Maxon, the developer of professional software solutions for editors, filmmakers, motion designers, visual effects artists and creators, has announced significant updates to several products included in the company’s Maxon One subscription offering.
The updates include:
Redshift 3.5.17
Redshift 3.5.17 allows for easier randomisation of materials, takes the first step towards non-photo-real materials and improves performance when using Redshift CPU mode and continues to extend DCC support.
A new Jitter Node lets users automatically apply colour variation across a large number of objects with the same material applied. Suitable for creating foliage, rocks, a mason jar full of gumballs or a crate of delicious avocados of varying degrees of ripeness. The Jitter Node is currently available for most DCCs (Cinema 4D, ZBrush, 3ds Max, Maya, Houdini, Katana).
A new MatCap Shader Node allows users to quickly create simple stylised materials by mapping an image onto a mesh relative to the render camera. This lays the foundation for non-photo-real materials in Redshift.
Redshift is now available for the latest version of Maya on macOS systems.
Redshift CPU rendering performance now scales better with additional CPU cores or even multiple CPUs in one system, resulting in faster render times for users of Redshift CPU.
Texture Memory Optimisations provide overall performance improvements when handling textures in Redshift.
Trapcode 2023.4
Trapcode 2023.4 aims to ease users’ workflows. A new built-in Bounce Ground Plane serves as an additional bounce surface with its own height and rotation controls. It allows VFX and motion graphics artists to set up an infinite bounce plane with just a couple of clicks. This new Bounce plane comes with several pre-designed setups and allows users to create and save their own Bounce presets.
Child systems can now inherit the Particle Type, Size and Opacity values from their parent system at the time of their birth.
Trapcode now features three new gradient interpolation models in addition to the existing RGB model. This allows for a wider array of creative choices and possibilities for crafting transitions.
Thanks to a new Curve Mirror Mode, users can create perfectly symmetrical curves. Just click “Mirror” in the menu and enjoy perfectly mirrored curves along the horizontal axis. No more fussing to mirror any curve by hand!
Particular Designer now calls the After Effects colour picker instead of the operating system’s default colour picker.
3D Stroke and Sound Keys now benefit from the same color and curve UI updates previously implemented in Particular.
Forger
The latest update to Forger includes a Sketch Sculpt Brush which allows users to create new shapes, new Area and IES Lights complement the existing types of lights, and a new Action Point camera navigation makes it more intuitive to rotate your camera around the area of interest.
A new Lighting toolset now includes Area and IES lights.
New Sweep and Lathe tools add new modelling capabilities to Forger: Use the Sweep tool to create pipes or horns or turn a complex profile using the Lathe tool.
Set Flow is a tool for rounding out harsh bevels by adjusting the curvature on a selection of edges based on surrounding geometry.
The Fit Circle tool allows users to model round details. Simply select a group of polygons and use interactive handles to adjust the size of the circle. Thanks to the flatten option, the surface can be averaged at the same time.
Forger now offers complete hierarchy support, making it easy to organize your creations, group elements and manipulate groups together.
Capsules
The latest additions to Capsules, Maxon’s collection of tailor-made assets to enhance artists projects, include a collection of Redshift materials created by visualisation experts Fuchs & Vogel and a new set of Laubwerk plants:
26 new Redshift glass materials perfect for architectural visualization, product shots and motion graphics. These materials include a collection of condensation materials that make it easy to add rain on windows or water droplets on ice cold beverages. In addition to basic “perfect” glass Maxon has included a collection of smoked, distorted, dirty and smudged variations perfect for visualizing downtown lofts or creating VFX shots. Half of these materials are available to customers with active Cinema 4D subscriptions while the other half are an exclusive benefit for Maxon One subscribers.
In addition, Maxon has unveiled the second pack of Laubwerk plants, featuring 51 high-quality plant models suitable for architectural visualization, visual effects shots and illustration.