TheBest3D.com and Aartform announce Curvy 3D Version 2.0 - 3D Sculpting for Artists with 2D Minds
Date: San Diego, CA, and London, England, May 8, 2010
Aartform has released a new version 2.0 of Curvy 3D, the easy and powerful 3D sculpting program on PC for artists who like to draw, sketch and paint.
"I am very pleased to make my newest version 2 of Curvy 3D available to fellow artists and game developers, illustrators and animators in need of quick modeling.", said Simon of Aartform. "I created this tool for my own needs as an illustrator and game developer, and incorporated numerous tips and features from colleagues and friends who love the workflow it provides. Just like with Project Dogwaffle, I do believe in the power of thinking through the brush. If you like to sketch and paint, you will love to sculpt with Curvy 3D 2.0!"
*** What's new in Curvy 3D 2.0
Curvy 3D 2.0 has new Modelling Commands, new Sculpting Tools, a Posing System and integration with Project Dogwaffle, the popular digital painting program for artists who love to draw, sketch, animate and paint. Screenshots can now be saved with an alpha channel as TGA at up to 5x screen resolution.
- Modelling Commands: Mirror Mesh, Explode, UV Front/Back, Merge, Inflate Image.
- Sculpting Tools: Warp Inflate/Deflate, Smooth/Noise, Local Flatten.
- Posing System: Switch from modelling view to a posing view for easier scene setup.
- Dogwaffle Integration: Swap textures with Dogwaffle to add effects to textures, or paint on alpha channels.
"Curvy 3D 2.0 is a wonderful, playful piece of sculpting software", said Philip Staiger of TheBest3D.com, "I highly recommend it to students and starving artists alike, but especially illustrators and professional graphic artists who have always wanted to dive into 3D modeling in order to enhance their 2D layered projects with 3D layers, but never had the time or money to get and learn a complex, expensive solution that does much more than what they need, such as animation. If you don't dream in 3D, but mostly dream and work in layers, shapes and colors, then Curvy 3D will appeal to you. It works well with tablets, should be fun on touchscreen devices too, and literally opens a new dimension to what you can do with your illustrations."
*** What you can do with Curvy 3D 2.0
- Merging objects / Meshes
Join models together using solid modelling. Several sub-tools and features make this a tremendous value-added feature of version 2.0:
- Quick Merge All
Merge all visible models into a single mesh, and delete the original parts.
- Merge Group
Merge selected group of models into a single mesh, and leave the original parts.
- Sub Children
Subtract (Cut) grouped child models from selected model, and leave the original parts.
- Add Children
Add grouped child models to selected model, and leave the original parts.
- Merge Properties
Choose the precision for merge operations.
- Smoothing:
Gently smooth out a whole mesh. This command is easier to use from the keyboard - press 'S' repeatedly until the mesh is adequately smoothed. For faster smoothing press SHIFT and S together. You can create very complex parts from simple basic blobs that overlap and intersect: one menu click merges all parts, a few more smoothing key presses makes perfectly beautiful transitions between the seams.
For more localized control, use the Warp Smooth Tool like a paint brush to smooth a small detail of the model.
- Converting to Mesh:
This changes the object from a Curvy Object (which is defined by edit curves) into a triangle mesh. Any Curvy Map painting is baked into the mesh and a clear curvy map is put on the object. As a mesh, the object can still be further edited with the Warp Tools, the Widgit Tools and the curvy map. It is also possible to start from imported .OBJ models and work in this manner.
- Mirror
Makes a mesh symmetrical from right to left in the front view. Create a complete fancy tea cup or teapot in just a few brush strokes and 2-3 key presses or clicks.
- Explode
This new tool splits a single mesh into separate connected parts. This is very useful and a great time saver for splitting up imported meshes and Inflated Images (models created from black and white shape sketches).
- UV Front/Back
Map UVs onto the model from the front and the back to give a quick UV map to any shape of model.
Resulting texture map will be split into halves for the front faces and the back faces. For rapid prototyping and concept art, and sometimes even for final use in games where it doesn't matter if the models look symmetrical from up close (because they're far enough in the game and you're gonna blow'em up if you're first to the trigger anyway).
- Inflate Image
Last but not least, this powerful new modeling option converts a BMP image sketch into a 3D model. For example, if you draw the outline of a sword white on black background, this tool will turn the sword into a quality 3D model in no time. Several options exist:
- Relief mode creates a heightmap from the image brightness. Use a greyscale image with white where you want a higher surface. This is a tool meant also for creating terrains in games and animations, such as the whole landscape, mountains and village area of a level. The heightmap can then directly be painted in 3D with colors, bump and highlights, and further modeled with warp brushes.
- Auto mode cuts out the white area of the image and estimates a rounded 3D surface to make a 3D model - this mode can handle very complex input images. The best images to use are solid black and white pictures (not greyscale), 128-256 pixels wide with patches of solid white where you want your object to appear.
*** Availability and Pricing
Curvy 3D Pro 2.0 is available now at a list price of $99 USD. For a limited time, an introductory discount is being offered, making the purchase price around $79.
Owners of Curvy 1.5 are encouraged to contact the developer at curvy3d.com to request their free upgrade. Owners of earlier versions can upgrade for only $35.
Dogwaffle companion promotion:
A discount on Project Dogwaffle is also offered in the promotion launch event. Discounts for PD Pro 3 or 4 are emailed to users upon request who purchased Curvy 3D 2.0. Additionally, a free copy of PD Artist (a $19 value) is offered just for the asking - PD Artist is a lite version of Project Dogwaffle, based on PD Pro 3.2 and which also works with Curvy 2.0's Dogwaffle integration. To request your free copy of PD Artist for use with Curvy 3D 2.0, simply email a copy of your Curvy order ID from the online store or other proof of purchase to admin@thebest3d.com. Do not send as attachments. The email must be clear text or html showing the proof of purchase in the text body.
For more details, image galleries, free samples and downloadable demos, tutorials and animations, and to visit the forum, visit
http://www.thebest3d.com/curvy
and
http://www.curvy3d.com
*** Press Contacts
For Press inquiries, bundle offers, OEM inquiries and NFR copies to arrange a professional review please contact Philip Staiger:
Web: http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/presszone
email: admin(at)thebest3d(dot)com
Phone: +1-858-208-7377
*** Copyright & Trademarks
Curvy 3D is a trademark of Aartform, London, England. Project Dogwaffle is a trademark of Dan Ritchie.