http://eitechnologygroup.com/news en brad@eitechnologygroup.com Copyright 2009 2009-05-27T16:35:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/developmental_changes_at_ei_technology_group/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/developmental_changes_at_ei_technology_group/#When:16:35:00Z EI Technology Group (EITG), developer and publisher of innovative 3D software products, announced future versions of the Electric Image Animation system will be developed and released under the aegis of a new company . The new company will be formed by long-time EI contributors and developers, Tomas Egger and the Igors.San Antonio, TX May 27, 2009 – EI Technology Group (EITG), developer and publisher of innovative 3D software products, announced future versions of the Electric Image Animation system will be developed and released under the aegis of a new company . The new company will be formed by long-time EI contributors and developers, Tomas Egger and the Igors. EI Technology Group will continue to manage sales and support of EIAS v8, and the development of Tesla, EITG’s new modeling tool. Matt Hoffman, Director of Product Development at EI Technology Group, will work with both companies to insure the steadiness and continuing quality of the EIAS product line. Blair Burtan of Northern Lights 3d stated, "It's very exciting to see more people get involved in the development of the Electric Image product line. There is a real opportunity to expand the existing product line while adding new features to Animator and Camera." About EI Technology Group With headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, EI Technology Group, LLC is a progressive technology company specializing in the design and distribution of award-winning 3D Animation applications for both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. EITG's software has been used in many films and television shows including: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Daddy Day Care, K-19: The Widowmaker, Gangs of New York, Austin Powers: Goldmember, Men In Black II, The Bourne Identity, Behind Enemy Lines, Time Machine, Ticker, JAG - Pilot Episode, Spawn, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Galaxy Quest, Mission to Mars, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Titan A.E., U-571, Dinosaur, Terminator 2: JudgementDay DVD Intro, Jungle Book 2, and Lost In Space. To learn more, visit us at http://www.eitechnologygroup.com. General News 2009-05-27T16:35:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/ei_technology_group_announces_eias_v8/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/ei_technology_group_announces_eias_v8/#When:21:19:00Z EI Technology Group (EITG), developer and publisher of innovative 3D software products, is proud to announce Electric Image Animation System (EIAS) v8.0.San Antonio, TX May 12, 2009 EI Technology Group (EITG), developer and publisher of innovative 3D software products, is proud to announce Electric Image Animation System (EIAS) v8.0. EIAS includes an abundance of new features. Brad Parscale, President of EI Technology Group stated, "This is the biggest upgrade to the Electric Image Animation System in 10 years. The upgrade includes so many new improvements throughout the software, every EIAS customer will need this upgrade." Version 8.0 includes Area Lights, Photon Mapping, Light Objects, Fast Soft Shadows, Environmental Rotoscopes, Workflow, texturing and weight map painting improvements, New plug-ins and shaders and much more. EIAS v8.0 includes all the great features of the past upgrades mixed with all the amazing new features. For a complete feature list visit the EITG website at eitechnologygroup.com or email us at sales@eitechnologygroup.com. Pricing and Availability EIAS v8.0 is now shipping with support for both Macintosh UB/PPC and Windows 2000/XP/Vista. Upgrades start at $395US for current EIAS v7.0 users and prior users can upgrade to v8.0 for $495US. For more information or to purchase, visit our website at eitechnologygroup.com or call us at 210-377-2525. About EI Technology Group With headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, EI Technology Group, LLC is a progressive technology company specializing in the design and distribution of award-winning 3D Animation applications for both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. EITG's software has been used in many films and television shows including: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Daddy Day Care, K-19: The Widowmaker, Gangs of New York, Austin Powers: Goldmember, Men In Black II, The Bourne Identity, Behind Enemy Lines, Time Machine, Ticker, JAG - Pilot Episode, Spawn, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Galaxy Quest, Mission to Mars, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Titan A.E., U-571, Dinosaur, Terminator 2: JudgementDay DVD Intro, Jungle Book 2, and Lost In Space. To learn more, visit us at: a href="http://www.eitechnologygroup.com">eitechnologygroup.com. Press Releases 2009-05-13T21:19:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/electric_image_animation_system_v8_final_features_list/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/electric_image_animation_system_v8_final_features_list/#When:19:16:01Z A complete list of EIAS v8 Features.EIAS 8 New Features: 1. LIGHT PACK 1.1 Fast soft shadowsThe soft shadow system has been completely rewritten. Fast soft shadows can be enabled for all typesof lights. This new method utilizes GI engine to sample soft shadows and it is several times faster than before. The old optimization ("Optimize shadow generation") has been rewritten to have more controls. 1.2 Area lightsArea lights are a fundamental requirement for most indoor and room scenes. EIAS 8 includes them as a built-in light type. Area lights can be equipped with HDRI textures (e.g. to replace a series of small lights with only one textured Area light). They can be also used in the role of tube light with real soft shadows. 1.3 Luminance Light ObjectsThis variation of Area Lights uses real geometry (polygons) instead of an abstract light shape. Youcan create lights with any arbitrary luminance shapes. There is also a special "hidden" option for Light Objects that allows them to have bouncing illumination for sky light and outdoor scenes. 1.4 Photon MappingPhoton mapping is a popular and effective way to calculate indirect illumination and light bouncing. Photon maps can be stored and reused, thus allowing fly-through animations to be rendered much more quickly. Their illumination can also be baked, that is to say, transformed into illumination maps. 1.5 Quadratic light drop-offQuadratic falloff is a new kind of light drop-off. It provides a physical light-model that corresponds more realistically to real-world lighting. An example of this type of drop-off can be found in a simple household light-bulb. Its intensity is huge when you hold your hand close to it (you can even see light transmittingthrough your hand), but, as you move your hand away, this intensity drops-off very quickly. 1.6 Light Customize ToolThis new graph tool is a flexible modifier of a light's behavior. Unlike the GI Diffuse and Luminance multipliers, the Customize Tool changes illumination selectively. For example, you can increase the illumination in dark areas only, but leave the brighter areas of the scene unchanged. 1.7 New GI Saturation OptionThis new option decreases the GI reverse illumination saturation providing more color bleeding control. 2. TEXTURES PACK 2.1 EXR and 16bit image input supportAnimator and Camera are now both capable of reading and using both EXR and 16 bit QuickTime files forany use. EXR textures can be used in the role of HDRI files(with or without alpha channel). 2.2 Rotoscope textures and Backdrop options BackdropsBackdrop options have been moved from the World Dialog to the Camera Dialog, this is because, functionally, they are the same as Rotoscopes. RotoscopesYou can now edit rotoscopes as if they were normal textures - that is to say, double clicking on them will open the standard Texture Info window. Two or more rotoscope textures are combined according to their blend modes, just as material textures. Procedurals can be used as well. In EIAS 8, a rotoscope can have any mapping type, just like reflection maps (Spherical, LightProbe, Vert Cross etc.). The result will be that your camera will seem to be inside a surrounding infinite sphere with the rotoscope applied to the inside of it. As you move the camera, you will see different parts of this environment.This feature can be previewed in Animator's View windows. 2.3 Reflection mapsReflection maps are now combined according to their blend modes. A procedural applied in the reflection maps list now is treated as a real reflection (in EIAS 7 it was a reflectivity multiplier). 2.4 Sky mapsAll sky maps lists (GI Sky maps, world RT reflections and refractions) can have any number of textures that are combined in Camera. Procedurals can be used as well. The only exception is "Adaptive sky map" GImode. It requires a single texture that should be a LDR/HDR image. 2.5 Normal mapsNormal maps (a kind of bump map) are moved to tangent space because now it's a more popular and usable kind of normal maps that allows the use of UVs and others kinds of mapping. 2.6 Displacement Sea LevelThis new additional control adds/subtracts a constant value to the applied displacement. It's useful for organic shapes such as those coming from ZBrush. 2.7 Light maps Instead of a single light projection map, EIAS 8 offers a standard texture list of light maps supporting alltypes of reflection mapping and procedurals. 3. USER PACK 3.1 New Strength map tools Save/Load strength map to re-assign it from a low-res model to a higher-res one or vice versa Strength maps blur/contrast tool Strength map mirror tool Strength map unfold tool saves a map as a .img texture by using the model's UVs 3.2 Renderama improvements Renderama now displays the output file name of the job being rendered You can now re-order jobs inside the Renderama interface Whenever you enable or disable a job or a slave, this is now instantly saved to the preferences to aid in crash recovery Renderama can now see and use folders nested inside the EI Shaders and EI Sockets folders 3.3 Animator improvements "Remove from selection set" is added to contextual menu Enable/Disable channels animation ("green triangle") was added to the preferences Exported FACT can be automatically re-imported and added to the project Imported series of FACT files (for cycle groups) are now added in order sorted by their file names When you right click on the title bar of the Camera View window, the pop-up menu shows label colorand a light/camera icons next to the respective items in the list Bump normals map are now supported for camera maps A new contextual menu was added for the textures in the Material Info window. Procedurals interfaces also can be opened by selecting the procedural in the list and pressing the 'P' key Layers shaders can be collected in a separate folder (but located inside "EI Shaders" folder) In the Texture Info window for Flat, Cubic and Procedural mapping, a new "AutoEdit" pop-up was added to constrain XY(Z) scales. A new feature, "Fill Velocities", was added to the Function Curve Editor. 3.4 Rendering to PNG formatEIAS 8 can now render sequences natively to the .png format (millions and millions+). This was added to overcome the resolution limitation experienced with QuickTime files (like PICT). 4. New Plug-Ins and Shaders Note: These all require EIAS 8.0 and will not function in earlier versions. 4.1 EI Shaders API improvementStarting with EIAS 8.0, procedural shaders can read geometry at render time; similar to model plug-ins. It gives shader developers the ability to create advanced silhouette and cartoon effects. 4.2 ShadeBevel ShaderThis new shader creates a bump to fake bevels/champhers along the unshared edges of a group. This creates Instant and flexible results even for very low-detailed models. 4.3 Parametric Surface Plug-InThis new plug-in creates shapes and surfaces analytically by using formulas. It works together with XPressionist. It includes a library of formulas so you can use it without any math skills. You can create your own formulas and design UIs for them. 4.4 AdaptiveDicer Plug-InThis new plug-in provides a more robust and more featured triangulation that can be selective, depending on an applied weight map or on vertices/facets colors. The plug-in can be also used as a "filter" to remove unwanted non-planar geometry, redundant vertices and double-sided polygons.   FIXED BUGS:Pressing both mouse buttons at the same time on a pop-up no longer crashes AnimatorUndo works properly when a FACT file is added to the projectUndo works properly when a group with strength maps is deletedUndo stack now resets when a project is closed and a new one is openedCrashes when switching frame rate in project window fixedReplace button in the Material Info window, Transmission tab didn't workReal time deformations now work if two or more objects are dragged togetherAdding non-image files will no longer crash the strength map systemCamera no longer crashes if a greyscale .mov file is usedAnimator no longer freezes if Blur Frames is set to 2 and the Go button is pressedRotoscopes being shown in the View windows are redrawn if their projection type is changed.The preview speed in the Camera View window should now work as documented for Drop framesEdit text operators (like @*2) are supported in the Render Resolution X.Y (Camera Info window)We added more code to prevent Animator from crashing after a preview rendering.Lensflare and Lightflares will no longer be causing out of memory errors   General News 2009-05-06T19:16:01-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/eias_v8_teaser_image/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/eias_v8_teaser_image/#When:12:16:00Z Here are some teaser images created with EIAS v8.I know many of you are excited about the new features in v8. I wanted to provide you with these great examples of them in use. Thanks to Yon and Dave for your great work. Enjoy! 2009-01-27T12:16:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/electric_image_animation_system_v8_beta_status_and_expected_features/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/electric_image_animation_system_v8_beta_status_and_expected_features/#When:14:56:00Z EIAS v8 Features.Currently we are finishing up the last of the bug fixes for version 8 of the Electric Image Animation System. We hope to start selling version 8 within the next couple weeks. There are still a few last couple bugs that need to be sorted, but we wish to deliver a very solid new upgrade. We have provided a list of the expected new features for your review. This list is still subject to change. Fast soft shadows All soft shadows code is completely re-written. Fast soft shadows can be enabled for all kinds of lights are capable to create such shadows (Radial, Spot and Area). This new method utilizes GI engine to sample soft shadows as well. Typically it's in several times faster compare to old technique. The old optimization ("Optimize shadow generation") is also rebuilt to have a more flexible way instead of just on/off. Area lights Area lights are a fundamental requirement for most indoor and room scenes. EI8 now includes them as a built-in light type. Area lights can be equipped with HDRI textures (for example to replace a series of multiply small lights with only one textured Area light). It can be also used in a role of tube light with real soft shadow and (by using Light Portal feature) to simulate lights with arbitrary shapes. Photon Mapping Photon mapping is a popular and effective way to calculate indirect illumination and light bouncing. Photon maps can be stored and reused, thus allowing fly-through animations to be rendered much more quickly. Their illumination can also be baked, that is to say, transformed into illumination maps. Quadratic light drop-off Quadratic falloff is a new kind of light drop-off. It provides a physical light-model that corresponds more realistically to real world lighting. An example of this type of drop-off can be found with a simple house hold light-bulb. It's intensity is huge when you hold your hand close to it (you can even see light transmitting through your hand), but, as you move your hand away, this intensity drops-off very quickly. Light Customize Tools A new light setting, designed for use with lights that have high intensities like the sun. It increases the illumination level produced by a light but without over-exposing a scene. You can think of it as "falloff" in material's diffuse tab but for a light instead of material. EXR and 16bit image input support Animator and Camera are now both capable of reading and using both EXR and 16 bit QT files for any use. EXR textures can be used in a role of HDRI (with or without alpha channel). Much more information on this new solid feature to come. Rotoscope textures and Backdrop options Backdrops: Backdrop options have been moved from the World Dialog to the Camera Dialog, this is because, functionally, they are the same as Rotoscopes. Rotoscopes:You can now edit rotoscopes as if they were normal textures - that is to say, double clicking on them will open the standard texture editing window. Two or more rotoscope textures are combined according to their blend modes, same as material textures. Procedurals can be used as well. In EI8 a rotoscope can have any mapping type, same as reflection textures (Spherical, LightProbe, Vert Cross etc.) the result will be that your camera will seem to be inside a surrounding infinite sphere with the rotoscope applied to the inside of it. As you move the camera, you will see different parts of this environment, it can be previewed in Animator. Reflection maps Now reflection maps are combined according to their blend modes. A procedural applied in reflection maps list now is treated as a real reflection (in EI7 it was a reflectivity multiplier). Sky maps All sky maps lists (GI Sky maps, world RT reflections and refractions) can have any number of textures that are combined. Procedurals can be used as well. The exception is only "Adaptive sky map" GI mode, it ultimately requires a single texture that should be a LDR/HDR image. Normal maps Bump normal maps are moved to tangent space because now it's more popular and usable kind of normal maps that allows to use them together with UVs and others kinds of mapping. Light maps Instead of a single light projection map, EI8 offers a standard texture list of light maps with any kind of reflection mapping a procedurals allowed. New Strength map tools - Save/Load strength map to re-assign it from a low-resolution model to with higher one or vice versa. - Strength maps blur/contrast tool - Strength map mirror tool - Strength map unfold tool allows to save a map as img texture by using model's UVs. Renderama improvements - Renderama now displays the file names of the job being rendered. - You can now re-order jobs inside the Renderama interface. - Whenever you enable or disable a job or a slave, this is now instantly saved to the preferences to aid in crash recovery. - Renderama can now see and use folders nested inside the EI Shaders and EI Sockets folders. Animator improvements - "Remove from selection set" is added to contextual menu; - Enable/Disable channels animation ("green triangle") is added to preferences; - Exported FACT can be automatically re-imported and added to project; - Imported series of FACT files are now added in order sorted by file names; - The menu-bar (Animator's "Camera Window") for choosing lights and cameras now takes label colours into account as well as placing light/camera icons next to the respective items in the list; - bump normals map are allowed foe camera maps as well; - new contextual menu is added for texture items in list. Procedurals interfaces also can be opened by pressing 'P' key. - Layers shaders can be collected in a separated folder (but located inside "EI Sockets" folder) - In Texture Window for Flat, Cubic and Procedural mapping the new "AutoEdit" popup is added to constrain XY(Z) scales. Rendering to PNG format EIAS 8 can now render image sequences natively to the .png format with/without alpha. This was added because of the resolution limitation experienced with Quick-Time files. Fill Velocities EIAS Function Curve Editor improvement. GI "Saturation" 2009-01-12T14:56:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/tripledtools_announces_universal_binary_version_of_powerparticles_pro/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/tripledtools_announces_universal_binary_version_of_powerparticles_pro/#When:16:20:00Z TripleDTools, Inc. is proud to announce the long-awaited release of its Universal Binary version of PowerParticlesPro.TripleDTools, Inc. is proud to announce the long-awaited release of its Universal Binary version of PowerParticlesPro. Check out our website at www.tripleDtools.com. Upgrades from prior versions (no matter how old your version is) are $49.00. New seats can be purchased for $99.00 from now until January 10th, 2009, after which the price will again be $149.00. We are working hard to finish the port of Steamroller and Fyreworks, so stay tuned. Once we get these two out the door, we will put our energies into an enhanced version of PowerParticlesPro. So many of you have suggested new features that we just have to do it. 2008-12-28T16:20:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/photons_are_alive_telsa_screen_shot_ian_waters_joins_eitg/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/photons_are_alive_telsa_screen_shot_ian_waters_joins_eitg/#When:21:37:00Z New development on Electric Image Animation System v8 continues. The Tesla development team is also reporting good news on the development front. We are very pleased to announce that Ian Waters has joined the EITG Team as a Development Specialist.The Photons are Alive! EIAS v8 News. New development on Electric Image Animation System v8 continues. Those watching the forums and talking around the water cooler will note a new big feature of v8 is Photon Mapping. The goal of Photon Mapping is to provide much improved lighting solutions for building interiors and enclosed scenes. Another huge benefit of Photon Mapping is that once a Photon Map is generated, it can be saved and re-used—meaning vastly improved speed and quality for Global Illumination animations. Tesla 1.0 Around the Corner. The Tesla development team is also reporting good news on the development front. There have been some huge changes 'under the hood' and work is ongoing. This link shows the Tesla alpha interface, there will be many changes before the final release but, as for today, we're very happy to show you the first public image of Tesla. Expect more news in the coming weeks. EITG Officially Welcomes Ian Waters to the Team. We are very pleased to announce that Ian Waters has joined the EITG Team as a Development Specialist. Ian will also be acting as an official spokes-person for EITG, providing an ever active conduit to the users. Together with the rest of the team, Ian is committed to further engaging and expanding the EIAS user base. EITG plans to add additional individuals to the team in the near future. Stay tuned for more information! General News 2008-07-10T21:37:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/eias_v7_competitive_upgrade_offer/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/eias_v7_competitive_upgrade_offer/#When:03:18:00Z EI Technology Group is proud to announce an outstanding competitive upgrade for all new and current users. EI Technology Group is proud to announce an outstanding competitive upgrade for all new and current users. Because we are so confident of the value of our 3D animation application, we want to offer you the opportunity to upgrade from your current 3D application to EIAS for nearly half the retail price. If you are currently a user of one of the following software applications, you can switch to EIAS for only $495. This is one offer you can't pass up, it won't last forever so get your copy today! The following competitors products may be upgraded from: Lightwave Maya Cinema 4D FormZ Modo 3D Studio Max Strata 3D Houdini Rhino Z Brush Adobe Photoshop Adobe After Effects TrueSpace Archicad Carrara Pro 6.0 So, if you ar a user of any of these software applications and would like to switch to the best in the business, do not pass up this limited time offer. Upgrade to EIAS today. General News 2008-04-23T03:18:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/sonica_plug_in_for_maya_public_beta_release/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/sonica_plug_in_for_maya_public_beta_release/#When:22:26:00Z EI Technology Group (EITG), developer and publisher of innovative 3D software products, is proud to announce the public beta release of Sonica, a powerful plug-in for Autodesk’s Maya.San Antonio, TX – March 18, 2008 – EI Technology Group (EITG), developer and publisher of innovative 3D software products, is proud to announce the public beta release of Sonica, a powerful plug-in for Autodesk’s Maya. Sonica is the first in a series of plug-ins for Maya and is a powerful tool to help animators synchronize their animation to sound. Sonica extracts the spectrum and waveform and makes it available to Maya animators via dependency nodes. Sonica is available for both Windows and Macintosh platforms. Brad Parscale President of EI Technology Group stated, “Sonica is our first step into creating plug-ins for Maya. This plug-in, as well as future plug-ins, will bring the EI Technology Group name to new 3D markets. We are very proud to extend the EITG family of products into these new areas.” EI Technology Group delivers the Sonica Plug-in only two months before the expected beta release of “Tesla”, EI Technology Group’s new 3D modeling package. Tesla, a new hybrid solids modeler is a revolutionary move forward for EI Technology Group. Beta release for Tesla is expected in May 2008. Pricing and Availability Sonica is now available as a public beta on the EITG website. Pricing has yet to be announced. If you need further information or details please visit our website at Sonica Product Page or email us at sales@eitechnologygroup.com. About EI Technology Group With headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, EI Technology Group, LLC is a progressive technology company that specializes in the design and distribution of award-winning 3D Animation applications for both Macintosh and Windows operating systems. EITG's software has been used in many films and television shows including but not limited to: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Daddy Day Care, K-19: The Widowmaker, Gangs of New York, Austin Powers: Goldmember, Men In Black II, The Bourne Identity, Behind Enemy Lines, Time Machine, Ticker, JAG - Pilot Episode, Spawn, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Galaxy Quest, Mission to Mars, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Titan A.E., U-571, Dinosaur, Terminator 2: JudgementDay – DVD Intro, Jungle Book 2, and Lost In Space. To learn more, visit us at: EI Technology Group Website. 2008-03-18T22:26:00-06:00 http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/eitg_introduces_30_video_tutorials_for_electric_image_animation_system/ http://www.eitechnologygroup.com/news/eitg_introduces_30_video_tutorials_for_electric_image_animation_system/#When:03:01:00Z EITG uploads 30 new video tutorials for EIAS.EI Technology Group has uploaded 30 Video Tutorials for your viewing pleasure! These tutorials are extremely useful for the novice and experienced EIAS user. EITG would like to send a big THANK YOU to Ian Waters for his magnificent work. Quicktime is necessary to view these tutorials. To view now visit Video Tutorials Link. 2008-03-12T03:01:00-06:00