Digidesign previews Pro Tools 8
[permalink] 08.10.2008
At this year's 125th AES Convention, Digidesign announced several new products and upgrades - including the new Pro Tools 8 featuring a new interface, dozens of new plug-ins and virtual instruments, exciting new scoring and MIDI features, expanded editing and mixing capabilities, enhanced performance, and more (PDF Infosheet, DigidesignTV.) Pro Tools 8 is coming soon for Pro Tools|HD, Pro Tools LE, and Pro Tools M-Powered systems; exact release dates and pricing details were not yet disclosed. Also announced were 003 Rack+ Factory, virtual instrument and effect pack Music Production Toolkit 2, and Complete Production Toolkit, the most powerful expansion option for Pro Tools LE. [source]
www.digidesign.com

Mudbox 2009 released
[permalink] 08.10.2008
Autodesk has released the latest version of its digital sculpting software, Mudbox 2009. Also available is a new 30-day trial version, and an on-line help web page. Read our previous announcement for information on new features and pricing. You can buy the software using Autodesk's on-line shop. [source]
www.autodesk.com

imageSynth 2 compatible with Adobe Creative Suite 4
[permalink] 08.10.2008
Luxology announced the release of imageSynth 2, the newest version of its seamless texture generator designed in cooperation with French specialist Allegorithmic. The software allows to quickly create a new synthetic image based on areas of interest that are identified in one or more source images, and its latest version features up to ten times faster performance, new stand-alone version, compatibility with Adobe Creative Suite 4, dual-core specific optimizations, improved memory management and new control over chunk size and orientation. imageSynth 2 is available now for for Windows and Mac OS X-based workstations, and is priced at $99 US. Existing users can upgrade for $49 US. [source]
www.luxology.com

ZBrush 3.12 for Mac Intel available
[permalink] 06.10.2008
Mac Intel version of Pixologic's digital sculpting application ZBrush 3 has been released! Read our previous article for more information. [source]
www.pixologic.com

exrTrader for LightWave 3D updated to v1.2
[permalink] 06.10.2008
db&w's OpenEXR support plug-in for LightWave 3D, exrTrader, has been updated to version 1.2. This maintenance update is available for both Windows (32- and 64-bit) and Mac OS X systems and comes with the following changes and fixes: support for Janus (multi-pass rendering system for LW), added display gamma and gamma correction for buffers, un-multiply by alpha option for buffers, LightWave 3D 9.5 compatible metadata support, and more. The update is free for registered users (download it here), full license is priced at 39 EUR. [source]
www.db-w.com

GIMP 2.6 with revamped GUI and 32-bit internal processing
[permalink] 02.10.2008
Version 2.6 of the GNU Image Manipulation Program - or GIMP - brings user interface enhancements (toolbox merged with the image window menubar, ability to pan beyond image border...) as well as important internal changes, most notably porting of all color processing operations to the powerful graph-based framework GEGL (activate using Colors / Use GEGL option.) See the Release Notes web page for more information on new features. Free downloads: Windows (15MB), English Help (22MB), Linux, Mac OS X. [source]
www.gimp.org

More support for the REDs
[permalink] 02.10.2008
Eyeon (PR) and Avid (PR, dedicated web site, Workflow Guide), makers of video-postproduction software, announced their support for the .r3d file format used by the RED ONE camera. [source]
www.red.com

URS Saturation plug-in updated to v2.0
[permalink] 02.10.2008
Audio software specialist Unique Recording Software updated its URS Saturation plug-in to version 2.0. The new plug-in, designed to simulate the sound of vintage analog recording paths (read the original announcement), adds two new preamplifier saturation algorithms ('Class A Tube Mic Pre Amplifier - 1951', 'Class A Tube Mic Pre Amplifier - Tape Deck'), as well as tape head saturation, and transformer core saturation. URS Saturation supports RTAS, Audio Units and VST hosts running on both Windows and Mac OS X workstations, and can be purchased for an introductory price of $199.99 US ($249.99 US MSRP). Users of the previous version are eligible for a free upgrade. The 10-day trial version requires registration and an iLok... [source]
www.ursplugins.com

Unwrella helps unwrap Max models
[permalink] 29.09.2008
German games and video production company 3D-IO released an open beta of its upcoming Max plug-in Unwrella. It is a new plug-in for Autodesk 3D Studio Max 9, 2008 and 2009 (both 32- and 64-bit versions) providing a 'one-click-solution' to texture unwrapping with minimum stretching. Download the open beta here. [source]
www.unwrella.com

Adobe Creative Suite 4 family to ship in October
[permalink] 24.09.2008
Adobe announced Creative Suite 4 product family. Adobe’s biggest software release to date includes Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design editions (What's New PDF document), Creative Suite 4 Web editions (What's New PDF document), Creative Suite 4 Production Premium (What's New PDF document), Creative Suite 4 Master Collection (Master Collection at a Glance PDF document), as well as 13 point products, 14 integrated technologies and seven services (more). See our separate announcements for information on new versions of: Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended, InDesign CS4 and Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional and Dreamweaver CS4, After Effects CS4 and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, as well as Soundbooth CS4. See the prices and comparison charts of all the available editions here. Adobe Creative Suite 4 and its associated point products are scheduled to ship in October 2008. [source]
www.adobe.com