VizWorld.com

All good things come in two

Well the subheading can actually be taken quite literally in this case. The truth is that I had actually written up a review for Strata Live 3D CX version 1.2. Well… it did not really have any similarities with the ease of use of the Strata Enfold 3D CX and Strata Design 3D CX applications at all.

Being a java-based application none of the ‘normal’ operating system conventions are retained. So you’ll have to dig exactly where in a normal system listed directory your desktop folder actually is because it will not be show in a nice icon way like usually is the case. This will throw you off at first and will make you search for paths on your system you never thought where there in the first place. So to tell it is a smooth ride, no… I would not say that.

I went on with my review to actually take it a bit further and say that the current version was actually not that very useful for the key audience that I see for the Strata Design Suite: the graphic- or package designer that wants to extend his communications into the realm of 3D without having any, or little prior knowledge of 3D software.

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Graphics feature, software, strata

I already mentioned in my previous review, Strata Design 3D CX’s potential power for graphic designers. Typically they know their way around the Adobe Suite of programs but are looking for ways to expand their presentation punch into the third dimension and further.

For those among you that actually are looking to do exactly this, your search may have come to an end when you buy the Strata Design 3D CX with their companion module Strata Enfold 3D CX. What Enfold 3D CX allows you to do is prepare your presentation battle right there in Adobe Illustrator. Here’s how this works.

Read on to see the rest of Albert’s Review, as well as download a sample PDF with the 3D model embedded for your own interactive exploration!

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Graphics enfold, feature, review, software, strata

The Strata Workspace

The roots of the developers behind Strata Design go back all the way to the late eighties. When Apple Macintoshes with tiny computer displays, ram measured in single digit megabytes and hard disks packed in whopping double digits ruled the computer graphic design landscape. Desktop publishing had only just started. Two Bringham Young University Students, Ken and Gary Bringhurst, wanted to create a 3D illustration package for the Mac that would offer sophisticated imagery that was, up until that point in time, unseen in consumer grade software, especially on an Apple Mac.

Over the years obviously things have changed and shifted the 3D landscape drastically and where once high-end 3D was only the domain of very expensive workstations like SGI, now there is a wealth of great 3D software packages available for every level of user.

During all this time Strata has seen many developers come and silently go away, or being folded into larger companies. But Strata has remained alert, active and very much in touch with what is still very much the growing market of visualization and 3D illustration.

Now with Design 3D CX 6 they have focused their direction even more to the ever growing need of designers who are fluent with 2D packages but are searching for way to show and communicate their work and their clients’ work in the third dimension. And it looks like Strata Design 3D CX 6 is just the package that will cater to this group of artists.

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Graphics feature, review, software, strata