Autodesk Mudbox 2011

Autodesk Mudbox 2011 software accelerates design, sculpting, and approval phases with improved tools for deforming and posing models, and new ability to create high-quality turntables for presentations. Texture painting toolset is dramatically extended with image adjustment brushes and blend modes for paint layers, while a Vector Displacement map extraction method gives new possibilities for creating and rendering complex details. Single-click file transfer with Autodesk Maya 2011 software; multi-layer PSD exchange with Adobe Photoshop software; added support for Windows 7, and Mac OS X 64-bit OS, Mudbox 2011 integrates easily into existing pipelines.

Top features:

Posing Toolset
Faster and easily deform and pose models to change their design, access occluded regions, present them for approval, and prepare them for map extraction. With tools for instant creating and editing joints, ability to import weighted skeletons from Maya 2011, Autodesk 3ds Max 2011, or Autodesk Softimage 2011 software, new toolset enables modelers to create and manipulate poses as part of the design, sculpting, painting, or approval process.

Image Adjustment Brushes
Edit and manipulate existing paint and photo-based layers with new image adjustment brushes: Blur, Dodge, Burn, Contrast, Sponge, Hue, Hue Shift, and Invert. These brushes enable existing image data under the brush to be altered or enhanced, color-corrected, brightened, or softened.

Vector Displacements
Extract maps using a new Vector Displacement method and represent displacements: forms with appendages, undercuts, folds, and bulges, such as a human ear. Once extracted, maps can be used to recreate detail at render time in supported renderers, or as brush stamps or stencils in Mudbox to sculpt complex detail onto meshes in a single stroke.

Paint in UV Space in the 3D View
Painting in 3D space helps with precise placement of detail on the model. An innovative new feature in Mudbox unfolds a 3D model into a 2D representation, based on its UVs, but retains the benefits of working in a true 3D environment such as the ability to analyze lighting and material qualities.

Enhanced Interoperability with Maya, 3ds Max, Softimage
Now models and scene information transfer between Mudbox 2011 and Maya 2011 with a single click. Displacement and Normal maps extracted in Mudbox are associated with models when an Autodesk FBX 2011 file is exported, eliminating the need to manually reassemble the asset when brought into in another program. Using Mudbox in concert with a favorite content creation application is easier with a choice of familiar hotkey setups for common actions.

Blend Modes for Paint Layers
Control paint layers composite: Multiply, Screen, Add, or Overlay. These non-destructive settings help to experiment freely when constructing complex multi-layered textures by offering the flexibility to change the blend mode.

Multi-Layer PSD File Exchange with Photoshop
Import and export multiple layers in PSD files to leverage the Adobe Photoshop toolset on more demanding scenes and projects. Edit layers in the context of the final composite, preserve continuity in look and workflow when moving between Mudbox and Photoshop.

High-Quality Turntables
Fast and easily create high-quality 360 degree turntable movie files directly in Mudbox. Common file formats enable movies to be more easily accessed for remote review or approval; turntables are also useful for showcasing artists' work.

Enhanced Color Chooser
Store and recall recently-used colors and user-defined palettes, and work in a choice of color spaces using the same new color chooser as Maya 2011.

64-bit Support for Mac OS X and Windows 7
Mudbox 2011 has new 64-bit executables on Mac OS X and Windows 7 OS providing more addressable memory to more easily handle the increasingly detailed models required by today's challenging productions.

Separate Normal Map Channel
View and edit Bump and Normal maps simultaneously, using the new Normal Map channel in the default material to display normal maps.

New Incandescence Channel
Create glows and other self-lit effects with a new Incandescence channel in the default material.

Subdivision-Based Map Extraction
A new subdivision-based map extraction method helps produce higher quality maps more quickly and easily than the traditional Raycast method.

Extended SDK
Write custom brushes for painting and sculpting, with an extended SDK that offers additional examples.

Enhanced User Interface Look
An updated user interface features a dark-gray color scheme that helps reduce eyestrain and makes it easier to evaluate materials and lighting.

System requirements:

• Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon® 64 processor
• Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 3; Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (Service Pack 2 recommended); or Windows 7
• 1GB of RAM
• 1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on removable flash-based storage devices)
• 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended) with qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card, 16-bit color, and 256MB of VRAM
• Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0