We ask for your patience through this transitional period.  The web site will remain online, you’ll still be able to download the Shroud Runtime and Shroud Studio, and access the forums.  We’ll continue to answer questions on the forums as frequently as we are able.

The highlight of this release is the new support for Android devices!  With Android’s rapid growth, and exciting and powerful new devices coming on the market, we’re excited to support this platform and offer developers even more cross-platform options.  We’ve been using Tegra 3-based devices, which is the same chip used in the Nexus 7 and the upcoming Ouya console, and Shroud for Android is able to take full advantage of its quad-core processor with amazing results.

To sweeten the deal even more, we’re making a limited version of Shroud Studio available for free.  Shroud Studio Basic will let you get started developing amazing dynamic cloth effects that can be added to your characters and environments.  Check out the feature comparison between Shroud Studio Basic and Shroud Studio Pro, or head straight over to the download area and get Shroud Studio Basic!

Inverness, IL – June 20, 2012 – CloakWorks™ announced today that it has launched a version of its advanced cloth simulation technology, known as Shroud™, that plugs into the Unity game engine. The easy-to-use plugin, which is available for purchase on the Unity Asset Store, offers users a range of powerful features for simplifying the creation of high-performance, highly realistic cloth in Unity-powered games. A free trial of Shroud for Unity is available on the CloakWorks store.

Used in such high-profile titles as Hitman: Absolution™ and RIFT™, Shroud is a complete solution for adding dynamic interactive cloth, clothing, and other soft-body physics effects to games and real-time applications. It consists of a runtime module that can be added to any game engine for desktops, consoles or mobile devices, and a set of tools specifically designed to make creating cloth content quick and easy.

Shroud for Unity brings all of that power, flexibility and ease of use to independent developers using the Unity game engine. Unity artists can now quickly add a Shroud Instance component to their character object within the Unity development environment, and tell it which cloth rig to use and which sub-meshes those cloth rigs will be replacing.

“Though Shroud has been used in some really high-profile titles, our goal is to make the creation of realistic cloth achievable and practical for every developer,” said Joe van den Heuvel, CEO of CloakWorks. “That is why we launched this new plugin for Unity – it will open high-performance cloth creation to a brand new audience and let them experience just how easy it can be to create highly realistic capes, cloaks, hair, ropes and so much more for their Unity-powered games.“

Shroud for Unity features:

• High performance across platforms
• Instancing: Shroud shares static data between multiple instances of the same cloth rig, drastically reducing memory usage
• Modular architecture lets you mix and match constraints and effects
• Advanced continuous collision detection prevents missed collisions with fast-moving objects
• Custom controls keep physics-based clothing moving smoothly even when the characters wearing them are not
• Level of Detail: Artists can blend between physics and skinning on the fly, and automatically turn off the simulation when it is far from the camera.

Priced at $95, Shroud for Unity is available for Windows PC, Mac OS X and iOS on the Unity Asset Store and requires Shroud Studio to create content for use with the plugin. Trials of Shroud for Unity, as well as Shroud Studio, can be found on the CloakWorks store at: http://community.cloak-works.com/index.php?/store/.

Inverness, IL – June 13, 2012

CloakWorks™ announced today that its advanced cloth simulation technology, Shroud™, has been licensed by Trion Worlds for their popular massively multiplayer online game, RIFT™.  Released on PC in March 2011, RIFT will use Shroud to add real-time dynamic interactive clothing and soft-body physics effects.

“Ever since RIFT’s launch, one of the most requested visual features we get from our players is for capes.  CloakWorks is the go-to source for this technology,” said Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, “It was even easier to use than we had hoped and we’re very happy with the result.”

“RIFT features innovative gameplay and stunning art direction that make it stand out among MMO games,” said Joe van den Heuvel, founder and President of CloakWorks.  “Shroud will help the team take its vision for Rift even further by giving adding new level of realism to its dramatic characters and environments.”

Trion Worlds will be using the recently released version 2.0 of Shroud, which adds numerous new features including support for multiple cloth simulation rigs to animate different parts of the same mesh.  Shroud 2.0 is more powerful, flexible and easy to use, and adds support for iOS and Mac OS X in addition to existing support for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

The full list of changes:

• The digitial signature system for Shroud files has changed to allow files to be more flexible and portable.  The Shroud Runtime will no longer need a file key to load files saved with version 2.1 or newer of Shroud Studio.  *.cwf files created before the change will still require a file key until they are re-saved
• The binary file format has changed, allowing for smaller sizes and faster loads.  Shroud Studio and the Shroud runtime will not load files created before version 2.1.  Please re-save your *.cwb binary from their original XML *.cwf files.
• Added a new internal framerate smoothing scheme, that stops large temporary changes in update rate from making the cloth appear to ‘jump’
• Added a helper function CloakWorks::Util::FixLineEndings() to help fix inconsisent line endings when moving Shroud *.cwf files between different platforms.  See the API documentation for more details.
• Cloth rig skinned weighting is now automatically re-normalized after the number of rows and columns has changed
• Shroud Studio now uses a fixed 60fps update rate.
• Fixed bug that caused a pop when blending a simulation from 100% skinned back into simulated positions
• Fixed bug where capsules using advanced collision detection were not colliding properly with the last few verts of the cloth rigs
• Fixed bug where capsules with the same radius at both ends would effect the simulation if it moved towards it but stopped short when using advanced collision detection

http://kotaku.com/5891633/please-let-this-be-the-thing-that-gives-us-great-video-game-clothing-and-hair

http://www.cloak-works.com/portfolio/cape-setup-walkthrough/