Autodesk has announced a raft of new releases amongst its range of products. In particular, the Entertainment Creation Suite 2014 includes updates to Maya, 3ds Max, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Softimage and Sketchbook Designer.
So what are the new features?
Maya 2014 – includes an expanded, integrated modeling feature set, Grease Pencil and Paint Effects features. The Maya DX11Shader, working with enhancements to Viewport 2.0, enables artists to work in a high-quality real-time environment that closely matches final output. New Scene Assembly, a File Path Editor, and URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) support tools allows for easier building and managing of large and complex worlds.
The Populate tool in 3ds Max.
3ds Max 2014 – a new Populate feature lets artists generate moving or idle crowds, and there’s an updated Particle Flow toolset and a performance-enhanced viewport that now supports Microsoft DirectX 11 shaders. There are also Perspective Match and Vector Map tools.
Softimage 2014 – has a new Camera Sequencer toolset to cut between multiple cameras to edit clips, leaving the original animation data unchanged. Also there’s improved CrowdFX and ICE (Interactive Creative Environment) and an improved High-Quality Viewport plus integration into existing pipelines through improved support for animation data exchange via the Autodesk FBX 2014 format.
MotionBuilder 2014 – Linux operating system support is now available, as well as new motion capture workflow options, artist-friendly methods for positioning, measuring and selecting objects and the ability to use custom viewport renderers. There’s also an API (Application Programming Interface) for file referencing.
Mudbox 2014 – now offers single-click automatic and manual options to manipulate meshes or to precisely control various aspects of the output mesh with a user-directed solution. The release also has enhanced multi-touch workflows which include support for stencils and additional touch-enabled input devices.
SketchBook Designer 2014 – this hybrid paint and vector toolset enables exploration and presentation of new ideas for characters, props and environments.
Autodesk’s product announcements extend to their 3D design and engineering tools. One new announcement is ReCap, a pair of 3D scanning apps targeting designers, engineers and architects (Autodesk also has 123D Catch for mobile devices).
The company will be showcasing their products at NAB 2013 and discussing them, plus the state of the industry, at an Unfold Event in Montreal on March 27th. And you can learn more about the products with some Autodesk experts here, at the company’s new-look site.
And you can watch the full Autodesk Suites 2014 announcement in the video below:
courtesy : fxguide.com
