Discreet will introduce 3ds max 7.5 in mid-April, just in time for NAB, an upgrade exclusively for its 3ds max subscription customers that will deliver a broad range of new features and capabilities ranging from a robust integrated hair and fur system, the most current version of mental ray 3.4 by mental images and a new design toolset that combines the feature sets of 3ds max and Autodesk VIZ software.
The 3ds max 7.5 software subscription upgrade will especially equip 3ds max software artists working in feature film and game cinematics who want to raise the bar for their 3ds max software work. Design visualization artists will also benefit from a substantial new set of complementary design visualization features and the mental ray 3.4 advanced rendering features from improved interoperability with DWG-based 3D CAD applications such as Autodesk Revit and Autodesk VIZ.
"With 3ds max 7.5 software, Discreet further underlines its leadership in total cost of ownership and redefines the level of expectation for a high end 3D package-that ultimately gives our artists the power of an integrate professional 3D pipeline at their fingertips," said Marc Petit, vp of production development at Discreet.
New features include:
* Hair and Fur-based on Joe Alter's highly regarded "Shave and a Haircut" solution; the hair and fur in 3ds max 7.5 software offers numerous styling and dynamics tools for creating realistic hair and other strand-derivative effects.
* Styling tools-brush tool for combing hair and brushing along complicated contours with "re-comb," as well as support for clumping and frizz for added realism.
* Hair dynamics tools-using the dynamics engine of Shave and the dynamic forces of 3ds max to inherit inertia directly from the Skin or any other modifier's surface movement.
* mental ray integration-fast, memory-efficient and direct rendering using the native mental ray hair primitive.
* Hair, plus-instanced geometry can be used as individual hairs to easily create forests, fields of flowers and other landscapes.
* Each seat of 3ds max 7.5 will provide access to numerous mental ray 3.4 optimizations, including faster final gathering performance, and fast rasterization for first-generation rays.
* Radiosity Adaptive Subdivision adds adaptive subdivision to the radiosity plug-in, enabling higher quality, more accurate and more efficient radiosity processing.
* Batch render gives users a solution to quickly render a series of stills from different angles, with the option to change render settings and layers in between views.
* UVW mapping improvement: place physically-scaled materials onto objects in the scene more easily and accurately with support for real-world measurements.
* Sweep modifier: "Loft" a shape or profile along lines or polylines imported from AutoCAD or line work created in 3ds max, even applying pre-set shapes to simple linework.
* Scene State: capture object, layer, material, camera and light information as a "scene state" that can be saved and restored at will.
* Autodesk Revit 7 Interoperability: Autodesk Revit users can now create high-quality images of their models with 3ds max 7.5 by importing/linking a Revit model via the DWG format, and having their scene objects correspond directly to individual Revit objects.
* Autodesk Inventor Interoperability: access the Inventor file option directly within the import tool.
* DWF export: convey ideas and share designs by exporting models from 3ds max 7.5 for viewing with Autodesk DWF Viewer and Autodesk DWF Composer.
3ds max 7.5 software will be available to customers in the Discreet Subscription Program, a group that has grown to include more than 40,000 Discreet 3ds max software artists worldwide who value early access to new functionalities. 3ds max subscription customers can be eligible to receive valuable self-paced training options, feature-rich product extensions and a broad range of other technology and business benefits.
Discreet 3ds max software is available for $3,495 and 3ds max subscription is available for an additional $440. For more information about the subscription program for 3ds max software, contact a Discreet Authorized Reseller or visit www.discreet.com/subscription/.
Discreets (www.discreet.com) award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management, and delivery-across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, web/interactive and design visualization. Discreet is based in Montréal, Québec, and is the media and entertainment division of Autodesk Inc. (www.autodesk.com), the leading design and digital media creation, management and distribution company.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
