LightWork Design releases LightWorks 8.1

LightWork Design, a leading supplier of rendering solutions for developers of advanced 3D computer graphics software, today announced the release of LightWorks 8.1 which provides LightWorks customers with yet more enhanced rendering functionalities.

The main focus of this release is the development of the LightWorks Real-time rendering product, alongside some improvements to EPix output. These include:

*Soft shadows and Shadow catching are now both supported by Real-time rendering, using programmable shading;
*Programmable shading is now supported for several more LightWorks material shaders, for example multilayer paints and leathers, and this gives real-time support which is closer to the software implementation;
*EPix output can now be anti-aliased giving users more defined and accurate rendering.

David Forrester, Managing Director at LightWorks commented: "We appreciate that globally, many companies are experiencing difficult economic times at the moment and we want to help our customers to increase the value of their products. The release of LightWorks 8.1 comes quickly after the release of LightWorks 8.0 as we have accelerated our development plans to bring new functionality to our customers even more quickly."

LightWorks customers are already seeing the benefits of these product advancements: Roland Roeder, PTC GmbH commented: "The real-time shadow catcher support in 8.1 is great news for us and the leather shaders work really well! We're also finding that the added support for real-time soft shadows is making a big difference when we use LightWorks real-time rendering."