Project Dogwaffle team releases Howler 11
The Project Dogwaffle team has released Howler 11, the latest update to its VFX-friendly digital paint tool. The update extends the software’s roto tools and Puppy Ray renderer, and adds a new colour picker.
New in-viewport rotoscoping options
Howler’s rotoscoping toolset gets a few workflow improvements in version 11, including an in-viewport menu that enables users to set keys without having to mouse away to other parts of the interface.
Roto splines can also now be free transformed, or repositioned by dragging, as shown in the video above.
Updates to the Puppy Ray renderer
Puppy Ray, Howler’s built-in ray tracing renderer, aimed primarily at generating procedural landscapes, has also been expanded, adding a visible sun and a water plane with surface ripples, reflections and refractions.
The water surface is complemented by new filters for water ripples and caustics. Other new filters range from Worley noise, normal map generation and fracture effects to shape bombing and Julia Set fractals.
Puppy Ray also now supports bump maps as well as height maps. You can see all the new features here.
New colour picker and adjustable gradient tool; workflow improvements
Artists focused on 2D work get a new resizeable floating colour picker, originally introduced in sister package Particle 9.
There is also a new adjustable gradient tool, shown in the video above, which enables colour gradients to be edited interactively in the viewport by repositioning gradient stops along a guide line.
Other features include the option to use numeric input to set parameters throughout the software, as well as by dragging sliders, and improvements to the crop tool, timeline and media browser.
Pricing and availability
Howler 11 is available for Windows only. The MSRP is now $49.99, down from $79.99 for Howler 10, although at the time of posting, the software is currently available at a further $5 launch discount.