Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022 Posted by Jim Thacker

5 CG software updates you may have missed in July 2022


While CG Channel tries to write about all of the major new versions of CG software that get released each month, sometimes there are smaller updates or useful plugins that we don’t manage to cover.

Rather then letting those releases slip past unnoticed, we’ve put together a round-up of five updates to visual effects, feature animation and architectural visualization tools that didn’t get full stories in July 2022.

Below, you can find summaries of what’s new in renderers Enscape 3.4 and Redshift 3.5.05, production tracking tool ftrack Connect 2.0, and 3ds Max plugins Render Manager 2.1 and tyFlow 1.007.


Enscape 3.4

Overview
Fast becoming a staple of architectural visualisation pipelines, Enscape’s real-time ray tracer gives users a quick way to create photorealistic renders of CAD and BIM models, further extended by this point update.

New features

  • Support for categories in the Custom Asset Library
  • Option to save the sun position
  • Edit the camera and sun position in saved views
  • Improved reflections in mirror surfaces
  • Chinese language support
  • 210 new interior assets and 52 new materials

System requirements
Windows 10+. Compatible with Archicad 22+, Revit 2019+, Rhino 6.0+, SketchUp 2019+, Vectorworks 2020+.

Price
Rental-only. Node-locked licences cost cost $514.80/year; floating licences cost $898.80/year.


Read a full list of the new features in Enscape 3.4 on the Enscape blog


ftrack Connect 2.0

Overview
The latest version of ftrack Connect, the desktop tool that integrates ftrack Studio, ftrack’s cloud-based production tracking and production management system, to DCC applications.

New features

  • Widgets
    Visually extend Connect 2.0 via the ftrack API, creating custom UI tabs for running custom code.
  • New plugin manager
    New manager for installing integrations and Connect widgets, via a drag-and-drop workflow.
  • New integrations for Maya 2022+ and Nuke built on ftrack’s new Pipeline Framework
    Other existing integrations are currently being updated
  • Improved code base
  • Customisable via Python 3 and PySide 2
  • Updated build and packing system
  • New configuration-based application launcher
  • Hi-DPI monitor support
  • Dark UI theme reinstated
  • CentOS 8 support

System requirements
Available for Windows, Linux and macOS. See a list of DCC applications currently supported.

Price
Comes with ftrack Studio. Subscriptions start at $30/month/user or $300/year/user.

Read an overview of the new features in ftrack Connect 2.0 on ftrack’s blog


Redshift 3.5.05

Overview
Maxon’s production renderer for 3ds Max, Blender, Cinema 4D, Houdini and Maya continues to evolve, following the recent introduction of support for AMD GPUs and rendering on CPU as well as GPU.

New features

  • Random walk subsurface scattering
  • Volumetric anisotropy
  • Improved transmission BTDF
  • GI bleed to surrounding objects
  • Houdini: new Solaris hair procedural
  • Houdini: support for Houdini 19.5
  • Improvements to Redshift RT and the Alembic procedural

System requirements
Windows 10, Linux and macOS 11.5+. Compatible with 3ds Max 2015+, Blender 2.83+, Cinema 4D R21+, Houdini 17.5+ (18.0+ on macOS), Katana 3.0v1+ and Maya 2016.5.

Price
Rental-only. Individual subscriptions cost $45/month or $264/year


Read a full list of new features in Redshift 3.5.05 on Trello


Render Manager 2.1

Overview
Pitched as “the first render manager for arch viz” on its release, Pulze’s Render Manager provides streamlined tools for managing a render farm running 3ds Max and its key third-party renderers.

New features

  • New V-Ray Standalone, Vantage, Fusion and Arnold job types
  • Support for 3ds Max 2023, V-Ray 6 and Corona 8
  • Added Fusion and V-Ray Swarm option to the spawner mode
  • New filter options for the nodes and jobs list

System requirements
Windows only. Compatible with 3ds Max 2014+ and Arnold, Corona Renderer, FStormRender, Redshift, V-Ray.

Price
Rental-only. Subscriptions cost $8/month or $69/year.


Read a full list of new features in Render Manager 2.1 on Pulze’s blog


tyFlow 1.007

Overview
A popular particle and multiphysics plugin for 3ds Max, originally created as a next-generation rewrite of the ageing native Particle Flow system.

New features

  • Whitewater generation and advection options for the Birth Fluid and Fluid Force operators
  • Added Runge-Kutta 2 & 4 advection methods to the Fluid Force operator (improves accuracy)
  • Added slice count/spread options to tySlice split mode
  • Added ‘rebuild SDF’ mode to VDB Convert operator
  • Added ability to filter by Material ID in the Position Object operator
  • New options in the Script operator when finding neighbours to a particle

System requirements
Windows only. Compatible with 3ds Max 2018+.

Price
Perpetual node-locked licences cost $495, perpetual floating licences cost $645.

Read a full list of new features in tyFlow 1.007 in the online documentation