New character animation plug-in offers easy, non-technical rigging
and animation workflow, motion layering, and muscle simulation for
Autodesk 3ds Max artists
Avid Technology, Inc., today announced that Softimage has released
SOFTIMAGE(R)|CAT(TM) 3, the latest version of the popular character
rigging and animation plug-in for Autodesk(R) 3ds Max(R) software.
With this latest software release, Softimage continues to demonstrate
its industry leadership in character animation by providing artists
with a more flexible way to create complex 3D characters and
animations inside 3ds Max software. Avid and its Softimage, Co.
subsidiary acquired the intellectual property assets of Character
Animation Technologies Ltd., in 2006.
"CAT is the single most powerful rigging tool I have used in all
my years working with 3ds Max. My clients are excited by the prospect
of implementing CAT 3 into their animation pipelines," said Paul
Hormis, Owner and CEO, Hyperbolic Enterprises Inc, of Southern
California. "After doing hundreds of rigs as a Character Technical
Director, I find CAT to offer the most flexible and easy-to-use
skeletal deformation and animation system on the market. CAT allows me
to rig humans, spiders, dragons, and even snakes with relative ease
and far fewer constraints. The new CATMuscle system allows me to add
even more realistic features to each rig, which in the past, would
have been both time and cost prohibitive."
New features in SOFTIMAGE|CAT 3 software include:
New character rig presets - allows customers to add skin meshes, deformation objects, manipulator objects, and any kind of 3ds Max object to a character rig
Real-time update to pre-set character rigs - allows animators to continue working on a rig while technical directors refine the character
CATMuscle - offers realistic skin and tendon deformation for 3D character rigs
Procedural controls for bones - gives artists the flexibility to add extra behaviors to rigs at the core bone level, and apply secondary dynamics or reaction controllers for customized animations
Joint limits - constrains rigs to realistic human physiology and allows artists to restrict bone movements to a pre-defined range, including inverse kinematics (IK)
"This latest version of SOFTIMAGE|CAT underscores our commitment
to delivering cutting-edge character animation technology for 3D
artists working in pipelines based on 3ds Max," said Philip R. Taylor,
CAT product manager for Softimage.
SOFTIMAGE|CAT 3 also includes updates to the CAT capture animation
tool for an accelerated, more responsive workflow. New pipeline tools
include a batch importer that transfers data into CAT, and a
script-based batch exporter that allows users customize specific
transfer operations. Customers can review all of the new features and
benefits of CAT 3 at www.softimage.com/cat or on the CAT Wiki
at cat.wiki.avid.com.
Pricing & Availability
SOFTIMAGE|CAT 3 is available now for USMSRP $995 via download
delivery from www.softimage.com/cat. Customers on CAT 2 can
upgrade to CAT 3 for MSRP $295.
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