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Just in time for SIGGRAPH, MAXON has just released the next generation of their popular CINEMA4D product, adding in stereoscopic workflow enhancements and a great new rendering engine to do physically-accurate rendering with subsurface scattering and more.  Also, it’s the 25th anniversary of this great graphics Company.

“CINEMA 4D R13 is supercharged with numerous productivity enhancements that cater to the multi-collaboration challenges our customers face every day,” Harald Egel states. “Artists interested in expanding their capabilities will love the new character tools. And, of course, the physical renderer with stereoscopic functionality is incredibly important as the new way to deliver immersive entertainment.”

It runs on Mac & PC, and supports up to 256 threads for some great parallel-processing performance.  You can get all the details of the new release after the break.

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Graphics cinema4d, maxon, software

MAXON Cinema4D users have a new toy to check out called ‘m4d’, or MentalRay for Cinem4D.  It’s actually both Mental Ray and mental image’s new iray realtime rendering tool, available as a plugin.  Currently in Beta, it’s available for € 980.

Two renderers for one price

By purchasing m4d you’ll get two completely different renderers which are fully implemented:

mental ray and iray.

Thus, you are in posession of the most elaborate render engines, for GPU as well as for CPU based renderings.

m4d | mental ray for cinema 4d.

Graphics cinema4d, iray, maxon, mental images, plugin

Do you love MAXON Cinema4D and want to try Stereoscopic rendering?  Then be sure to check out this free stereoscopic camera rig plugin.  It’s got a nice feature list:

• off axis setup
• optional parallel or toed-in setup
• image width & FOV calculator for parallel setup
• automatic near- & farplane calculation
• automatic camera distance calculation
• anaglyph preview in black and white, full color & optimized anaglyph (still stretched, when frame to small – grrrr) Needs Mograph2 Camera Shader. If you don’t have Mograph, maybe this free Plug-In will help: Camera Shader

Check out the demo video, and go check it out for yourself.

SV Stereo Rig v3.1 – free stereoscopic camera rig for Cinema 4D from Stefan Voigt on Vimeo.

via Download free stereoscopic camera rig for Cinema 4D.

Graphics cinema4d, maxon, plugin, software, stereoscopic

Today MAXON has announced the immediate available of the new Release 12 of CINEMA4D and BodyPaint 3D.

“Today’s release marks a significant milestone in the development of MAXON‘s professional 3D software and is a testament to more than two decades of programming excellence,” remarked Harald Schneider, CEO and co-founder of MAXON Computer. “Our development team made every effort to bring customer requested features that are easy to use, stable and powerful. Creative professionals from all industries will find unparalleled solutions to help them meet the challenges of today’s fast-paced production environments and create award-winning content.”

This new version has several new features like a new dynamics engine based on Bullet that adds in a whole new world of physics and soft body systems to allow for deformable and springy systems.  They’ve also added full support for IES lighting systems and and linear workflow, adding several degrees of realism to their scenes.  A new python interpreter is there for scripting, as well as a Turtle system for L-System usage that works great for trees and brush.  Support for  OpenGL3.0 is included as well, if you have appropriate hardware.  They have a great list of the new features on their site.

Perhaps the biggest, and possibly most controversial, change that MAXON has made is in their new product system.  Previously, all of MAXON’s tools were highly modular.  First buy CINEMA4D, then Modyn, maybe Sketch & Toon, and a few other modules and wind up with a working toolsuite.  However, each product was individually licensed and keyed meaning you wound up with a dozen different registration codes to keep track of, as well as individual maintenance and support information.

Upon careful review and speaking with customers, they found that less than 10% of their customers were actually taking advantage of the modular design.  Most people bought some specific collections of packages, and in fact several customers were simply leaving in confusion upon not knowing what to buy. To remedy this, they’ve completely done away with the previous modular design and now offer 5 distinct packages.

• CINEMA4D Prime – $995 – CINEMA4D, MoGraph, ambient occlusion and MOCCA
• CINEMA4D Broadcast – $1695 – CINEMA4D Prime + GI Rendering and an extensive material & object library
• CINEMA4D Visualize – $2295 – CINEMA4D Prime + Advanced Render, Sketch & Toon, & NET Render 3
• CINEMA4D Studio – $3695 – Everything
• BodyPaint3D – $995

Now you’ll just buy the bundle, and get a single serial number to license all of the parts.  The end result is hopefully something that’s more friendly to newer users, and makes life easier for the more advanced users.  Plus, now the “baseline” edition comes with the previously-separate MoGraph and MOCCA systems.  If you’re looking for more information, be sure to check out their “Product Comparison” chart which breaks it all down.

It looks like a great new offering from MAXON, but I’m very curious to see how seasoned customers will react to the new bundled distribution packages.  It seems like a very good idea, particularly for newer users, but I suspect some users will be upset by losing direct access to some of the more specific packages.

Sound of in the comments, what do you think?

via MAXON Announces Immediate Availability of Release 12 of Acclaimed 3D Package CINEMA 4D | Business Wire.

Graphics bodypaint3d, cinema4d, maxon, software

Daihai Shibata’s amazingly beautiful short film ‘The Light of Life’ is showing this week at SIGGRAPH’s Electronic Theater.  Created with heavy use of CINEMA4D and Body Paint3D, Maxon wants to make sure you get the chance to witness what their products can do in the hands of an expert.

The Light of Life has widely posted and been discussed online for being an inspirational work, with viewers claiming that the film’s mesmerizing ethereal beauty almost defies being categorized as CG. In a recent interview Shibata described the process of creating the film as crafting, “super normal beauty through soft and shining images that don’t seem to be CG.”

It will be airing in all 3 evening Electronic Theater presentations, and is available online at Vimeo if you miss it. Full press release after the break.

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Graphics maxon, short film, siggraph

MAXON’s close integration with the Adobe suite has long been one of their key success areas, with the tight integration of Cinema4D and AfterEffects being unparalleled in the industry.  They’re taking the lead with the new CS5 suite and going on a cross-country tour of the US (with a quick stop in Vancouver) to demonstrate how they maintain their integration with the new CS5 tools and show off their new 64-bit capabilities as well.

At each road show stop in the Partner Solutions Pavilion area, MAXON artists will demonstrate the intuitive interface and logical workflow of the company’s leading 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solution CINEMA 4D and its seamless integration with Adobe After Effects. MAXON will also showcase the new CINEMA 4D exchange plug-in for After Effects – 64-bit capable – further demonstrating its superior capability with After Effects and addressing artists’ needs for a powerful 2D/3D cross platform solution and improved workflow efficiency.

See the full release, with tour dates & locations, after the break. First stop is tomorrow in NYC!

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Graphics adobe, cinema4d, cs4, maxon

MAXON closed out 2009 announcing a strategic partnership with Py4D, bringing the Python interface even closer into Cinema4D.  Now, they’ve taken the partnership “all the way” and outright acquired Py4D.

Harald Schneider, CTO and co-founder of MAXON states: “With the Python connection for our products we want to offer an easy and flexible option of adding custom functionality for both users and developers alike. Python is the easiest and most flexible solution.”

Current Py4D developer Sebastian Rath will continue to manage the library, but until the integration is fully complete the most beta version and documentation will continue to be available free of charte at www.py4d.com .

via MAXON – The makers of CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D.

Graphics cinema4d, maxon, python, sdk

A new partnership between MAXON and Alioscopy will bring the power to create the amazing auto-stereoscopic images used on the Alioscopy displays inside Cinema4D.

“MAXON is continually seeking ways to offer value for its customers who create 3D content—whether for entertainment, design, architectural and medical visualization, or advertising purposes,” said Paul Babb, president and CEO, MAXON USA. “As the market for displaying auto-stereoscopic 3D content continues to gain traction, we’re excited that CINEMA 4D artists now have this new capability to easily create Alioscopy-ready content and take advantage of this exciting trend in display technology.”

The Alioscopy display is an auto-stereoscopic (eg. No Glasses) display that, unlike most other displays, uses Vertical interlacing to display the 2 images, or even more than 2 allowing the user limited access to “walk around” the object.  I saw one at SIGGRAPH and the effect is impressive, if not a bit creepy at first.  With the multiple-viewpoint support, it really does offer the feeling of looking into a box rather than looking at a TV, unlike any of their competitors.  This new plugin brings the same functionality to all CINEMA4D users, and will be demonstrated at NAB in the Maxon Booth.

Full press release and details after the break.

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Graphics alioscopy, cinema4d, maxon

MAXON, creators of the CINEMA4D suite, have released the information related to their NAB2010 presence, and boy is it a whopper.  In their booth (#SL5624) they will, of course, have demonstrations of BodyPaint3D and CINEMA4D.  They will also have a collection of guest artists on-hand demonstrating how they use the MAXON tools in their work.  Just a few of the names include:

• John LePore, associate creative director for Perception, an award-winning New York City-based creative studio, returns to the MAXON booth to ‘wow’ visitors with his engaging presentation style and demos of the studio’s latest motion graphics campaigns using CINEMA 4D on behalf of NBC, Powerade and SPEEDtv.
• Nate Mitchell, graphic supervisor at Innovative Show Design (ISD), a design firm specializing in scenic and lighting services for television productions, corporate events, and live theater, returns to the MAXON booth to present set design projects using CINEMA 4D on Face the Ace, Poker After Dark, and High Stakes Poker.
• Rob Garrott of Bending Pixels, has directed, animated, designed and produced numerous broadcast projects for leading brands.
• Nick Campbell of Greyscale Gorilla, a seasoned motion designer (Dexter, the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Target, Blackberry), will demonstrate the incredible ease with which CINEMA 4D sparks creativity.

And more.  Read the full release after the break, and then be sure to go cash in our free Exhibition-floor Code for some free passes to the MAXON booth at NAB!

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Graphics, Hardware alioscopy, cinema4d, maxon, nab

Dr. -Ing.V.Sassmannshausen’s “Junior Extra Terrestrial” (JET) is not only the foundation of a massive tutorial series for MAXON’s Cineversity, but is now an accepted entrant into the Sedona International Film Festival, the International Family Film Festival, and the San Francisco Bay Area International Children’s Film Festival.

“I’m thrilled that JET has been so well-received, especially given that some festivals select from thousands of submissions,” said Dr. Sassi. “One of the best moments you can have as a filmmaker is to sit in on a festival screening and feel your work touch an audience, which JET does. You can only achieve that if you are able to breathe life into your characters, and that can only happen if your tools don’t get in the way of your creative flow. With CINEMA 4D, I had the creative options, the ease of use, and the rock-solid stability that I needed to stay focused on the content of the story.”

The short film is a labor of love from Dr Sassi, who created the entire film (except for the musical score) himself using MAXON’s Cinema4D.  He is currently creating a series of 200 tutorials documenting the creation for Maxon’s Cineversity program.

Read the full press release and see some pictures of the project after the break, and see the Trailer for JET here.

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Graphics cinema4d, festival, jet, maxon