Electric Image v8 improves lighting, shadow rendering
updated 11:25 pm EDT, Wed June 3, 2009
EIAS v8 released
EI Technology has released v8 of Electric Image Animation System. The update includes various new features such as textured Area lights that can replace a series of small lights to create a more realistic looking indoor scene. There is also an additional Area light function that creates light with arbitrary luminance shapes using real geometry instead of an abstract light shape. Photon Mapping can be used to calculate indirect illumination and light bouncing. The maps can also be stored and reused without re-rendering a setting.
The application's shadow features have been reworked, now with the ability to produce soft shadows with multiple types of lights while rendering faster than the shadow features in v7. Additionally, the update includes a new interface, aimed at making workflow improvements. V8 includes numerous other features and improvements added to it.
Electric Image Animation Studio 8 requires Mac OS X 10.4. The software is immediately available from the EI Technology website for $900. Licensed users of previous versions can purchase upgrades for between $400 and $500.
