Maxon ships Redshift 3.0.46
Maxon has released Redshift 3.0.46, the latest version of its GPU production renderer for DCC applications including 3ds Max, Blender, Cinema 4D, Houdini and Maya.
The update introduces a new colour-management workflow based around the OpenColorIO 2 (OCIO 2) open standard, making it much easier to set up ACES-compliant rendering pipelines for VFX work.
New colour-management system based on OCIO 2 with support for the ACEScg colour space
The key feature in Redshift 3.0.46 is the new colour management pipeline, described in this forum thread (you will need to be logged in to the Redshift forum to view it).
The new pipeline supports the latest version of OpenColorIO (OCIO) open standard, and features built-in support for ACES colour encoding, now becoming common in visual effects pipelines.
It replaces Redshift’s old linear workflow colour managment system, in which conforming to the ACES specification was “cumbersome if not impossible”.
Implementation in Redshift’s integration plugins varies: the Maya plugin leverages the OCIO 2-based colour management system introduced in Maya 2022.
Cinema 4D users get a colour-space selection UI for textures used in the shader graph, while 3ds Max users get the Redshift Color Picker: an new colour picking UI that supports colour management.
The changes make Redshift the latest renderer to support OCIO 2 and the ACEScg colour space, also available in V-Ray and the current beta of OctaneRender.
Other new features in Redshift 3.0.46 include support for Redshift proxies in the Blender plugin, including “basic support” for using imported proxies as instantiated objects in particle systems.
Pricing and system requirements
Redshift 3.0.46 is available for Windows 7+, Linux and macOS 11.3+. It costs $500 for a node-locked licence; $600 for a floating licence.
On Windows and Linux, it uses the CUDA and OptiX APIs, so you will need a compatible Nvidia GPU. On macOS, it uses the Metal API, and supports both AMD and Apple Silicon processors.
The renderer’s integration plugins are compatible with 3ds Max 2014+, Blender 2.83+, Cinema 4D R17+, Houdini 17.0+ (18.0+ on macOS), Katana 3.0v1+ and Maya 2014+ (2016.5+ on macOS).
See an overview of the new features in Redshift 3.0.46 on the software’s Trello board