e-on software announced the immediate availability of Ozone 4.0, its suite of atmospheric plug-ins for 3ds Max, Cinema4D, LightWave, Maya and Softimage|XSI. E-on software also announced that it plans to release the Ozone 4.0 Personal Learning Edition (a fully functional version of Ozone 4.0 that anyone can use at no charge) in the coming days.


Ozone 4.0 - Atmospheres that Come Alive

Ozone 4.0 implements the Spectral 2 cutting-edge technologies developed by e-on software for the simulation and rendering of atmospheric effects. Ozone 4.0 atmospheres provide an accurately simulated environment that affects all elements of the scenes, and behaves according to nature's rules.

Some of the new features of Ozone 4.0 include:

• Fully integrated suite of plug-ins: Ozone 4.0 operates as a fully integrated plug-in for 3ds Max, Maya, LightWave, Cinema4D and XSI. It adds all the tools required for the creation of hyper-realistic atmospheres directly in the host application's interface. On top of this, one single license of Ozone 4.0 will work with all compatible applications and renderers (see further down for details).
• Breakthrough Spectral 2™ and Volumetric atmosphere models: Based entirely on real-world atmospheric behavior, the new Spectral 2™ engine produces ultra-realistic environments with volumetric clouds, accurate light dispersion and natural phenomena such as Godrays. These new technologies realistically model the behavior of our planet's atmosphere to produce all kinds of atmospheric effects.
• Real 3D Clouds: Highly optimized volumetric cloud layers that you can fly through or use to simulate realistic low-lying fog. Ozone 4.0 Atmospheres are seamlessly integrated in the scene and will directly interact with native elements (for instance: Ozone 4.0 clouds will automatically cast shadows onto native objects).
• Super-fast rendering technology: Despite the staggering complexity of the atmospheric model it features, Ozone 4.0 renders its atmospheric effects at blazing speed, thanks to e-on software's highly optimized technology.
• Animated clouds and sunsets in a breeze: Users can realistically animate the atmosphere, the clouds and the sun, making their skies spring to life, all in a wink! Simply set the direction and speed of the wind, the rate of change, and render on!
• Extensive library of over 150 predefined atmospheres: Ozone 4.0 includes presets for all kinds of atmospheric conditions: bright daytime, bad weather, sunrise, sunset, night time, etc. Customize the atmosphere using dedicated tools and the library of over 140 preset cloud shapes.

Pricing and Availability

Ozone 4.0 is available in English for Windows XP and Vista (32 and 64 bits) and Mac OS X 10.4+ (Universal Binary).

Ozone 4.0 retails at US$295, with upgrades from Ozone 3.0 available for $95 and RenderNode network rendering licenses at $95 per node.

More Information at: www.e-onsoftware.com. Image Courtesy of e-on software inc.