A close-up of a gray cat with long fur wearing a tiny red and white Santa hat. The cat has an indifferent expression, with prominent whiskers and looking slightly to the side against a blurred gray background.

19.12.2025

That’s It for This Year: Digital Production Wishes You Happy Holidays

Digital Production is taking a short end-of-year break. Back up your data, sort out the chaos folder, enjoy the holidays, and we will be back next year.

1 min

A screen displaying code within the Godot game engine, featuring graphics of explosions. A man wearing a captain's hat smiles and gestures, with a lively chat on the side expressing excitement. The word 'KABOOM!' is prominently displayed in bright yellow.

Godot Now Shakes When You Code Badly

Tired of calm coding sessions? Ridiculous Coding turns Godot scripting into an action scene with screenshake, fireworks, and XP bars.

A grayscale 3D model of a human face displayed on a computer screen, highlighting the eye area with a red and yellow selection. The software interface includes tools and menus on the left and right sides.

Quad Draw Comes to Blender

New Vulkan-based retopology add-ons make Blender’s mesh work feel like Maya’s Quad Draw, fast, intuitive, and production-ready.

Two people sitting in modern chairs, facing a large, vibrant digital display. The screen features an artistic representation of an eye surrounded by lush greenery and abstract elements, creating a captivating visual experience.

Samsung Onyx: How modern display technology is redefining the cinema experience

(Advertorial) Projection is out, pixels are in: Samsung’s Onyx Cinema LED aims to replace cinema projectors with HDR-capable LED walls and flexible sizing.

A futuristic landscape featuring a large robotic vehicle and floating rock formations against a twilight sky. The scene includes text that reads 'THE ROAD AHEAD' and details about the FMX 2026 film and media exchange event.

FMX 2026: First Talks Confirmed and APD Project Submissions Open

FMX 2026 confirms early talks including VFX for Woodwalkers 2 and AI debate, and reminds industry to submit to Animation Production Days by February 4.

Top-News

Three professional video cameras displayed against a dark background. From left to right: PL Model with a lens mount, Locking EF Model with a circular aperture, and L-Mount Model showcasing a digital sensor, all featuring touch screen controls and buttons.

Blackmagic Camera 10.0 brings fan brains and pre-record tricks

Blackmagic Camera 10.0 adds pre-record, smarter cooling, and new API tools for PYXIS and URSA cameras.

18.12.2025

A 3D render of a stylized mechanical component with a hexagonal shape, set against a black background. The text 'LIVE CONTINUITY' appears in white above the component, highlighting its design features and functionality.

Plasticity 2025.3: Now with Instances, Curves and Clouds

Plasticity 2025.3 drops a full toolset refresh: live instancing, SVG export, real-time curvature and continuity feedback, new materials and precision tools.

18.12.2025

SMPTE updates its AI report: a roadmap for media engineers

SMPTE’s revised AI report defines where AI stands in media: open source, agentic systems, security, ethics, and data. Read before you automate.

17.12.2025

A stylized graphic for a training series titled "Syntheyes Essentials Training" featuring a sunset background with a tower. Geometric shapes in blue and teal create a digital overlay, representing data visualization.

SynthEyes Essentials Training is here and Free for the Holidays

Boris FX unwraps a holiday gift: SynthEyes Essentials, a free, three-hour matchmove training course for VFX artists, free until 31 December.

17.12.2025

A muscular fantasy character with long hair and animal skins stands in a dark environment. Two game controllers are visible in front, alongside a circular menu displaying options such as settings and game features.

Shapelab Max 2026 bends reality with Elastic Move

Leopoly’s hybrid sculpting tool grows up: Shapelab Max 2026 adds a smarter gizmo, Pixar-inspired Elastic Move, and faster voxel remeshing.

15.12.2025

Live FX 9.9: More Walls, More Nodes, More Fun

Bigger volumes, smarter nodes: Live FX 9.9 brings multi-GPU HDR output, Unreal integration, and new stage tools for virtual production.

12.12.2025

A panoramic view of a lush tropical landscape with rolling hills covered in dense green vegetation. Soft mist lingers among the trees, and fluffy clouds drift across a bright blue sky, illuminating the vibrant scenery.

Real-time Chaos: Vantage now inside Maya and Houdini

Chaos Vantage enters the DCC viewport. With V-Ray 7 updates, real-time feedback, volumetrics and AI materials now reach Maya and Houdini.

12.12.2025

INSYDIUM Fused 2025.4: Faster NeXus, New GPU Sims, And a Procedural Animation Toolkit

The release of INSYDIUM Fused 2025.4 introduces a rebuilt NeXus core that accelerates GPU simulation performance while reducing VRAM usage. The system handles particle and fluid data more responsively, and the update brings expanded mapping…

12.12.2025

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A woman laughing while sitting near a colorful carnival, with video editing software interface displayed below her. The text highlights features of DaVinci Resolve, offering free editing tools used in Hollywood. — Advertisement

Articles for our Subscribers

Keychron K5 Max: The New Default

A keyboard is the most used tool in digital production, so why settle for mediocrity? After eight months of testing, the Keychron K5 Max has earned a place as my daily driver. Here’s why.

byBela Beier

An illustrated interface titled "Project Sorter," featuring an arrow guiding a file from a "Downloads" folder to a "Project" folder that contains icons for Premiere Pro and After Effects. A dark background enhances visual clarity.

Work Hard, Sort Fast: Project Sorter 1.75

Project Sorter 1.75 auto-sorts your Premiere and After Effects imports by type, path, or metadata. Fewer bins to drag, more time to cut.

byAndreas Zerr

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Rendering the Inferno at RiseFX: The Lost Bus

128 shots, 15 sequences, and GPUs on the brink: RISE FX’s Oliver Schulz explains how his team built the burning world of The Lost Bus.

byBela Beier

Photoshop AI in practice

Following the integration of Adobe Firefly, there are now AI systems from partners. Flux Context Pro and Nano Banana are useful additions for Photoshop-AI in practice.

byJörn-Erik Burkert

A top view of a sleek black keyboard with a purple background, showcasing various keys clearly. The keyboard includes a numeric keypad and illuminated symbols on some keys for visibility.

RealFX Part 2: From the loading bar to the keyboard

Three scripts, one goal: easyRulers, LoadUP and keyboardFX bring clean, functional motion graphics utilities for everyday After Effects work.

byAndreas Zerr

A sleek SpyderPro device with a circular lens and a white casing, positioned against a vibrant, swirled background of colors, emphasizing its modern design.

Crawly for Videoscreens: SpyderPro

SpyderPro gets serious: anorganic filters, 12,000 nits, 3D LUT export, OLED support, and proper profiling tools make it fit for postproduction again. Let's see if the claims hold up!

byUli Plank

A clear glass cup with whipped coffee being poured into it, showcasing layers of creamy foam and brown coffee. The cup is surrounded by scattered coffee beans and a silver frother on a dark surface.

Houdini 21: Like good wine (Part1, VFX & Geo)

Houdini 21 polishes the chaos: production-ready MPM, neural surfacing, smarter Pyro, and Vulkan viewport upgrades: all taste-tested for real-world use. (Part 1 of ???)

byManuel Kotulla

A close-up of a woman with a mischievous expression peering through shattered glass. She wears a sparkling white dress, and the dark background adds a mysterious atmosphere to the scene.

When Annabelle Grew Up: The Digital Domain Horror Pipeline

425 shots, one terrifying doll, and a CG mill town: Digital Domain’s Alex Millet explains how his team built the horror of The Conjuring: Last Rites and kept it real.

byBela Beier

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More News!

A split image showing contrasting landscapes: on the left, a snowy mountain terrain with a winding path, and on the right, a rocky, barren hillside under a soft gray sky.

Terrain Wrapping Made Easy: Kiri Engine’s Free Blender Add-on

Kiri Engine releases Mesh Wrap, a free Blender add-on that makes projecting and scattering 3D-scanned terrain pieces onto base geometry fast, precise, and non-destructive.

Painterly Trees for Blender: ShapeScape Studio Blooms

New Blender add-on ShapeScape Studio lets artists grow painterly trees procedurally with NPR shaders, custom meshes, and built-in animation.

A digital scene featuring a bright green outlines of a vehicle driving on a dirt road with dust clouds. The interface of an editing software is visible on the left side, displaying tools and settings. A label at the bottom reads 'Export 3D scene to ABC.'

KeenTools 2025.3 Brings Blender 5, Character Creator 5 & AE Exports

KeenTools 2025.3 expands host support with Blender 5, Character Creator 5 export from FaceBuilder and Alembic output from GeoTracker for After Effects.

A cozy, modern living space featuring a brown leather armchair with a green hat resting on the arm. In the background, a large spherical object is displayed along with a sleek interface on the side, showcasing design elements in a stylish interior.

Chaos Adds macOS & AI to V-Ray for Blender

Chaos ships V-Ray for Blender Update 2: macOS support, AI tools, faster distributed rendering, and a long list of bug fixes and GPU tweaks.

Four spherical surfaces showcasing different textures: a brick pattern, a shiny black surface, a wooden finish, and a rough concrete design, set against a dark background.

Substance Designer cleans up its nodes

Cleaner graphs, smarter noise, and a friendlier graph creation UI: Substance 3D Designer 15.1 focuses on making material authoring less fiddly.

A young person with short hair wearing a colorful tie-dye shirt poses confidently on a city street. A vivid mural and modern buildings create a lively urban backdrop, along with the text "Mocha Pro 2026 First Look" prominently displayed.

Mocha Pro 2026: Refined, re-solved, re-edged

AI-assisted mattes, cleaner camera solves, and the return of the curve editor: Mocha Pro 2026 refines your roto and tracking life without reinventing the wheel.

Three animated robots in a futuristic setting. One robot fires a colorful beam weapon, while the others stand ready. The environment features high-tech elements, illuminated with glowing red and blue lights.

Rigging for All: Epic Opens UE 5.6 Workshop

Epic opens its once invite-only rigging workshop for all: five days of Control Rig deep-dive, free and production-focused.

A 3D architectural model showcasing a futuristic building design with a grid pattern, surrounded by stylized trees, accompanied by the text 'What's new in CityEngine 2025.1'.

CityEngine 2025.1 Expands CGA Geometry Tools and Introduces Python 3 API

CityEngine 2025.1 arrives with a broadened toolset for procedural modeling, architecture, and urban layout work. The update focuses on CGA geometry manipulation, a more capable Visual CGA…

A promotional banner for Datacolor featuring the LightColor Meter, with images of mobile apps displaying color measurement tools and the device itself, set against a dark background. — Advertisement

A datacolor LightColor Meter placed on a black bag, with a smartphone displaying a color analysis chart and lux measurement on the side. The device has three colored buttons and a central dial. — Advertisement

A side-by-side comparison of a smartphone photo editing effect. The top image shows a girl with wavy red hair and freckles in a grayscale filter, while the bottom image displays the same girl in vibrant color, highlighting her features and expressions.

Mavis adds LUTs, Open Gate and a “Film Kit” to iOS camera app

Mavis Camera 7.4 introduces Film Kit: a $9.99 add-on with LUT workflows, Open Gate capture, MLUTs, and ATOMOSphere C2C upload.

VES Handbook of Visual Effects, Fourth Edition, coming soon

The VES Handbook enters edition four with 95 contributors, new chapters on AI, NeRFs, real time engines and more. Pre orders open now, release Dec 18.

A smiling young woman with long, wavy hair, wearing a light pink shirt, is positioned in front of a dark digital interface featuring various editing options and visual effects. The background has a grid pattern with colorful templates on the left side.

Beeble Studio: 4K AI relighting on YOUR desktop

Beeble Studio puts 4K AI-powered relighting and full PBR pass generation on your own machine, no cloud uploads, no credits, just local GPU power.

A detailed 3D rendering of a blue mechanical component, highlighting measurement annotations in green. The part features circular openings and yellow accents, showcasing intricate designs and precise dimensions.

ABViewer 16: Not Sexy, but Seriously Handy

ABViewer 16 brings practical upgrades for anyone forced to open CAD files. Better 3D views, cleaner DWG export, and new G-code tools.

A large Tyrannosaurus rex roaring prominently while standing in a shallow river, surrounded by lush greenery and rocky cliffs in the background, depicting a thrilling prehistoric scene.

Checkpoint, fixed: Pixar ships RenderMan 27.1

Pixar refines RenderMan 27.1: better Lama layering, smarter checkpointing, memory savings, and fixes across Blender and Houdini bridges.

A collage of four different animated scenes featuring a man in a red cape with a dog, a vibrant dance performance with female characters, a close-up of a green lizard, and a futuristic armored figure.

World VFX Day is starting Now!

World VFX Day 2025 kicks off today at 11 AM CET. A 15-hour livestream unites 65+ speakers from across global VFX, animation and CGI.

Netflix buys Warner Bros.

Netflix will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios, HBO/HBO Max and content libraries in a $82.7 bn deal, a massive consolidation that may reshape streaming and media production.

A 3D-rendered cartoonish cat-shaped object with a round body and tail, featuring a shiny, multicolored surface. On the right, various texture patterns are displayed in a design software interface.

Mari 7.5: Multi-Paint, Texture Transfer and the Death of the Single Channel

Multi-Paint and Bakery-based Texture Transfer redefine Mari 7.5: eight channels per stroke, faster asset reuse, and fewer excuses for misaligned maps.

Banner for the 3D Environment Conference featuring the words 'Inspiration, Creativity, Emotion' alongside a stylized graphic of a figure in a dark, immersive digital environment. — Advertisment

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A detailed 3D model of a soldier in a tactical outfit, showcasing a helmet and body armor, set against a dark background. Text overlay states "3DCoat 2025.15 RELEASED" in bold white letters.

Lofted Surfaces and Retopo in 3DCoat 2025.15

3DCoat 2025.15 expands plane controls, improves Smart Retopo, updates Blender Applink to…

A close-up of a stylized female character with fierce facial features, displaying intricate details in her hair and facial markings. The interface of a digital sculpting software is visible, highlighting tools like the Retopo Brush for enhanced modeling precision.

ZBrush 2026.1: Retopo & Assets

Retopology arrives as a sculpting native system, photogrammetry lands on iPad, and ZBrush’s…

A computer screen displaying a 3D graphics application, focusing on a colorful spherical object with sections in various hues. On the right, a user interface shows node-based settings for texture customization. Two individuals are visible in the lower corner.

Redshift 2026.2: Texture Displacement and UV Context Arrive

Redshift 2026.2 delivers texture displacement, new UV context tools, IES light refinements,…

Godot 4.6-dev5 lands: D3D12 default, Delta Patching, Android Gradle, 2D boosts

Godot 4.6-dev5 goes live: D3D12 is now default on Windows, PCK patching gets efficient delta…

A grid of 3D spheres with glossy surfaces and blue stripes in a creative software interface. The workspace includes tool panels and a preview window in the background, showcasing a digital design environment.

Cinema 4D 2026.1: Fluids, Distributions, and Practical Fixes

Cinema 4D 2026.1 introduces Liquid Flow for GPU-based fluids, new MoGraph distributions, a…

A picturesque scene of a canal in Venice with a stone bridge overhead. Gondolas are moored along the cobblestone banks, reflecting in the calm waters under the warm glow of the setting sun. Historic buildings line the canal, creating a charming atmosphere.

Venice in Unreal: Scans Factory’s UE5.7 Demo Goes Public

Venice rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5.7. Scans Factory’s new free demo shows off Lumen, Nanite,…

A Sony Alpha 7 camera positioned at an angle, featuring a large lens with a black body and red accents, set on a plain white background.

Sony drops the new A7 V: 33 MP, 30 fps blackout-free and 4K 120p

Sony’s A7 V adds a 33 MP stacked sensor, AI-AF, blackout-free 30 fps bursts and 4K 120p…

A promotional graphic for World VFX Day 2025 features a grid of headshots showcasing various speakers. The event details include the date, social media handle, and highlights of speakers and talks, set against a black background.

World VFX Day 2025: Global Line-Up ahead!

Framestore hosts World VFX Day 2025 live from London. Free talks, panels and meet-ups unite…

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That’s It for This Year: Digital Production Wishes You Happy Holidays

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Articles for our Subscribers

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Something to watch ….

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