Luxion has announced the release of KeyShot 11, with the big launch news centred around its streamlining of each aspect of the product visualisation process to complement the whole of the product lifecycle.
The new features of KeyShot 11 reinforce what Luxion describes as key feedback from the workflows of KeyShot users in the areas of material design, information management, motion, automation, and presentation.
KeyShot 11 introduces 3D Paint, a new texture painting tool, that allows users to further customise a model’s surface finishes by directly painting or stamping textures on the surface.
With 3D Paint enabled, users can directly paint or stamp bump textures, colours, roughness, specularity, refractivity and opacity.
KeyShot describes 3D Paint as an incredibly useful tool for creating unique surface weathering and patinas, and can be used to accurately add wear marks to any surface within a scene. The new feature also allows layering effects to create rich, realistic surface patinas.
3D Paint also allows users to use adjustable and custom brushes to apply and layer material appearance and textures.
KeyShot 11 sees the software reinforce its position in CMF workflows, allowing users to easily change and decide on options during the product design review phase.
To streamline this workflow, KeyShot 11 has added both Material Management and CMF Output, a new feature set that eliminates the manual process of aligning rendered output to its corresponding materials by allowing KeyShot users to utilise an expansive Material Library that supports metadata about each material, a custom schema builder, and easy output of ready-made “tech packs” for design review.
Physics Simulation is a new tool that allows users to record the physics of an object and apply it as a keyframe animation. This tool brings fully simulated animations to KeyShot users along with more accuracy in scattering objects.
Simulations may be applied to individual or multiple Model Sets, objects, or groups of objects and simulated as parts or an entire group. Users have control over Gravity, Friction, and Bounciness and the ability to adjust the time, quality, and keyframes per second.
KeyShot Web Viewer is part of the KeyShotWeb module and allows users to easily share scenes by uploading them to KeyShot Cloud. It brings sharing of interactive scenes to users across browser, desktop, and mobile device with a single link.
Luxion explains that its work on Web Viewer has seen it optimised to provide the most realistic visuals available and smoothest interaction possible for viewing 3D in the web browser and on mobile devices. Viewing of any material or environment variations in the scene or any KeyShot Studios is available through the Web Viewer flyout menus.
Other features include quality adjustment, texture baking, including a mobile-friendly texture option, and password protection. 10GB of KeyShot Cloud storage is included in the KeyShotWeb subscription.
Workflow Automation is an advanced new feature, that allows users to automate various workflows via the Scripting Console (with a user interface) as well as through Headless Scripting Mode (without a user interface). Applications include automating render output and speeding up the generation of product variations.
The latest release expands the set of functions that can be called upon in headless mode, along with adding support for KeyShot Material Graph control with headless scripting. With the update to Python 3.9.5, 257 total features have been added, including 147 new features and 136 new constants that may be declared.
“KeyShot 11 is a milestone release for Luxion,” says Luxion CEO Claus Thorsgaard. “For the past year we have been investing massively across the organisation, from development to sales and support, while maintaining our focus on what we do best – building products that let designers across industries, in both small businesses and large corporations, easily bring their ideas to life, from still images to immersive 3D experiences.
“Going forward, our customers will have even more flexibility with KeyShot, through our subscription-based capabilities and cloud visualisation platform.”
“From 3D paint to CMF and Web Viewer, we have worked closely with key customers to develop the tools needed to extend KeyShot across the enterprise and allow designers to explore creative ideas and easily deliver assets to manufacturing and marketing,” added Derek Cicero, Luxion VP of products and strategy. “We are planning consistent updates to our features and cloud capabilities throughout the KeyShot 11 release cycle to deliver value to subscription and maintenance customers.”
With the latest release, Luxion is introducing subscription pricing for all new licenses, which it says reduces the upfront cost to a pay-as-you-go model. Subscription terms are generally over one year, during which time users receive all major releases and patches; access to subscription-only features like KeyShot Web Viewer; ‘self-service licensing’ that lets users activate and deactivate machines running KeyShot, as well as assisted phone and email support with remote desktop options from KeyShot members.
KeyShot 11 is available immediately for download and purchase online and through all certified KeyShot resellers. All KeyShot customers with active annual maintenance will automatically receive the upgrade to KeyShot 11.
