Allegorithmic Announces ProFX 2.6 Texturing Middleware

3D technology software developer Allegorithmic has announced the the latest version of ProFX, the company's procedural texturing middleware, allowing game developers to efficiently produce high quality texture assets faster than before. The ProFX middleware, the subject of a recent Gamasutra interview, is designed for authoring professional procedural textures in real time. The software has already been used by several game development studios, including Offset Software, Epic Games, and Naked Sky Entertainment, which used ProFX in developing the Xbox 360 game Roboblitz. Scheduled to ship this fall, ProFX 2.6 will include a number of new features, such as a newly optimized core that runs faster and on a wider range of machines, as well as added compatibility Pixel Shader 2.0 and seamless integration with the recently released MaPZone Pro 2.6, Allegorithmic's free bitmap texturing authoring tool. Allegorithmic also notes that procedural texture files created using this latest version of ProFX are typically 500 to 1000 times smaller in size, “making them ideal for use in massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), virtual communities, casual, and downloadable games.” In addition, the company adds that ProFX 2.6 lets game developers create texture assets “up to two times faster than with regular techniques.” “The gaming industry is clearly moving toward online gaming and online distribution of content,” said Dr. Sebastien Deguy, president and founder of Allegorithmic. “Since ProFX textures take up infinitely less storage space, ProFX is naturally becoming a cornerstone in procedural texturing for the gaming market with customers ranging from industry giants to small innovative developers.”