Reprinted from a Eovia press release:
Mountain View, California – May 14, 2002 – Eovia Corporation, developer and publisher of leading 3D software, announced today the future availability of Carrara Studio 2, a major and widely awaited upgrade to Carrara Studio. The English/international version of Carrara Studio 2 will begin shipping on June 5, 2002 for both the Mac (OS 8, OS 9 and OS X) and Windows platforms, but can be pre-ordered now to ensure priority delivery. Fully localized versions in French and German will follow shortly.
Carrara Studio’s latest revision is another step forward in making Carrara Studio 2 the most complete, accessible and productive 3D solution in its category today.
“Eovia clearly creates a precedent by offering three state-of-the-art features in a $399 3D product – Photon Maps Rendering, Bones Skinning and Subdivision Modeling – only found in expensive and complex applications,” said Antoine Clappier, CEO of Eovia. “More than ever, Carrara Studio is the best choice for a high quality 3D solution, at the right price and with the right features”.
What’s New in Carrara Studio 2
Ultra realistic rendering – Photon Maps are the first algorithm capable of a truly global approach to image rendering. This feature combines, in a single rendering engine, all the strengths of the previous two best approaches: Ray Tracing and Radiosity.
Using a truly remarkable rendering approach, Carrara Studio 2’s Photon Maps are able to compute the Global Illumination of a whole 3D scene. This adds a wealth of rendering features: Phong Shading, Reflection, Refraction, Radiosity (including diffuse lighting, color bleeding, etc.), Caustics (light reflection and refraction), Area light emitters (with no limitation on geometry and complexity), Sky dome Illumination and Environment Illumination.
Bones and Skinning – Bones let the user modify, deform and animate objects or a group of objects in real time in order to create realistic characters. The Bones feature is as simple to use as playing with a puppet. As always, Carrara Studio brings you a high-end feature yet with a very simple and straightforward interface. The task of attaching bones to an existing 3D object, known as the Bone Setup, has been also simplified. Unlike competing products, Bone Setup can be achieved in a matter of minutes instead of hours. By automatically calculating influence zones and helping the placement of the bones, Carrara Studio has made such ease-of-use possible.
Subdivision Modeling – Subdivision Modeling allows the design of complex and highly detailed Characters. Thanks to the use of simplified polygonal objects automatically subdivided to add details, this approach greatly simplifies the modeling of easily animated realistic characters.
Native MAC OS X Version – Carrara Studio 2 has been completely ported to Apple’s latest Operating System. Carrara Studio 2 is now available for both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. For added performance, Carrara Studio 2 now fully supports multi-processors under MAC OS X, as well as Windows operating systems.
A wealth of improvements in usability, stability and productivity – Because Eovia knows that some of most important features of its products are their ease-of-use and stability, numerous efforts have been made to improve features that are not always very visible. Such improvements include an enhanced object selection tool, Free and Volumic particle system, new Physics Engine, and enhanced Anti-Aliasing
Carrara Studio 2 answers to the needs of both the beginners and advanced users perfectly. It offers a complete, accessible and productive 3D tool that seamlessly integrates into the creative process in the fields of Web, Print and Video. While a typical user falls into many different categories, Carrara Studio 2 is particularly applied for use by Digital artists, Web designers and Multimedia producers.
Carrara Studio 2 has improved upon the three characteristics that make it one of the most popular 3D software applications available today.
Complete – Carrara Studio 2 is a comprehensive 3D solution. No other package is necessary to generate professional 3D for the Web, Print and Video. Carrara Studio 2 features an impressive array of tools: five rendering engines, seven different modelers, multiple animation tools, an advanced shader editor, special effects, sky environments, and over a thousand high-quality 3D models and textures.
Accessible – Carrara Studio 2 is accessible to the beginner and advanced user alike in terms of both usability and price. Each step of the 3D creation process is divided into separate “rooms” such as modeling, texturing, rendering and animation. And because accessibility is also a matter of money, Carrara Studio 2 is offered at a remarkably attractive price.
Productive – Carrara Studio 2 has three characteristics that make it exceptionally productive: accelerated learning curve, optimized creative process and integration with standard creative tools. High quality documentation, interactive tutorials and a simple user interface allow for a remarkably smooth learning curve. All the steps from design to rendering have been optimized for real time feedback and manipulation. And users will work with confidence knowing that Carrara Studio 2 features the major file formats that are today’s standards in the fields of Web, Print and Video applications.
Pre-orders
To secure priority delivery, users can pre-order full versions and upgrades of the English/International version now by calling Eovia in the US at 1-858 457-5359 x118, or connecting to the Eovia webstore at www.eovia.com. Pre-ordered products will begin shipping on June 5, 2002, and will be shipped on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The English/international version of Carrara Studio 2 will begin shipping on June 5, 2002 for both the Mac (OS 9 and OS X) and Windows platforms, at a suggested retail price of US$399. Fully localized versions in French and German will follow shortly. For more information and direct purchase, visit the Eovia website at www.eovia.com or call Eovia in the US at 1-858 457-5359 x118.
Upgrade from Carrara Studio 1 to Carrara Studio 2: US$149
Upgrade from MetaCreations Carrara to Carrara Studio 2: US$199
Upgrade from Infini-D or Ray Dream (any version) to Carrara Studio 2: US$199
Upgrade from Amapi 3D (any version) to Carrara Studio 2: US$199
