Month: June 2026
62 posts
FilmLight fl-enhance: Baselight Tools Escape Into Python
FilmLight’s fl-enhance repository brings Baselight and Daylight scripts, shaders and FLAPI tools to GitHub, including LUT wrapping, ACES EXR transcoding and colour utilities.
Adobe Sampler 6.0 Adds OpenPBR
Substance 3D Sampler 6.0 adds OpenPBR defaults, preset material templates, USD material export and updated HP Z Captis capture tools.
ProDock-ing an iPhone
The iPhone 17 is the first smartphone ever to support external synchronisation, and Blackmagic (BM for short) offers the ProDock to connect it to a professional environment. What are its possibilities and limits?
Callipeg Studio Heads to Desktop
Callipeg goes desktop with macOS and Windows builds, familiar 2D tools, beta caveats and a price that avoids subscription bingo.
Substance 3D Painter 12.1 bakes smarter
Painter 12.1 targets baking pain with skew maps, auto rebake, OpenPBR defaults and cleaner hard-surface UVs for asset teams.
RealityScan 2.2 Widens GPU Support
RealityScan 2.2 widens accelerated reconstruction, adds mixed GPU use, 360 camera workflow notes and scan-life fixes.
Adobe buys Topaz Labs
Adobe plans to acquire Topaz Labs, bringing AI upscale, denoise, restore and local model tech closer to Firefly and Creative Cloud.
Optics 2026.5 gets more photo hosts
Optics 2026.5 plugs into three more photo hosts and adds analog burns, face masks, particles and a Victorian pet preset pack.
Reallusion Unlocks Limitless Creation: iClone Personal Debuts Alongside AI Studio Official Launch
iClone Personal replaces the trial with free access, AI Studio goes public, and 500 AI Points sweeten the 3D-to-AI rabbit hole.
Arnold 7.5.2 Adds Gaussian Splats
Arnold 7.5.2 renders Gaussian Splats, adds relighting, NPR nodes and Flow Render tweaks. Nice, but test before splats bite.
Maxon turns 40, subs get lighter
Maxon celebrates 40 years with 40% off first-year annual subscriptions. Great for carts, less great for anyone remembering Amiga disks.
DaCaPo Opens DCP Authoring Beta
DaCaPo bundles DCP authoring, OV/VF versioning, subtitles, KDMs and verification into a desktop tool for cinema delivery. Give the Beta a Spin!
Asus ProArt 16 USV: A Laptop-Sized Production Monitor
The ASUS ProArt PA16USV LED-Monitor, a 15.6-inch 4K HDR portable display that incorporates a 12G-SDI marks a significant pivot for ASUS into hardware that explicitly targets on-set workflows and DIT (digital imaging technician) monitoring tasks rather than solely desktop creative use. But is it any good?
Here comes Houdini 22
2 hours and 18 minutes. That is almost exactly the runtime of the first Matrix film, and exactly the duration of the Houdini 22 release keynote. So yes, this promises a rather chunky package of new features and improvements.
Godot 4.7 turns up HDR
Godot 4.7 goes practical: HDR output, rectangular lights, mobile builds, XR work and editor polish. Less fireworks, more knobs.
Arri LUKA lights Unreal previs
ARRI LUKA puts virtual fixtures, camera logic and Lumen rendering inside Unreal Engine. Previs gets less guessy.
MetaHuman gets markerless mocap
Free markerless body capture lands for MetaHumans, using standard video, local processing, and Unreal Engine 5.8.
Beeble Canvas gets a Topaz split
Canvas now compares Topaz upscales in-node, adds 30 plus generation models, Markdown notes, magnetic snap, and describer updates.
QC Kitchen Brings Broadcast QC Online
Upload a master, choose a QC menu, get a report and a bill. QC Kitchen targets UK broadcast checks without booking a post house.
The Right Colours Without a Computer
SpyderPro exports a 33-point correction LUT, but you want one compact converter to apply it between SDI gear and an HDMI display.
Fridays for Fusion: ZDefocus Adds a More Practical Z-Depth Blur
Millolab’s ml_ZDefocus macro processes normalized Z-buffers, visualises the focus region and reduces edge artefacts in Fusion.
Unreal Engine 5.8 Tidies Up
Unreal Engine 5.8 brings production-ready rendering, virtual production and simulation tools, alongside experimental systems for digital crowds, terrain and character animation.
SMPTE Opens Its Standards Library
SMPTE has opened its complete standards catalogue, giving engineers and developers free access to current and future documents.
EDIUS 11.50 Patches Exports Faster
EDIUS 11.50 repairs parts of finished exports, transcribes locally and adds practical timeline tweaks. The new crossgrade even lowers the entry price.
RadialZ Gives ZBrush a Brush Wheel
RadialZ turns the ZBrush brush library into cursor-side wheels, reducing palette trips and keyboard gymnastics.
Blender Roadmap Puts Plans in One Place
Blender gets a central Roadmap for active projects and recent features, giving artists and studios a clearer view beyond release-note excavation.
O3DE 26.05 Gets Native Particles
O3DE 26.05 adds native particles, AgX, automatic LODs and PhysX 5 defaults. The particle Gem still carries a production warning.
Fifty Ultimate Generators Enter the Node Garden
Over 50 procedural contraptions tackle cities, fluids, fractures and magic trails. Manual library wrangling remains entirely optional.
MPC Joins The Mill
MPC and The Mill become one global studio, combining commercial production and film VFX under The Mill name.
Using C4D’s Axis Tool in a Product Viz workflow
SilverwingVFX shows how he handles object axis in his Cinema 4D studio workflowthat ensures a fast and fluent process even with challenging and unoptimized computer aided design imports.
Cloud Paint Shapes Painterly 3D Skies
Casey Sheep and MeiU release a $12 Eevee-only cloud generator for Blender, with mesh conversion, ten presets and built-in sky assets.
Sneeze Brings a Browser Engine to Spatial 3D
Sneeze applies the browser-engine model to spatial services, combining multi-origin 3D scenes, WASM isolation and proximity discovery.
Adobe trims Premiere and After Effects
Premiere adds faster masks and timeline tools, while After Effects tackles roto, SVG and 3D work. Deadlines keep their poker face.
Filmtext-o-Mat Tames Timecodes
Filmtext-o-Mat 2.7 turns sequence lengths into automatic timecodes, keeps video beside the manuscript and exports practical handover files.
RealTransforms gives Unity props gravity
RealTransforms uses editor physics to drop, rotate and arrange props, with proxy colliders and a beta hull generator for difficult meshes.
NeXus Beta Lands in Blender
NeXus arrives in Blender with GPU particles, fluids, smoke, fire and live viewport feedback. The beta is paid, perpetual and already patched.
Free Komodo Rig for Fun
Free Komodo rig for portfolio work, plus paid tiers for commercial pipelines. Big lizard, small invoice, careful license.
Mocha Pro 2026.5 Tracks Through Trouble
Point Track ML tackles occlusions, shadows and drifting surfaces, while smarter matte tools and exports reduce routine cleanup.
DroneSiteBuilder adds Google 3D Tiles option
DroneSiteBuilder Enterprise v1.2 turns original drone DNG or JPEG folders into a 3ds Max site plus matched cameras, in one run.
Let’s Animate Splats in 3DGS Render?
3DGS Render 5.0 lets Blender artists drive Gaussian splats with proxy meshes, bake lighting and export animation as PLY sequences.
Free Sci-Fi Station Lands on Fab
Fab gives Unreal artists 147 modular sci-fi assets, 4K textures and LODs for free until 16 June. Space rent remains mercifully absent.
Cinema 4D 2026.3 Rebuilds UV Editing
Version 2026.3 rebuilds UV editing and adds practical tools for particles, rivets, edge cloning and UV-driven animation.
BadFX Packs Assets Into Adobe Panels
BadFX puts stock media and adjustable animation presets inside Adobe timelines. The plugin is free, though an account is compulsory.
Imagen Video brings AI grading to timelines
Imagen Video applies AI-based colour correction to Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve timelines using AI Profiles or uploaded LUTs. The pitch is less Hollywood finishing suite, more high-volume editor.
Houdini 22 Teaser Fuels Guesswork
Houdini 22 looks ambitious, but the teaser is maddeningly brief. Treat every feature reading as informed fan speculation, not documentation.
Splat happens: Volinga 3DGS workflow for Unreal
Volinga turns photo sets into Gaussian splats for Unreal, with local processing, PLY and NVOL export, cleanup tools, and relighting support. But what does that actually mean? Let's ask some questions!
Mush3D 3.0 Adds Soft Tissue Tools
Mush3D 3.0 adds pose-trained corrections and tetrahedral soft tissue simulation for artists polishing cached character animation.
NukeRef Adds References to Nuke
NukeRef lets compositors paste image references into Nuke’s Node Graph as interactive backdrops. Tiny script, big sanity gain.
3DCoat 2026 gets GPU nodes
3DCoat 2026 beta adds GPU node texturing, procedural smart materials and masks. Shiny, useful and still beta-shaped.
DaVinci Resolve 21 Leaves Beta
Resolve 21 turns four public betas into a final release and brings the Photo page, selected AI tools and wider grading controls to iPad.
Fridays for Fusion: Bend It
Bend It warps 2D in Fusion with bend, taper, twist, and shear plus optional lighting and materials. It needs Fusion 19.1+ and a strong sense of restraint.
These are the Bugs You Were Looking For (in Blender)
Flying Bugs Generator brings 10 insect types, three motion modes, and Asset Browser-ready drop-ins for fast and vast bug swarms in Blender.
Stair Builder brings parametric stairs to C4D
A €25 Cinema 4D generator for stairs and railings, with presets, UV handling, and all of it parametric.
Image Blaster turns images into Splats
image-blaster uses a single reference image to generate an SPZ Gaussian splat environment via Marble, written as local files you can inspect and iterate fast.
conform.tools’ Connected conform gets a desktop beta
A Resolve-connected desktop app enters public beta, while pricing spells out per-shot timeline exchange, per-GB transfer, and seat-based tiers.
NVIDIA brings DLSS denoising to Blender 5.3
DLSS Ray Reconstruction lands in Blender 5.3 Cycles this fall, adding a new denoiser option built on the existing OptiX path. Expect faster lookdev, then test hard.
C4D Octane: 1.9.x Update Features Video
SilverwingVFX digs into the new juicy features delivered via the most recent Octane update for Cinema 4D. Learn what's improved so you can get the best out of Octane.
True Sky 3 brings planet-scale skies to Blender
True Sky 3 goes planet-scale in Blender, adds HDRI output and performance presets, and demands Blender 5.1 because Python moved.
Massive Crowd Sim gets a free 101-edition
Massive 101 goes free for non-commercial use, with watermarked renders and a forum-based license login. Great for learning, risky for deadlines.
Beeble Nuke plugin: relight with passes
Beeble’s Nuke plugin loads PBR pass sets and lets you relight with Directional, Point, and HDRI lights. Simple install, picky inputs, real control.
KZ_Tracker turns video into Maya curves
KZ_Tracker tracks 2D points in footage inside Maya and bakes curves to locators, aimed at quick blocking, timing, and rough spacing, not final mocap.
VOXIFY turns Blender Meshes to Voxels and animates
VOXIFY voxelizes any Blender mesh via Geometry Nodes, tries to keep your textures intact, and ships with animation and static mesh options.