Better, Faster Virtual Cloth: Big speed improvements in Ziva VFX 1.1 update

The latest Ziva release, ZIVA VFX 1.1, tackles two of the most challenging and common obstacles faced by visual effects artists and studio.

December 7, 2017
 / 
Vancouver, BC

Ziva Dynamics, the virtual human simulation company, has completed the release of ZIVA VFX version 1.1 for all Studio and Indie software subscription holders. Aligned with Ziva’s commitment to continued innovation and better solutions for users, this release comes only three months following the launch of ZIVA VFX 1.0 and tackles two of the most challenging and common obstacles faced by visual effects artists and studio– cloth layers and mesh speeds. Notably, this new update significantly improves the fascia simulation process, empowering creators to simulate more dynamic cloth and more pronounced muscles, in a fraction of the time.

ZIVA VFX is used by leading studios around the world, including Double Negative, Scanline, Mr. X, Digital Frontier, and many more.

“We've been using Ziva for a while now and on several shows we have going here. It's brilliant and fast and useful for so many things that are not just muscular related,” noted Tim Mackintosh, Head of Animation and Creatures for Rising Sun Pictures in Adelaide, Australia. “It’s the new ‘need-to-have’ software here.”

The new rest-scale function lets users shrink-wrap cloth layers to underlying geometry for accurate, automatic fascia fitting. Users can simply define the scale at which they wish to shrink their fascia triangles, and it will be instantly applied to the cloth layer. Then, the new Pressure parameter can be set to alter how the cloth forms to key areas of the geometry by pushing the fascia down into the grooves between muscle segments. This makes it easy to maintain muscle definition during the fascia pass. In the example of Zeke, Ziva’s in-house virtual lion, Pressure was applied on the upper forelimb where there are many small but prominent muscles (click to watch full animation).

Additionally, a large collection of speed, performance, and updates to supporting code libraries are included in ZIVA VFX 1.1. According to Senior Developer Essex Edwards, “The speed improvements we’ve made to the tet mesher specifically, are above and beyond what we initially expected. Converting Maya objects into tissues is now up to 10x faster –  a dramatic improvement for the interactive authoring experience.”

Ziva encourages all existing Studio and Indie license holders to access their new 1.1 plugin files through their Ziva Store account. To purchase a ZIVA VFX 1.1 license, visit the e-store today at www.store.zivadynamics.com or find more information about ZIVA VFX 1.1 in the Release Notes and Documentation at https://docs.zivadynamics.com/vfx/.

About Ziva Dynamics

Ziva Dynamics is a virtual human company. Ziva’s proprietary virtual anatomy and biophysics simulation platform provides groundbreaking technology and software for companies creating high-quality characters, producing content, and designing virtual experiences for humans. Founded in 2015, Ziva’s technology is used by leading film, entertainment, retail, and consumer brand companies around the world.

For more information about Ziva Dynamics:

Ashton Louie
Marketing Director
humans@zivadynamics.com
For more information about this release,
press only: 

Colin McLaughlin
(503) 796-9822
colin@liaisonpr.com