Smarttec.com.au – MAXON announces the Cinema 4D R19 (R19) Release.
This next generation of MAXON’s professional 3D application offers great tools and enhancements for concept design artists for use immediately, and provides a peek into the foundations for the future.
Designed to serve individual designers as well as larger architects or design environments, Release 19 offers a fast, easy, stable and streamlined workflow to meet today’s challenges in the content creation markets; especially general design, archViz, Virtual Reality, motion graphics, VFX, VR/AR and all types of visualization.
Cinema 4D R19 Feature Highlights Include:
Viewport Improvements – Results so close to final render that client previews can be output using the new native mp4 video support.
MoGraph Enhancements – Added workflow capabilities in Voronoi Fracturing and an all-new Sound Effector.
New Spherical Camera – Lets artists render stereoscopic 360° Virtual Reality videos and dome projections.
New Polygon Reduction– Easily reduce entire hierarchies while preserving vertex maps, selection tags and UV coordinates to ensure textures continue to map properly and preserve polygon detail.
Level of Detail (LOD) Object – Define and manage settings to maximize viewport and render speed, or prepare optimized assets for game workflows. Exports FBX for use in popular game engines.
AMD’s Radeon ProRender – Now seamlessly integrated into R19, providing artists with a cross-platform GPU rendering solution.
Revamped Media Core – Completely rewritten software core to increase speed and memory efficiency for image, video and audio formats; native support for mp4 video without QuickTime.
Robust Modeling– A new modeling core with improved support for edges and N-gons can be seen in the Align and Reverse Normals commands.
BodyPaint 3D – Now uses an OpenGL painting engine, giving R19 artists a real-time display of reflections, alpha, bump or normal, and even displacement for improved visual feedback and texture painting when painting color and adding surface details in film, game design and other workflows.
RENDER LEGION AND CORONA RENDER JOIN CHAOS GROUP FAMILY
Chaos Group and Render Legion, the makers of Corona Renderer, join forces.
NEWS
Today is a big day for visualization. We are excited to welcome Ondra, Adam, Jaroslav and the entire Render Legion team to Chaos Group! Corona is fast, it’s easy to use, and renders beautifully. From the beginning, our mission has been to help all artists and designers visualize anything they can imagine, and to push the boundaries of what rendering can do. Render Legion shares this same vision and together we believe that great visualization benefits us all.
The first thing you should know is both Corona and V-Ray are here to stay. Both products will continue to be developed independently by the same teams that you’ve come to trust, with the same level of innovation that you’ve come to expect. Now we can share ideas, research and technology to make both renderers as powerful as possible.
One advantage of being an independent company is you get to choose your own path. What’s exciting about Render Legion is they come from that same mindset, which makes it easy for us to work towards the same vision. Together, we’ll continue our commitment to the industry and to our communities.
FAQ
What just happened?
The entire Render Legion team, and the Corona Renderer, are now a part of Chaos Group.
Why did Chaos Group acquire Render Legion?
Render Legion is a brilliant team, and we share the same passion and vision. By working together, we can make both V-Ray and Corona better — in ways we couldn’t do alone.
Will Render Legion continue to develop the Corona Renderer?
Yes. The core Render Legion team will continue to develop the Corona Renderer with our full support. It’s an excellent product, and we’re committed to its success. In fact, we plan to expand its development team even more.
Will Chaos Group continue to develop V-Ray?
Yes. V-Ray will continue to be a core component of Chaos Group.
What’s next?
We are already working with the Render Legion team to make Corona and V-Ray even better. For example, our DMC sampler will be in Corona 1.7, and we’re already optimizing V-Ray’s dome light with the help of the Render Legion team. And that’s just the beginning.
In general, it’s still business as usual. You still buy both products from the same places; you still talk to the same people; the only update is now everything is under one roof.
With EinScan-Pro, Speedlab completed timely and efficient maintenance and repair on the racing car
August 3, 2017
Speedlab Racing application of 3D handheld scanner EinScan-Pro
Speedlab scanned the body of a racing car, in order to produce the replacements of spare parts for the car.
About Speedlab
Speedlab Racing is a racing team located at Stockholm in Sweden, who has many years of racing experience. The team bought a used Corvette C3 from the USA in 2005. Since then, the car has been rebuilt in many iterations and their goal is to have the fastest racing car in Sweden.
Project background
The Speedlab Corvette would race in the Swedish Time Attack series (timeattacknu.se) where all kinds of crazy racing cars competing over the speed of a single circle. In the class where the Speedlab Corvette would race in, any modifications were allowed such as active aerodynamics transformation, high powered engine application, as long as the security rules were fulfilled.
So far the team had spent a lot of money and time on upgrading different body parts on their Corvette racing car through traditional manufacturing techniques. However, as the front and rear parts of the body were built by hands without molding, it would be very time consuming to rebuild if these parts of the car body were crashed or damaged. Thus with a 3D scanner, the team could easily reproduce the front and rear parts of the car by CNC processing or 3D printing from the scanned model.
Scanning process:
After comparison, Speedlab team decided to use EinScan – Pro from Shining 3D to do car body scanning because of the wide scanning range, high speed and precision it provides.
Although there was a member of Speedlab team who had more than six years of experiences in 3D printing, he had hardly any experiences in 3D scanning process. However, EinScan – Pro is very easy to use, Speedlab was able to manage it after few shootings.
During the beginning process of scanning, Speedlab team had tried several different scanning modes. First, they applied handheld HD scanning mode and completed scanning through sticking markers. This scanning mode could ensure the alignment precisely.
Afterward, the team tried handheld rapid scanning mode. There was no need to stick markers in this mode, but you can still obtain high quality of 3D data. The scanning speed was greatly increased, which ensured the quick completion of lamps and other parts with rich characteristics.
With the help of EinScan-Pro, Speedlab scanned the entire car successfully. The scanned data were then imported into Geomagic Wrap for final alignment. The aligned model data was archived for further 3D printing and CNC processing.
With the 3D data obtained by Shining 3D’s EinScan-Pro, Speedlab could complete timely and efficient maintenance and repair on the racing car. Meanwhile, the team members are excited to discover that, with the 3D data of the racing car, they can be more creative to do modifications in the future. It brings more hope for them to realize their dream of “creating the fastest racing car in Sweden”.
We are back with some valuable tips by our very own Product Specialist, Fernando Tella. Fer is long-time Maxwell user, ever since the alpha version in 2005! Ten years later he joined the Maxwell team. Now he helps customers with technical issues, and also does product demos, tutorials, trainings and helps with product development. In this blogpost he will help you grasp Maxwell 4’s new top feature – the Denoiser, so you can take advantage of its full potential. Here we go 🙂
THE BASICS
As a start, it’s important to understand some basic concepts:
When using the Denoiser, Maxwell launches two renders.
It also automatically activates some extra channels that help preserve the details of the image, such as texture details, the shapes of the objects, materials, etc.
All this is done automatically when launching a render with the Denoiser
A DIFFERENT KIND OF NOISE (A CLEAN ONE)
The new Denoiser integration gives you usable denoised images as the render progresses. In a similar way as Maxwell progressively cleans the image, the denoised image evolves with the render. At the beginning, when the sampling level is very low, the render will look blurry, and as the render gets more defined you’ll start noticing it starts to “learn” where are the limits of the objects, materials, the features of the textures, etc. As the sampling level goes up, the denoised image and the original render will get closer and closer, so we can say the denoised image also converges to the natural solution with time, as well as the original render, but instead of noise, you get usable images (or even perfect ones) in the meantime.
The following video shows how the denoised and render image evolves as the render goes on, from sampling level 4 to 13 (Scene by Maxwell Xpert David de las Casas).
So, in the worse scenario, it will take the same time as the not-denoised image, and in the best, you will save a lot of time.
COMBINING TECHNIQUES
TIP 2: Use the Denoiser and Extra Sampling combo
If you find that some particular materials get too blurred when using the Denoiser (for example, in the case of grainy textures), but most of the image looks good at some particular SL, you can combine two different techniques: Denoiserand Extra Sampling.
The idea you have to keep in mind is that the longer the render goes on, the less information the Denoiser will have to guess and the more it will be based on the true render, so if one particular texture is problematic, usually you only have to render it longer.
Based on this, if you have a particularly problematic material were the texture itself is grainy, like sand, sugar or the towel in this case, you only have to render the whole image until the needed SL and then use Extra Sampling for that material or object to render to a higher SL only in that part.
Please note that, for the moment, when using Extra Sampling, the Denoiser will only be calculated at the end of the render, not at each SL, so you’ll have to wait until the end to see the denoised result.
OBJECTS BEHIND TRANSPARENT GEOMETRIES
TIP 3: For objetcs behind transparent geometries use the Shadow Channel
When an important part of your scene contains objects behind transparent ones, you’ll notice the extra channels used in Fast mode (Normals, Position and Reflectance) won’t give information about what’s behind the glass.
In these cases, you could consider using Accurate mode, which adds Shadow channel, as it will give information about what’s behind the glass and this will improve the Denoiser result.
In this case the render will take more time (around 1.5 the time without shadow channel), so it will be wise to test which will be better: render with the Shadow channel or let the render reach a higher SL without the Shadow channel. The result in terms of time can be very similar.
RE-DENOISE AFTER CLOSING MAXWELL
TIP 4: Use saved MXI files to denoise after closing Maxwell
For the moment, once Maxwell is closed after rendering an image with the Denoiser, the two passes cannot be loaded again into the interface to resume them or make changes and Re-Denoise. Nevertheless, if you have at least a couple of mxi files of the same frame (and with the required channels), you can make Maxwell denoise them by running the following commands through command line:
mximerge -folder:“folder containing the mxi files of the same frame”-coopdenoiser:“output path and name of the denoised image”-target:“path of the merged mxi files”
Then you ask – “But where can I find the two mxi files saved while rendering with Denoiser?”
See below the paths where they are stored depending on the OS. You will find two files named as your current scene and ending with _render1.mxi and _render2.mxi:
In Windows they are stored under: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp\maxwellrendertmp
In MacOS they are stored in a random folder under: private/var/folders/…../T/maxwellrendertmp/
MACRO IN DENOISED IMAGE NAME
TIP 5: Use a macro for the denoised image name
When setting the denoised image name, instead of setting a specific name, it might be better to use a macro like %scenename% (including the %)
It creates the perfect name, as the macro is replaced by the scene name when saving the file and avoids having to rename the denoised image file when you want to make different versions of your rendered files.
For example, if you are rendering a scene named cool_render.mxs, you can set the Denoiser output path as Denoised_%scenename%.png
Once the render is finished, you will get a file called Denoised_cool_render.png.
Another useful macro could be %camera%, which is replaced by the name of the active camera.
Here is the list of all the supported macros, in case you find this convenient.
I hope you’ll find these tips useful and help you master the use of the Denoiser! 🙂
If you turn denoise on, what happens is Maxwell actually renders two renders at the SL you specified in render options. Besides these two renders it also renders reflectance, normals and position channels which it will use to decide what is detail in textures/materials that should be kept and what is noise. It also compares the noise in those two renders to further help with the accurate noise reduction, without removing details like normal noise reduction can do.
The difference between the “fast” and “accurate” presets is that the accurate one also renders a shadow channel (in addition to all the others) and this might be of help to determine where to apply NR. But so far I haven’t found much difference and the thing is the shadow channel takes a long time to render. So far I’m using the fast preset so it skips the shadow channel.
I also set the scenes SL to about SL11, because remember you get two renders with NR, so the two merged ones is more like SL12. It depends on the scene how high your initial SL should be, but I think it will be pretty rare to go above SL 12. Maybe only in very difficult scenes where the noise is still very course also at SL 13 or so.
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This course has more than 6 hours of form•Z video training. Unlimited viewing allows you to watch the videos at your own pace and use them as reference for years to come.
As a special introductory offer Evan is offering $100.00 off the course thorough April 21st. Click here for details and to view a few sample lessons.
HOW TO GET THE BEST 3D PRINTED ARCHITECTURAL MODELS
On a regular basis we have people and companies from around Australia approach us to 3D print scale models of their buildings, developments and projects. The results are very impressive and we often get positive feedback from our clients including hotel developers in Brisbane pitching to investors, apartment planners in Sydney looking to better understand their space and an Architect in Melbourne who uses 3D Printing to show clients his plans and drawings. However there is usually more preparation that goes into these models than most but done properly you’ll be wowing your audience and giving them a real foundation to see the projects potential .
Below we’ll run through common issues and how to get a well priced robust model from your current full scale (1:1) CAD models.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURE
COST
The first step taken is usually for you to internally decide on a budget, as downstream this will affect the size of the models and therefore to what degree the files may need to be adjusted to account for small details.
As a guideline on 3D Printing costs:
A building printed at a size of 360 x 300 x 300mm will cost between $2,400 to $8,900 + GST
A building printed at a size 0f 250 x 200 x 200mm will cost between $1,200 to $2,700 + GST
A building printed at a size 0f 150 x 100 x 100mm will cost between $180 and $420 + GST
The reason for the variation in cost depends mainly on how much material your part will use, how much machine space it occupies and how risky it is to print. The larger the part the more this has an effect.
You can optimise the cost with the following techniques :
Hollow your building and any other thick enclosed parts out and remove the base, so you end up with a ‘shell’ of the buildings. This significantly reduces the amount of material used and therefore the cost.
Nest parts of the building in your file if possible.
SIZE/SCALE
With a budget in mind we can work out how to get the largest scale for your structure whilst coming in at/under cost. The size is one of the most important factors and is influenced by price, however other considerations are detail sizes, maximum printable size, orientation and likeliness to warp/deform due to thermal stress.
Min. Detail Sizes
In almost all architectural jobs we’ve done the original files need to be modified to account for details that become too small to print when scaled down from the full size. Anything under 1mm at printed size has a risk of being broken during the cleaning of the parts, so if something is 10mm thick full scale then at 1:10 scale it will be 1mm which is fine, though at 1:20, 1:100, 1:200 etc scale then this becomes undersize. The common workarounds to this are either to remove it all-together if they are ‘nice to have’ but not ‘need to have’ details, or to thicken/exaggerate the details at full size so that when they are scaled down they are thick enough to print.
Particular features to keep an eye on are stairs, balustrades and railings, pipes, windows etc.
Max. Printable Size
The largest we can print in one go is 340 x 340 x 580mm so the model will either need to be smaller than that or split into sections. If you are wanting to do a development for example try splitting it into lots.
SECTIONING AND SHELLING BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES
If a part is too large to print in one piece it’ll need to be sectioned into smaller pieces which can be printed and assembled afterwards.
It’s best to try avoid cutting the part on a uniform section where a join line will be obvious, aim to cut it somewhere more obscure or somewhere that will be covered by something else.
Shelling a model is an important step in aiding it’s printability, it will also help reduce cost. The idea of shelling something is basically to preserve the outward appearance of the building etc, though inside is completely hollow and featureless. If you do want interior detail like rooms, fittings, furniture etc then you can include this and an alternative is to have the roof separate so that you are not trapping large quantities of loose powder inside.
The following was a tutorial is about creating a padded chair in formZ that was recently uploaded on the formZ forum/Tutorials page in response to a question raised on how to model this particular type of chair.
So one of the formZ forum members (FZnoob) took up the challenge and he said it was best to use the Sub-D’s toolset. So If you go through these instructions any user of formZ PRO 8.5 will be able to see the power of these tools to generate a very close likeness.
We’ve pulled out all stops to bring you this news.
The newest UP Mini 2 – 3D Printer has a myriad of smart features so smart we believe it is the smartest 3D printer in Australia! & It’s so clever, it has teamed up with the UP BOX.
So, when you buy an UP BOX today, you can get the UP Mini 2FREE. Double the muscle!
Read on to find out more.
One of the biggest head-turning new features the UP Mini 2 has to offer is the touch screenand WIFI capabilities.
It gives you as the user more flexibility to control and print with your printer. From changing filaments to reprinting any of your 10 most recent files, you won’t have to be connected to a computer!
Both the UP BOX and the UP Mini 2 are fully enclosed 3D printers, equipped with HEPA filters, making it office and classroom-friendly equipment.
Why is this important? 3D printers have been characterised as high emitters of Ultra Fine Particles. So, the HEPA filters work to help reduce your exposure to these particle emissions. Choice!
Terms and conditions:
Buy 1 UP BOX and Get 1 UP Mini 2 promotion valid for purchases made on beginning date 01/11/2016 through to ending date 31/12/2016 only or while stocks last. || Purchase Orders from education providers must be received in between 01/11/2016 to 31/12/2016 to be eligible for the promotion. || Error & Omissions Exempt. || Cannot be combined with any other offer or promotion. || Promotion valid in Australia. || Promotion available until stocks last || Smart Technology reserves the right to change or cancel the promotion during the promotion period. ||
Designed to serve individual designers as well as larger architects or design environments, Release 19 offers a fast, easy, stable and streamlined workflow to meet today’s challenges in the content creation markets; especially general design, archViz, Virtual Reality, motion graphics, VFX, VR/AR and all types of visualization.
