COLUMBIA, SC — Version 7 of the SpeedTree Cinema and SpeedTree Studio has been released for evaluation, license and upgrade, according to developer Interactive Data Visualization (IDV).
New features and workflow improvements, which deliver a significant leap in photorealism and save modeling time, include:
- Subdivision Surfaces: Create procedurally generated subdivision surface models suitable for hero shot pipelines.
- Animated Growth: Animate simulated growth of trees and plants with a new artist-friendly tool (available in v7 Cinema only).
- Alembic Export: Easily export cached SpeedTree models into the open Alembic framework (.abc) for exchanging animated scene data with popular DCC platforms like Maya, Houdini and Cinema 4D.
- GUI Improvements: Slash modeling time with user interface and workflow enhancements, including a new "Focus" tool that presents only those portions of the tree being actively modeled and reduces certain processes from hours to minutes.
- Season Changes: Transition models through a full range of seasonal colors and foliage changes by using a new slider control, including an unlimited number of structure-based variations-even mid-leaf transition states for more variance in the final render (available in v7 Cinema only).
- Tree Library Enhancements: Match nature more closely than ever with the largest library yet of high-detail models. Individual leaves and needles move realistically in new, fine-tuned wind settings.
See a 2-minute video of the most important v7 features in action at http://www.speedtree.com/v7video
Beta users have already reported early success with these new version 7 tools. "The reverse-growing tree provided a unique opportunity to deploy some cool new features in SpeedTree," noted Digital Domain Visual Effects Supervisor James Atkinson. "The developers at IDV provided us with a beta version for animated growth. The resulting animated asset was one of our most complex, with a 55 gigabyte Alembic file generated on each version."
"SpeedTree 7 provides an improved user interface, more tools and better functionality at the same price, for both our budget-friendly Studio and VFX-ready Cinema versions," said IDV President Michael Sechrest. "In particular, Sub-D surface modeling, animated growth and Alembic support have gotten a very positive response from the visual effects studios and animation users who have previewed version 7."