In the last few weeks, a few milestones have passed that should be pointed out.

We've begun physically shipping Design 3D CX 6 and Enfold 3D CX. While we've been selling downloadable versions of both for some time, we now have physical discs and boxes to ship out. If you were waiting for the box before purchasing, wait no more.

We know that tryout versions are an important part of the purchasing decision, but our engineers have been focused purely on delivering the best product possible for day one purchasers. Now that the engineers have had some time, a Design 3D CX 6 tryout is available for download online. Please, kick the tires, try out scenes that took too long to render before, and see what the pros already know: Strata Design 3D CX 6 is the best version yet.

Our introductory upgrade price of $149 is set to go up to $189 in the near future. Don't wait to get more productive with your time while saving money on this major upgrade.

Design, Type & Graphics Magazine reviewed Strata Enfold 3D CX and gave a glowing report. "Users who have ever worked on a folded box design in Illustrator know that some panels will have artwork running up to down, down to up and even upside down. Working on this art -- particularly in context of the individual panel -- can be a real challenge. Strata Enfold 3D CX lets users simply double click on the desired panel in the 3D View palette to zoom and rotate the Illustrator art board to that same panel."

Remember, there is a tryout version of Strata Enfold 3D CX available now for Adobe Illustrator users on Mac or Windows.

In this challenge, we're not looking for the hero, we're looking for the supporting characters. Specifically, we're looking for retail display set-pieces for products. For example, if you were going to present a kitchen appliance in a retail setting, you'd need to model the housewares aisle from a department store. For a mobile phone, you might want a wall display with other phones and accessories.

While there are many great free models in the Cafe's resources, it's rarely the main product that people are looking for in the resources. It's the surrounding elements, or the retail environments that product and package designers need to showcase their work. For this challenge, not only is a sharp render required, but also the model itself. At the end of the challenge, all scene files will be made available to the Strata community.

Good news for Strata 3D Vector users: we've now updated Vector to work with Strata Design 3D CX 6.

Simply download the free updater, and have your previous Strata 3D Vector install on your computer somewhere, or in the disk drive. When you run the v6 update, it will look for this file first, then it will add Vector to your Strata Design 3D CX 6 install.

Enjoy!

With the upcoming Strata Foto 3D CX 2.0 you can create 3D models of objects large and small. With the previous version you were required to place your object on top of a printed template - no more.

Now you have the option to build your 3D models by setting markers on features from image to image. Build a statue, reconstruct a mountain or just capture a product. All natural surface, highly textured objects are now open season with Foto 3D CX 2.0.

Buy Foto 3D 1.6 today and get your upgrade to 2.0 for free when it ships.

Illustrating the world of flight can be a tremendous challenge. Photographs can be the wrong angle, low quality or simply not available. For the aviation enthusiasts that read the Greek magazine "Remove Before Flight" the visuals are just as important as the technical articles.

As Art Direcetor of 11 Aviation Publications, Nasos Vlachos turned to Strata Design 3D CX, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to solve the problem.

Emanuel Brito has provided this sharp Mini DV camera constructed entirely from vector shapes as an exercise. Looking at the unique and well constructed camera Emanuel has come up with, we'd say this exercise was a success.

Download Emanuel's Mini DV camera from StrataCafe today, browse the hundreds of other shapes and textures on the Cafe resources, or upload your own for other community members to use.