Shade is the 3D graphics toolkit for designers, illustrators and architects. Create and detail design projects with the richest tool set available at a low price. Bring your idea to life quickly with intuitive Bezier curve/surface modeling. With the powerful render engine capable of Global Illumination, use Photon Mapping, Path Tracing, Raytracing and Radiosity to render photorealistic imagery with amazing lighting, reflection, and soft shadow effects.

Import the most popular architectural file formats and let Shade’s sophisticated rendering engines create photorealistic results. You can also use Shade to create initial massing and design studies and stunning walk-throughs.

Employ Shade to visualize products or create actual prototypes. Sophisticated and easy-to-use modeling tools such as Bezier-based sketching and advanced mesh editing streamline the design process.

The perfect complement to Poser. Shade seamlessly integrates with Poser, allowing easy import/export of files between the two for superior rendering. Better yet, Shade lets you create props and clothing for Poser figures.

Shade has a vast available library of highly detailed 3D objects, such as furniture, musical instruments, cars, buildings and much more. We also have extensive libraries on our Content Paradise website!

New features in Shade 8 include support of OpenEXR Import/Export, one of the film industry’s standard image file formats developed by Industrial Light & Magic. It provides a high dynamic-range (HDR) image and a high quality picture.


Improved User Interface

New Lasso and Trace selection tools provide even more convenient methods of selecting polygons and other objects.
Pan and Zoom tools have been added to the Toolbox for keyboard-free navigation.
Continuous mode allows for multiple tool operations without the hassle of re-selecting tools each time.
The Browser window now offers searchable labels with six different colors, making it easy to find and manage objects in large scenes. The Browser can also be split into multiple views, giving quick access to master surface parts.
An improved ShadeExplorer interface provides previews of rendered images and file information.
Real-time background preview with OpenGL.
Multiple files open in separate tabs within a single Shade environment for easy switching between files (Windows version).

Modeling

Brand new mesh editing tools provide an easy way to modify your polygon mesh data, all accessable from the new Mesh Toolbox: Switch between Vertex, Edge, and Face Selection modes for precise control over your polygon meshes. Belt and Loop selection tools facilitate fast polygon manipulation. A comprehensive array of mesh editing tools are right at your fingertips. Choose between Offset, Extrude, Detach, Copy, Mirror, and more. Merge faces and vertices, flip normals, subdivide surfaces and more all with the click of a button.

Rendering

New ToonRenderer for cartoon or sketch-style images.
New ShadowCatcher makes it possible to render shadows separately from the objects upon which they rest.
Area Rendering, which allows you to select a specific area of a scene to render, has been improved, Now you can move, resize, and save the Area Rendering box for enhanced rendering control and faster results.
A new rendering server, called ShadeGrid, allows you to share rendering calculations between several computers to reduce the rendering time. Shade automatically searches the local area network for all available computers running ShadeGrid and displays the IP addresses in the Preferences dialog.
Callisto 2 renderer enhancements include: New Metallic and Translucent shaders. Support for HDRI. Support for background image mapping. Refraction.
Radiosity enhancements include: Faster calculations. Support for curved surfaces.
Pixel depth in 32 bits, 64 bits, and 128 bits is supported for all rendering images.
Enhanced OpenGL preview with streamlined options, UV texture mapping preview, and pbuffer support.
Choose one of several preset rendering sizes from the Rendering Options, or create and save your own custom rendering size.

Animation

New SmartKinematics works together with Inverse Kinematics (IK) to provide precise control over the posing and animation of complex joints.
New AimConstraints allows you to restrict the orientation of an object so that it always faces toward a specified target.
Enhanced Motion window with improved animation playback.

File Import / Export

PoserFusion 2 supports dynamic hair for even greater Shade – Poser integration.
Import TIFF and OpenEXR images for texture maps and background images, and save rendered images as TIFF or OpenEXR.
Export Adobe Illustrator files.
Import IGES 5.3 files.
Enhanced DXF import / export.
Efficient sharing of texture maps and using the OpenEXR format for storing images reduces file size while preserving image quality.

Content

Fei-Fei and Terai Yuki limited figures, for posing and demonstration purposes, are available free from Content Paradise with purchase of both the standard and professional versions.*
300+ 3D objects are included free with purchase of the standard version.
1,700+ 3D objects available free from Content Paradise with purchase of the professional version.
Over 5,000 objects, such as furniture, building and transportation items, will be made available for future purchase.

Shade lets you explore many alternatives and produce the best rendering comparable to images by other software costing many times more! Shade’s powerful rendering engine includes raytracing, radiosity and Global Illumination.

Over 200,000 designers use Shade for projects ranging from architectural design to product prototypes, automotive design, furniture and office interiors, high-end character rendering and more. Shade 8 offers an intuitive interface and the availability of more than 5000 3D objects in several libraries to aid Architectural Design, Product Development, Visualization, and Character Modeling. The program boasts network rendering, a stronger modeling engine with polygon mesh editing, better integration with Poser, a new toon renderer, faster Radiosity calculation, and an improved Callisto renderer. The program also imports many popular CAD formats to create sophisticated high-end renderings. For character modeling and rendering professionals, Shade provides a direct link to Poser for importing and exporting figures and poses. Poser users can use Shade to modify models, create props, or render images with unlimited size. PoserFusion 2 enabling, hosting and playback of Poser scenes within Shade. OBJ, IGES5.3, DXF format support for integration into a CAD-based environment. 100 levels of Undo and Redo. ShadeExplorer U.I. improved with instant file preview and added keyboard control. Shade integrates with Poser, ArchiCAD, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, as well as other 2D, 3D and CAD applications.