Press Release: SiTex Graphics Releases AIR 6 Rendering Software for Complex Scenes
Denton, Texas - SiTex Graphics has released version 6 of its production-proven AIR rendering software. AIR 6 provides new tools and capabilities for enhanced rendering of very complex scenes such as those produced by Massive Software’s Massive crowd simulator.
AIR 6 offers users improved workflow and performance when rendering Massive crowds. AIR’s unique architecture fits perfectly with Massive’s method of generating agents (or crowd members) at render time. In particular, AIR’s exact occlusion culling minimizes the number of agents generated and ensures that only visible polygons are shaded and rendered. AIR 6 further optimizes performance with improved data sharing across agents and reduced per-agent storage. A new screen-space ambient occlusion cache provides high quality results in less time than a brute-force occlusion pass. AIR’s new adaptive motion blur option further reduces rendering time for scenes with a wide range of motion blur. According to Stephen Regelous, founder of Massive Software: “Air works great with Massive. It's a high-quality, highly efficient and cost-effective solution that we are happy to recommend to our customers."
AIR 6 introduces a new command filtering plug-in capability that provides great flexibility when integrating Massive scenes and other sources of complex data into a production pipeline. Command filters are user-written plug-ins that selectively capture and modify scene description commands before they are passed to the renderer. With an appropriate plug-in, Massive users can programmatically alter the look of individual agents at render time without the need to generate new simulation data.
The AIR 6 user manual has an extensive new section of detailed tips for preparing and optimizing Massive crowds for rendering with AIR. The Massive tips section also documents the new massrib tool for manipulating the RIB files generated by Massive.
The AIR 6 distribution includes a new version of the AIR Space user interface that provides an interactive shading and lighting environment using TweakAIR, the interactive version of AIR. AIR Space now allows editing of Massive scenes that have been converted with massrib. The new release of AIR Space includes a new interface for SiTex Graphics’ BakeAIR dedicated texture renderer for “baking” shading and lighting information to texture maps. AIR Space also sports new controls for depth of field and turntable and camera path animation.
For visualizing fluid simulations, AIR 6 has a new implicit surface primitive that renders grid-based data as an isosurface. New shading compiler optimizations reduce the size and improve performance for large shaders. With many other enhancements including improved GI and ambient occlusion quality, AIR 6 offers users a unique combination of speed, flexibility, and precision for tackling the most demanding projects.
About SiTex Graphics
SiTex Graphics (Denton, Texas) provides advanced rendering software for visual effects, industrial design, architecture, and digital content creation. SiTex Graphics' products include: AIR, a highly advanced 3D production renderer; BakeAIR, the only standalone dedicated renderer for producing high-quality texture maps; and TweakAIR, a custom rendering engine for tweaking shading and lighting of production scenes. With sophisticated, economical products and responsive, committed support, SiTex Graphics helps clients efficiently accomplish even the most demanding rendering tasks.
More information is available on the SiTex Graphics web site:
