Get out your datebooks, we're announcing a new winter series of online seminars. Chris Tyler, a long time Strata user, Seattle-based illustrator and the author of "The Art & Science of Strata 3D CX", will be conducting three classes on Modeling, texturing and rendering.

Long time visitors to StrataCafe know that any chance to learn from Chris is not to be missed. Sign up for email reminders on the classes on the seminar page.

Strata Foto 3D and Strata Foto 3D[in] have been patched to address several Leopard issues (OS X 10.5). Note that this is a Mac-only patch, and doesn't apply to Strata Foto 3D 1.5, which already has these fixes.

Strata is pleased to announce that it has entered into partnership with the pioneering developers of the Away3D Flash based 3D engine. The objective of the partnership is to develop technologies that make it easy for creative professionals to add Flash based real-time 3D to their projects and further extend Strata's leadership in real-time 3D for the web.

Lex de Azevedo has taken the reigns of the 3DLayer blog and it's up and running. Look forward to regular content from Lex on Photoshop, 3D and the computer graphics world in general.

Lex, who many of you already know, is a veteran of 3D graphics and Photoshop, and a tried and tested Strata 3D expert. We're very excited about what Lex has to say and what he'll be adding to the Strata community.

Metal is always one of the more interesting surfaces to render, and a great reflection map can set it off beautifully. This metal selection is from Mike Hopkins, and can be seen in some of his regular contributions to the StrataCafe gallery.

Remember that the StrataCafe resource section houses thousands of models and textures to help jump-start your projects. If it's not in the resources section, create it and upload it for other users!