Gelato 2.1 is in beta testing, with commercial release planned for this fall. As with earlier versions of Gelato software, the basic version of Gel ato 2.1 software will be available at no charge to users. The Gelato 2.1 Pro software, which incorporates advanced scalability and support features for advanced production pipelines, is available for purchase.

Gelato 2.1 and Gelato Pro software support the Windows XP and Linux operating systems and run on NVIDIA GeForce 5200 or higher graphics, or any NVIDIA Quadro FX solution. Gelato Pro software, however, is certified and supported only on NVIDIA Quadro FX boards.

Gelato software is available for download at the website; Gelato Pro software is priced at $1,500 and available from NVIDIA at store.nvidia.com and from authorized regional resellers. Maintenance and support contract renewals are $300 per license at the end of the first year of ownership.

Coinciding with the announcement of the Gelato 2.1 beta is of the launch of Gelato Zone (www.nvidia.com/gelato), a new online community for artists and animators. The new Gelato Zone website offers visitors valuable support and training information for Gelato software, tips and tricks to optimize and enhance the product, and technology blogs from the Gelato software development team, providing firsthand advice and advanced 3D rendering tips and techniques for Gelato rendering software.

Luxology’s modo 202 offers a significant update over 201. © Luxology.

Grand Visions for the Future
Meanwhile, in light of the recent AMD acquisition of ATI, in which the processing prowess of the former would be combined with the graphics capabilities of the latter, we can expect a whole new line of platforms in the not too distant future. These platforms would range from general purpose to data-centric to graphics centric to media centric. However, AMD insists that it will continue its relationship with NVIDIA as part of a commitment to an open platform, while ATI still supports Intel, offering customer choice, new opportunities and its own commitment to open standards.

In other software news, Luxology launched modo 202, an update to its 3D modeling, painting and rendering software. Boasting a peak rendering speed that is more than 40% faster than modo 201, registered modo 201 customers can upgrade to modo 202 free of charge, and a free 30-day full-featured evaluation version is now available for download from the website.

“modo 202 is a significant advancement towards our grand vision for modo,” stated Luxology president/co-founder Brad Peebler. “We built modo from the ground up to integrate modeling, painting and rendering in a way that dramatically improves workflow for 3D designers in all disciplines. modo 202 refines this development one step further, allowing artists to focus even more on creating and less on process and repetitive steps.”

modo 202’s new and improved features include:

• Rendering: In addition to a speed increase, the rendering workflow is streamlined by improvements to the render window, including a convenient way to interactively adjust gamma display and a handy way to flip between 10 images for render review. The render window now provides an editable Limited Region control for quickly rendering a specific portion of the image. Soft shadows can now be generated from point and spot lights. Faster, more accurate image map re-sampling improves final image generation, and irradiance caching improvements substantially elevate global illumination quality and performance.

• Modeling: Enhancements include a new create SubDiv option for the popular Pen tool, and a thicken tool for adding inner or outer thickness to geometry. A totally new object-to-object baking capability captures the surface detail of a complex object and automatically applies it to a simpler object for realtime applications. New “game” and “unitless” grids further increase modo’s suitability for modeling game assets. A new bounding box display option for geometry facilitates the manipulation of large datasets. UV editing operations are expedited in modo 202 with a new filled UV display mode that highlights unwanted overlaps in the UV editor. A new interactive UV relax with a pinning feature greatly simplifies the process of untangling overlapping UVs.

• Painting: 3D painting behavior is improved when working on challenging areas such as folded UVs and along UV borders. 3D painting workflow is also bolstered with a new visible image ink display model, which lets artists place an image over a model and brush the image onto an underlying model. A new image ink stamp mode speeds the interactive rapid placement of logos, dirtmaps, scars or other images on the surface of models.

• Improved workflow: Enhancements include the ability to see scene lights in Advanced OpenGL, and to interactively adjust the F-Stop, focal length and focal distance of cameras. Support for Autodesk FBX and X3D formats are extended for expanded interoperability with other 3D applications.

modo 202 is priced at $895. Users with earlier versions of modo can upgrade directly to modo 202 for $395. modo 202 is available through Luxology and its worldwide reseller partners on both the Windows and Mac OS X platforms.

morpheme:runtime’s pipeline chart. © NaturalMotion.

NaturalMotion showed off euphoria, its cutting edge run-time Dynamic Motion Synthesis technology that is being used in several next-gen games, including LucasArts’ Indiana Jones 2007 (working title); and endorphin 2.6, the newest version of its 3D character animation software. The company also announced morpheme, a powerful new animation engine for next-generation game development. Featuring a flexible and unique 3D authoring tool chain, morpheme is designed to give animators unprecedented creative control over the look of their final in-game animation by allowing them to author and preview blends, transitions and logic in realtime. morpheme will be available in October on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

morpheme consists of two components: morpheme:runtime and morpheme:connect. morpheme:runtime is a run-time engine that ships with full source code. morpheme:connect is a 3D authoring application that allows animators to graphically author blend trees and transition logic (based on Hierarchical Finite State Machines), modify and edit parameters through sliders and view the results in realtime. morpheme is designed as a flexible and open system and does not require the licensing of any other product. morpheme is also designed to seamlessly integrate with other leading 3D animation software and middleware technologies, such as physics engines.