AAA Studio releases FurryBall RT 1.2
AAA Studio has released FurryBall 1.2, the latest update to its GPU-based production renderer, adding a new native scene format supported by both its Maya and Cinema 4D plugins.
It acts as an interchange format between Maya and Cinema 4D, enabling users – among other things – to render Maya Fluids simulations in Cinema 4D or Cinema 4D particle animations in Maya.
Export Maya Fluids simulations to Cinema 4D
The main function of the new FBR format is simply to export data from a host 3D application to the standalone edition of FurryBall, providing finer control over renders.
Users can export entire scenes, or only selected geometry. As well as geometry and textures, the format preserves animation data, including that generated by simulation tools.
That opens up more interesting workflows if you own both Maya and Cinema 4D: for example, exporting Maya Fluids simulations to FBR, then importing them into Cinema 4D.
You can see the workflow at 03:00 in the video above, including the use of a Maya Fluids cloud to illuminate native Cinema 4D scene objects.
The FBR format preserves any feature of the original scene that FurryBall itself supports, so as well as Maya Fluids, you can export vanilla or Shave and a Haircut hair, Bifrost meshes and XGen splines and spheres.
In addition, the FurryBall RT 1.2 update adds a few other new features, including support for selection sets. You can read a full list in the release notes.
Pricing and availability
FurryBall RT 1.2 is available for Maya 2011 and above and Cinema 4D R15 and above, running on 64-bit Windows Vista and above. Linux and Mac OS X support is planned. You’ll need a CUDA-capable Nvidia GPU.
A new perpetual licence costs €359 (around $390), with rental starting at €69/month ($75/month). Each licence includes both Maya and Cinema 4D plugins and a copy of FurryBall 4.8, the last release to support 3ds Max.
Updated 11 March: AAA studio has cut its rental prices for FurryBall RT. Rental now starts at €39/month. The price of a perpetual licence remains unchanged.