Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/26447
Luxology Delivers Modo 501 Luxology revolutionized 3D modeling when it introduced Modo several years ago; recently, the company delivered the next evolution of modeling, painting, and rendering with Modo 502 for the PC and Macintosh. Software that includes 3D modeling and sculpting tools, plus animation and network rendering, Modo 501 offers enhancements in workfl ow, performance, and extensibility. Pixar Subdivision surfac- es have been added for sharper creases and improved transferability, while sculpt- ing tools now work on multi-resolution meshes, thereby facilitating both coarse and fi ne adjustments to surfaces as needed. The advent of RayGL brings even greater realism in Modo viewports, effectively merging modeling and render- PRODUCT: MODELING 3DVia Gets Users in Shape 3DVia rolled out the newest version of its 3D modeling soft- ware, 3DVia Shape 4.0, for creating any type of image quick- ly and easily with just the touch of a fi nger. Designers use their fi ngers to generate a model within Shape 4.0, thanks to the software’s multi-touch inter- face capability. With a touch-screen PC or tablet running Windows 7, they can use both hands to model creations as they would with clay. Employing the new version, users can now work off-line, designing models without having to log in to 3DVia’s Web site. Models can be made off-line as drafts and later upload- ed to the site for publishing. Also new is the ability to view and experience Shape models in stereo 3D with any red/ blue anaglyph glasses. Additionally, users can take screen- shots of their models and save them, even as an anaglyph for 3D viewing. Shape 4.0 is available as a free download from the compa- ny’s Web site at www.3dvia.com. 4 PRODUCT: MODELING January/February 2011 Dassault Rolls Out New V6 Dassault Systèmes, a leader in 3D and PLM solutions, recently launched the latest version of its V6 release, V6R2011x. As a new step toward the company’s lifelike experience vision, this release delivers competitive advan- tages in all three domains of the V6 organic architecture: rich applications, online platform, and universal services. V6R2011x rich applications include 479 new functions and eight new solutions to support Dassault customers’ collab- orative creation processes for all targeted industries using Catia, Delmia, and Simulia brands. The V6R2011x Enovia online platform, meanwhile, delivers seven new products and 359 cross-industry and industry-specifi c functions. Enovia solutions focus on helping customers implement more effi - cient, innovation-driven governance and sourcing business processes. Enovia solutions rely on the V6 cloud-ready online platform for lifecycle and collaboration management. The price tag for the new V6 release varies according to confi guration. PRODUCT: CAD ing, while animation rigging has become more simplifi ed with a visual connec- tion editor. Moreover, users can direct the Preview Renderer to work fi rst on areas located under the mouse, and then progressively resolve to near-fi nal image quality. And, one-click modeling tools and improved snapping accelerate common modeling operations for addressing common tasks quickly. One of the biggest improvements can be seen in the rendering, which is faster and cleaner. Modo 501 gains, on aver- age, a 30 to 40 percent increase in rendering speed, which benefi ts both fi nal rendering and texture-baking opera- tions. Depth-of-fi eld quality is enhanced as well, while bump and displacement mapping is crisper, fur can display kink and frizz effects, and a new occlusion texturing option generates worn and weathered effects automatically. Modo 501 also sports improvements to the SDK to enable third-party developers to introduce totally new items, commands, and tools. Plug-ins can now create geometry parametrically, which also can be converted to a mesh, and procedural textures can create keyframed, multi- channel textures. Plug-ins can extend the Modo tool set by providing new ways to create and edit geometry, and command plug-ins enable the development of native C++ based actions. While some things have changed, Modo’s price has not, remaining at $995; upgrades from any version of the software costs $395.