Monday, December 24th, 2012 Posted by Jim Thacker

Isotropix ships Clarisse iFX

Isotropix has released Clarisse iFX, its much-anticipated next-generation hybrid 2D/3D application.

Somewhere between 3D renderer, 2D compositor and animation package, Clarisse iFX is designed to enable artists to develop complex, detail-heavy production scenes while interacting continually with the final image.

Isotropix claims that it as “reinvents the traditional approach of creating final images”.

Competitively priced for a pro tool
We’ve already reported on what Clarisse iFX is and what it does, so we won’t retread the same ground here.

The big news this time round is the announcement of the price point: at $2,995, Clarisse iFX won’t be an impulse purchase, but it is competitively priced for a high-end tool of this kind.

As comparison, the price point makes it $150 cheaper than Softimage, over $500 cheaper than 3ds Max or Maya, and almost $1,500 and $2,000 cheaper than Houdini or Nuke, respectively.

An annual maintenance contract costs $995, as does a satellite command-line renderer (CNODE) licence. As an introductory offer, you can get one full and two CNODE licences, plus annual maintenance, for $3,990.

Free Personal Learning Edition
Isotropix is offering a 15-day evaluation licence – but more interestingly to most users, you can also download a free, non-time-limited Personal Learning Edition of the software.

It has the usual PLE limitations (output is watermarked and 8-bit, scenes save in a special file format that cannot be read by the commercial edition, and cannot be exported as OBJs or similar).

The only real catch is that you’ll be on your own with it, at least for now: the only tech support for the PLE edition is via Istotropix’s community forums – which don’t open until early January.

Just in time for the new world
It’s an interesting choice for a new product that sells itself on its unique workflow, but many people may simply be glad for the opportunity to try out Clarisse iFX during their holiday downtime.

The press release suggests that Isotropix simply found the possibility of tying in the release with the end of the Mayan calendar too neat an opportunity to miss.

“Some said December 21st 2012 is when the World would end. We, at Isotropix, believe it is true. The ancient world with its old rules and tools has now ended. With Clarisse, we are proud to bring an extraordinary field of limitless possibilities only bound by imagination.”

Clarisse iFX is available now for Windows and Linux, with an OS X version to follow next year.

Read a full list of features in Clarisse iFX

Download the Clarisse iFX Personal Learning Edition