Massive 3.5 Released at SIGGRAPH

Massive announced today that they’re shipping the new 3.5 version of their software.

New Agent Fields handle local interactions between large numbers of agents for such things as collision avoidance, pedestrian visualization and flocking. Users can define an area, or field, around an agent in which another agent’s proximity, orientation, velocity, direction and color can be assessed.

There is also improved hair and dynamics support in the new version with increased control of hair with a guide hair shape constraint that can be used to get hair to keep to a user-defined shape or hairstyle.

Click through for the press release…..

San Diego, CA, SIGGRAPH CONFERENCE (August 11, 2008)-Massive Software today announced Massive 3.5, a new upgrade to Massive, the artificial intelligence (AI) driven animation system. Massive 3.5 follows up on Massive 3.0 with new features, including Agent Fields and improved integration and hair and fur dynamics.

Massive allows artists to create and direct anything from CG humanoids to birds, animals, cars and more to deliver realistic and emotive virtual performances.  Massive “agents” are 3D characters that use sight, sound and touch to interpret and react autonomously to the world around them. Massive incorporates procedural animation and AI, and is used by professionals in animation, visual effects and design visualization.

“The release of Massive 3.5 improves on many of the most-requested features from Massive users, including extended support for FBX files and Python scripts,” commented Massive Founder and Product Manager Stephen Regelous. “And with Agent Fields, Massive users can easily and efficiently handle local interactions between large numbers of agents. Agent Fields can be applied with the simplicity of particle based simulators, without losing the flexibility extensibility of Massive.”

Agent Fields – Handle local interactions between large numbers of agents for such things as collision avoidance, pedestrian visualization and flocking. Users can define an area, or field, around an agent in which another agent’s proximity, orientation, velocity, direction and color can be assessed. A new Viewport option allows for visualization of Agent Fields in 3D from within the Agent Fields editor.

Extended FBX Support – Massive 3.0 provided the facility to import skeletons and motion from a wide range of animation applications via the industry standard FBX file format. In 3.5 this support has been extended to cameras, lights, geometry and skeleton and motion export, providing comprehensive facilities for integration with other applications such as SoftImage XSI, Autodesk 3ds Max, Cinema4D and MotionBuilder.

Extended Python Support – As it becomes increasingly common for studios to implement integration of 3D applications using Python scripts, Massive 3.5 includes increased support for Python to make it easier to integrate Massive into custom studio production pipelines. Python scripting allows for action management and adds more functions for automating importing of motion.

Maya Particle File Support – Improved integration with better support for Maya particle files. Using Maya particle files, a Massive simulation can be imported into a Maya scene as simple particles for scene integration, lighting reference and real time playback.

Improved Dynamic Hair and Fur Support – Improved dynamics and increased control of hair with a guide hair shape constraint that can be used to get hair to keep to a user-defined shape or hairstyle. Mental Ray hair shader allows users to get high-quality hair and fur renderings without writing custom shaders.

For more comprehensive Massive 3.5 features and product information, please visit www.massivesoftware.com.

New Ready To Run Car Agent The latest addition to the growing library of off-the-shelf Ready To Run agents is the Car Agent. Ready to be placed into cityscapes, architectural visualizations, and anywhere there’s a need for realistic traffic animation. The car agent utilizes the Lanes feature, first released in Massive 3.0. The Ready To Run agents all come complete with animation, brain, geometry, textures and shaders, and include enough variation to populate large scenes.

Pricing and Availability Massive 3.5 is now available for Windows and Linux. Massive Jet 3.5, delivering out-of-the-box functionality, is available for $5,999 USD per license. For ultimate customization, flexibility and the ability to create and edit agents, Massive 3.5 is priced at $17,999 USD per license.