studioGPU

Point release brings a load of new features:  Max exporter, material library, animatable fog & more

Having watched a taping of the recent Montreal May 7 demonstration of MachStudio Pro, I was struck by how open the presenters were about the roadmap for future enhancements to MachStudio Pro. Of course I assumed these were all several months into the future.

To my delight however, this week MachStudio Pro has advanced to new version (1.0.2.10) which includes a load of new features - more than I would expect in a simple point release.

Highlights of MachStudio Pro v1.0.2.10

• Exporter for 3DS Max 2009 - With this addition there are now dedicated exporters for Maya 8.5, 2008, 2009 and Max 9, 2008, 2009, 2010 (64-bit versions coming soon are also available). A dedicated exporter makes it fast and easy to export geometry, animation, and cameras. Importantly, if you update the animation file in Maya or Max, simply open it again, and it will automatically update in MachStudio Pro. You can even update just a sequence of animation frames and plug-them right into the MachStudio Pro scene.
• High-quality Materials Library - 107 unique materials that you can apply to any material node (e.g. fabric, glass, paper, wood, marble, etc.). Tweak and adjust as you would for any shader.
• Animatable fog - This allows the appearance of a fog effect to change as the eye-point moves in relation to an image. Or create things like the effect of rising ground fog layers in the trees above a lakeshore.
• Enhanced shader control - Blinn and Blinn Reflective shaders now have a Specular Power slider, Blinn, Phong, Phong w/Bump and SubSurfaceScatter shaders have Angle slider to use with reflection maps, Car Paint shader now has Opacity Texture file option, etc.
• Diffuse and Specular render passes - Just as you can render out DOF, depth maps, glows, AO, etc. passes for later compositing, you can now render out the diffuse and specular passes.
• Unicode support - Asia is a fast growing market for animation and visualization production work. Need I say more?
• Assorted bug fixes -The kind of thing you expect in a point release.

You can check out all of the specifics in the v1.0.2.10 Release Notes.

Still on my wish list for the near term: motion blur, SolidWorks exporter, an easy way to convert shaders from other tools for use in MSP. Longer term: Mac OS X support and stereo 3D.

If there are features you want to see, please comment here or post to the MachStudio Pro General Forum.