MetaCreations has announced that their next generation 3D modeling software is shipping for Mac and Windows. Carrara is the long awaited amalgamation of Ray Dream and Infini-D, both product that were acquired in mergers. According to MetaCreations:
MetaCreations Corp. today released Carrara 1.0, a complete 3D modeling and animation solution for print, video and the Web. Evolving from nearly a decade of MetaCreations' 3D development experience with products such as Ray Dream and Infini-D, Carrara is set to enable the ultimate creative freedom for 3D artists and designers, as well as 2D creative professionals moving into the world of 3D.
Carrara provides a comprehensive, high-end feature set coupled with a blazingly fast rendering engine, and a revolutionary workflow approach called SmartFlow. Carrara also supports and complements the company's e-commerce visualization strategy by providing effortless output to the MetaStream 3D file format, allowing the creation of high-quality, compact 3D objects for streaming over the Web.
Carrara contains all the capabilities found in many high-end 3D packages, such as a hybrid Ray Tracer, advanced shader editors, multiple modelers, real time Metaballs, particle systems, 3D light sources, lens flares, motion blur, key framing, physical effects and deformers, yet remains accessible to amateurs in 3D modeling and animation.
SmartFlow, a revolutionary workflow environment, provides an intuitive, progressive interface that allows users to "walk" projects through a series of production steps, with each compartmentalized area featuring the tools required to complete any task necessary.
The storyboarding capability within Carrara enables the fast and effective pre-visualization of animations. The physical effects allow users to apply characteristics such as weight and bounce to modeled objects for incredibly true-to-life animation effects.
Minimum System Requirements
Windows: Pentium II 300Mhz or better, Windows 95/98/2000/NT 4.0 with service pack 3 or later, 64 MB of Physical RAM, 16-bit Color Display (24-bit recommended), 3D graphics accelerator card recommended, CD-ROM Drive, 65MB free hard drive space
Power Macintosh: All Power Macintosh G3 266Mhz or better, System 8.1 or later, 64 MB of Application RAM, 16-bit Color Display (24-bit recommended), 3D graphics accelerator card recommended, CD-ROM Drive, 65MB free hard drive space
MetaCreations Pledges Continued Support for All Existing Products
While the company announced last week that it will divest itself of products that do not support the company's e-commerce visualization strategy, MetaCreations emphasized its continued commitment to the users and distributors of all of the company's professional graphics products.
The company has retained its engineers and technical support personnel for all products, to ensure the continued development and support of the products as they are divested.
About MetaStream
The winner of such prestigious accolades as Popular Science magazine's Best of What's New 1999, and PC Magazine's Technical Excellence award, MetaStream is the industry-leading streaming solution for virtual product merchandising. The scalable technology enables the easy and affordable incorporation of 3D images into almost any Web site or interactive advertisement.
Jointly developed with Intel Corp., MetaStream addresses the need for 3D files that stream efficiently over the Internet and automatically scale to the user's display and processing power for optimized viewing. MetaStream opens a new realm of true-to-life 3D on the Web, enhancing online shopping, education, entertainment and visual communication.
That said, the company has indeed brought Carrara to market. It is to be hoped that this product is important t to the MetaStream strategy. If so, one could presumably think that future support is assured. Time will tell.