Informatix has announced the launch of the Mac version of Piranesi 5 and with it a 5.02 update for Windows that fixes a few bugs and adds a couple of tweaks (most useful for improved Google SketchUp support).

Full information at http://www.informatix.co.uk/piranesi/downloads/windows/upgrades_and_fixe...

After over 300 reviews, it takes a lot to get me excited about a new release but I generally make an exception for Cinema 4D as somehow Maxon manage to make each version a major advance both in terms of functionality and - often even more important for 3D - usability.

So what do the prospects look like for the recently announced version 10.5?

Tom Arah shows you the best way to bring some texture into your design work.

Long-term readers will know that I am a big fan and keen advocate of the use of seamless bitmap textures. Such textures play an essential role in the production of 3D work, as we saw again last month, but they can also prove just as useful within 2D bitmap and vector environments...

Now this sounds interesting. Poser's biggest limitation is its inability to create scenes in which to host its figures. Meanwhile many professional 3D apps are great at creating the scenes but creating the figures to populate them is a nightmare. With e-frontier’s announcement of the launch of Poser Pro scheduled for Fall 2007 here's a potential solution to both problems..

Tom Arah explores the ways in which 3D modelling and bitmap editing can be creatively fused.

The end quality of 3D output depends largely on the application’s handling of materials and, more often than not, this involves mapping imported bitmaps to your objects’ surfaces...

VERDICT: Piranesi gets the major overhaul of interface and tools that its extraordinary creative power deserves.

Piranesi stands out from all other bitmap editors because it is able to handle material and depth information as well as colour; it might sound a relatively small difference but it unleashes a massive amount of 3D painting power...

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Improved interface and drawing capabilities, new photo matching and hand-drawn effects - and it’s still free.

Over the years @Last Software’s SketchUp managed to win itself a small fanbase, particularly among architects, for its valiant attempt to make 3D modelling as simple as 2D drawing...

VERDICT: Builds on the free Google SketchUp with enhanced export options and a new dedicated presentation application.

Based on the impressive feature set of the free Google SketchUp (see separate review), the obvious question is: what more does the commercial Google SketchUp Pro 6 offer to justify its price?

VERDICT: New posing, animation and lip sync capabilities, but Poser 7’s main strengths remain its bundled content and low price.

Creating believable 3D scenes is a major challenge, but to bring them fully to life you really need people to populate them...

RECOMMENDED

VERDICT: Major enhancements to atmospheric and lighting models, import support, rendering options and material and EcoSystem handling.

Creating naturalistic real world scenes is one of the most difficult tasks for a 3D modeller which is where Vue Infinite comes in with its dedicated state-of-the-art capabilities.