Press Release



Flatiron – Complete Scene Unwrapping and Baking Solution
Press Release (http://flatiron.3d-plugin.com/2008/12/flatiron-unveiled/)

 

Flatiron (http://flatiron.3d-plugin.com/) is the new whole scene unwrapping and baking plug-in for Autodesk™ 3D Studio Max™.

It was developed for the high demands of graphics designers in real world production environments and provides a fast, simple and optimal full-scene unwrapping and baking solution.

Flatiron allows baking textures for multiple objects into a single map in a few simple steps. Baking lightmaps or any other type of render elements into large and complex scenes can be done with a few mouse clicks. Flatiron automatically takes care of the unwrapping and packing process and creates UV maps with optimized distribution, yielding much better quality lightmaps. This process minimizes texture seams and image corruption due to stretched pixels, and at the same time keeps the UV area ratio of all objects uniform, boosting the average image quality.

A tutorial video illustrating the workflow and capabilities of Flatiron can be viewed at:

http://flatiron.3d-plugin.com/2009/01/video-tutorial-create-your-own-lightmaps-level/

 

Key features

Simplifies workflow, advanced options available

At minimum, 4 simple operations are necessary for the full unwrapping and baking process from start to finish. Users requiring additional options and fine-tuning of rendering parameters have all the usual render-to-texture parameters from the standard Max built-in “render-to-texture” dialog available.

Advanced stretch-free automatic unwrapping

Unwrapping algorithm is based on 3d-io’s Unwrella plug-in technology, offering noticeably better results than MAX built-in “Flatten”, when final rendered images are compared side-by-side. The unwrapping process is fully automatic, and at the same time minimizes number of charts, seams and texture stretch.

High quality packing algorithm

Packing large numbers of chunks for hundreds of unwrapped objects is done with 3d-io’s Unwrella plug-in based UV packing technology. Charts are packed quickly and optimally, yielding high texture space usage, and at the same time respecting user selectable gutter padding and final texture sizes.

 

Versatility

Flatiron consistently delivers quality results with all kinds of 3d models from 3d game objects to industrial designs to complex, irregular organic shapes.
As such, it is an optimal tool for everyday work in game development, architecture and other 3D design studios.

 

Availability

The Flatiron, complete scene unwrapping and baking solution plug-in for Autodesk™ 3ds Max™ is now available in both trial mode and fully functional commercial license on its homepage:

Flatiron homepage ( http://flatiron.3d-plugin.com )

3d-plugin homepage ( http://www.3d-plugin.com )

3d-io ( http://www.3d-io.com )

Tutorials

For more information about the benefits, feature description and detailed usage in the production, please visit the illustrated tutorial and video web-page:
http://flatiron.3d-plugin.com/howto/

About 3d-io
3d-io games & video production GmbH is specialised company for high-end software development, modeling, animation, rendering, CG effects and 3D industrial design. 3d-io GmbH, headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, has an established strong presence in game development, design & video production, digital content creation as well as in graphics and animation. We are dedicated to provide easy-to-use software products accompanied by dedicated support team, experienced programmers and top notch 3D artists. Our latest product on the gaming market was nominated for the German Game Developers Award 2008 in best graphics category, and CG products are used by many famous Game and Design Studios worldwide.