Stories by: Michael Burns

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    Daz 3D Bryce 7 09/11/2010 14:10:00

    Able to design terrains, water and oceans, skies, clouds, fog, vegetation and architecture, along with strong animation and rendering tools, Bryce is a venerable 3D suite now being developed by Daz As to be expected, Bryce 7 Pro offers close integration with Daz Studio and thus access to the Daz library of digital characters and objects, but there's a welcome new ability to import models in Google Sketchup format, as well as import and export COLLADA and FBX files.
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    Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 19/07/2010 09:27:00

    Adobe is aiming high with the newly native 64-bit Premiere CS5, offering a range of cutting-edge features for the professional video market. First among these is the GPU-accelerated Adobe Mercury Playback Engine (MPE). This allows you to open and work with HD and higher-resolution sequences in real time, enjoy smooth scrubbing and play back complex projects without rendering.
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    Maxon Cinema 4D R11.5 11/12/2009 09:57:00

    Maxon’s modelling, animation and rendering software fills a technical and economic niche between the likes of quick modellers, such as SketchUp, and the full-blown power of Maya. The application now runs faster, offering a quick, fluid modelling experience when running on Mac OS X Snow Leopard on our MacBook Pro, but also holds up well on Leopard on a PowerMac G5 (R11.5 also offers support for Windows 7 and older).
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    QuarkXpress 8.1 04/09/2009 16:15:00

    QuarkXPress 8 was a fairly thorough restructuring of the venerable DTP application. This update, free to registered users of version 8, is mainly concerned with addressing bugs and sorting out the workflow. However there are some new capabilities, especially in terms of PDF creation.
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    Luxology modo 401 12/08/2009 14:00:00

    Already a well specified modelling tool, modo gets stronger in animation and particularly rendering with the 401 release. There’s now a preset library, packed with models, textures, environments and materials.
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    Bonzai3d 1.0 17/06/2009 16:30:00

    AutoDesSys’ Bonzai3d is a brand-new 3D sketching tool aimed at two camps: illustrators and digital artists who want to mock up scenes in 3D to create accurate-looking arrangements and perspectives for compositions, and 3D artists who want to quickly rough out scenes for clients to sign off on before beginning modelling in earnest.
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    Adobe Director 11.5 04/06/2009 15:30:00

    Director, Adobe’s tool for creating interactive content, for both online and standalone applications, gains several key features with version 11.5. High-def has arrived for Director and the Shockwave player, in the form of support for H.264 video.
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    E-on Software Vue 7 Infinite/xStream 15/05/2009 15:30:00

    The latest version of E-on’s Vue line of landscape-generation applications doesn’t add any new types of elements to its collection of tools for creating landscapes, skies, trees, plants and volumetric clouds – so the new version’s features are largely refinements and enhancements.
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    Autodesk 3DS Max 2010 01/05/2009 16:05:00

    The newest version of Autodesk’s 3D suite contains some major interface changes. On opening 3DS Max 2010, you’ll immediately be aware of the new Graphite Modelling toolset. This allows you to directly select and manipulate polygon objects.
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    Google Sketchup Pro 7 21/04/2009 15:00:00

    Google’s 3D sketching software SketchUp offers a great way to lay out an initial design for a 3D scene or artwork. Illustrators and digital artists can use the free version for occasional work, then take their sketches into Photoshop and Illustrator to create artwork. Animators and 3D artists – and illustrators who use it regularly – should look to the paid-for Pro version, which offers 3D output to professional 3D suites, project-management tools and client-presentation functions.
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    Story Planner Pro 3.1 17/04/2009 12:30:00

    Story Planner Pro offers a quick way to break the story behind an animation or video sequence down into key scenes.
 
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