Here's everything you need to know.

From Trapcode Suite 2005, everything except Shine, Starglow, and 3D Stroke is a free upgrade to the latest version to run on CS3. Red Giant recently changed the installers, but the installers for those (Echospace, Sound Keys, Lux, Particular) that use your serial number scheme are still available here.

The new CS3 compatible versions of Shine, Starglow, and 3D Stroke are a $99 upgrade:


Trapcode 3S Pack (Shine 1.5, Starglow 1.5, 3D Stroke 2.5 Bundle) Upgrade
or

you can download their legacy installers that will accept your serial number (I highly recommend the upgrade if you are running CS3):

Windows | Mac

To get the latest Trapcode Plug-ins and update to the complete Trapcode Suite 2008.5 from 2005:

• you can upgrade your whole Suite and also receive the new Trapcode plugins, Form and Horizon for just $249
• Trapcode Suite 2008.5 Upgrade (for TC Suite 2005 & TC Suite 2007 customers)
• This would give you a whole new set of single serial numbers for the new installers also.

Need help installing the CS3 versions? Check out How to Install Plug-ins.

Labels: 3D Stroke, formz, Shine, Trapcode, Trapcode Horizon, Trapcode Suite

Autodessys released formZ 6.6.0, an update of its 3D application. The Patcher utility is used to patch formZ, formZ RenderZone, and formZ RadioZity from v6.5.0 to the latest version. This release includes makes several fixes in the interface and support for AutoCAD 2008 DWG/DXF files, and other changes. form*Z is available for Mac OS X 10.4 and up (Universal Binary) or Windows.

Download the patch: Mac Patch | Windows Patch

Labels: formz

A new form.Z DXF/DWG (beta 1) translator is available. This updated plug-in adds support for the DWG 2007/2008 format and includes export of DWG materials. There are also a number of improvements in the handling of text elements. This plug-in is compatible with any version of form.Z 6.5. It is available to all registered form.Z and form.Z RenderZone Plus v6.5 users. Follow this link for download information

Labels: Beta Test, formz, plug-ins

Are you a user of 3d studio max, Art*lantis, Amapi 3D, Amazon 3D, BodyPaint 3D, Bryce, Carrara, Deep Paint 3D, ElectricImage, formZ, Houdini/Houdini Select, Infini-D, Inspire 3D, LightWave, Maya Complete /Unlimited, Merlin 3D, Painter 3D, RayDream, Real 3D, Rhino, Shade, Softimage 3D/XSI, Strata Studio, trueSpace or Zbrush? Yeah, that list is enormous! If you are an owner of one of those products, you can get a competitive upgrade to Maxon Cinema 4D or BodyPaint 3D at a discounted price. You'll just need some proof that you own the product such as a screenshot of your splash screen or a digital photo of you holding the install disk and manual. It's that easy!

• Maxon Cinema 4D R 10.5 Studio Bundle Competitive Upgrade
• Maxon Cinema 4D R 10.5 XL Bundle Competitive Upgrade
• Maxon Cinema 4D R 10.5 Competitive Upgrade
• Maxon Body Paint 3D Competitive Upgrade

Labels: 3dsMax, Avidion Real3D, formz, LightWave, Maxon Cinema 4D, Maya, Softimage, upgrade, XSI

formZ Version 6.5.2 is the first release of formZ 6.5 and RenderZone Plus software in German, Spanish, Italian, and Korean. A patch for 6.5.2 has been released to fix some irregularities in form.Z 6.5. To update your software, launch form.Z, go to Edit / Preferences / Update and click on Check Now. Then follow the on-screen prompts. You may get information at http://www.formz.com/downloads/patches.html

Labels: formz

AutoDesSys, Inc., is pleased to announce the release of form.Z RenderZone Plus (v. 6.5). RenderZone Plus is a new product that represents a major evolutionary step toward global illumination, which is now supported by different techniques, including final gather, ambient occlusion, and improved radiosity. These can be used separately or they can be combined to complement one another.

form.Z RenderZone Plus now becomes the all inclusive and the highest level of built-in rendering form.Z offers. RadioZity has been retired as a separate product, but its features are incorporated in the new rendering software. The new product is being offered at the RenderZone price. All prior RadioZity users have the option to acquire RenderZone Plus. It should also be noted that v. 6.5, while primarily a rendering development, includes additional improvements and enhancements, as summarized at the end of this e-mail and also seen at http://www.formz.com/downloads/formZ_RZP_65_info.html

Bundle with Maxwell Render
AutoDesSys has teamed up with Next Limit Technologies, the developers of Maxwell Render (http://www.maxwellrender.com), an unbiased renderer, to offer a special price to acquire Maxwell at US $450.00 (list price price $950.00). This offer is valid to all form.Z users who are acquiring RenderZone Plus, as well as all new customers purchasing RenderZone Plus. Orders may be placed directly with your local form.Z dealer or with AutoDesSys. It is necessary to have RenderZone Plus in order to be able to use Maxwell Render.

New form.Z demo videos
Whether you wish to see them on the form.Z web site or on YouTube or subscribe to the form.Z podcast on iTunes. The videos are a great resource to see what form.Z can do for you and show you how to do it too. Check them out.

Additional info on 6.5
The highlights of form.Z 6.5 can be seen below or you may visit http://www.formz.com for more information and also to view the demo tutorials that have been added to the web site.

Global Illumination (GI)

• GI in form.Z offers two new techniques final gather (FG) and ambient occlusion (AO), and also incorporates a revised version of the previously existing radiosity. All three techniques are now offered through simple interfaces that allow the user to produce better images with significantly less set up effort and in less time than in previous versions.
• Ambient occlusion is a technique that is based on the assumption that all scenes have omni-directional ambient light of uniform intensity. For a given pixel, it finds if there is any object close by that occludes the surface of the pixel and, consequently, keeps some of the ambient light from reaching it. Ambient occlusion effects are easy to control and significantly enhance the realism of a rendered image.
• Final gather calculates a one bounce indirect illumination that occurs at rendering time. Once calculated, the illumination is maintained, unless changes are made to the scene. It computes secondary illumination just like radiosity, but without its complexity. It handles atmospheric and environment lights very efficiently and can make good use of even a quick radiosity solution.
• Radiosity's current primary role is support for final gather. Whenever desirable, it can be added to FG directly from the RenderZone Options dialog. It can also be used as a pure radiosity analysis based rendering method, as in previous versions, but with a much simpler interface.

More rendering enhancements

• Exposure correction, a post rendering process of RenderZone that has been available in previous versions, has been enhanced with two new methods, which automatically adjust under and overexposed images.
• New shaders have been introduced. Most of them are intended to support architectural renderings and they include shingles, brick pavers, road and sidewalk paving, and frosted glass. Also, a new gradient shader can generate a variety of color gradients in a surface.
• Many new predefined materials have been incorporated to form.Z RenderZone Plus. Many of them originated from a number of form.Z power users that were willing to share them with other users. Others came from AutoDesSys's own development. Also, an extended set of new tree images produced by AutoDesSys artists is now included with the program. For more details go to http://www.formz.com/downloads/documentation.html

Interactive Shaded (OpenGL)

This OpenGL based renderer has been re-engineered to improve performance and attain new features. This improves its use as a working environment and also makes it a more accurate method for previewing RenderZone renderings and texture placements. Specific improvements are as follows:

• Shadows from point and cone lights are now supported and shadows can now be shown with accurate intensities.
• Procedural textures generated by RenderZone are now also rendered.
• Transparent and bump textures, both map based and procedural, are now rendered.

STEP translator

The STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data) translator, previously available only as a separately purchased plugin, is now included with all 6.5 versions. This translator allows for importing and exporting of 3D data to the STEP file format within form.Z.

Sketch rendering
This rendering feature, previously available only as a separately purchased plugin, is now included with all 6.5 versions. The Sketch rendering mode creates images that have a variety of expressionistic effects that make the image appear as if it were done by hand sketching or painting techniques.

Labels: formz