Luxion ships KeyShot 6.1
Material editing in KeyShot 6. The new KeyShot 6.1 update adds additional controls for the Toon and Anisoptropic materials, and extends the capabilities of the software’s built-in HDRI Editor.
Luxion has released KeyShot 6.1, the latest update to its rendering and technical animation software, extending its HDRI Editor and toon rendering capabilities.
Design your own customlighting environments with the revamped HDRI Editor
The update follows last year’s KeyShot 6: a major overhaul that – among other things – removed the render limit from the standard ‘HD’ edition of the software, and made the animation module free in the Pro edition.
Not surprisingly, KeyShot 6.1 isn’t as radical a change, but it does extend a couple of the existing toolsets: notably, the software’s real-time HDRI Editor.
The toolset enables users to design their own custom HDRI set-ups by adding ‘pins’ representing light sources to a 2D environment map, in a similar manner to Lightmap’s HDR Light Studio.
The 6.1 update adds support for ‘half pins’ – semi-circular or half-rectangular sources – and the conversion of existing pins to half pins. Luxion also claims “significant speed boosts” in the editor.
The KeyShot library also now displays thumbnails for IES, point and area lights, showing colour and intensity.
Updates to Toon and Anisoptropic materials, support for motion blur in animations
In addition, KeyShot’s Toon material type now “offers greater control over outline and part contours”, and the Anisoptropic material now allows roughness to be adjusted in both the X and Y position.
KeyShot’s animation toolset, available in the Pro edition of the software, also now supports motion blur for cameras as well as objects in both real-time and offline rendering modes.
Pricing and availability
KeyShot 6.1 is available now for 32- and 64-bit Windows and Mac OS X. The update is free to registered users. Luxion has also released free plugins live-linking KeyShot to 3ds Max, Maya and Cinema 4D.
A new licence of the HD edition costs $995; the Pro edition costs $1,995. A floating licence costs $2,995 and and Enterprise licence, which includes the KeyShotVR and network rendering add-ons, costs $3,995.
Read a full list of new features in KeyShot 6.1 on Luxion’s website