TROY, Michigan, February 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

"Better, faster, easier." That's how solidThinking Inc. (http://www.solidthinking.com) describes its latest 3D concept design and visualization software releases, solidThinking 8.5 and solidThinking 8.5 Inspired(TM). Industrial designers, concept engineers and architects will soon be able to experience the enhanced benefits of the new solidThinking 8.5 releases, which launched worldwide today.

"Our global team of product specialists, all of whom are experienced industrial designers or architects, paid close attention to the needs of existing and prospective users," said Robert Little, president of solidThinking. "Their feedback, careful benchmarking of competitive products, and close collaboration with the software development team have resulted in the solidThinking 8.5 releases achieving outstanding levels of improvement."

"solidThinking empowers users to explore many different aesthetic variations of a design while maintaining the model's core function," said industrial designer and solidThinking user Emanuele Rodella. "For example, the new round tool is truly excellent, and helped me handle some very complex changes; and I often used the environment visualization mode to review the model's progress. The faster, more improved modeling in solidThinking 8.5 has developed noticeably higher-quality, smooth and sinuous models, and a more interesting, visually dynamic shape - ultimately allowing me to realize the full potential of my design projects."

"The fundamental functions behind design are ideation and iteration - the ability to conceptualize ideas at the speed of thought and without constraints," said Alex Mazzardo, solidThinking's vice president of marketing and product strategy. "solidThinking 8.5 and solidThinking 8.5 Inspired are our next steps in redefining the way design concepts are created, evaluated and photorealistically visualized, in real time, in the early development phase."

The solidThinking 8.5 releases introduce more than 900 new features, enhancements and updates, including:

    
    Modeling
    -- Faster workflow and functional performance.
    -- Simplified user-interface navigation and scene organization.
    -- A new and improved round tool with advanced options for shape control
       and handling of overflowing/overlapping rounded surfaces.
    -- A new Face Extract modeling tool for the creation of new surface
       objects by extracting faces of existing objects.
    -- More shortcuts, construction aids, sort and selection filters.
    -- Dramatically faster and higher-quality environment mapping and
       interactive visualization.


    Data Exchange/CAD Collaboration
    -- New direct import for several native formats including H3D, SAT
       (ACIS), Catia V4, Catia V5, Parasolid (x_t and x_b), Pro/ENGINEER,
       SolidWorks and UGS NX - all at no additional cost.
    -- New export capability for Parasolid native format (x_t and x_b).
    -- Improved import and export capability for IGES, STEP and STL.


    Rendering/Presentation
    -- A new real-time photorealistic rendering option, which integrates
       raytracing and progressive rendering to obtain a more photorealistic
       representation of lighting and materials.
    -- Enhanced anti-aliasing techniques and more efficient glossy materials
       for real-time rendering.
    -- Reflection Catcher, a new function that adds reflection below the 
       model in a photorealistic rendering when the model is added to a back 
       plate image.
    -- Enhanced materials library with more than 300 new "apply-and-render"
       materials. Material default settings have been optimized for best
       results.
    -- New ready-to-render lights and interior sets.
    -- Increased selection of background images and environments.


    Form Generation (solidThinking Inspired)
    -- The ability to run morphogenesis(TM) form generation on multiple model
       parts and materials.
    -- Define parts as design or non-design space.
    -- Show design space and morphogenesis results simultaneously for full
       review of the form generation.
    -- Faster, more intuitive part manipulation through smart snaps.
    -- Simple push and pull capabilities for turning 2D sketches into 3D
       design spaces.
    -- Measure static weight distribution of parts and assemblies on 
       supports.

Current solidThinking users and members of the creative community are encouraged to further explore solidThinking 8.5 and download a free trial version by visiting http://www.solidthinking.com. solidThinking is also offering updated tutorials and essentials videos, which users can utilize to get up and running quickly and independently. The videos will be available in 10 languages, including English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

In 2000 solidThinking became the first to offer industrial designers NURBS-based 3D modeling software on both Mac and Windows operating systems. By 2008, solidThinking had launched its software globally, bringing industrial designers worldwide the flexibility leveraged by Italian design firms for everything from jewelry and electronic devices to furniture and yachts. Initially recognized for its flagship ConstructionTree(TM) history technology, which allows designers to quickly explore and evaluate any design alternative, in 2009, solidThinking announced a breakthrough in digital product development with the release of morphogenesis(TM), a computational, form-generation technology dedicated to helping designers and architects explore virtually countless design options during the conceptual phase.

For more information, news and upcoming events, connect with the solidThinking team on:

    
    Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/solidThinking
    Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/solidThinking
    YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/solidThinking

About solidThinking, Inc. (http://www.solidthinking.com)

solidThinking, Inc. develops and markets industrial design/styling software that helps designers invent, explore and evaluate new ideas easily, rapidly and cost-effectively, without the limitations of traditional software. Using solidThinking's conceptual 3D modeling capabilities, visualization interface and fast real-time rendering, designers can model, render and share their projects on the fly, from architecture and automobiles to electronic devices, jewelry, product packaging and yachts. solidThinking is a wholly owned subsidiary of Troy, Mich. (USA)-based Altair Engineering, Inc. (http://www.altair.com). Altair Engineering is privately held and employs more than 1,400 in North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.

SOURCE solidThinking, Inc.