Dynamite VSP Road Map 2008
I thought I would take a few moments to outline our planned road map for Dynamite VSP in 2008.
We are planning three no fewer than three new releases of Dynamite VSP this year, and we feel that it is important to outline some of our plans in advance to ensure that our customers have plenty of time to prepare for some important changes in the way that we provide support for Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk VIZ.
As many of you will already be aware, Autodesk’s range of Media and Entertainment products has evolved considerably of late. The launch of 64-bit versions of 3ds Max, the demise of Autodesk VIZ, and the launch of sister product 3ds Max Design have all contributed to creating a degree of confusion in the user base. We, as developers, currently provide either full or partial support for no less than nine different flavours or versions of 3ds Max and Viz. This situation will change considerably in the next twelve months as we start to realign our own products with the latest Autodesk Media and Entertainment product range.
In this article I will outline each of the new releases of Dynamite VSP that are planned for release in 2008, and provide a full list of Autodesk host applications that will be supported in each case.
For Autodesk VIZ users, it is vital to note that we will be ending support for this application later this year, so we want to provide plenty of notice to any users that might be affected by this move to help plan their migration to 3ds Max Design 2009.
Planned Dynamite VSP Releases in 2008
Version 3.51 (Released 15th May 2008)
The purpose of this new release (available now) is threefold:
- to add support for Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009 which requires a recompile of the Dynamite VSP plugins.
- to provide 64-bit versions of the Dynamite VSP plugins for users who wish to render or review their visualisations using 64-bit versions of 3ds Max or 3ds Max Design.
- to provide an update to the DynLM licensing system specifically for laptop users in order to ensure that the licence manager binds to the correct Network Adapter during the license request process.
Other than the above changes, this release is unchanged from Version 3.5 in terms of general functionality.
Version 3.51 is available as a downloadable service pack for Version 3.1 (or higher) and is free to users holding current and valid annual software maintenance contracts from 3am Solutions.
To download Version 3.51, please visit the new downloads section of the 3am Solutions Online Community site. Please note that the license file format has changed in this release which means that a new licence request must be made after installation of this service pack. We would therefore recommend that you check the status of your annual software maintenance contract before proceeding with the installation of this service pack.
Dynamite VSP Version 3.6 (Planned Release Date 15th July 2008)
In Dynamite VSP version 3.6, we will be introducing a number of new features, productivity enhancements and bug fixes. Here is a preview of what we have planned:
- A full Mental Ray based workflow and material library including support for mental ray daylight systems, exposure controls and physically accurate sky maps.
- The ability to define “Country”, “Project” and “Personal” Resource Kits in three separate customisable locations, replacing the current single Dynamite VSP Country Kit. This improvement is intended to help large and medium sized workgroups to better manage their visualisation resources by allowing Dynamite VSP users to identify styles, materials and object library content as shared, project specific, or personal.
- Much improved support for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2009 via a completely rewritten exporter for Civil 3D, and associated support for a newly enhanced vsp3d file format in Dynamite VSP.
There are plenty of smaller enhancements planned for this release too. Further details will be posted to the 3am Solutions web site nearer to the release date.
Please note that Dynamite VSP Version 3.6 will be the final release of the product featuring support for Autodesk VIZ. Autodesk VIZ users are encouraged to take advantage of Autodesk’s current promotion to crossgrade to 3ds Max Design 2009 for a negligible fee (available until 12th July 2008). Please contact us if you would like further details.
Dynamite VSP Version 4.0 (Planned Release Date December 2008)
In Dynamite VSP Version 4.0 we will be introducing the long awaited full support for 64-bit versions of Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk 3ds Max Design. This will potentially allow far larger datasets to be used.
With a whole host of other exciting new functionality planned, this release plans to mark yet another milestone in the development of Dynamite VSP. We hope to unveil this release publicly at December’s Autodesk University 2008 in Las Vegas.
Dynamite VSP Version 4.0 will support Autodesk 3ds Max 2008, Autodesk 3ds Max 2009, and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2009 in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions throughout.
Support Matrix for Autodesk Media and Entertainment Products
The following tables provide a detailed overview of support for each version of Autodesk VIZ, Autodesk 3ds Max, and Autodesk 3ds Max Design in each forthcoming release of Dynamite VSP.
Comments
Just a quick note to say that v3.60 is now anticipated for release at the end of July 2008.
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I do hope you are going to include more vehicles in your new releases.