by Alan Sheckter, Videomaker news editor
Electric Rain recently unveiled Swift 3D 2.0, a stand-alone which should allow users to design and render 3D scenes to several formats, including Macromedia Flash (.swf), Adobe Illustrator (.ai), .eps and .svg.
Swift 3D has been synonymous with 3D vector tools, but now, the company said, Version 2.0 should bring 3D design for Flash to a whole new level.
New Swift 3D 2.0 features abound. For modeling, the new version, according to Electric Rain, offers extrusion and lathe editors, PostScript font support, targeted cameras and lights, automated timeline scaling, numerical positioning of objects, non-uniform scaling of objects and the ability to animate materials.
When it comes to rendering, Swift 3D 2.0 uses the RAViX II rendering engine, which the company says offers the fastest, most versatile 3D-to-vector conversion available.
New rendering capabilities include faster rendering; a previewing system to view and edit rendered scenes before writing to a file; full-color cartoon fills that extend the list of shading options; shadow rendering for plane and object shadow casting, and line weight, color and detail settings for full control over wireframe output.
Available now for Windows and Mac, Swift 3D 2.0 carries a MSRP of $159. For more information, visit www.erain.com or www.swift3d.com.
