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Contents
Blacksmith3D-Suite v4.0
We
are proud to announce that Blacksmith3D-Suite v4.0 will be available
in late 2009 (1).
Based on the solid foundation provided by v3.3, Blacksmith3D-Suite
v4.0 will be jam packed with powerful new features for the
professional CG artist and hobbyist alike. Here are just a few of the new features...(2)
Image Layers. Paint
textures with an arbitrary number of layers that can be blended
together for infinite combinations, just like your favorite 2D
applications. Make no mistake about it, these are true Photoshop™ style layers!
Exciting New Paint Brushes
to obtain professional results.
New and exciting brushes (contrast brush shown here) for a high level of control over your textures
Viewport Exchange.
Take high resolution snaps of the viewport in Blacksmith3D-Paint
4.0, and then paint on them inside your favorite 2D application, then
instantly apply the changes back in Blacksmith3D-Paint.
Utilize all of the features of your 2D painting application, while experiencing the freedom of painting in 3D!
High Polygon Workflow.
Blacksmith3D-Suite 4.0 is
being optimized to handle extremely high polygon models. A whole new
class of tools are being developed to edited your models in new and
exciting ways. Subdivide your model,
sculpt and paint it, and then bake the results back
into your low polygon model.
Sculpt high polygon subdivided models and bake the results back into your low polygon models
Ambient Occlusion Baking.
Bake in soft, natural lighting effects into your textures for
maximum impact in real-time renderers.
Auto generate ambient occlusion maps
Many
more features to be announced in upcoming newsletters!
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Blacksmith3D-Texture Library
In an effort to
give something back to the CG community, and to make Blacksmith3D.com
a regular destination for the discriminating artist, we are
developing a free texture library where all of our textures are
professionally edited for maximum color richness and contrast, and
most are TILEABLE. Unlike other free texture libraries that simply
post raw digital photos, we go the extra mile to make them fabulous!
Free,
high quality, professionally edited tileable textures.
Professionally Edited
for maximum color richness, contrast and visual impact.
Notice the rich color and contrast in our textures
New
textures being added weekly.
Make
Blacksmith3D.com your first stop when starting a texturing project.
Check back often for exciting new textures!
Blacksmith3D-Suite v3.3 Update Released
The v3.3 update (v3.3.1 to be specific) is jam packed with performance optimizations which
are laying the groundwork for our upcoming release of
Blacksmith3D-Suite v4.0. The software can easily handle models with
polygon counts in the 100,000 to 500,000 range, and can even handle
models with over a million polygons (although not recommended at this time).
Massive
speed and performance optimizations to pave the way for v4.0, a
free update for v3 users! v3.3 can now easily handle models with
polygon counts in the 100,000 to 500,000 range.
Utilize all of your CPUs for maximum performance. v3.3 and upcoming v4.0 both include massive multiprocessor support
On sale for
50% off until the official release of v4.0.
We at
Blacksmith3D believe that you should only have to pay for a software
upgrade that includes new and exciting features, and not for
optimizations and improvements. As Blacksmith3D-Suite 4.0 is being
developed, we will feed the performance improvements back into
v3! How many other companies would do that?
Simplification
of the Hot Selection display, for faster performance
and a cleaner display for low and high polygon projects alike.
Simplified hot selection display
Various
tweaks and fixes.
Free update for all v3.x users.
Blacksmith3D v3.3 on sale for 50% off
To
celebrate the upcoming release of Blacksmith3D-Suite v4.0, we
have released our entire v3.3 product line is on sale for 50% off.
As we previously mentioned, performance enhancements being made for
v4.0 are being fed back into updates for v3.x, so it continually
improving with the development of v4.0
Every product
in our store is on sale for 50% off.
v3.3 is
still being updated with improvements being made for v4.0
The
current sale price of v3.3 plus the upgrade price for v4.0 will be
less than or equal to the new price of v4.0, so there is no reason
to wait.
Grab your copy of Blacksmit3D-Suite v3.3 today!
Hints and Tips
- If you downloaded v3.3.0 before Sept 15, please download the lastest version (v3.3.1).
- Use the SPACE hotkey to quickly maximize/restore the current viewport for faster performance.
- Use the SHIFT-SPACE hotkey for Selection View mode. Very handy when making complex selections.
- Use the ~ (tilde) hotkey to quickly toggle between the current tool and the previous tool. Very handy for rotate, paint, rotate, paint, etc.
- When editing high resolution models, keep the main viewport maximized most of the time for maximum performance.
- Please note the new Per Polygon culling method. This is identical to Per Vertex culling, except that if any vertex in a polygon
is culled (backfaced, hidden behind another polygon, etc.) then the whole polygon is culled. This is especially useful for preventing
color spilling onto partially culled polygons.
- Since Per Pixel culling is now depreciated, you can achieve a similar effect (on low polygon models) when painting by subdividing your model a
few times (Blacksmith3D-Suite Only), and use Per Vertex or Per Polygon culling. Turn the Smoothing parameter
to zero to prevent texture warping. (Per Pixel culling is still available in v3.3, but it is being phased out)
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