Eovia Corp. has split Amapi, its flagship 3D design solution, into two separate products — Ampai 7 and Ampai 7 Pro — both of which will be available for Mac OS X, Mac OS 9.x and Windows.
Amapi Designer 7 will be available March 31 for US$499 (preorders are being taken). Upgrades start at $199, with a special introductory offer of $149 through March 31. The new version will feature a complete palette of high-end 3D tools for the conception, modeling and assembly of 3D objects and scenes, according to Eovia CEO Antoine Clappier. Features include new real-time 3D display engines; a new and customizable interface; new workspace controls; unlimited dynamic geometry (which allows dynamic re-editing of all construction parameters, direct manipulation of multiple-extrusion profiles or even interactive positioning of an object or contour cut-out while dynamically previewing the result); and object instance and clone modeling; dynamic symmetry modeling (which lets you build, edit and control any object by mirror copies).
Amapi Designer 7 now lets you work directly on any surface plane or on the camera plane, as well as work with normalized objects or to draw using 3 reference grids, which can then also be used as background images. The new version also integrates native file support for Carrara Studio 2, the tool for creating photo-realistic images and animations.
Ampai 7 Pro will be available mid-year for $799. Although few details are available, Eovia describes the upcoming product as “Amapi Designer 7 on steroids” and says it will offer a complete set of high-end NURBS surface modeling tools, including Surface Blending, trimmed surfaces, NURBS offset and fillet, multi-hull surfaces, and expanded IGES support.