Thursday, July 23rd, 2015 Posted by Jim Thacker

Solid Iris Technologies releases Thea Render 1.5

Solid Iris Technologies has unveiled Thea Render 1.5, the latest update to its hybrid biased/unbiased renderer, adding new features to the materials system and introducing an online materials repository.

Support for Substances, plus new advanced material effects
This time round, the new features primarily affect the material system, including a new shadow catcher, and support for procedural materials in Substance format generated by Allegorithmic’s texturing software.

There is also a new Fresnel ramp procedural for controlling reflectivity according to the viewing angle: useful for simulating fabrics like satin and velvet.

The update supports also coloured coating absorption, for mimicking materials like car paint and tinted varnish.

In addition, there is a new online respository for Thea Render materials, both official materials and those created by the user community. At time of posting, it contains just under 350 materials.

Aside from materials, Thea Render 1.5 adds support for ‘section cuts’, that is, clipping planes for cutaway renders; and a number of smaller features which you can see in the video at the top of the story.

Pricing and availability
Thea Render 1.5 is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. At time of posting, it’s only available to existing licensed users.

The renderer costs €295 (around $325) for the base software, including two node licences; or €320 ($350) for bundles with the 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, Fusion 360 and Rhino and SketchUp plugins. The Blender plugin is free.

There is also a new floating licence, which has an MSRP of €445 ($490) and again comes with two node licences. Solid Iris is currently offering a discount of up to 40% on all editions until 10 August.

Read Solid Iris Technologies’ forum post about the new features in Thea Render 1.5