Aided by its normal mapping feature, one of the most important advancements in 3D game development with crossover application in film and design visualization cinematics, Discreets 3ds max 7 begins shipping Oct. 13, 2004.
This major release delivers significant advancements and optimizations to its core features that will greatly enhance the workflow for 3D artists and designers in film, television, games and visualization.
"There isn't another piece of software that's been able to lure us away from 3ds max, or has presented us with a toolset we can't get within 3ds max software. With 3ds max we can tackle anything that comes our way," said Richard Rosenman, 3D animation director, Red Rover Animation Studios Ltd., Toronto.
Many of the latest interactive PC and console games shipping for Christmas 2004 are using normal maps to increase the visual fidelity of their games. 3ds max 7 software is leading the charge in normal mapping innovation by adding extreme detail to low-polygon models with high resolution maps and with complete rendering support.
Other key new features in 3ds max 7 include:* mental ray 3.3: Enhanced integration in 3ds max software with accelerated performance and better memory efficiency. Improved global illumination, new support for render to texture and normal mapping, and sub-surface scattering that disperses light for amazingly realistic skin and dense translucent object rendering.* character studio software: Integrated advanced character animation toolset into the core feature set of 3ds max 7 software. Adds industry leading price/performance capabilities to the existing 3ds max software character toolset.* Parameter Collector and Editor: A new, unified interface that improves efficiency when animating multiple parameters for any character setup.* Edit Poly Modifier: Significantly increases the speed and ease at which complex polygonal surfaces can be created, modified and then animated improving the creative process.* Skin Wrap Deformer: Greatly improved character animation workflow with easy application of props and clothing to pre-skinned 3D models.* Snapping Workflow: Improved accuracy and viewport feedback for the underlying snapping system in 3ds max software.* Reaction Manager: A new interface and workflow for managing reactions and animations between objects.* Paint Selections: An intuitive and interactive method for building selections with a brush-based interface.* Enhanced Interactive Performance and Scalability: An ongoing program to ensure that 3ds max software can scale to very large datasets, including smart object culling for high performance manipulation of objects as well as turbosmooth, a highly optimized smoothing algorithm for increased performance of high resolution models.* Mobile Gaming Development Tools: Native mobile 3D asset creation with new JSR 184 exporter.
"We are thrilled with the vast adoption of 3ds max 7 software from positive beta testing feedback, early upgrades, aggressive subscription orders and new customers since its introduction at SIGGRAPH earlier this year," said Marc Petit, vp of product development, Discreet.
3ds max 7 software sells for $3,495. Localized versions are planned to be available by end of year and early 2005. Upgrade pricing from 3ds max 6 is $795; and 3ds max 5 $1,295. Discreet's Subscription Program benefits customers with access to new software feature extensions, patches, upgrades and e-learning content for an annual fee. For more information, visit www.discreet.com/subscription/ and resellers.
Discreet's award-winning solutions are designed for digital media creation, management and deliver across all disciplines from film and television visual effects, color grading and editing to animation, game development, Web/interactive and design visualization. Discreet (www.discreet.com) is based in Montreal, Quebec, and is a division of Autodesk Inc, the leading design and digital media creation
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
