Strata on Thursday announced the release of RenderPro, an application that allows Strata 3D CX users to tap into an unlimited number of computers on their local area network (LAN) for help with rendering images and animations. The software includes an open source, cross-platform program, Drop, that uses a series of drop boxes into which artists can manually drop files for specific computers to work on. Strata encourages users to customize Drop’s code for their work environments or make improvements to it.
RenderPro is US$139, but for a limited time, current Strata 3D CX users can purchase it for $59, while new customers who buy full or upgrade versions of Strata 3D CX will receive RenderPro for free. Strata does not note on its Web site when this offer expires. RenderPro system requirements call for a valid copy of Strata 3D CX, Mac OS X v10.2 (v10.3 recommended), 256MB RAM (512MB recommended) and 140MB free hard drive space. Mac OS X v10.3 is required for the Drop application.