Clarisse iFX
think big By tapping into today’s advanced computing technology, this ultra-fast 3D software has plenty of room for 2D artists – and a hefty price tag
By tapping into today’s advanced computing technology, could this example of ultra-fast 3D software change the way you render?
Traditional renderers enable artists to block out scenes and sort out lighting before spitting it out as a 3D scene. It’s a great approach because the main muscle of the computer isn’t required until the very end, and it made sense when an army of supercomputers was needed to create a single frame of, say, Toy Story. But in the age of ultrapowerful desktop PCs it feels positively prehistoric.
Clarisse aims to revolutionise this facet of 3D artistry by utilising the multi-core nature of modern processors. Fire it up and a scene renders within seconds. Once done, you can then select objects in the viewport, then move and rotate them as you wish, with the scene re-rendering almost instantaneously. Complex scenes take a little longer, but you still get a rough, pixelated idea of how it’s going to look before it’s refined by the rendering engine.
Clarisse includes an animation engine for 3D filmmakers, but developer Isotropix reckons it’s also the perfect tool for 2D artists. Truth be told, we can see where the company’s coming from: it’s easy to build complex backdrops and mattes with strong perspective and realistic lighting, and the fast speed of the engine means you can develop complex scenes by cutting and pasting objects, or procedurally generate leaves and branches of trees, for example.
However, there are still a couple of drawbacks with it at the moment. Because this is a mere renderer, you’ll need to create your 3D assets in another program such as Lightwave. At £611 it’s also rather expensive, although this is a reduced price – Isotropix aims to attract a wider audience with its product.
As it stands Clarisse is a niche product, then. But we found it stable and intuitive, which is impressive given that it was developed by a handful of programmers. There’s a lot of potential here – Isotropix says that the software has been used by some major graphics companies, but won’t say who. If it could include a 3D modeller, Clarisse could become an essential purchase.