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Alexandra Institute Releases Elementacular 1.3 for Maya 2016

Based on cutting-edge computer graphics research, Elementacular 1.3 includes new tutorials, support for Maya 2016 and a number of bug fixes.

AARHUS, DENMARKAlexandra Institute announced the release of Elementacular 1.3 based on cutting-edge computer graphics research. It includes new tutorials, support for Maya 2016 and a number of bug fixes.

Forget the long simulation and rendering times normally associated with volume construction. Elementacular is fully driven by geometry, combined with powerful GPU accelerated user-controlled fractal generation. Quickly tweak your results without having to re-parameterize.

Control clouds entirely by geometry manipulations

Elementacular changes the way you work with volumes. Normally creating clouds is a very time consuming complex process involving fluid simulations and complex final render setup. Elementacular enables a dramatically different workflow allowing you to transform geometry into complex beautiful clouds by simply applying the Elementacular Cloud Shader to your piece of geometry. You maintain full control over the cloud shape through direct manipulation of the underlying geometry, even after it is converted into a cloud. If you do not like your resulting cloud go ahead and adjust the geometry, lighting or fractal.

Render photorealistic clouds in real-time

The plugin gives real-time high-quality rendering directly in the viewport and supports advanced multi-scattering of light inside the cloud for added realism. Because of this the artist is able to tweak the look of the cloud to their liking in a very direct manner.

This version includes the following improvements:

  • Support for Maya 2016.
  • More robust conversion of clouds to Maya fluid containers.
  • Correct lighting when light sources are inside clouds.
  • Fixed issues with latest Nvidia drivers.

Elementacular for Maya is available now. A free trial is available here.

Source: Alexandra Institute

Jennifer Wolfe's picture

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.