e-frontier today announced that it plans to offer a Universal Binary version of its Shade 8 software for Intel-based Macs. The company said it would deliver Intel support along with other numerous features as free update to users of the 3D graphics toolkit, which offers both Bezier curve/surface modeling and sophisticated rendering. Due this Spring, the free upgrade will also bring export capabilities to QuickTime VR as well as the ability to import/export sound files, a new path constraints plugin, and a FogPlus plugin for advanced fog effects. The company said that users could see performance increase on the new Intel-based Macs of almost 200 percent. Shade 8.5 will also deliver an improved interface. It will be released in the Spring; version 8 is available in Standard ($200) and Professional ($900). Upgrades start at $100 for registered users and $150 for owners of Poser.