Skymatter Limited (www.skymatter.com), a developer of 3D software tools, has announced the immediate availability of a free trial of Mudbox 1.0.4, its 3D sculpting software. The trial offers all the capabilities of the professional version and can be downloaded at www.mudbox3d.com/downloadTrial.html.
Mudbox is a high-resolution, brush-based software application designed for the professional digital sculptor. Since its public beta debut in December of 2005 and official release in December of 2006, Mudbox has been adopted by top visual effects and game development companies, and recently received the highest ranking of any software on CG Society’s prestigious retrospective top 20 list for 2006.
According to Skymatter co-founders Andrew Camenisch, Tibor Madjar and Dave Cardwell, all professional CG artists formerly of Weta Digital, their work on projects such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy highlighted the need for better 3D sculpting and Mudbox is a direct result. The toolkit boasts an intuitive user interface and seamless integration with such applications as Autodesk Maya and SOFTIMAGE|XSI.
Key features and capabilities of Mudbox 1.0.4 include 3D layering, level streaming technology, local subdivision, a true 3D camera, ‘Tangent Space” symmetry for symmetrical sculpting on asymmetrical models, and high-quality texture baking that generates normal and displacement maps between multiple arbitrary meshes.
Mudbox software is available for purchase directly from Skymatter at www.mudbox3d.com. Mudbox Professional pricing starts at $649. Floating
(network) seats and Gold Support options are also available. A non-commercial version, Mudbox Basic, is available for $299.
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