MachStudio Pro 2 to use DX11 acceleration on FirePro V8000, add mentral ray support

MachStudio Pro has increasingly been migrating to an open hub for 3D workflows. The newly announced MachStudio Pro 2 (Q3 2010) will offer native integration with Pixar RenderMan and the ability to create and use MetaSL-based custom procedural shaders and render out with mental ray.

The new release (will be free to all current customers) will also fully implement DirectX 11 support for even faster GPU acceleration, tessellation and multi-threading. This means significant performance boots on the ATI FirePro V8000.

The announced list of features includes:

• Pixar RenderMan Integration: Provides the flexibility to switch between or combine fast high-fidelity MachStudio Pro GPU-based rendering and industry-standard Academy Award-winning Pixar RenderMan CPU-based ray tracing rendering software on-the-fly to create beauty shots and/or specific render passes.
• MetaSL and mental ray Support: Allows 3D artists to quickly and easily build MetaSL-based custom procedural shaders using an intuitive mental mill node graph user interface for rendering out to both the mental ray and MachStudio Pro renderer
• Improved Pipeline Rendering Functionality: Offers a new Unified Pass Renderer (UPR), which breaks out all passes for the final render, and an EXR Sandwich Tool that combines all EXR files into one layered file for compositing.
• DirectX 11-Based Workflow: Offers more efficient rendering, tessellation, and multi-threading capabilities for improved performance throughout the pipeline.
• Volumetric and Screen Space Global Illumination (GI): Takes into account the bouncing of light from surfaces, allowing for more realistic renderings.
• Spot and Directional Lights: Allows for greater freedom towards achieving perfect lighting conditions.
• FBX Output: Exports models and baked textures in the FBX file format for compatibility with all leading 3D modeling and animation software programs.
• Increased Python Support: Allows for the creation of custom properties, parenting objects, and spot and directional lights.
• Workflow Improvements: Eases organization and viewing of everything in a scene, including groups, hierarchies, context menus, light sets, influencers and render pass isolation.

MachStudio Pro software is available in North America for $3,999 (USD) or bundled with the ATI FirePro V8800 3D workstation graphics accelerator card for $4,999 (USD).