Luxion Releases KeyShot 9

by | Nov 5, 2019

Tustin, California, November 5th, 2019 – 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 KeyShot 9, a monumental release introducing advanced rendering technology, innovative material capabilities, and streamlined workflow improvements that solidifies KeyShot as the foundational instrument of visualization for designers, engineers, and 3D professionals around the world.

“Using KeyShot is the joy of the day.”

KeyShot 9 brings an array of advanced technology and features, such as one-click GPU-accelerated real-time ray tracing and AI denoise, scientifically accurate weave pattern design with Luxion’s patent-pending RealClothTM technology, an all new Fuzz geometry shader with intricate variation and fly-away fiber control, output for interactive web-based product configurators with KeyShotWeb, an extensively curated and optimized, high-quality 3D model library and much more. KeyShot 9 opens up the creative freedom of material, texture and lighting exploration, with the visual agility of an increasing array of output formats and integration options, and enhanced speed of thought through optimized scene setup and real-time interaction.

KeyShot 9 is focused on delivering unbound creative capability to help 3D professionals realize their ideas faster.
Image: Nils Piirma

“With KeyShot 9, we revisited our vision – to unlock the visual imagination throughout the decision process across all industries,” says Claus Wann Jensen, Co-founder and CEO of Luxion. “Though it may seem daunting, our faithful users drove the capabilities and our own decisions for this new version of KeyShot that matches our vision and truly brings users ways to explore their ideas like never before.”

“We are extremely proud to work with the wonderful users and amazing partners in this extraordinary release of KeyShot,” says Henrik Wann Jensen, Co-founder and Chief Scientist at Luxion. “The new material capabilities open up the creative possibilities, while the new GPU based ray tracing and the AI denoiser further accelerate the experience. Together, they set the stage for so much more to come.”

What Customers are Saying

“The new noise reduction in KeyShot 9 is a game-changer! It reduces the time required to get a clean render exponentially. And in a pinch, noise reduction helps provide super-fast client preview renders. Noise reduction alone is enough to make KeyShot 9 a must-have upgrade. Along with all the other new features like GPU support, fuzz, and RealCloth, a KeyShot 9 upgrade is a no-brainer.”
– Wayne Heim, Medical Illustrator

“KeyShot 9’s denoise and GPU rendering are a killer combination. This not only drastically accelerates the visualization process but also sets a new standard for 3D workflow.”
– Benny Lee, Global 3D Design Lead / The Coca-Cola Company

“The Fuzz shader in KeyShot 9 is great for a variety of effects from subtle peach fuzz on plants to more obvious hair and fur effects on everyday objects.”
– Peter Crowther / Peter Crowther Associates LTD

“With KeyShot 9, fabric materials can now have that fine, fuzzy feel.”
– Martin Wahlberg / Wahlberg Visuals

“KeyShot 9 allows me to produce cleaner renders in less time.”
– Nacho Riesco / Jewelry Designer

KeyShot 9 Overview
KeyShot 9 includes features and updates in four specific areas – import and integration, workflow and setup, materials and textures, and image and output. Within these four areas, KeyShot 9 introduces features and improvements that focus on helping KeyShot users realize their ideas faster and unlock their creative freedom. RealCloth adds unmatched detail with all-new weave pattern control. Users have more custom material control with the new Fuzz shader, generic (BRDF) material, contour procedural texture and curve control for material, part and camera animations. The new 3D model library brings curated, ready-made models for users to add context to scenes quickly, while a new streamlined import allows users to start creating sooner. The new Tools menu makes Geometry, Material, and Camera tools more accessible and adds Material Import for VStitcher, Substance Painter, Vizoo, and X-Rite AxF to expand the import pipeline. With the new Web Configurator, users can turn the product configurators created with KeyShot Pro into interactive, web-enabled product option experiences for design review or customer point of sale. And completely new for KeyShot 9, representing a new era in rendering capability, is GPU Mode for GPU-accelerated ray tracing and Denoise for smoother render results faster. All of these features are implemented with workflow in mind, and unique to KeyShot, whether it is import, material, and lighting setup with a simple drag-and-drop or enabling rendering capabilities and tools with one-click accessibility. KeyShot 9 brings all of this together to truly deliver unbound creative capability.

KeyShot 9 Feature Highlights
The following highlights the top features in KeyShot 9. More details and examples of the new capabilities in KeyShot 9 are available at www.keyshot.com/whats-new/. The entire list of features and improvements in KeyShot 9, along with information on how each feature works, is available in the KeyShot 9 What’s New Guide. Key features include:

GPU Mode
KeyShot 9 introduces the ability to harness the full GPU-accelerated ray tracing power of NVIDIA RTX with OptiX. Available for both real-time rendering and local render output, KeyShot’s GPU Mode allows GPU resources to be accessed with one-click to take advantage of multi-GPU performance scaling and the dedicated ray tracing acceleration hardware in NVIDIA RTX-capable GPUs. Users may toggle between GPU and CPU as needed. GPU ray tracing in KeyShot 9 supports the NVIDIA Maxwell microarchitecture found in the Quadro M6000 or GTX 980 and above with Quadro RTX 4000 or higher recommended. View system requirements here. Learn more about GPU mode here.

“It’s a new era for KeyShot users. KeyShot users now have the ability to fully utilize the power of NVIDIA RTX. Luxion has evaluated GPU rendering for several years,” says Henrik Wann Jensen. “With NVIDIA’s RTX technology, GPU-accelerated hardware ray tracing and AI denoising, gigaray performance, NVIDIA Quadro GPUs with over 8GB of memory, and the free OptiX SDK, now is the time to do it.”

KeyShot 9 allows users to enable NVIDIA RTX GPU-accelerated ray tracing with one-click to take advantage of multi-GPU performance scaling. Image: Dries Vervoort

Denoise
Denoise is a one-click Image Style option that works in both CPU and GPU mode to eliminate noise in the Real-Time View and render output. This deep learning denoiser reduces the time it takes to resolve a rendered image by interpolating and refining the image to achieve smooth results in less time. Learn more about Denoise here.

Denoise in KeyShot 9 reduces the time it takes to resolve a rendered image to achieve smooth results in less time.
Image: Esben Oxholm

RealClothTM
RealCloth provides designers with a completely new way to create and control woven materials, providing a level of visual fidelity that goes beyond the capabilities of any scanned materials definitions. The material type provides intricate control of the weave pattern (KeyShot Pro) and the ability to easily add flyaway fibers. New RealCloth materials have been added to the Library as well. Learn more about RealCloth here.

“When we introduced RealCloth to some of our key customers in the KeyShot 9 beta program, we knew they were going to be excited to try it out,” says Derek Cicero, VP Products & Strategy at Luxion. “But the results they produced – quickly – were simply stunning. The level of detail and quality you can achieve with RealCloth is absolutely unparalleled.”

The new RealCloth capabilities in KeyShot 9 introduce a new level of ultra-realistic weave and fiber control.

Web Configurator
KeyShot 9 now offers users the ability to create interactive, browser-based product configurators. A configurator is created in KeyShot using the specified models, materials, and Studios variations. The user then chooses the Web Configurator output option to generate the content files that can be zipped and shared privately or hosted online for anyone around the world to view. Learn more about KeyShotWeb here.

KeyShot 9 introduces KeyShotWeb and the power to generate interactive, web-based product configurators.

3D Model Library
KeyShot 9 introduces a new Model Library that allows 3D models with complete materials and textures to be added to a scene. All 3D models are easily accessed on KeyShot Cloud and may be searched, filtered, and added to any scene with a simple drag-and-drop. Models may then moved, duplicated, or have their appearance changed as needed. Learn more Models here.

Adding context to a scene is easier than ever with high-quality, curated Models now available on the Cloud Library.
Image: David Merz

Additional Features
Other features users will find in KeyShot 9 include a new, streamlined import dialogue with the ability to Enable quick import and Resolve Missing Resources. Many more material options are available through the new Generic material based on Disney BRDF, a new Contour Procedural Texture, and the new Fuzz geometry shader that allows users to add randomized, hair-like growth from the surface of any material. Custom Motion Ease adds finer animation control over part and camera animations with Curve Control also available for material property animations. Users will also find many more user interface improvements, including a new Tools menu that now consolidates Geometry, Material, and Camera tools and includes the new Material Import tool for .u3m, .sp, .axf and other material format import. Integrations include a new Browzwear VStitcher plugin for apparel and garment rendering, Substance Painter texture import as well as Measured Material support for X-Rite AxF 1.6. A thorough overview of all new feature highlights is available here.

Availability
KeyShot 9 is available immediately for download and purchase at www.keyshot.com and through all certified KeyShot resellers. All customers who purchased KeyShot on or after October 1st, 2019, as well as all customers who purchased KeyShot for Education or KeyShot for ZBrush, will receive the upgrade to KeyShot 9 free of charge. All KeyShot customers with active annual maintenance will automatically receive the upgrade to KeyShot 9. All other customers may upgrade to KeyShot 9 for an incremental fee. For more details on pricing please contact sales@luxion.com. For information on the new features in KeyShot 9, please visit www.keyshot.com/whats-new/ and 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 Google, Chrysler, Coca-Cola, Fossil, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Victoria’s Secret, HP, Microsoft, Philips, Under Armour, Adidas and many more. Please visit www.keyshot.com for more information and follow Luxion on Facebook or Twitter.

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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