Luxion Releases KeyShot 8: Introducing Image Styles, Cutaways & Much More

The fine folks at Luxion have just released the next major version of their popular KeyShot design tool, and as a rabid benchmarker, I look forward to diving into 8 very soon. I’ve actually been hunkered down the past couple of weeks working on an automation suite, so I am hoping to conquer a lot more benchmarking a lot more often as time goes on (while being able to kick back more often, as well).

If you’re a KeyShot user, 8 brings you many reasons to get excited. It’s hard to say if there’s a feature at the forefront, but Image Styles is a great place to start. With it, the goal is to make post-processing in another tool an option rather than a requirement. You can fine-tune a huge number of variables, and once you get that perfect look, you can save the style as a preset for later use.

Cutaway is another cool feature, allowing you to cut into a model, revealing its insides for the world to see. This is typical of full-fledged car models, where you can peak in and see the inner-workings, but the cutaway tool allows you to see the same effect from wherever you are in the scene. It applies just like a material, so you can craft your object, turn it into a cutaway, and place it as you like. Cutaways can be designed with their own styles, so the sky really is the limit on how you take advantage of the new feature.

KeyShot 8 also brings in some nested dielectrics improvements. No longer will you have to split objects from liquid – KeyShot is smart enough to handle it, allowing you to easily achieve that delicious cold beer look. KeyShot’s marketing team already took the best response to this feature: “refreshing”.

Credit: Magnus Skogsfjord

This is really just scattering the subsurface of what KeyShot 8 brings to the table, so if you’re a user of the software, I’d encourage you to hit up the What’s New? page. You can then grab the latest version right here.

If you’re not a 3D designer, but appreciate 3D design, you can go grab a trial version of the software that will let you play around with the myriad scenes on the software’s website. It’s a fun tool to use even if you don’t know what you’re doing, and I can’t say that about many other renderers.