SpeedTree 4.2 Released With Forest Preview, Wind

Author: by Staff

Foliage middleware provider Interactive Data Visualization has announced the release of the latest version of its SpeedTree, adding new features like a forest preview, wind, and advanced lighting. IDV says the early release, which it calls a "near-final beta version" for both PC and next-gen consoles will let users create a tree and see it instantly as part of a forest, to "quickly get a feel for how their trees will look and perform with other trees. The latest version will also allow previewing of "full run-time local wind capabilities" with full forests affected by "multiple local wind sources to simulate explosions and other localized events even more realistically." Finally, IDV says the latest version supports COLLADA and OBJ mesh exporting that will capture "SpeedTree's normals, binormals, tangents, and wind weights as well as the standard geometric features (vertices, texture coordinates, etc.)." Said IDV CEO Chris King, “We've given artists a powerful new tool in the SpeedTree modeling process. Now they can preview vast forests of their creations right from the editor in a high performance rendering environment that supports local wind, 360 degree billboards, advanced lighting and other features.”