a creative kick-start with over 75 Redshift-optimized models, 30 Redshift Wood, Metal, and Liquid materials, plus an additional 30 exclusive Maxon One materials. With a new Wave Spline primitive created in partnership with Rocket Lasso, Maxon One subscribers can simulate oscilloscopes, sound forms, and other animated waveforms.
Red Giant Trapcode
Red Giant Trapcode brings key performance improvements for artists to create dramatic particle simulations in Adobe After Effects. As part of an ongoing focus on performance, Maxon has made some moderate improvements to Particular, its particle simulations feature. A new optimized workflow allows linking an emitter to any 3D layer. Performance has also been optimized when using animated Physics Time Factors. Memory management has been improved for Form particles too.
ZBrush
ZBrush received the most significant 2003 Maxon One updates. These include the following:
Apply Last Action
The Apply Last Action to All SubTools function allows for the application of material attributes, color information, and any other “undoable” operations to multiple subtools inside the ZBrush Tool Palette with the click of a button.
Crease Edge UV Unwrap
Crease Edge automatically detects the most efficient hard edges and “creases” where UV seams should be placed for UV map generation.
Dynamic Symmetry
Local Symmetry utilizes the Gizmo inside ZBrush. This provides the opportunity to keep symmetry within the ZBrush workspace while moving models off the center axis. Users can also control the symmetry line of action while manipulating the placement of assets anywhere in the ZBrush world space.
Mask Region
This allows artists to mask complex shapes easily, using a feature called Auto Region. Simply paint indicators in simple or complex shapes to determine areas that should be filled and mask multiple areas with the push of a button.
Redshift in ZBrush
Maxon’s development team is bringing world-class rendering directly within ZBrush. This first step of Redshift integration delivers new and exciting workflows to render high-quality images with subsurface scattering and emissive light generation. Redshift for ZBrush supports Standard, Matcap, and Redshift materials. This provides increased realism when creating metal surfaces and caustics for glass.
Sculptris Pro
The latest additions to this already robust tool allow artists to use a slider to increase mesh density in desired areas while also reducing the size of triangles.
Slime Bridge
Now artists can use the power of the ZBrush masking system to create complex geometric connections and designs from one masked island to another. Controls for Tension, Bridges, Calipers and Branches make it easy to instantly create sinewy, slimy connections between any two surfaces.
ZRemesher, Retry, and Keep PolyPaint
One of the industry’s best automatic retopology features becomes better. It now has options to store and compare the results of different settings. It can also optimize meshes at any point in production with the new option to Keep PolyPaint. This seamlessly projects the existing color onto newly constructed meshes.
Availability
All Maxon One updates are immediately available to subscribers via Maxon App and the Maxon website.
About Maxon
Based in Bad Homburg, Germany, Maxon creates powerful yet easy-to-use software for content creators working in 2D and 3D design, motion graphics, visual effects, and visualization. Maxon’s innovative product portfolio helps artists supercharge their creative workflows. Its product lines include the award-winning Cinema 4D suite of 3D modeling, simulation and animation technology.
It also includes the creativity-on-the-go Forger mobile sculpting app and the diverse Red Giant lineup of revolutionary editing, motion design, and filmmaking tools. Then there’s leading-edge, blazingly fast Redshift renderer that has recently been integrated with ZBrush, its industry-standard digital sculpting and painting software.
Maxon is part of the Nemetschek Group.