Nvidia has announced that it made available the final version of its Gelato Pro, a rendering software designed for professionals, and that it can be downloaded from the company's site at no cost.

The Gelato Pro software has been created to be the perfect choice for rendering 3D digital content and design, and it comes as a follower of the basic version of Gelato software, also available for download on Nvidia's site.

"NVIDIA Gelato Pro 2.2 software is extremely powerful GPU-accelerated rendering software and we are excited to support the creative community by making it freely available," said Dominick Spina, senior product manager, Digital Film Group, NVIDIA. "Now all artists and designers with NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards can enhance their production pipelines with Gelato Pro without a licensing fee."

Gelato Pro 2.2 is the version that writes the final chapter in Gelato rendering software life. The NVIDIA Gelato and mental images rendering teams will be moving forward and will focus on the development of mental ray software.

The Gelato rendering software can be used with Nvidia's Quadro graphics cards. Gelato is a GPU-accelerated, final-frame renderer that can give a great hand in the creation of high-quality computer-generated images. The original idea behind the software was to make it suitable for glim rendering and visual effects and animation broadcasting. Now it can also be used to perform extreme graphics tasks, such as 3D software applications requiring advanced rendering, which include game development, CAD, industrial design, and architecture.

Sub-pixel antialiasing, high-quality motion blur, true displacement, depth of field, support for NURBS, subdivision surfaces, particles, and ray tracing (including global illumination effects and ambient occlusion) are only few of the features Gelato comes with. It also includes the fully programmable Frantic Films Amaretto plug-in, able to provide, together with Autodesk's 3ds Max software, advanced rendering functionality, and Autodesk's Maya software that complements Mango rendering plug-in.

Gelato Pro 2.2 software includes among its features the Sorbetto interactive relighting engine, as well as network parallel rendering, 64-bit support, multi-threading, and DSO shadeops. Computer-generated hair and fur effects are available via the included Joe Alter's Shave and Haircut software, while Autodesk Maya 8.5 and 3ds Max 9.0, also supported, bring improved stereo rendering, fog lights, and significant performance improvements.

NVIDIA Gelato Pro 2.2 software is available for Windows XP and Linux, but can run only on Nvidia Quadro graphics cards. The software can be downloaded from Nvidia's site, but it is also available for download on Softpedia, and it is certified as 100% CLEAN.