Thinkbox Software ships Krakatoa MY 2.3
Thinkbox Software has released Krakatoa MY 2.3, the point update to the Maya edition of its particle renderer announced at Siggraph earlier this year.
The update gives Krakatoa MY feature parity with the longer-established 3ds Max edition of the software, Krakatoa MX. Thinkbox has also just announced a new official Cinema 4D edition of Krakatoa.
Krakatoa MY 2.3 is available now for Maya 2011 and above on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, price $1,000.
PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts)
Thinkbox Software today announced the release of Krakatoa MY 2.3, the latest version of its high-volume particle renderer for Autodesk® Maya®. Additions to the software include an intuitive Magma node-based toolkit for channelling particles, among other UI and performance improvements. The launch coincides with the availability of Krakatoa MX 2.3, an update to the Autodesk® 3ds Max® version of the plug-in giving users identical functionality across both 3D applications.
CPU-based and multi-threaded, Krakatoa overcomes the memory and system limitations of host applications by providing a pipeline for acquiring, caching, transforming, modifying, shading and rendering billions of particles at unprecedented speeds. Artists most frequently tap Krakatoa to create natural computer generated (CG) phenomena such as dust, smoke, silt, ocean surface foam and plasma, abstract images or solid objects, though it can also visualize LIDAR and particle datasets in architecture, engineering and construction.
Krakatoa MY 2.3 Key features include:
- Full Magma Support: Procedurally modify particle data in Krakatoa.
- Higher Particle Counts: Distributed .PRT partitioning over Deadline increases the particle counts of Maya particle systems.
- PRT Surfacing: Generate particles on the surface of geometry.
- Advanced Shadowing: Cast shadows from Krakatoa particles onto geometry in 3rd party renderers, including Chaos Group’s V-Ray and NVIDIA’s mental ray®.