Tustin, California, November 19th, 2018 – Luxion, a leading developer of advanced rendering and lighting technology and maker of KeyShot®, the first real-time ray tracing and global illumination program for 3D rendering and animation, today announced the release of KeyShot 8.1. The new version focuses on stability and feature improvement along with new usability features to improve output, issue reporting, and the visual creation workflow.
KeyShot 8 was released with advanced rendering capabilities such as displacement mapping, bubbles, and flakes, a unique approach to creating cutaways, volumetric materials including volume caustics, and interactive image color and intensity curve adjustments. KeyShot 8.1 follows quickly on the heels to introduce in-app problem reporting, 16-bit PSD output, in-view indicators for geometry shader, full-resolution HDRI update, and invert selection capabilities, along with many other improvements and bug fixes.
16-bit PSD Output
16-bit PSD output is now available for still images, animation frames, and configurator output. A 16-bit image contains more tones per color channel than a typical 8-bit image. Set to a CMYK color profile, an 8-bit image has 256 tones per color, where a 16-bit image contains 65,536 tonal values. This provides a higher quality result for printing which requires a higher level of tonal variation.
In-view Indicators
When an update is made to a geometry shader, such as a displacement, flake, or bubble setting, or when an HDRI is changed, and an update is required, the user needs to regenerate the model /and/or environment to see the result. If a change in either of these is detected, the user will now see an in-view indicator button to quickly regenerate the geometry and/or HDRI.
Invert Selection
With a selection made, the user will now see the option to ‘Invert Selection’ in the right-click context menu for both the Real-time View and the Project Scene Tree. This aids in the process of quickly selecting and making changes to models or groups of models, such as changing material, hiding/showing models, and moving or grouping/ungrouping models.
In-app Problem Reporting
To improve the customer experience, KeyShot now allows users to report a crash or error directly inside the application, which is then sent directly to Luxion Quality Assurance.
Additional Improvements
Along with these new features, additional improvements have been made to new features in KeyShot 8. Geometry shader improvements include the addition of an ‘Add Geometry Node’ on the Material Graph ribbon and a Label input for the root material node in the Material Graph. Execute Geometry Node only changes the material it is applied to while displacement mesh quality has been improved. Also, a new ‘Seed’ option for Flakes and Bubbles brings quick variation control. The Cutaway feature gets new support for multi-selection of objects when excluding objects as well as support for object outlines when selecting excluded objects in Cutaway properties. Other improvements include pointer support for spotlights in Geometry View, a context menu for Image Styles with Image Styles also retaining Photographic Image Style values when switched to Basic.
For a complete look at the updates in KeyShot 8.1, along with bug fixes and known issues, please see the KeyShot 8.1 Release Notes. A KeyShot 8 feature overview video with examples of the new capabilities is available at www.keyshot.com/whats-new/. The entire list of features and improvements in KeyShot 8 and information on how each feature works is available in the KeyShot 8 What’s New Guide.
Commitment to Continued Improvement
While KeyShot 8.1 contains important new workflow features and improvements, KeyShot 8.1 lays the foundation for stability and feature improvements following a major release of KeyShot with new development and quality assurance procedures in place to quickly address issues and address customer requests for improvements.
“With this release we want customers to know that 1) they can communicate with us and 2) their issues are being addressed,” says Jesper Mosegaard, Director of Products at Luxion. “We set out to make this even more simple in KeyShot 8.1 with the ability to send reports to Luxion’s development team from within the software, have continuous interaction with beta users, and streamline the development and quality assurance process.”
Availability
The KeyShot 8.1 update is available immediately for current KeyShot 8 users. KeyShot 8 is also available for purchase at www.keyshot.com and through all certified KeyShot resellers. KeyShot 6 or 7 users with active annual maintenance may upgrade to KeyShot 8 at no charge. Other customers may upgrade to KeyShot 8 for an incremental fee. For more details on pricing or current license, customers may contact sales@keyshot.com. For information on the new features in KeyShot 8, please visit www.keyshot.com/whats-new/ or follow Luxion on Facebook or Twitter.
About Luxion
Luxion is a leading developer of advanced 3D rendering and lighting technology. KeyShot is the first real-time ray tracing application that uses a physically correct render engine based on scientific research in the areas of scientifically accurate material representation and global illumination. Addressing the visualization needs of designers, engineers, marketing professionals, photographers and CG specialists, KeyShot breaks down the complexity of creating photographic images and animations from 3D digital data. Luxion’s customer list includes many of the Fortune 1000 product manufacturers and major industrial design companies including NASA, SpaceX, Louis Vuitton, Google, Microsoft, Samsung, Fossil, Caterpillar, Stanley Black & Decker, Wilson, Nike, Under Armour, Coca-Cola, HP, and Lenovo. Visit www.keyshot.com for more information.
Press contact:
Luxion, Inc.
Josh Mings
Director of Marketing
josh@luxion.com
+1 (949) 274-8871
KeyShot is a registered trademark of Luxion ApS. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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