For those who don’t know the tool: Spark Story sits in early previs and story workshops, pairing a browser build step with a mobile virtual production app, plus workflows that touch Blender and Unreal Engine.

NAB gets the hands-on bit

Spark Story is set for a public preview at NAB Show 2026, with an interactive booth demo that lets attendees create shots live and move between a browser session and a mobile virtual production app. The preview is scheduled on the show floor from April 19 through April 22 in Las Vegas (Booth N3148). Lightcraft calls Spark Story the first piece of a broader Spark platform that is still in development, with the NAB preview focused on rapid virtual-shot creation, script linkage, and a browser-to-mobile workflow. A beta notification signup page for the broader Spark platform is already live, indicating that a formal beta program is planned and more or less around the corner.

The pitch is simple: start workshopping a film on day one with the team, using rapid virtual shot building instead of waiting for later stages to see whether scenes and beats land. The preview demo uses scanned environments (Splats) and prompted environments as part of setting a scene, plus the ability to block and capture camera shots from a phone.

Browser to phone, with script in the loop

The preview description frames Spark Story as a real-time workflow that links a browser tool with a mobile app so teams can collaborate while building scenes and placing cameras. Script linkage sits near the center of that workflow, with an emphasis on connecting shots back to a screenplay, and on turning camera placement in a 3D scene into entries that feed a shot list tied to settings and framing.

A separate feature preview calls out collaborative screenplay editing and breakdown, aimed at real-time collaboration and development from partial ideas into a full screenplay. That matters less for the final file format and more for how teams keep intent, coverage, and revisions connected while the visuals evolve.

If you have lived through the classic version of previs, where shots float around in a folder tree while the script keeps changing in a different tool, this is clearly trying to make that disconnect go away. The claim is that a team can move much faster through early planning, pitching, and shoot preparation.

Environments: scans, prompts, and Gaussians

The preview highlights three main buckets of scene content: scanned environments, prompted environments, and more traditional 3D content. It also calls out support for Gaussian Splats and imported USD assets in the same workspace.

For Gaussian Splats, the industry standard is 3D Gaussian Splatting, a real-time radiance field rendering approach with an official, publicly available reference implementation. For USD, the relevant target is OpenUSD, positioned as a platform for building and exchanging 3D scenes at scale.

The interesting bit here is not that any one of those elements exists, but that the preview bundles them into one collaborative shot-building flow. If teh tool can keep scale, orientation, and camera intent consistent while teams mix splats with USD assets, that would remove a lot of glue work that currently happens in side scripts and one-off conversion steps.

Camera intent and virtual production capture

The preview copy states that Spark Story builds scenes around realistic digital environments, physically correct motion, and camera and lens models intended to keep early decisions consistent through shoot days. That is a marketing claim, but it is also a promise: camera behaviour and motion should (!!!!) translate from early planning into on-set execution without a full redo.

On the capture side, the preview positions a mobile app as the place where shots get captured from anywhere, with an integrated iOS experience described as push-button simple. For the platform piece, that points straight at iOS, no word of Anroid yet.

The practical production question is what data comes out the other end and how it plays with the rest of a pipeline. The preview text focuses on workflow and collaboration rather than interchange details beyond imported USD assets. So, at press time, there is no confirmed list of export formats, tracking data handoff details, or round-trip guarantees for specific DCCs in the NAB preview description. But there are importers for Fab.comMegascans, Unreal, Autoshot, as well as Blender, Nuke and After Effects. No word on Lightwave.

What is confirmed on the ecosystem side

Outside the NAB preview messaging, the public documentation site already carries Spark Story sections alongside broader tooling docs, including workflow pages that reference Blender and Unreal-related processes and USD troubleshooting topics. That is not a full product spec, but it does confirm that Spark Story documentation exists publicly and that USD sits inside the expected workflow surface area.

That matters because it suggests this is not a closed demo-only concept. There is already a documentation structure, including tutorials and debugging notes, which is usually where pipelines go first when they try to validate a tool against real production constraints.

What to test before you bet a schedule on it

Rapid collaborative previs sounds great right up until a production needs repeatability, versioning, and predictable handoffs. If you plan to evaluate Spark Story, put it through the boring tests early: multiple artists editing the same sequence, script changes mid-session (Thrice), asset relinking, and exporting or round-tripping anything your downstream tools require.

New tools and innovations should always be tested before use in production, preferably on something disposable, like a two-day internal short that still hits the same technical constraints as a real show.

The post Spark Story at NAB first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

TL;DR: Trimble ships SketchUp 2026.0 with a new in-app Collaboration Bar that lets you share via private invites or a public link, collect 3D-anchored comments, and sync views in real time. Visualisation gets AO distance and colour, invert roughness, and user-selectable material thumbnails on Windows. Performance improves across memory, selections, scene transitions, zoom extents, and purging. Live Components gain scale-by-inference grips and saner painting. Modelling and UI see multiple quality-of-life upgrades. You can reset activations inside the app. DWG and IFC pipelines are tidier. Studio users get Texture Projection and Surface Mesh for point clouds. LayOut on Windows adopts a SketchUp-like UI, picks up Trim, Extend, Fillet, Chamfer, and improves DWG handling and Scrapbooks.

Collaboration in Desktop: invites, public links, live cursors, 3D comments

The new Collaboration Bar shares your model to Trimble Connect, then distributes either private invites with permissions (Owner, View Scenes, Comment) or a public link with adjustable access (No Access, View Scenes, View Model). Viewers open the model in a browser, see others’ cursors, navigate and measure when allowed, and leave threaded comments pinned with 3D markers that can be associated with scenes and camera states. You can pull everyone to your current view or jump to a viewer’s avatar to mirror their POV. Real-time updates are on by default.

Visualisation: AO distance & colour, invert roughness, pick your material thumbnail

Ambient Occlusion gets a Distance Multiplier so occlusion remains readable when zoomed out and a colour swatch to move AO away from neutral grey for clearer depth cues. Materials add an Invert Roughness toggle to flip PBR roughness maps quickly. On Windows you can choose Cube or Flat material thumbnails per asset, or let Auto decide.

Performance: lower memory, snappier selections, faster scenes and zoom

Model loading produces smaller memory spikes, component overhead is reduced, and graphics resource handling on Windows is more efficient. Day to day that means fewer freezes on large models and more fluid interactions. Internal benchmarks cite big gains for scene transitions, Zoom Extents, and Purge Unused, plus faster selections and inferences; exact results will vary by hardware and dataset.

Live Components: scale grips by inference; saner painting

The Scale tool now exposes inference-aware grips for Live Components, making placement and sizing more predictable than nudging bounding boxes. The Paint Bucket can apply custom materials outside a component’s predefined options, with better texture mapping and library compatibility. Not every existing Live Component has scale grips yet, but more are being added.

Modelling & UI QoL: rotate handle logic, see-through scale grips, profile-edge placement, scene undo/redo

Scale grips render through occluding geometry so you can grab the correct handle without enabling X-Ray. Rotation grips hide when you lock a rotation plane to prevent unintended moves. When placing groups or components, you can move from a profile edge so the object turns transparent and background targets remain visible. Scenes now support Undo/Redo, including create/rename/delete. Purge Unused defaults to off; it gains granular controls and a menu command you can bind to a shortcut. On Windows, panels and trays are easier to manage: right-click headers to toggle visibility, drag panels between trays, or tear them off into their own tray.

Activations: fix “too many devices” without leaving the app

If you exceed allowed activations, you can reset all activations and authorise the current device directly in SketchUp rather than detouring to account management.

Interoperability: DWG import options; real hatch import; 3D section export; cleaner polylines; unified IFC exporter

DWG import adds Import Layers as Groups to map DWG layers to grouped geometry with tags for visibility control, and Import Linework Flattened to force Z=0 for 2D CAD, minimising cleanup. Hatches import as faces or edges, depending on type. Export preserves section planes in 3D DWG for downstream section workflows. Other updates include welded polylines on import, better true-curve export, and fewer duplicate instance/definition name collisions. IFC export consolidates 2×3 and 4 into one file type with a new Export Options dialog and a Standard IFC Spatial Hierarchy toggle to scaffold IfcProject/IfcSite/IfcBuilding even if your Outliner is sparse.

Scan Essentials (Studio): Texture Projection, Surface Mesh, scene-aware visibility, reset to georeferenced origin

Studio subscribers get Texture Projection to bake imagery from scans onto SketchUp geometry as reusable materials and Surface Mesh to extract meshes from point clouds with guided parameters. Point-cloud visibility can be stored per scene in SketchUp and LayOut. You can also reset transformations to the original georeferenced coordinates on export.

LayOut (Windows): UI refresh, true drafting tools, stronger DWG pipeline, better Scrapbooks

LayOut on Windows adopts SketchUp-style trays and panels, plus more flexible toolbars. Vector and hybrid viewport generation is faster. Four drafting tools land—Trim, Extend, Fillet, and Chamfer—mapped to Shift+T/E/F/C, reducing selection overhead and cleanup clicks on typical 2D tasks. DWG export can split each page to its own DWG, preserves SketchUp Tag names as DWG layers, and correctly stacks coincident viewports in model space; text, hatches, and tables round-trip more faithfully. Default Scrapbooks gain an Architecture set—doors, windows, living, bedroom, kitchen, bath—as scalable groups.

Bug fixes (selected): stability, materials, components, graphics engine quirks

Expect fewer crashes when editing Live Components or importing large images under the new graphics engine, corrupt normal maps no longer block loads, and file associations prefer the latest version. Selection performance on complex models improves. Numerous Windows and macOS UI inconsistencies are resolved, including materials panel behaviour, tag colour previews, scene tab selection, file thumbnails, Environments downloads, and various DWG importer/exporter issues.

API & developer notes: scenes are now undoable; non-invertible transforms rejected; IFC exporter updated

Scene operations are now undoable. Extension authors must wrap scene edits in Model#start_operation and #commit_operation or risk flooding the undo stack and Extension Warehouse rejection. Non-invertible transforms—like scale-to-zero—are rejected for component instances, groups, and images in both Ruby and C APIs. The Ruby API moves to a unified IFC exporter with options for version and hierarchy; there are new accessors for active section planes, safer page naming, style add/remove returns, and assorted fixes. LayOut’s APIs add linear dimension alignment, leader-line visibility, text strikethrough, attribute dictionaries, and camera/viewport override control. Test any extension that touches scenes, transforms, or exporters.

Upgrade guidance

If your day involves DWG/IFC exchange, LayOut deliverables, or frequent client review, the upgrade pays off immediately. Extension authors should validate scene logic due to undo changes. On macOS, note that cube material thumbnails are Windows-only. Pilot on a single machine, test your critical extensions, then roll out.

The post SketchUp 2026.0 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

Apple has announced a multi-day educational programme aimed at filmmakers and developers who want to produce content for Vision Pro. The twist: you can attend for free (well, aside from your time and gear). The workshops run from 21 to 23 October 2025, both online (livestreamed) and in person at Apple’s Developer Center in Cupertino.

Two tracks, two signups

There are two separate tracks. The first is a livestreamed online programme, open to anyone who registers before 20 October at 5:00 PM PDT. The second is an in-person workshop in Cupertino, which requires a separate “request to attend” form. That one has limited slots for project consultations—because, of course, exclusivity is part of the Apple experience. In short: one RSVP for your screen, and another if you want to fly to Cupertino and feel like part of the inner circle.

What you’ll actually learn (and play with)

Apple promises to cover framing, spatial interaction, and a host of other topics around immersive production. The curriculum includes concept planning for Apple Immersive Video and spatial storytelling in visionOS 26. It also explores SharePlay and “spatial Personas,” Apple’s branding for multi-user spatial collaboration.

Participants can expect guidance on spatial audio workflows, post and VFX approaches, and lessons learned from prior immersive Apple projects. Those who attend in person will also get hands-on time with the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera, spatial audio tools, and the option to book one-on-one consultations with Apple engineers. Because nothing says “Apple workshop” quite like limited access to hardware.

When and where (so you don’t miss it)

The workshops take place from 21 to 23 October 2025, running daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM PDT. The online and in-person sessions will occur concurrently, with the Cupertino event hosted at Apple’s Developer Center.

What it means (and what it doesn’t)

For creators experimenting with immersive formats for clients or internal R&D, this is a rare chance to see how Apple envisions its spatial ecosystem. The workshop is educational rather than production-ready, so not every workflow or technique shown will necessarily scale to real projects. It’s a useful orientation for aligning your creative pipeline with Apple’s expectations—but treat it as training, not gospel.

If you’re curious, it’s worth registering for both versions. Worst case: you get some slides and a reminder that spatial video is “the future.” Best case: you pick up practical pointers on how to survive in Apple’s immersive storytelling universe.

The post Apple Offers Free Vision Pro “Immersive Video” Workshops first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

XPU grows up

Pixar has pushed its hybrid CPU/GPU renderer, XPU, into full production status with the beta of RenderMan 27. XPU, introduced as experimental in earlier releases, now supports final-frame rendering. The engine adds interactive denoising for live look feedback, deep compositing outputs, and holdouts/mattes for layered workflows. Checkpointing allows partially saved renders, useful for iterative approval cycles. XPU also gains multi-GPU support, extending performance across several cards, and now runs OSL (Open Shading Language) filters. Limitations remain: no Cryptomatte support, no texture or light baking, no NURBS/quadrics rendering, and reduced performance with thousands of lights. macOS users must wait for a later dot release to run XPU at all.

RIS heads to retirement

RIS, RenderMan’s long-standing CPU-only engine, is still included but officially marked for deprecation. Pixar has not provided a removal version, but signals its intent to transition all users to XPU in the near future.

MaterialX integration

MaterialX, the open standard developed by ILM and adopted by the Academy Software Foundation, arrives in RenderMan 27. XPU can evaluate MaterialX shading graphs, allowing interchange between applications that support the format. This addresses a key demand for studio pipelines that rely on cross-software asset exchange.

Stylized Looks expand

Pipeline features

RenderMan 27 continues Pixar’s effort to fit modern VFX pipelines. The update improves checkpointing and adds output flexibility for deep compositing passes. Support for mattes and holdouts makes it easier to combine live-action and CG layers, or to generate masks for postproduction.

Smaller additions

The release also improves interactive workflows with enhancements to the IPR (Interactive Preview Render). Users can now update shaders and geometry with fewer restarts, reducing iteration time. XPU’s viewport responsiveness has been tuned for lookdev, even on large assets. Another area of focus is light transport and filtering. XPU gains extended support for OSL filters, giving TDs more granular control over pixel output during rendering. This makes it possible to implement customised passes or in-house filtering logic without rewriting the core renderer.

Plugin updates

The release ships with updated plugins for Houdini, Katana, Maya, and Blender. Integration is designed to expose XPU features directly within host DCC applications, keeping lookdev and shot work inside familiar UIs.

Historical context

RenderMan has been Pixar’s in-house renderer since the late 1980s, originally built on the Reyes architecture optimised for micropolygon rendering. RIS, introduced in 2014, replaced Reyes with a path tracer better suited to global illumination. With version 27, Pixar signals the next phase: shifting from CPU-centric RIS to the hybrid CPU/GPU XPU engine, reflecting the industry-wide migration towards GPU acceleration. RenderMan 27 is available as a beta for registered users.

The post RenderMan 27: XPU graduates, RIS retires first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

Twinmotion 2025.2 introduces Nanite, Unreal Engine’s virtualised geometry system. Nanite uses a new mesh format and rendering technology to stream only the visible parts of geometry on demand, allowing pixel-scale detail and very high object counts. Imported geometry meshes can be converted to Nanite at the time of import or afterwards via the Properties panel. A new Convert all to Nanite option has been added to the Scene graph’s contextual menu, enabling batch conversion of all geometries under a selected parent object. A dedicated Nanite triangles viewport mode displays Nanite mesh detail directly in the viewport. This can be enabled through the View mode icon.

In practice, this allows Twinmotion users to import high-resolution models from CAD, scan data, or sculpting applications without a pre-optimisation pass. According to Epic, the system is capable of handling datasets with hundreds of millions or even billions of polygons while retaining real-time responsiveness. This opens doors for users in architecture or automotive, where models often contain overwhelming detail at the component level, from bolts in a car chassis to screws in a façade system.

The implication is that asset fidelity is no longer artificially constrained at the import stage. However, Nanite’s real-world performance is always hardware dependent. While Epic emphasises “real-time performance,” users should expect performance scaling based on GPU capability, VRAM, and I/O throughput. Twinmotion’s positioning of Nanite as “removing the need to optimise” should be read literally only in terms of workflow steps, not in terms of performance costs. Heavy assets still consume resources.

Parallax Windows

Twinmotion 2025.2 includes a new Parallax Windows library. This library provides 32 assets, including office, residential, and gym interiors, alongside 10 retail interiors developed with wParallax.

These parallax windows can be dropped into scenes to simulate interior spaces without modelling and furnishing every room. Properties include night cycle simulation with randomised lighting, glass overlay simulation for added realism, and controls for mirroring and dual-sided occlusion.

3D Grass Material

The update adds a new 3D Grass Material with several enhancements. An Accent meshes section introduces small vegetation elements that break up uniform grass distribution and create a more natural appearance. A new Presets section contains 15 curated setups combining grass types, accent meshes, and parameter settings. Colour blending has been reworked, and a Dryness parameter allows application of a dry, sun-scorched effect across grass surfaces.

Installer Size Reduction and On-demand Content

The Twinmotion installer has been reduced in size by moving content to cloud storage. This change simplifies network deployment and makes distribution lighter. A new content-on-demand system allows users to download legacy content as needed. A Download icon in the Library categories lets users fetch entire categories. Content packs can also be downloaded from the Library packs tab of the Home panel. Epic now distinguishes between a Standard Library Pack, containing the full drag-and-drop asset collection, and a lighter Starter Library Pack for demos or quick installs.

Fog Cards

Twinmotion 2025.2 introduces Fog Cards into the VFX category. These are lightweight particle cards designed to add fog layers to a scene. Seventeen Fog Card assets are included. They can be scaled, tinted, and given emissive colours. A set of wind-reactive properties enables fog cards to move with global wind or at custom speed and direction. Fog cards can be combined with existing fog features, such as the global Ambience > Env > Fog or smaller fog banks in Library > Objects > VFX > Fog.

Camera Synchronisation

Twinmotion 2025.2 adds Camera Synchronisation with DCC applications. Through Direct Link or Datasmith imports, both active viewport cameras and saved DCC camera views can be aligned with the Twinmotion viewport camera. A new Camera Sync icon appears in the viewport when a Direct Link or Datasmith connection is active. This opens a user interface with options to enable or disable sync, and to select which DCC view to synchronise.

Static Motion Blur

A new Static Motion Blur system is included. Two tools, Linear Blur and Circular Blur, are available in the Tools > Static motion blur section of the Library.

When a static mesh is made a child of one of these tools in the Scene graph, the chosen blur effect is applied. This allows simulation of motion in still renders, such as wheel rotation on a static vehicle or directional blur on crowds.

Virtual Camera (VCam)

Twinmotion 2025.2 connects with the Unreal VCam app on Android and iOS. This allows a handheld device to control a live camera in Twinmotion scenes. The system supports placement of live cameras and real-time control of focal length, focus, exposure, and navigation settings. Streaming quality can be configured in the Preferences panel.

Exploder

The update introduces Exploder as a new type of Animator tool. Exploders create exploded view animations by separating the parts of an object in space and optionally reassembling them. Exploder Animators include a Shape parameter (sphere, cylinder, or plane) to define movement direction. Per-object settings for Timing and Origin allow staggered offsets and pivot controls. Exploders affect only their direct children in the Scene graph. The Library includes Exploder tool presets, such as Gentle Push, Deconstruct, Inflate, Ring Peel, Pressurize, Plan Split, and Stack Reassemble. These presets can be customised and saved as new versions.

Static and Real-time Animations in Images and Panoramas

Twinmotion 2025.2 introduces a global Static / Real time animation toggle for images and panoramas. This allows creators to pause animations at a specific frame when rendering stills or panoramas, rather than being restricted to real-time playback.

Sony Spatial Reality Display Support

Configuration triggers are now supported on the Sony Spatial Reality Display (SRD). This enables switching between configuration states directly on the SRD device.

Custom LUT Support

Twinmotion 2025.2 adds support for custom LUTs (lookup tables) in .cube format. LUTs can be imported into the new LUT category under the FX tab of the Ambience panel.

Users can apply LUTs from libraries or create them externally in image editing software such as Photoshop.

Advanced Post-process Effects

The FX tab filter system has been redesigned. Filters are now grouped under an Effects category with new settings for sketch-style visuals. Options include hatching, Kuwahara filtering, and pen-style outlines. Parameters are fully exposed, allowing customisation and saving of filter presets.

Conclusion

Twinmotion 2025.2 is a major release, expanding across geometry handling, materials, animation, post-processing, and interoperability. With features such as Nanite integration, Parallax Windows, Fog Cards, Exploder Animators, VCam support, custom LUTs, and mesh tessellation, this update covers both headline capabilities and smaller workflow refinements. Studios should review these features against their production needs before integrating them into pipelines.

The post Nanite marches in: Twinmotion 2025.2 update first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

RE:Vision Effects has released REZup Version 2, its updated video and animation upscaling plugin. The launch date is 4 August 2025, and the announcement emphasises improved upscaling with two newly integrated machine-learning models. REZup remains structured as two plug-ins—Resize (for upscaling or zooming) and Enhance (for refining image quality)—now enhanced with fresh capabilities.

Built-In Temporal Denoising and Colour Handling

REZup V2 adds a built-in temporally denoise option to suppress noise during upscaling. It also refines colour-space handling, making transitions and grading more reliable across varied footage.

Two ML Models — One for Everything, One Just for Faces

The update introduces two new machine-learning models:

• DNN 3 is a general-purpose model suitable for wide-ranging content, from live-action to rendered 3D animation.
• DNN 2 is optimised for faces and close-ups, promising detail retention such as fine hair strands, and even performs well on anime-style footage.

The company highlights that the models are “particularly adept” at 4× upscaling, for example transforming HD to 8K. Other scaling factors are shown in RE:Vision Effects’ demo videos.

Performance and Compatibility

REZup V2 supports AMD, NVIDIA, and Apple Silicon GPUs, and is expected to work with Intel Arc B60 discrete GPUs—though Intel users are invited to report test results. The company notes that upscaling from 1080p to 8K demands at least 8 GB VRAM; GPUs with more memory (12 GB to 96 GB) will handle higher resolutions more smoothly.

Pricing and Update Strategy

REZup V2 is priced at US $189.95, with an upgrade path from Version 1 available for US $39.99. The plugin is also included in RE:Vision Effects’ Effections bundle.

Host Application Support

The update is compatible with a wide range of host applications, including Adobe After Effects and Premiere, Resolve and Fusion, Apple Final Cut Pro, Assimilate Scratch, Nuke}, HSA-Art Diamant and Film Buster, Flame, Boris FX Silhouette, and other OpenFX-based hosts. A note indicates DNN 2 and 3 are not yet available on Flame Linux.

Combining with Twixtor

When used alongside Twixtor, REZup Resize enables reframing VR footage or remastering high-resolution content with no quality loss.

Note to readers: Confirm VRAM, host compatibility, and scaling results in your specific pipeline before adopting REZup V2 for critical deliverables.

The post RE:Vision Effects ups the ante with REZup V2 (and yes, it’s 4× sharper) first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

The plugin UVPackmaster version 3.4 for Blender adds a practical one‑click Auto Repacking system. This feature enables artists to apply pre‑configured packing options across multiple meshes and automatically repack only those with changes, saving time in iterative workflows.

Texel density control has finally arrived. Artists can now assign consistent texel density values (in px/m) globally or per‑UV‑island. This ensures uniform texture quality in game and real‑time workflows.

Added grouping by vertex colour offers a visual means to arrange UV islands logically. This complements new Option Sets—collections of packing settings stored within a .blend file or as standalone presets UVPackmaster.

The update expands upon prior enhancements documented in the official release notes. Version 3.4.1 introduced Auto Repacking tied to Option Sets, plus texel‑density tools and expert controls such as High‑Precision Topology Analysis. Version 3.4.2 adds vertex‑color grouping, performance improvements in island stacking, a Force Repacking toggle per‑object, and a fix for a critical Blender 2.8–2.9 issue.

System compatibility remains broad: Blender 2.83 and above on Windows 10+, glibc 2.29+ Linux, and macOS 11.3+ are supported. Pricing remains unchanged: a single‑user licence is US $44, while multi‑user Studio licences start at US $159.

UVPackmaster, first released in 2018, remains a high‑performance, GPU‑accelerated UV packing engine. It supports UDIMs, tiled and non‑square layouts, and runs on NVIDIA and (since version 3.3) Vulkan‑accelerated AMD GPUs and Macs.

Full Release Notes (Scroll down!) are here: https://uvpackmaster.com/for-blender/release-notes/

Developers and texture artists should note that new features like Auto Repacking and texel-density tools should be tested within production pipelines before deployment to ensure stability and compatibility.

The post UVPackmaster 3.4 Adds One-Click Auto Repacking to Blender first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

The Academy Color Encoding System (ACES), long the industry’s preferred standard for end-to-end color management, is officially moving its governance to the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF). Announced on August 6, 2025, this transfer marks the end of a decade-plus era where ACES was steered solely by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Instead, ACES will now leverage the ASWF’s open governance, legal framework, and technical community.

Ten Years of Color, Now Open Source

ACES began life more than a decade ago inside the Academy as a response to the growing complexity of digital color workflows in modern filmmaking. Its goal: create a universal system for color management and image interchange that holds up from on-set through visual effects, grading, mastering, and archiving.

Putting the „Ace” in ACES

The recent 2.0 release this past spring brought enhanced color rendering, more consistent displays across different dynamic ranges, improved invertibility for transforms, and broader device support. Still, for all its impact, ACES’ future was tied to the Academy’s stewardship, until now.

ACES 2.0 – available in Mistika!

Why the Switch?

In practical terms, moving to ASWF means ACES will benefit from the same open governance and infrastructure that support other industry-defining open source projects. Expect easier collaboration between ACES and technical mainstays like OpenColorIO, OpenEXR, and MaterialX. This is less about rewriting ACES than about improving how it interacts with the rest of your pipeline.

How to Persuade Competing VFX Studios to Cooperate

ASWF: A Short History and a Growing Roster

The ASWF itself was established in 2018 by the Academy and the Linux Foundation as a home for open source software crucial to visual effects, animation, and postproduction. The list of member organizations reads like a credit roll from a superhero franchise: DreamWorks, Laika, Netflix, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Walt Disney Studios, Weta FX, and Warner Bros., among others. The ASWF has already shepherded open tools from Open Shading Language to OpenVDB, serving both creative and technical teams.

Governance and Next Steps

As with other ASWF projects, ACES will now be overseen by a Technical Steering Committee, composed of long-standing ACES leadership and developers. This committee will steer development, while the Academy remains an active participant. The aim: keep ACES stable, open, and evolving, but without sudden breaks from its established direction.

David Morin, Executive Director of the ASWF, points to the growth in developer participation and cross-industry adoption of ASWF projects as proof that the foundation can provide the community and infrastructure ACES needs for long-term health.

The open libraries of Hollywood

What’s Next for ACES?

Further details on the transition will be given during Open Source Days (August 10-11) at the Marriott Pinnacle in Vancouver, as well as virtually. The schedule includes keynotes, presentations on ACES’ open source innovation, and technical project updates for those who want the inside scoop (and are willing to navigate SIGGRAPH registration).

ACES Remains Industry Standard—But Test First

ACES may be the industry’s open source color management system of record, but—as always—test innovations before deploying them in production. New open source governance should lead to smoother updates, more robust collaboration, and a steadier development pace, but the fundamental rule remains: verify, then trust.

The post ACES Gets a New Home: Academy Hands Off Colour Science to the Academy Software Foundation first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

Autodesk has rolled out Arnold 7.4.3 and this time, the venerable renderer brings a new toy for the node-happy: the Inference imager. This feature lets users apply image-to-image machine learning models directly inside Arnold via ONNX, transforming frames with neural network-based stylization. If you want your render to look like a Picasso, at least for a single frame, you can now do it natively—though Autodesk admits this won’t guarantee temporal coherence or semantic stability when you try it on sequences. Translation: your animation could look like a different painting in every frame. Production artists, you have been warned.

Arnold GPU: Now With 3.3× More Hurry-Up

For anyone actually using Arnold’s GPU renderer in production, volume rendering on GPU is now up to 3.3× faster. This applies to both OpenVDB volumes and procedural volumes, so your clouds, smoke, and fog will eat fewer pizza breaks. Global Light Sampling is also up to 2.5× faster, and glossy materials on GPU behave a bit more like their slow CPU cousins. These are speed improvements, not new rendering techniques—so if your GPU is slow, it’s still slow, just less embarrassingly so.

Material World: OpenPBR, USD, and All the Acronyms

Arnold 7.4.3 improves OpenPBR-based subsurface scattering, especially for thin-walled materials, and brings the metal lobe in line with energy conservation principles. If you’re deep in the weeds of USD-based pipelines, there are more USD workflow tweaks and improved HTML render reporting for pipeline happiness (or at least, slightly fewer pipeline headaches).

Host App Plug-ins: Most Are Updated (Sorry, Houdini)

New plug-in versions for Maya, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, and Katana are already available, so you can enjoy Arnold 7.4.3 in your DCC of choice—unless your choice is Houdini. At press time, Houdini users will need to wait for an updated plug-in. No magic workarounds provided.

20.07.2025: Update Houdini Plugin is available! Apparently we were too stupid to see it in the backend.

Platform Support and the CentOS 7 Eulogy

Arnold 7.4.3 runs on Windows 10+ and Linux with glibc 2.17+ and libstdc++ 4.8.5+ (basically, any current Linux workstation). MacOS 10.13 or later is also supported, but GPU rendering still needs an NVIDIA card—and thus remains Windows and Linux-only. This is also the final Arnold release to support CentOS 7, which officially reached end-of-life in 2024. If you’re still on CentOS 7, you’re officially out of excuses to delay that migration.

Pricing: Same Renderer, $15 More Per Year

Single-user subscriptions for Arnold are $55/month or $430/year. That’s a $15 annual price bump since 7.4.1. If you want to know what you’re paying for, that would be the Inference imager and (hopefully) a few more frames per second.

The post Autodesk ships Arnold 7.4.3 with Inference imager and GPU volume speedups first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

Wacom has released its most direct standalone answer to the iPad + Pencil combo: the MovinkPad 11. Aimed at artists and illustrators who want to leave the PC (and Apple) at home, the MovinkPad 11 combines Wacom’s proven pen tech with an Android 14-based tablet—all for $449. And all the options of Android!

Purpose-Built for Drawing, Not Social Media

While the iPad remains the darling of generalists and influencers, the MovinkPad 11 doubles down on a focused sketching experience. Boot the device, and you’re instantly in Wacom Canvas (their new drawing app), with a “Quick Draw” feature that lets you wake-and-sketch by just tapping the screen with the pen. If you’d rather use Clip Studio Paint, you’ll find a 2-year license for Clip Studio Paint DEBUT included.

You won’t find bloatware, endless notifications, or pre-installed games. The MovinkPad 11 is intentionally distraction-free. It’s built for pen-first digital artists, not for binge-watchers or TikTok influencers.

Wacom MovinkPad 11: All Business, No Nonsense

The MovinkPad 11 is built around a 11.45″ IPS display (2200×1440 px, 400 nits, 99% sRGB, 16.7 million colors) topped with etched, anti-glare glass. The 60/90 Hz refresh rate and 1200:1 contrast ratio keep the panel functional, if not bleeding-edge.

Under the hood, you’ll find a MediaTek Helio G99 processor (octa-core), 8 GB RAM, and 128 GB of internal storage (no microSD slot, so you’ll need to mind your file management). The battery weighs in at 7,700 mAh—official runtime isn’t stated, but field testing will reveal if it keeps up with long sessions. The unit measures 266 × 182 × 7 mm and weighs 588 g. This is slightly heavier than an iPad Air, but still travel-friendly.

Pen Tech: The Familiar Wacom Experience

The MovinkPad 11 comes bundled with the Wacom Pro Pen 3—the same EMR (electromagnetic resonance) technology trusted by Cintiq and MobileStudio users. It delivers 8,192 pressure levels, ±60° tilt support, and customisable side buttons and nibs. The battery-free design keeps things simple. Artists already on the Wacom ecosystem will find no learning curve here.

Android, with Art Apps—But Not Procreate

With Android 14 as the OS, you’ll have access to major sketching apps like Clip Studio Paint, ibis Paint, and Krita. However, Procreate (and Apple’s hardware lock-in) is not an option. Wi‑Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac) and Bluetooth 5.2 are included. The tablet also sports dual speakers, dual microphones, a 4.7 MP rear camera, and a 5 MP front camera. Connectivity is via USB‑C (USB 2.0).

Pros and Cons for the Production Artist

Pros: This is a genuinely standalone, purpose-built drawing device. No PC or Mac tether required. The boot-to-canvas workflow is immediate, and pen performance is exactly what you’d expect from Wacom. There’s little here to distract you from actually producing work.

Cons: The IPS screen, while accurate, doesn’t match OLED for contrast or punch. Storage is limited to 128 GB—no card slot—so heavy PSDs and reference folders will require management. Battery life is unspecified, so don’t trust it with live client work until you’ve tested your own workflow.

Verdict: iPad Alternative with Real Artist Cred

The MovinkPad 11 is Wacom’s most convincing standalone effort to date: focused, familiar, and ready for serious sketching. At $449, it undercuts the iPad Air + Pencil combo, without resorting to buzzwords or over-the-top promises. The value proposition: less social, more studio. For anyone wanting out of the Apple ecosystem (or just wanting less “influencer” and more “artist”), it’s a compelling choice.

As always, remember: specs don’t always tell the whole story. Test any new device in your own production pipeline before you trust it with paid projects or color-critical work.

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Wacom MovinkPad 11 Official Product Page

The post Wacom MovinkPad 11: Standalone Sketching, No PC (or iPad) Required first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

If you’re sick of ugly mesh seams ruining your beautiful scenes, MeshBlend Unreal Engine 5 is here to save your day (and your geometry). This brand-new plug-in from Tore Lervik lets you blend any two meshes—terrain, props, kit-bash pieces, or even the most stubborn hard-surface models—like a pro, without the headaches.

What MeshBlend Actually Does

MeshBlend isn’t another buzzword salad. It works by letting artists paint custom blending masks right inside Unreal Engine 5, creating organic, artifact-free transitions between meshes. Got a rock sticking out of your landscape like a sore thumb? Smooth it in seconds. Need to erase the evidence of last night’s kit-bash hackathon? MeshBlend’s got your back. It’s fully compatible with Nanite and supports both real-time and offline workflows, so you can keep your framerate—and your art director—happy.

How Blending Really Works

MeshBlend takes mesh merging seriously. According to the Rules of Blending, you’ll get the best results if your meshes actually overlap, normals face the same way, and your UVs aren’t a total mess. Ignore these and, well, your results might not make it into the showreel.

Performance and the Road Ahead

MeshBlend isn’t just theory—it’s been used on real projects, from indie games to AAA productions, and is already earning praise for “finally fixing” the classic seam problem. The public roadmap is refreshingly practical: faster performance with smarter shader passes, native Substrate material support, and (everyone’s favorite) no more engine file editing. Future updates promise even more polish and speed.

Licensing, Demos, and Studio Support

Ready to go pro? MeshBlend will be available via Fab, and a Studio License is already up for grabs for teams with bigger ambitions. There’s a bustling Discord community for real-time support, feedback, and the occasional “why won’t my mesh blend?” meltdown.

Proof It Works

Don’t take anyone’s word for it—see for yourself. The Examples page has real, production-tested demos: rocks melting into terrain, kit-bash seams erased, even some tricky interior geometry blending. For the skeptical, there’s a playable demo you can run right now, so you know exactly what you’re getting.

One Last Thing: Always Test Before You Commit

MeshBlend looks great in the demo, but don’t skip due diligence. Test it on your own assets and pipelines first. Even the best plug-ins need a reality check before you go all-in on a major project.

// MeshBlend homepage // MeshBlend
// MeshBlend roadmap // Roadmap
// Rules of Blending // Rules of Blending
// Studio License info // Studio License
// MeshBlend examples // Examples
// Playable Demo // Playable Demo
// You Can Blend Any Mesh With This Unreal Engine 5 Tool // 80.lv
// MeshBlend Unreal Engine Forums // Unreal Engine Forums

The post MeshBlend Unreal Engine 5: Wave Goodbye to Ugly Seams first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

Pomfort has released Silverstack XT v9.0, a significant update focused on real‑world workflow automation for DITs and data managers. Built on version 9’s unified workflow concept, XT now enables chaining of offload, backup, verification, upload, and reporting tasks into a single custom pipeline. This consolidates previously separate wizards into one UI, simplifying launch and enabling repeatable presets.

Jobs View: Real‑Time Task Tracking

XT’s new Jobs View offers live visibility into workflows, jobs, and individual clip‑level tasks. Historically, tracking offload and backup progress across cards required manual oversight. Now, Silverstack XT shows execution order, progress, warnings, and history in a single pane.

Parallel, Interleaved Processing

For faster execution, the software processes jobs in parallel—offloading, backing up, uploading, and reporting at once. Silverstack automatically manages dependencies and optimises the order of execution across clips. This interleaved processing applies at clip level, allowing cascading operations before full offload completion.

Drive Management and Media Naming

Users gain enhanced drive controls: define parallel task limits per drive, activate shuttle drive rotation (swap destination drives mid‑workflow), and remedy generic “Untitled” card names for simultaneous card processing. Metadata for shooting date, camera, episode, and crew unit can be pre-defined and used in path structures.

Undo, Stream Deck, Playback Enhancements

Version 9 adds library and grading edit undo capabilities. XT now integrates with Elgato Stream Deck, letting users configure and trigger actions via hardware keys. Playback features include up to 12‑clip Grid View and Wipe View comparisons—XT exclusives.

Format and Lab‑Only Features

XT v9 mirrors Lab’s updates, including false‑color modes with EL Zone exposure and new transcoding presets for full‑resolution dailies, bypassing anamorphic desqueeze and crop. Lab retains exclusive color‑tagging options based on primaries, transfer curves, and metric coefficients.

Stability, Integrations, and Ecosystem

Under‑the‑hood improvements include bug fixes, performance gains, and UI refinements. XT also supports Apple Silicon natively and maintains tight integration with editing tools and Pomfort’s ShotHub service for cloud‑based metadata sync.

System Compatibility and Caution

Silverstack XT v9.0 requires macOS 14 or newer. Pomfort explicitly warns against switching software versions in the middle of an active production due to the fundamental UX and architecture changes. A license cost around 800 € per Year.

Moire info? Go here: Meet the next evolution of Silverstack Lab and XT

The post Pomfort Debuts Silverstack XT v9 with Real‑Time Workflow Automation first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

DeepMotion has launched version 2.0 of its SayMotion software, which aims to simplify and automate the creation of animation sequences. The software allows users to turn stories and ideas directly into animation sequences, with the update bringing some significant new features. These are designed to improve the production pipeline and optimise collaboration between different teams.

Extended file format support and new features

One of the most notable new features in SayMotion 2.0 is support for a wider range of file formats. Artists can now import and export files in FBX, BVH, USD and GLTF formats. This expanded compatibility makes the software more versatile, especially when working with other popular tools in the industry.

In addition to improved file format support, SayMotion 2.0 also offers deeper integration of AI-powered features. Users can automatically analyse and adjust motion data through the use of deep learning algorithms, which significantly speeds up the workflow. New tools for motion optimisation have also been introduced, which make it possible to automatically correct unwanted motion errors before they become visible in the final animation.

Cloud integration and improved collaboration

Another highlight of SayMotion 2.0 is the extended cloud integration, which allows multiple users to work on projects simultaneously. This function is primarily aimed at larger teams and international projects where it is important that everyone involved always has access to the latest versions of the animation data. Cloud integration supports seamless synchronisation of project data and allows changes to be tracked in real time. This promotes collaboration and reduces the risk of version conflicts.

New export options and integration into existing pipelines

SayMotion 2.0 also gives users the option of exporting their animation sequences directly in various video formats such as MP4 and MOV. Direct uploading to platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo is also supported. This function is particularly useful for artists who want to present their work quickly and easily.

Another feature is the support of Python scripts. This makes it possible to create customised automations and integrate the software seamlessly into existing production pipelines. These enhancements allow SayMotion 2.0 to be used in a wide range of projects, from small indie productions to large VFX productions.

Licence models and prices

SayMotion 2.0 licences are offered in several models, depending on the needs of the user. For individual users there is a monthly subscription fee, while teams and studios can choose an extended licence with additional functions and support options. Prices vary depending on the scope of the licence and start at around USD 15 per month. A trial version is also available to evaluate the new features in advance.

Conclusion

SayMotion 2.0 brings a host of new features and improvements that should be of particular interest to users in the animation and VFX industry. The extended file format support, cloud integration and new export options make the software a versatile tool in the modern digital production pipeline. Nevertheless, all new functions should be thoroughly tested before they are used in ongoing projects – and of course the animation is by far NOT yet suitable for the hero character, but for “quick variants in the crowd”, background characters or a bit of movement and bustle in the background? Why not.

Further links:

SayMotion documentation
Detailed technical documentation on the software.

SayMotion 2.0 Release Notes
Official release notes from DeepMotion.

SayMotion official website
Manufacturer’s website with further information and documentation.

The post Text-to-Animation-Generator? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

With the new version 4.3 of the Godot Engine, the developers have integrated numerous improvements and new functions that are specifically tailored to the needs of CG artists. The focus is on optimising and expanding existing tools to make complex digital projects more efficient and flexible.

Volumetric fog: more realism in the visualisation

The introduction of “Volumetric Fog” in Godot 4.3 offers you an improved representation of fog and smoke in real time. The engine now supports the simulation of light scattering within fog volumes, which makes for more realistic and atmospheric environments. Especially for scenes that require a dynamic atmosphere, such as in film production or real-time visualisations, this is a welcome enhancement.

The new fog function is fully integrated into the pipeline and works efficiently with the existing lighting and shading engine. However, the complex calculation of the light interactions within the fog can require high computing power, depending on the scene and project. Users should therefore test the new functions thoroughly before integrating them into production projects.

Meshlet rendering: Efficient rendering of complex geometries

Meshlet rendering is another important new feature in Godot 4.3. This technology makes it possible to divide large and complex models into smaller parts, so-called meshlets. This leads to more efficient processing and visualisation of geometries, as only the visible parts of the model need to be rendered. For VFX artists working with highly detailed scenes, this is a significant relief as it can considerably reduce render times. Especially in real-time applications, such as games or interactive visualisations, meshlet rendering can help to optimise performance on different hardware configurations. Here too, however, it is advisable to evaluate the technology in detail before using it in production.

Improved animation tools: Precision and flexibility

The animation toolset has also been revised with Godot 4.3. The new functions offer you as a user more precision when creating and customising animations. The “Animation Retargeting” feature allows you to easily transfer animations to different characters, which greatly simplifies the workflow for projects with multiple characters.

The integration of Animation Trees has also been improved, allowing you to manage and customise complex animations more efficiently. These new features are particularly useful for artists working on projects with many animated characters or objects. Improved control over timing and transitions allows for more realistic motion sequences, which is important in VFX and game production.

Extended file format support: More flexibility at work

Godot 4.3 extends support for different file formats, giving you greater flexibility when importing and exporting your projects. The engine now supports a wider range of 3D file formats, including FBX and OBJ, and improves integration with external tools such as Blender. This expanded format support facilitates the exchange of assets between different software solutions and enables smoother collaboration in mixed production environments. Although the new formats have been extensively tested, artists should ensure that all imports are correct and lossless before using them in current projects.

Further optimisations: Improved performance and stability

In addition to the major features, Godot 4.3 offers a number of smaller optimisations that have a positive effect on the general performance and stability of the engine. These include improvements to the rendering backend, which increase the general frame rate and responsiveness of the engine.

The developers have also worked on the user interface to further improve the workflow. This particularly affects the scripting and debugging areas, where new tools and options have been added. These changes are aimed at providing you as a user with an even more pleasant and productive working environment.

Licence model and availability

Godot 4.3, like the previous versions, remains available under the MIT licence, which means that the engine can be used free of charge. This openness makes Godot particularly attractive for indie developers and small studios who want to benefit from the professional features without having to pay high licence costs.

For more information and detailed instructions on how to use the new features, you can consult the official documentation. Information on downloading and installing the latest version can be found directly on the manufacturer’s website.

The post New functions in Godot 4.3 for CG Artists first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

3D-Info is a free, open-source and cross-platform tool that enables the visualisation of 3D scenes in USD format. It is aimed in particular at department heads in filming (camera, set decoration, staging etc.) and in the animation sector such as production management and direction. Other users who want to view USD 3D assets also benefit from the user-friendly interface, which does not require any additional dependencies.

With 3D Info, users can adjust and export cameras and images, take measurements on set, share notes or play animations. Props, animated characters or sets can also be opened. Technically, the tool allows you to view the hierarchy of “stages” and “layers”, which are specific concepts of the USD format.

Current limitations

The first beta version of 3D-Info currently offers limited functions. The focus was on ease of navigation and consistency of visualisation. The visual rendering in 3D-Info is identical to that in usdview and Nvidia’s Omniverse Composer, as the same Storm rendering engine from Pixar is used. The development process required considerable effort to implement the USD framework correctly. The developers prioritised the features requested by partner studios Loops Creative Studio and Plateau Virtuel, which already work with the USD format.

CST’s goal is to support the film industry. With the increasing use of virtual production, the need to validate 3D assets in pre-production is growing. 3D-Info is intended to remedy this situation and facilitate the use of 3D for everyone involved. The idea for 3D-Info was born when Frédéric Fermon, one of the main developers, was looking for a tool that could visualise 3D assets in an understandable way without having to open a DCC. After discussions with artists, TDs and virtual set designers, it became clear that an easily accessible viewer with annotation capabilities was needed.

Development challenges

The USD format documentation is extensive but scattered in places. The file format lacks a formal description, which makes development difficult. Different parts of the Pixar library were created by different people at different times, resulting in slightly different architectures. The choice fell on the Qt framework for the graphical interface, which facilitates the implementation of certain widgets. However, this also brings challenges, for example in the handling of keyboard events. Another issue is the evolution of the library versions. Currently the version used is frozen, but in the future it will be necessary to adapt to new versions.

Public roadmap and support

The developers are calling for the beta version to be tested and feedback to be provided. 3D-Info should at least be useful as a viewer for models or the hierarchy of USD stages and layers. Here you can find the Git, information, images and more: trello.com3d-info

The post CST-USD Viewer in beta first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

The latest version of CityEngine, 2024.0, is now available and offers a host of new features and improvements for VFX artists. This version brings significant updates that simplify workflows and improve integration with other tools and platforms.

Visual CGA Editor

The Visual CGA Editor has left the beta phase and is now available to all users. This tool significantly simplifies workflows and allows users – especially those without programming skills – to edit models more easily. The integrated content library also offers new components for terrain division and mass modelling.

Integration with ArcGIS Urban

Integration with ArcGIS Urban has been improved so that CityEngine users can now edit the elevation or terrain of a plan directly in ArcGIS Urban. When importing an ArcGIS Urban plan into CityEngine, these layers are automatically imported as separate terrain layers. The intuitive terrain editing makes it possible to perfectly adapt the terrain to the scenario and upload the changes back to ArcGIS Urban.

Share web scenes

With the new “Share as Web Scenes” feature, users can export their 3D scenes directly from CityEngine to ArcGIS Online and view them in the Scene Viewer. This feature makes sharing, exploring and organising multiple scenes much easier.

Material collection and browser

CityEngine 2024.0 offers an extensive collection of high-quality materials that can be used to texture buildings and open spaces. Users can browse and apply these materials via a dedicated browser.

Supported file formats

CityEngine 2024.0 supports a variety of file formats, including .obj, .dae, .fbx, .gdb and .shp, allowing for flexible and versatile use. It is recommended to carefully review all new features before using them in current projects.

Links to

CityEngine documentation

ArcGIS Blog about the new features

The post Here comes the new Cityengine first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

by Jens Dessilla, Jhonie Aelbrecht, Jürgen Firsching

There are many reasons why catalogues, brochures and flyers no longer always go to the photographer – it is faster, better, cheaper and more flexible to create products and assets digitally. Need a quick change of perspective? No problem. But a different product? Simply swap the asset in the rendering. Colours, textures and versions? No problem – and because the VFX studios of this world have been doing exactly that for film productions for many years, tools have been developed that make exactly that possible. And here we see what something like this can look like – a discounter has ventured into the VFX pipeline – but how?

Who does that?

Pixel Nexus (pixel-nexus.com) from Ghent in Belgium is responsible for the realisation. Together with dve advanced systems (dveas.de), Jhonie Albrecht’s team offers “custom pipelines” – for CG, the integration of software and apps, the corresponding hardware and server structures as well as training, consulting, maintenance and everything else that goes with it. Jens Dessilla, project manager in the international marketing department of a discounter and responsible for the CGI asset creation, was the third member of the team for this special project.

Jhonie tells us that in recent years, catalogues, flyers and other advertising materials have made the shift to computer-generated images – and today the majority of products are already available in this form. So the content is ready – and you can learn from the experience of so-called “asset management” in film productions, which regularly juggle thousands and thousands of elements, putting them together across continents – and all in such a way that the result looks good. So why not utilise these ideas and tools?

Digital asset management

In the CG industry, this is called “digital asset management” – huge databases that manage all the aliens, orcs, spaceships and whatever else is used in the blockbusters and make them available to everyone who needs them in production. According to Jhonie, the amount of data is not a hurdle – a few thousand assets, each with a 3D model, texture and colour variants, do not cause a VFX database to break a sweat.

Familiar processes in a new guise

Jens Dessilla on the decision in favour of Shotgrid: “We quickly realised that we needed a central solution that would support us in various disciplines. One of these is monitoring & controlling. Shotgrid (SG) helps us to monitor and control the ongoing CGI productions in real time. It tracks the status of assets from start to finish, giving us the ability to track them at any time. Centralisation and the exchange of information via interfaces allows us to work more efficiently. This helps us to further scale our production volume.

This production volume can vary depending on the month and area, but in the past a higher three- to four-digit number of assets per month has proven to be realistic. This takes into account various playouts for our most important communication channels, i.e. moving image & still image assets.”

Components and extensions

You might think that since the problems and challenges of everyday life are well known, there is a solution or an extension for everything? This is not the case, and Jhonie explains why: “We start with the standard version of Shotgrid and program all extensions and every piece of additional code ourselves – because with software from the net you never know what licences are behind it. Even if it is supposedly open source and free of charge, dependencies, code snippets and individual parts may be subject to different licences.

The second reason for “doing it yourself” is also simple: if you do it yourself, you have good documentation and can customise all the components yourself, whereas external software is always difficult to maintain – and some features may work in the test, but you don’t know what’s going on in the background. And since we attach great importance to data security and the privacy of our customers, we don’t even take this risk. What’s more, we know from experience that third-party customisations for new features tend to crash, break or simply not be developed further – after a few years, you can practically do everything from scratch again.

Jens Dessilla comments: Additional software had to be written to enable the most automated exchange of information possible between our systems and SG. In the first part, we have a module that filters, records, transfers and updates the data. The second part is an extension of SG Publishing. Finally, we made various customisations within the SG environment that, for example, perform repetitive tasks or react to certain dependencies.

What language do the files speak?

But the idea goes beyond the next quarter, as Jürgen Firsching explains: “The findings from cinema, TV and advertising production go even further, for example when it comes to file formats.” While 20 years ago many things only worked on a computer and 10 years ago “only in software”, the technology behind 3D formats and asset management is now so mature that
all relevant components – from databases to individual 3D assets – can be stored in open standards.
For our customers, this means that all components will remain usable not only today, but also in ten years’ time – without having to buy licences for the models they have created themselves. With USD, GLTF and Alembic in particular, everything is now just a click away in a variety of software packages. And as the VFX industry accepts these standards and actively develops them further in productions of all sizes, these files – which are always backwards compatible – will also be available in the foreseeable future. All of these formats are also completely open and documented, meaning that project-specific extensions are not only possible but also easy to implement.

Up to the first image

Enough of the basics – how did this project come about? Jens Dessilla reports: ‘We had to go through several phases: After viewing and testing various tools on the market, we decided in favour of Shotgrid (then still called Shotgun). We carried out an internal, isolated test in our specialist department for just under a month. The aim was to test the possibilities and the functionalities included as standard. We were supported by the Autodesk Shotgun team. After successful testing, we converted the isolated test into a proof of concept (POC). In this phase, various internal processes were initiated and various sales and implementation partners were viewed and tested. Furthermore, our various pipeline processes were recorded, consolidated and then transferred step by step to Shotgrid and validated by us. In total, more than a year passed from the decision to the “first frame”.
We taught ourselves a lot during the initial tests, but we also had direct support from Autodesk. We now know how to use Shotgrid well, but we are still learning something new every day. The tool is very versatile and can quickly become complex and overwhelming in certain areas. That’s why we handle certain things ourselves to a certain extent, but leave everything beyond that to the experts.
This is also one of the bigger tasks when the pipeline is automated, as Jhonie points out: “You can say goodbye to various “classic” tasks, for example understanding what is in the final colour space and what is not is a bit of a stumbling block. The preview images generated are optimised for
optimised for the screen and fast transmission, and the colour proof only arrives once it has been predicted in the pipeline. Of course, this is just one example – and such stumbling blocks need to be recognised early on and worked around together with the employees. Just as, in this example, hopefully nobody is trying to judge print colours on uncalibrated screens of mobile devices.

“Telling the user story”

According to Jhonie, it always starts with a “user story” – a precisely defined process of what the customer wants. The employee has a file, drags and drops it somewhere, sees that a file has been uploaded and four people are notified in a certain way. Previews and notifications for reviews are then created and an item is generated in the accounting system. And then Pixel Nexus sets about mapping exactly that.
The first question, of course, is the underlying architecture. One aim of the changeover was to gain a better overview. However, these checks are necessary for efficiency – who does what, for how long and is the quality sufficient for the standard that the company specifies?

So Jhonie and his team break everything down into the smallest possible components – right down to the individual button – and once you have the exact overview, the required function becomes clear – and you can pack it into an attractive guise – nobody wants to work all day in an ugly interface.
So the question is what exactly is needed – how many files, who has access where and how often? Which notifications are optional, which are necessary and where are approvals available? To this end, Jhonie and his team are developing “user stories” – a precise sequence of all tasks, actions and interactions that a user has – from uploads, files and their versions to naming and exports. The more precisely you analyse each step here, the quicker you can see which functions are needed.

Jens Dessilla explains: “We use Shotgrid to distribute the required articles and information to our partners via the interface. We have various coordination points with our interfaces within the pipelines. If everything has been approved, the assets finally end up back with us via Review & Approval. After the final review & approval, the assets go to our Media Asset Management (MAM). From there, the content is then distributed to the channels. We manage all final assets in our MAM system. These are stored correctly using a combination of naming conventions and metadata. This makes managing thousands of assets much easier.

A familiar interface is also an advantage for the suppliers, as Jürgen emphasises: “The CG agencies are familiar with Shotgrid and know how to use it – this makes data delivery much easier. Uploaders for files go directly into the approval loops. This allows the agency to synchronise the information relevant to them via a familiar API without having to send anything back and forth. For the individual users, it is easy to use thanks to so-called webhooks: The 3D partner uploads the finished file, the system generates the images and stores everything correctly. And this can be done from anywhere in the world. This saves time, eliminates sources of error and facilitates the centralised further development of the line in the background – regardless of how many agencies, suppliers or employees are involved in the process, as nothing changes for the user. The interface can look the way employees from all departments want it to – no technical interfaces, just a modern, appealing environment. Of course, this also makes onboarding new employees trivially easy!

Conclusion

And now that everything is up and running, what are the lessons learnt from the switch to Shotgrid? What would the team do differently? Jens Dessilla: “It was a very exciting and instructive project for me personally. I can only recommend to everyone not to underestimate the process phase and to clearly define, structure, implement and validate processes in advance. All of this can be a very time-consuming and complex process with several interfaces. However, it should not be seen as “finished”: A pipeline is a living project and needs to be constantly developed. Of course, we are constantly endeavouring to improve our pipeline. I can only make one recommendation here: Increase the level of automation.

The post Shotgrid at the discounter? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

ArcGIS CityEngine from Esri is a procedural city planning system – to put it simply. One of its strengths is the integration of many building blocks, such as the import of architectural and geographic data (including Openstreet Maps), the easy application of scripts of any complexity and an extremely user-friendly way of working – anyone can build with it as they wish. Click here for the trial version: is.gd/cityengine_trial. At the same time, it was one of the first connectors to the Omniverse – and we’ll just ask about it, and if you want to get started right away, a 30-day trial version is available here: is.gd/omniverse_test. And if you want to install everything straight away, you can get in touch with our friends at DVE Advanced Systems(is.gd/dveas_omniverse) and PNY(is.gd/pny_omniverse). Of course with enterprise support and all kinds of extras, including professionals in the support team who understand the whole thing much better.

DP: How much does a normal CityEngine user have to “rethink” if they want to work in USD?
Simon Haegler: In contrast to traditional formats such as FBX, USD emphasises the concept of reference. In practice, this means that a CityEngine USD export consists of several geometry files that reference each other.

This is intentional: We write CityEngine layers and inserted assets that have not been modified by CGA back into separate USD files. This enables the user to mute individual CityEngine layers and buildings, for example, or to exchange individual assets (e.g. vegetation) without having to perform a new export. The whole thing is held together by a lightweight “root” file, which then loads the entire model during import.

DP: Let’s go the other way round: What can I already display from the Omniverse Library in CityEngine?
Simon Haegler: Using an Omniverse server as an asset source is currently still in the internal experimentation phase. Since the Omniverse Asset Library is basically “only” a collection of USD files, you can copy them into a CityEngine project and integrate them like normal assets (but you must observe the Nvidia terms of use here). The integration works as usual via the CGA “insert” command or as a single “static model”. One limitation is that CityEngine currently only understands the “USD Preview Surface” PBR material and cannot yet display MDL materials.

DP: Does the “Live” work in both directions, or do I still have to export manually?
Simon Haegler: The export direction is semi-live, you have to start the export with just a few clicks, the connected Omniverse apps are then automatically updated if their “live” mode is activated. The import is currently still manual. In order to be able to offer a fully “bidirectional” connector, there is still some homework ahead of us, especially to enable a good UX in dealing with external, “live” USD assets in the context of CGA and Rule Packages (RPK).

DP: CityEngine is already very flexible when it comes to file formats – is Omniverse the bridge to the other 3D and video workflows?
Simon Haegler: The messaging from Nvidia to Omniverse has changed slightly over the last few years. Omniverse is not easy to understand from a user perspective because it has this universal functional claim and consists of so many components in very different expansion stages. From CityEngine’s point of view, Omniverse is above all a convenient way of rendering complex city scenes efficiently and with high quality and combining them with other content. In the medium term, the simulation tools (Physics) are of course also interesting. We have already experimented with “micro-services” within Omniverse, e.g. to realistically demolish individual CityEngine buildings, but we and Nvidia still have some work to do.

DP: As a programmer, how good is the SDK from Nvidia, and how much effort did it take for the CE team to implement the connector?
Simon Haegler: My answer here is somewhat coloured, as I started with the connector when Omniverse was still in the preview stage and there was no official SDK, let alone developer documentation, i.e. I reverse-engineered access with the support of Nvidia. However, the actual Connector API (C ) was solidly designed from the start and straight-forward to use.

In the meantime, other APIs have been added (Python), for example to install your own micro-services on the Omniverse server or to build entire desktop apps based on the Omniverse UI Toolkit. Where there is still a bit of a problem is the publication process of custom connectors on the Omniverse launcher, where Nvidia is still “finding its way” and it takes some communication effort until the installer and documentation files are in the right place. The CityEngine team is definitely a “very early adopter” of Omniverse here.

DP: And if we look to tomorrow – CityEngine 2030, or Omniverse 2030 – what features do you think are on the horizon, and what topic will we no longer be interested in by then?
Simon Haegler: Seven years is an extremely long time in this context and it’s difficult to make a prediction, especially with the current focus on AI/ML. I’m thinking of image generators (Dall-E and the like) as well as NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields) and inverse rendering research. It may be that by 2030 we will no longer need 3D formats at all, as everything will be in the ML models and the scenes will be rendered directly from text or sketches (concept art).

But it is also possible that in 2030 we will still be descending into the depths of the production pipelines and be annoyed that a render has failed because there is a non-supported Unicode character in the texture name.

The post CityEngine meets Omniverse first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.