Browsing Category
News
16564 posts
News: daily production-facing updates across post, VFX, animation, real-time, and tools. Releases, patches, interviews, research notes, and industry moves, written for fast scanning with source links and practical context, without pretending every update is “game-changing”.
Subcategories
Oil Gets Real: Rebelle 8’s RealShader and SoftShadows Put Ray Tracing on the Canvas
Escape Motions unveils Rebelle 8 with RealShader, real-time ray traced shadows, environment maps and 20× NanoPixel export. Early Access late Q3.
DigiDiff v3.0: Kromatica’s Pixel-Level Diffusion for Resolve
Kromatica’s DigiDiff v3.0 brings an upgraded digital diffusion toolkit to DaVinci Resolve, aiming at colorists, finishing artists, and…
V‑Ray Developer Chaos Becomes Blender’s Gold Sponsor
Chaos joins Blender Foundation as Gold sponsor with a €30,000 annual pledge, coinciding with the release of V‑Ray 7 for Blender.
Maya’s Jiggle Assistant: PUPbuildDynamic Does Your Secondary Motion
PuppetSoul PUPbuildDynamic for Maya is a free add-on delivering real-time secondary motion and collision on joint chains—without FX overhead.
Over 1,500 Free PBR Textures from LotPixel’s Library
LotPixel has released over 1,500 scan‑based PBR texture sets in JPEG format, with resolutions up to 8 K, and…
Plastic Software upgrades Plasticity to 2025.2 with HDRIs, physical materials, new surfacing tools
Plastic Software’s Plasticity 2025.2 adds HDRI lighting, physical materials, new shaders and continuity tools in a surfacing-focused upgrade.
Maxon Sunsets Forger: iPad Sculptors Get the (Maintenance) Axe
Maxon drops Forger on September 10, 2025—details device support, mesh quirks, and migration caveats in a new FAQ.
![A stylized blue cartoon character with big eyes and a wide smile, shown in a wireframe model. The background features a gradient from blue to purple, with text overlay indicating 'Blender [Addon] Rlg Creator [Beta]'.](https://i0.wp.com/digitalproduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Banner_Rig_Creator_A_free_Blender_add_on_for_creating_character_rigs.jpg?resize=380%2C250&quality=77&ssl=1)
Rig Creator Beta for Blender: Faces, Relationships, and a Fresh Start
Rig Creator’s beta rebuild adds facial rig, Relationship tool, overhauled bone generators, and English names—now free for Blender users.
Framestore Opens Up Oz: Wicked FX Webinar with Evan Peignet
FX Lead TD Evan Peignet explains Framestore’s Wicked magic—from Glinda’s bubble to Munchkin crowds—in a live online event.
Unreal Engine Freebie: 350‑Piece Flying Fantasy Town Kit
Epic Games offers 358 free Unreal Engine‑ready meshes from George Shachnev’s Flying Fantasy Town kit. Available via Fab until 15 July 2025.
Packer‑IO with Blender integration!
Packer‑IO 1.3 merges scale‑aware UV packing, multithreading, and smarter hole‑filling with UnwrellaConnect for Blender.
Beeble: AI relighting steps up to validate in your pipeline
Beeble’s SwitchLight 2.0 marks the company’s push to put AI-powered relighting into the hands of actual postproduction artists—and not…
Parrot Sample: Engine Switch from Unity to Unreal Without Headaches?
Parrot Game Sample offers annotated Blueprints, C++, feature parity and walkthroughs to simplify engine migration.
Procedural Village People: SideFX Lets Houdini Users Play Skylark Architect
SideFX publishes Project Skylark’s Houdini assets and eight snappy tutorials: procedural tools for clouds, bridges, bottles, and a healthy dose of fantasy architecture.
V-Ray for Blender: Chaos releases Renderer into the Open Source Universe
V-Ray for Blender lands with CPU, GPU, and Chaos Cloud support, plus 5,600+ free Chaos Cosmos assets. Special pricing for Blender users now available.
Lola Post’s VFX Survival Guide on Walking with Dinosaurs
Lola Post’s Rob Harvey shares VFX details on Walking with Dinosaurs 2025: 800 shots, 200 artists, Unreal Engine for dinosaurs, and zero Jurassic Park liberties.
CityEngine 2025.0: Street Designer Arrives, Perpetual Licensing Leaves
CityEngine 2025.0 brings multi-lane Street Designer, Visual CGA Editor improvements, and drops perpetual licenses for ArcGIS Professional subscription only.
OpenVAT Adds VAT Encoding to Blender—Real-Time Asset Ready
OpenVAT encodes animated Blender geometry into VATs with normals, PNG/EXR output and real‑time engine support for Unity, Unreal, and Godot.
Reallusion’s CC4.54 & iClone 8.54 Let You Snag, Try and Buy Assets Without Leaving the App
CC 4.54 and iClone 8.54 bring in-app trial assets, instant DA Point checkout, and low-cost iContent licence for rapid prototyping.
Thunderbolts* Vaults: Digital Domain on Marvel’s Most Grounded Brawl
Digital Domain VFX Producer Ryan Wilk breaks down Marvel’s Thunderbolts* vault chaos, Ghost phasing, and why less is more for photoreal CG.
ScatterFlow Add-on brings gravity‑aware scattering to Blender
Apex Assets releases ScatterFlow, a Blender 4.4 add‑on enabling physics‑based scattering with optional asset pack.
Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K Slides Into Netflix’s List
Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K is now Netflix-approved but still unavailable to general buyers—professionals might consider early Christmas shopping.
Draw the Line: Octane Edge Tools Brings Outlines to Blender – For Free
Octane Edge Tools is a free Blender add-on from Otoy for creating mesh-based outlines with OctaneRender Toon Material. Controls for edge thickness, object selection, and NPR styles.
3DCoat 2025 with Node-Based Sculpting and RealityCapture
Pilgway ships 3DCoat 2025 with a Node Room, RealityCapture photogrammetry, new Hotkey Manager, UI themes, Soft Booleans and Smart Hybrid tech.
ICE Nexus: Pixel‑Perfect 3D Streaming Goes Live Today!
ICE Nexus 1, co-hosted with Arcware on June 25, 2025, presents free two‑hour deep‑dive on Unreal Engine pixel streaming, digital humans and virtual showrooms.
O3DE 25.05 delivers deep technical refinements: Atom, ROS 2, XR, MGPU and more
O3DE 25.05 expands Atom renderer, multi‑GPU, ROS 2 SimInterfaces Gem, TrackView, Android/Script Canvas fixes and Hugo‑module docs.
Free 330‑piece kitbash set for gritty post‑apoc scenes
Oleg Ushenok offers 330 PBR‑textured FBX kitbash assets from his commercial Post Apocalypse Survivor Environment pack, free for commercial use.
Polydex from Poliigon Tackles Asset Chaos
Polydex auto-indexes local 3D textures, models and HDRIs for easy import into Blender with one click.
Procedural Ferns in Blender
Alex Martinelli’s free Blender 4.3+ fern asset uses Geometry Nodes for non-destructive, procedural plant creation with material and instancing controls.
BlenderDay & Summer School 2025 return to Mannheim
BlenderDay and Summer School take over Mannheim July 25–27 featuring a keynote by Laura Körting and game‑focused workshops.
Pomfort Debuts Silverstack XT v9 with Real‑Time Workflow Automation
Pomfort releases Silverstack XT v9, featuring chained, parallel workflow automation, real‑time Jobs View, and Stream Deck integration.
Basefount Animcraft: One-Stop 3D Animation Library & Bridge
Animcraft is a collaborative 3D animation library/editor with re‑targeting, facial rigging, mocap, and DCC/engine connections across Standard and Advanced editions.
Cinema 4D 2025.3 gets liquid sim and UDIMs
Maxon Cinema 4D 2025.3 debuts GPU based liquid sims with fill emitter and Liquify modifier, adds UDIM/texel density tools, AI Asset Browser search, and native Laubwerk plant support.
LumaFusion 2.3 Android HDR support at Last
LumaFusion 2.3 for Android (June 24, 2025) debuts HDR and 10‑bit color support (Rec.709, HLG, HDR10, DisplayP3) with stability fixes.
ICE Nexus: Now Streaming, Pixel by Pixel
ICE Nexus launches June 25 with Arcware, exploring real-time 3D pixel streaming, digital humans, and virtual showrooms in a free online event.
Adobe ships Photoshop 26.8 — Text now bends to your will
Adobe Photoshop 26.8 debuts automatic text resizing, AVIF/JPEG XL support and a cloud‑based Select Subject backend.
RealityScan 2.0: Epic Gives RealityCapture a New Name and New Tricks
Epic overhauls RealityCapture into RealityScan 2.0, complete with AI masking, LiDAR fusion, and a mobile-first workflow focus.
Modeler 2025.2 for Houdini Lands: Hard‑Surface Modelling Makeover
Alexey Vanzhula’s Modeler 2025.2 rebuilds hotkeys, shading presets and moves to Qt6, offering a smoother hard‑surface workflow in Houdini.
MoonRay 2.15: Developer Joy with NUMA, GUI Control & Fisheye Finesse
MoonRay 2.15 adds a new regression suite (~400 tests), NUMA tuning, rdla_gui, per‑BSDF lightsets, fisheye FOV and TwoSidedMap—confirm stability before use.
![A blue, futuristic aircraft with robotic features displayed in a dark, industrial environment. The image features the text 'Marmoset Toolbag 5.02 [Beta Release]' above the aircraft, highlighting software branding. The background has a metallic appearance with grid lines.](https://i0.wp.com/digitalproduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/502-beta-socialsbanner.jpg?resize=380%2C250&quality=77&ssl=1)
Baking, Decals, Fog and a Smudge of Beta in Marmoset Toolbag
Marmoset launches the Toolbag 5.02 beta with new features for baking, painting, fog rendering and scene management.
After Effects 25.3 Adds Smooth Zoom
After Effects 25.3 brings smooth zoom, file reveal, and serious 3D model handling—ready for professional use but test in your pipeline.
Strange New Virtual Production Worlds!
It's a good time for us Trekkies - between Discovery and Lower Decks, between Picard and Strange New Worlds, there's something for everyone - finally again! But there's a lot going on behind the scenes - because the first big show to be filmed on a Virtual Production Stage was Star Trek: Discovery. And right after that - almost simultaneously - came Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. As it was definitely worth seeing, we asked what you can expect from your big VP production.
The Hungarian Dressmaker – by PFX
Not every historic drama is created equal - "The Hungarian Dressmaker" rebuild a world barely out of reach of living memory, and we got a chance to talk to PFX artists and artisans about rebuiling 1940' s Bratislava and Biskupice
Odyssey: Toons on the Unreal Engine Timeline
Odyssey is now free on Fab: 2D storyboarding and vector animation, baked right into Unreal Engine 5.6.
Chaos Corona 13: AI, GPU & Cartoon Vibes
Corona 13 adds AI Enhancer, GPU rendering via Vantage Live Link, cel/outline shaders, Scatter Clusters, AI‑based asset variations, Firefly removal, VRScene import, Thin‑Film shader.
Mocha 2025.5: Faces, Frames & Focal Lengths
Mocha 2025.5 tracks faces, fixes mattes, solves 3D scenes with stationary cameras and adds batch export presets for speedier pipelines.
Sink or Shoot: Datacolor Webinar on Underwater Photography
Datacolor teams up with Kate Jonker for a free webinar on underwater photography – covering gear, lighting, and techniques for tiny critters and coral giants.
Sony Burano firmware 2.0 update — More Power, Less Fuss
New Sony Burano firmware 2.0 brings raw-friendly 3.8K/4.3K/1.9K modes, enhanced IBIS, better autofocus, metadata overlays — pro set-ready.
TD Meetup 18: Financially Smart Freelancer
Anyone who has worked as a freelancer knows the feeling of not having enough clients or earning enough money by the end of the month. Many freelancers struggle to establish stable finances. One of the main reasons is job and income fluctuation. Some months, we work too much, others we work none at all.
LiDAR Librarian: Cyclone 3DR Shelves Your Point-Cloud Clutter
Leica unveils Cyclone 3DR: an AI-powered LiDAR toolkit that spots, edits and recycles real-world objects straight from your scan.
Epic’s Face‑To‑Unreal: Android Gets Free Live Link Face
Epic’s Live Link Face Android beta now offers real‑time facial mocap to Unreal—requires Snapdragon 8 Gen1+.
Blender 4.5 Beta: Nodes Get Nifty, Collada Gets the Boot
Blender 4.5 Beta brings new Geometry Nodes, USD and glTF upgrades, and drops Collada in 5.0. Here's what's new - and what’s going away.
Topaz’s Web-Based Upscaler gets “Creative”
Topaz Bloom upscales JPG/PNG up to 8× in-browser. With diffusion-driven detail, prompts, five creativity levels and a free tier, it's built for CG and AI art.
AccuPOSE Infinity Expansion 4: Kids, Kicks & Caffeine-Free Chaos
Subscribers to Reallusion’s AccuPOSE INFINITY now get eight fresh AI motion models spanning playground high-jinks to full-contact kicks.
Pencil-Sharp Update: Cintiq 16, 24 and 24 Touch Hit 2.5K
Wacom rolls out Cintiq 16, 24 and 24 Touch with Pro Pen 3, 2.5K panels, silent chassis and bundled Clip Studio Paint EX.
Maxon Acquires Autograph: A New Chapter in Compositing Tools
Maxon welcomes the Autograph team from Left Angle, aiming to integrate their compositing expertise into its suite of creative tools,
MetaHumans Graduate: Ready for Unity, Godot, and the Fab Cash Register
MetaHuman is out of early access, baked into UE 5.6, licensable for Unity & Godot, and finally up for sale on Fab?
Maya 2026.1’s MotionMaker: AI Walks the Walk
Maya 2026.1 introduces MotionMaker, an AI-powered tool for rapid character animation, alongside Bifrost rigging and simulation enhancements.
3ds Max 2026.1: More Than Just a Modifier Update
3ds Max 2026.1 updates Push, Attribute Transfer and XForm modifiers, improves spline optimization and skin performance, and bumps OCIO to version 2.4.2.
RenderFlow 1.0: Pulze’s New Render Manager Steps Up
Pulze's RenderFlow 1.0 introduces advanced job submission, node monitoring, and automation features for VFX and post-production workflows.
LiDAR scanning for Everybody!
Scanner veteran Lawren Bancroft-Wilson gives us a look behind the curtain on Lidar Scanning for VFX and Post.
Unreal Engine 5.6, Fully released. Still 60 FPS, still Smarter MetaHumans, and still possibly Fewer CPU Tantrums
Unreal Engine 5.6 brings integrated MetaHuman Creator, Control Rig Physics, 60 FPS optimization, and enhanced Sequencer tools for streamlined game development.
Godot 4.5 Dev 5: Shaders, Colors & Abstracts Galore
Godot 4.5 Dev 5 introduces visionOS support, GDScript abstract classes, shader baking, WebAssembly SIMD, and inline color pickers.
RailClone 7: Smarter Modeling in 3ds Max Starts Here!
RailClone 7 introduces 19 new spline features, new libraries, macro improvements, and more for smarter modeling in 3ds Max.
Resolve 20 Leaves Beta
DaVinci Resolve 20 exits beta. Yes, that’s the news. The final version is now available from Blackmagic Design. Time to update, everybody.
The (further) development of Fusion.
Fusion, the compositing tool in and out of Resolve, has got a big update - and we asked BMD's Simon Hall, what it all means and what the future holds..
Nomad: Sculpting on Desktop
Nomad Sculpt enters free public beta on Windows, macOS and Linux - desktop edition includes all iPad features.
Fibric: Stitching Curves into Cloth—Procedurally
Fibric introduces a Houdini SOP-based toolset for procedural clothing creation using curves, featuring UV-ready, quad-based geometry and real-time rendering with Karma XPU.
Digital Domain vs. the Nether Horde: Behind the VFX of Minecraft
When Warner Bros. enlisted Digital Domain to tackle the final battle in Minecraft: The Movie, they weren’t just signing up for blocks and shaders...
8K HDRIs from Simon Lachapelle
VFX artist Simon Lachapelle releases free 8K HDRIs for CGI, VFX, and 3D lighting - now with tone-mapped versions and new greyscale variants.
Silhouette 2025 Features: Compound Nodes, Matte Refine, and More
Boris FX Silhouette 2025 adds 3D scene support, AI-driven fixes, PowerMesh morphs, and node grouping - for roto, paint, comp, and hair without headache.
Pawn to VEX: Chess Comes to Houdini’s Viewport
Play chess in Houdini’s viewport using VEX-driven logic - no simulation needed, no rendering required.
Blender’s 2024 User Survey Results: The Good, the Bad, and the ?
Over 7,000 Blender users shared their thoughts in the 2024 survey, highlighting satisfaction levels and areas for improvement.
Ucupaint 2.3: Baking Bad Gets Better
Ucupaint 2.3 adds real-time Ambient Occlusion, rebake-all layers, and bakeable edge detect—because who needs sleep when you can have features?
Step Into the Unknown: ‘Worlds Next Door’ Invites Digital Artists to Create and Collaborate
The Blender challenge Worlds Next Door starts June 8. Artists remix a template into looping shorts—no AI, transparent background required.
Wrap Gen: Because Your Mesh Deserves a Hug
Wrap Gen for Blender lets you procedurally wrap custom geometry around objects using curves and geometry nodes—no manual tweaking required.
Dogwalk: Blender’s Papercraft Pooch Takes Godot for a Spin
Blender Studio releases Dogwalk in early access, showcasing a papercraft-style micro-game built with Godot, emphasizing a streamlined Blender-Godot pipeline.
Continuum 2025.5
Continuum 2025.5 expands its AI arsenal with automated masking, 2D depth mapping, frame repair, and UV warping—plus 8K titling and smoother FX editing.
Core Dump: Maxon Terminates ZBrushCore & ZBrushCoreMini
Maxon discontinues ZBrushCore and ZBrushCoreMini. Support ends November 2024. Focus shifts fully to ZBrush/Ipad.
Free Fab? Epic’s Giving Away a Back Alley
Epic Games drops 50 modular 3D assets for Unreal Engine on Fab – for free. Think dumpsters, cables, trash bags, brick walls. It's exactly that.
LuxCoreRender 2.10: Back on Track with Cross-Platform Support and Python Integration
LuxCoreRender 2.10 reintroduces support for Linux, Windows, MacOS Intel, and now MacOS ARM, with updated dependencies and Python bindings for seamless integration.
Wile E. Coyote Animates in UE5.6 – No Anvils Required
Stéphane Biava demonstrates Unreal Engine 5.6's new animation features, making in-engine animation a viable alternative to Blender or Maya.
Rig It Like It’s Free: mGear 5.0 and UEGear 1.0
mGear 5.0 and UEGear 1.0 bring new features for Maya and Unreal Engine 5 - and both are free.
Edit: Microsoft’s Tiny Text Editor Sneaks into the Terminal
Microsoft's new open-source CLI editor, Edit, comes to Windows 11 - keyboard-only, small-footprint, and intentionally not Vim.
Fusion 20: a deep look at the core
With its latest release, Blackmagic Fusion is positioning itself more aggressively than ever as a powerful and cost-effective complete package for node-based compositing and motion graphics. We check whether Fusion 20 lives up to the high expectations.
Want a boo-boo? Medical FX in Substance 3D Painter
MedTool adds wounds, bruises, and other medical skin FX to Substance 3D Painter via sliders and masks – procedural, parametric, and ready to export.
RetopoFlow 4 Beta: Now With Less Pain Per Polygon
RetopoFlow 4 Beta for Blender is out - with improved usability, updated PolyStrips, and tighter integration. But it’s still a beta, so handle with care.
Hair Today, Cards Tomorrow: New 3ds Max Tool for Haircard Workflows
Hair Cards Tool for 3ds Max adds a non-destructive workflow for generating haircards with editing, baking and AO features.
ThinkingParticles 7.4: More Boom, Smarter Fluids, and Debugging You Can See
ThinkingParticles 7.4 adds an Explosion System, updated SPH solver, ME-L Markers for debugging, and full support for 3ds Max 2026.
Xsens Animate 2025: Now With 100% More Spine
Xsens Animate 2025 introduces native male and female anatomy models, a refined spine model, and experimental Auto Sensor Mapping for streamlined mocap workflows.
Maya Gets a Memory: Smart Model Editor Adds Real Construction History
Smart Model Editor brings non-destructive modeling to Maya – sort of. It works via scene graph nodes and updates interactively.
Unreal Engine 5.6 Preview: Now with 60Hz Open Worlds and In-Engine MetaHumans
Unreal Engine 5.6 Preview introduces 60Hz open worlds, an overhauled animation toolset, in-engine MetaHuman Creator, and enhanced procedural workflows.
BagaPie 11: Blender’s Node Wrangler Gets 20 New Tricks
BagaPie 11 introduces 20 new tools, including parametric generators for doors, windows, and bolts, enhancing Blender's modeling and scattering capabilities.
Melt Simulator for Blender: Gooey Goodness Without the Mess
CGMatter's Melt Simulator for Blender 4.3 introduces particle, instance, and mesh modes, plus UV advection and time-based melting triggers.
Nara: Now with More Sync, Less Scream
Filmlight’s Nara adds remote realtime playback sync, review-in-Baselight, and more versioning features for collaborative post and color workflows.
Free Plugin Connects Blender to Nuke – Without Alembic Detours
Free plugin bridges Blender and Nuke via FBX and OBJ – no Alembic or USD needed. Geometry and camera data flow directly into your comp.
HairFlow: Bad Hair Days Are Simulated Now
HairFlow simulates hair in Blender using simulation nodes—wind, gravity, collisions, even goosebumps. Realtime playback included.
Dungeon Assets for Free: Fab.com’s New Drop for Unreal
Fab's new Dungeon Pack delivers 110 modular assets and props for Unreal Engine - and it’s free.
Mac mini or iPad Pro M4 for Post?
The iPad Pro, with its M4 processor, shows potential for video editing, particularly with applications like DaVinci Resolve. However, limitations arise, notably in memory capacity (16 GB max), affecting stability with high-resolution projects.
Free Rigs Attached: Learn Blender Rigging Fundamentals (Without Paying a Cent)
Free Blender rigging course breaks down constraints, parenting, bones and more. Hosted by CG Cookie and taught by animator Pierrick Picaut.