Today Electric Rain, Inc.(R) announced the release of Swift 3D LW, a plug-in that will allow LightWave 3D users to render 3D scenes directly to a variety of vector-based file formats, including Macromedia(R) Flash(TM) (SWF), AI, EPS and the new XML-based SVG.
LightWave 3D is a leading Windows and Macintosh software application for developing high-end 3D design and animation. Electric Rain has leveraged their proprietary vector rendering technology, known as RAViX(TM) II, to create Swift 3D LW for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. "LightWave 3D users have been requesting a Macromedia Flash export feature for some time now," said Brad Peebler, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for NewTek. "We are excited that Electric Rain is delivering this Swift 3D LW solution. Our users will really appreciate the broad spectrum of vector output options as well as the optimized files."
Swift 3D LW renders 3D scenes with exceptionally high accuracy, while staying true to colors, lighting schemes, camera views and animations. RAViX II renders up to 10x faster than other 3D-to-vector rendering products on the market. Swift 3D LW supports an extensive array of rendering options including 3 levels of outlines, 5 levels of cartoon shading, 2 levels of gradient shading, plus shadows, specular highlights, and a full previewer window that allows users to see the results of each rendered frame. Swift 3D LW is able to handle models containing well over 200,000 polygons, including complex intersecting and self-intersecting objects. The resulting files are fully optimized so users do not have to rely on outside applications (i.e. Macromedia Flash) to perform the optimization that competitive products require.
Swift 3D LW is built around Electric Rainis core rendering technology, RAViX II, which converts 3D models into vector-based 2D files. The most recent version that powers Swift 3D LW touts significant improvements in both rendering speed and file size over the first generation RAViX. In addition, the spectrum of output formats has been broadened to provide the widest variety of vector artwork available in any 3D-to-vector product.
The Swift 3D KW plug-in is available for US$295. You can find more information at the Electric Rain Web site.