FFEI will demonstrate v1.1 of its RealPro 3D-Packager software at next month's Easyfairs Packtech 2011 exhibition, which will be held at the NEC from 16-17 February.
The event will mark the completion of the product's beta trial, with many of the recommendations from the six test printers having led to new features in the full commercial release.
These include the ability to export a 3D PDF that can be viewed in Adobe Acrobat without the need for any additional software or plug-ins.
Mark Ridgeway, software product manager at FFEI, said: "The 3D PDF export was actually quite a late addition, as it was something we had planned for a later release but it was becoming such a commonly asked question that we decided to bring it forward and include it in v1.1.
"It gives you the ability to demonstrate to anybody what the packaging will look like, without the need to install any additional software, which can be a problem when dealing with brands because a lot of users might not have the IT permission level required to install additional plug-ins on their machine."
Another popular addition is the ability to export a hi-res image of any packaging mock-up created in RealPro 3D-Packager, which can then be reused in things like marketing material.
"Something we got told a lot from a brand creative point of view was that, having created this digital asset, it seemed a shame to then just throw it away," said Ridgeway.
"Practically, it’s a very powerful feature, because otherwise someone is going to have to go away and build a 3D image from lots of different shots.
"We're at the start of a very interesting journey with RealPro; people can already see that it gives a fantastic 3D impression of the final product and so now we're starting to get request for things like having a 3D image that included the contents."
RealPro 3D-Packager - New Features:
- Packaging weight calculator
- 3D PDF format
- High-resolution export capability
- iPad/iPhone application