Nov. 13, 2012 (Tokyo, Japan) – e frontier, Inc. announces the official release of Shade 3D for Unity, a new, stand-alone 3D graphic software package with direct support for Unity. This new release is being offered free to the public and aimed at game developers and artists for creating characters, scenes and props within the Unity game development workflow. Shade 3D for Unity is based on the full version of Shade, a powerful 3D modeling, rendering and design software, used worldwide by illustrators, animators and designers for over 27 years. Unity currently boasts over one million registered users, so enabling that strong user base with the advanced tool set found in Shade 3D for Unity empowers game developers to seamlessly create content for Mac OS X, iOS, and Android platforms. It is available now at no cost in the Mac App Store. A Windows version will follow.
Availability
English language Shade 3D for Unity is available through the Mac App Store.
Seamless Modeling, Bone Rigging and Weight Map Integration
It’s easy to transfer data between Unity and Shade 3D for Unity. Users can model a character, apply bone rigging, adjust the weight mapping, then export to Unity for dynamic character expression. Unity models can also be exported back to Shade 3D for Unity for further refinement.
Cross Compatibility with Endless Content
The seamless compatibility between Unity and Shade 3D for Unity enables users to create original 3D objects or access pre-made content like game templates, props, characters and backgrounds available at the Unity Asset Store. A vast array of content created by Shade users can also be found at the Shade Content Page.
Full Feature List
FBX Mesh & Rig Support with Inverse Kinematics
Paintable Bone Weight Mapping Tool
Advanced 3D Polygon Mesh Editing
Bezier Spline Modeling
Simple Spring Motion Simulator-Baked Simulation result exportable to Unity
Key Frame Animation-Baked Key Frame for Unity is output in addition to Key Frame for Shade
Material and Shader Editing
UV Editor and Texture Map Management
Draft Ray Trace Rendering for Preview Rendering
Shade 3D Loader – Auto Conversion Tool
When Shade 3D Loader is installed, FBX conversion is easy when Shade 3D scene files (.shd) are added to a Unity project. The converted FBX file can be update automatically at the same time when Shade 3D scene file is updated in Shade. Shade 3D scene files as treated as native files within Unity. The Shade 3D Loader can be found at the Unity Asset Store at http://tinyurl.com/
Kenichi Ando, CEO of e frontier Inc said, “We’ve decided to distribute Shade 3D for Unity completely free so we can support game creators with more creative opportunities. Shade 3D for Unity is very powerful software that helps artists and developers create the ideas that are imagined. We’re really looking forward to seeing what is created.”
Upgrading to Shade Professional
Shade Professional is the flagship tool of the Shade product line, which provides even more advanced content creation tools and precise rendering and animation features for game development, television and animated film. All content developed with Shade 3D for Unity is completely compatible with Shade Professional.
