Sausalito, California-based Autodesk Inc has announced its Autodesk 3D Studio Release 2 software upgrade for computer-aided design users, video producers, and other animation designers. Among other enhancements, such as a speed increase of between 200% and 600%, the tool is said now to be one of the fastest 24-bit, broadcast-quality rendering tools available on a personal computer. And Release 2 brings AutoCAD files to life in the form of three-dimensional architectural walk-throughs and industrial visualisations. The new release comes with a CD-ROM containing 500Mb of three-dimensional objects, textures and animations. It runs under MS-DOS 3.3 on minimum 80386 personal computers, and will ship this quarter for $3,000.