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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”.
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Blender topology patch tool Quad Filler reaches 1.0 release
Quad Filler 1.0 is released for Blender, automating clean quad patching between open edge chains with expanded modes and hotkey support.
Delhi in 3D: Kitbash3D goes urban
Kitbash3D launches New Delhi, a 3D asset kit with 84 models and 127 materials for building detailed urban cityscapes.
Visual Effects Society Announces Full List of Feature, Episodic, and Student Award Nominations
The Visual Effects Society has released the nominations for its upcoming awards, covering a broad range of feature…
No More 2D Smoke and Mirrors: Volumetric Noise for Nuke
Compositing Academy releases Volumetric Noise for Nuke, a raymarched plugin generating true 3D volumetrics with lighting and occlusion.
Foundry locks in full subscription future for 2027
Foundry drops perpetual maintenance: from 2027, all Nuke, Mari, and Katana users will be on subscription only.
Ocean, clouds, and splats: D5 Render 3.0 sets sail
D5 Render 3.0 introduces new environment tools, expanded AI generation, and a lightweight D5 Lite for SketchUp users.
Procedural sawdust: EC Wood Grain hits Blender
Eric Charles releases EC Wood Grain, a Geometry Nodes setup that adds procedural 3D wood detail directly in Blender.
Sapphire gets the “Essentials” treatment
Boris FX adds a free 11-part Sapphire Builder Essentials course to its training library, covering professional multi-host workflows.
Maxon Previews Digital Twin
Maxon previews Digital Twin which turns cleared for use CAD and 3D models into photoreal product assets for consistent marketing workflows.
CardCutter turns texture into Nanite meshes
CardCutter for Blender 4.0+ generates Nanite-optimised meshes from texture masks for Unreal Engine foliage and decal pipelines.
Bury Your Good Intentions in 3D
Over 300 stylised graveyard assets from Cryptic Realms are free on Fab until 27 January 2026.
DIY Gravity: Make Your Own Black Hole (In After Effects)
Free After Effects plug-in creates cinematic black holes using ray marching, volumetric fog and physically-based parameters.
Pulldownit 6.5 for Maya cracks a new non-destructive workflow
Pulldownit 6.5 for Maya adds non-destructive fracturing, Xref support, and UI updates for improved control and flexibility.
How I Spent Five Years Making a Solo 3D Film
Maxim Gehricke spent five years creating his solo 3D short film SEN. Here’s how he did it without funding, team, or sleep.
Reallusion expands licences for iClone and Character Creator
Reallusion now offers subscription or perpetual licences for key tools and repositions AccuPOSE INFINITY as a standalone purchase.
Apple Bundles Its Ageing Pro Apps in Subscription
Apple groups its older creative tools under the new Creator Studio plan, mostly for Apple-loyal users rather than working pros.
Free Browser Based Procedural Tree Generator Released
EZ-Tree is a free, open source, browser based procedural tree generator with over 50 parameters and exports to GLB and PNG.
Free 3D Fruit: Fresh Assets, No Pesticides
Kiri offers 141 free, production-ready 3D fruit and vegetable scans with full PBR textures under CC0 licence.
Over 1,000 free sculpting brushes land in BlenderKit
BlenderKit now hosts over 1,000 free 3D sculpting brushes, integrated directly in Blender and licensed for commercial use.
Marvelous Designer adds indie pricing, quietly
Marvelous Designer introduces a discounted indie licence with defined revenue limits and feature parity.
Assimilate Live FX: The VP-Stages’ very, VERY nervous system.
Live FX turns a laptop into a virtual production media server, driving LED walls, lights, compositing, and colour.
Better Bend: A Gentler Way to Deform in Blender
Blender’s Simple Deform walks so Better Bend can twist: cleanly, controllably, and without breaking your mesh in half.
Fast Lines for Blender: Stylized Outline Generator Released
RUIDO VFX’s Stylized Outline Generator for Blender adds quick anime-style outlines without shaders or Grease Pencil rigs.
ActionVFX Ignites: 30 Flamethrower Clips Free
Feeling the heat in global news? Now you can literally add it to your comps: ActionVFX drops 30 free flamethrower shots.
Epic drops 80 free temple assets on Fab
Epic Games offers 80 free modular temple assets for Unreal Engine 5 on Fab until 13 January 2026.
Poser 14 drops Cloth Room, gains simpler PBR setup
Bondware releases Poser 14 with simplified PBR and environment tools, SuperFly update, and no Cloth Room or macOS edition.
PFTrack 2025: Matchmoving gets its groove back
The Pixel Farm’s PFTrack 2025 delivers major lens, tracking, and mesh improvements plus new perpetual licence options.
Digital Domain welcomes IT to Derry
Digital Domain supervisors break down the design, rigging, lighting, and animation challenges behind the Skeleton Man creature for HBO’s return to the Stephen King universe.
Hover, Don’t Click: Outliner Preview Lands in Blender
Free Blender add-on Outliner Preview shows 360° model thumbnails on hover in the Outliner.
3DEqualizer 8.1 Adds Piggyback Camera Solves
3DEqualizer 8.1 introduces piggyback rig solving, a rewritten Blender export script and new import and export options.
Rays Behaving Badly No More: MoonRay 2.34.0.1 Fixes the Path
MoonRay 2.34.0.1 lands with a light path visualiser, better macOS and Linux builds, smarter lightsets, and fewer crashes for your next render night.
Blender Gets Real Lenses: BagaCam OSL Released
Antoine Bagattini, the creator of BagaPie has released BagaCam OSL, a camera add-on that implements Open Shading Language…
Cinebench 2026: Benchmark therapy
Cinebench 2026 updates the classic benchmark with full GPU support and new SMT tests. Time to see if your workstation is still worth its power bill.
AOUSD Releases OpenUSD Core Specification 1.0
The Alliance for OpenUSD publishes the first ratified core standard defining composition, data models, file formats, and compliance for OpenUSD.
That’s It for This Year: Digital Production Wishes You Happy Holidays
Digital Production is taking a short end-of-year break. Back up your data, sort out the chaos folder, enjoy the holidays, and we will be back next year.
Godot Now Shakes When You Code Badly
Tired of calm coding sessions? Ridiculous Coding turns Godot scripting into an action scene with screenshake, fireworks, and XP bars.
Quad Draw Comes to Blender
New Vulkan-based retopology add-ons make Blender’s mesh work feel like Maya’s Quad Draw, fast, intuitive, and production-ready.
Blackmagic Camera 10.0 brings fan brains and pre-record tricks
Blackmagic Camera 10.0 adds pre-record, smarter cooling, and new API tools for PYXIS and URSA cameras.
Mansur Rig 3.0 Goes Free and Open Source Lite
Mansur Rig 3.0 drops activation, goes partially open source, adds Maya 2026 support on Windows, and warns older versions stop working after March 2026.
Plasticity 2025.3: Now with Instances, Curves and Clouds
Plasticity 2025.3 drops a full toolset refresh: live instancing, SVG export, real-time curvature and continuity feedback, new materials and precision tools.
SMPTE updates its AI report: a roadmap for media engineers
SMPTE’s revised AI report defines where AI stands in media: open source, agentic systems, security, ethics, and data. Read before you automate.
SynthEyes Essentials Training is here and Free for the Holidays
Boris FX unwraps a holiday gift: SynthEyes Essentials, a free, three-hour matchmove training course for VFX artists, free until 31 December.
Terrain Wrapping Made Easy: Kiri Engine’s Free Blender Add-on
Kiri Engine releases Mesh Wrap, a free Blender add-on that makes projecting and scattering 3D-scanned terrain pieces onto base geometry fast, precise, and non-destructive.
FMX 2026: First Talks Confirmed and APD Project Submissions Open
FMX 2026 confirms early talks including VFX for Woodwalkers 2 and AI debate, and reminds industry to submit to Animation Production Days by February 4.
Painterly Trees for Blender: ShapeScape Studio Blooms
New Blender add-on ShapeScape Studio lets artists grow painterly trees procedurally with NPR shaders, custom meshes, and built-in animation.
KeenTools 2025.3 Brings Blender 5, Character Creator 5 & AE Exports
KeenTools 2025.3 expands host support with Blender 5, Character Creator 5 export from FaceBuilder and Alembic output from GeoTracker for After Effects.
Chaos Adds macOS & AI to V-Ray for Blender
Chaos ships V-Ray for Blender Update 2: macOS support, AI tools, faster distributed rendering, and a long list of bug fixes and GPU tweaks.
Substance Designer cleans up its nodes
Cleaner graphs, smarter noise, and a friendlier graph creation UI: Substance 3D Designer 15.1 focuses on making material authoring less fiddly.
Shapelab Max 2026 bends reality with Elastic Move
Leopoly’s hybrid sculpting tool grows up: Shapelab Max 2026 adds a smarter gizmo, Pixar-inspired Elastic Move, and faster voxel remeshing.
Live FX 9.9: More Walls, More Nodes, More Fun
Bigger volumes, smarter nodes: Live FX 9.9 brings multi-GPU HDR output, Unreal integration, and new stage tools for virtual production.
Real-time Chaos: Vantage now inside Maya and Houdini
Chaos Vantage enters the DCC viewport. With V-Ray 7 updates, real-time feedback, volumetrics and AI materials now reach Maya and Houdini.
INSYDIUM Fused 2025.4: Faster NeXus, New GPU Sims, And a Procedural Animation Toolkit
The release of INSYDIUM Fused 2025.4 introduces a rebuilt NeXus core that accelerates GPU simulation performance while reducing…
Mocha Pro 2026: Refined, re-solved, re-edged
AI-assisted mattes, cleaner camera solves, and the return of the curve editor: Mocha Pro 2026 refines your roto and tracking life without reinventing the wheel.
CityEngine 2025.1 Expands CGA Geometry Tools and Introduces Python 3 API
CityEngine 2025.1 arrives with a broadened toolset for procedural modeling, architecture, and urban layout work. The update focuses…
Mavis adds LUTs, Open Gate and a “Film Kit” to iOS camera app
Mavis Camera 7.4 introduces Film Kit: a $9.99 add-on with LUT workflows, Open Gate capture, MLUTs, and ATOMOSphere C2C upload.
VES Handbook of Visual Effects, Fourth Edition, coming soon
The VES Handbook enters edition four with 95 contributors, new chapters on AI, NeRFs, real time engines and more. Pre orders open now, release Dec 18.
Work Hard, Sort Fast: Project Sorter 1.75
Project Sorter 1.75 auto-sorts your Premiere and After Effects imports by type, path, or metadata. Fewer bins to drag, more time to cut.
Beeble Studio: 4K AI relighting on YOUR desktop
Beeble Studio puts 4K AI-powered relighting and full PBR pass generation on your own machine, no cloud uploads, no credits, just local GPU power.
Text2Spreadsheet bridges AE and spreadsheets with one click
Text2Spreadsheet exports all text layers in After Effects to a spreadsheet for editing, then re-imports them in one click. Simple.
ABViewer 16: Not Sexy, but Seriously Handy
ABViewer 16 brings practical upgrades for anyone forced to open CAD files. Better 3D views, cleaner DWG export, and new G-code tools.
Checkpoint, fixed: Pixar ships RenderMan 27.1
Pixar refines RenderMan 27.1: better Lama layering, smarter checkpointing, memory savings, and fixes across Blender and Houdini bridges.
World VFX Day is starting Now!
World VFX Day 2025 kicks off today at 11 AM CET. A 15-hour livestream unites 65+ speakers from across global VFX, animation and CGI.
Rigging for All: Epic Opens UE 5.6 Workshop
Epic opens its once invite-only rigging workshop for all: five days of Control Rig deep-dive, free and production-focused.
Netflix buys Warner Bros.
Netflix will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios, HBO/HBO Max and content libraries in a $82.7 bn deal, a massive consolidation that may reshape streaming and media production.
Mari 7.5: Multi-Paint, Texture Transfer and the Death of the Single Channel
Multi-Paint and Bakery-based Texture Transfer redefine Mari 7.5: eight channels per stroke, faster asset reuse, and fewer excuses for misaligned maps.
Lofted Surfaces and Retopo in 3DCoat 2025.15
3DCoat 2025.15 expands plane controls, improves Smart Retopo, updates Blender Applink to 5.0, and fixes sculpting bugs.
ZBrush 2026.1: Retopo & Assets
Retopology arrives as a sculpting native system, photogrammetry lands on iPad, and ZBrush’s assets finally move out of Program Files.
RealFX Part 2: From the loading bar to the keyboard
Three scripts, one goal: easyRulers, LoadUP and keyboardFX bring clean, functional motion graphics utilities for everyday After Effects work.
Redshift 2026.2: Texture Displacement and UV Context Arrive
Redshift 2026.2 delivers texture displacement, new UV context tools, IES light refinements, and better Mac stability.
Godot 4.6-dev5 lands: D3D12 default, Delta Patching, Android Gradle, 2D boosts
Godot 4.6-dev5 goes live: D3D12 is now default on Windows, PCK patching gets efficient delta export, Android exports via Gradle land, and 2D rendering gets 1.1–7× speed boosts.
Cinema 4D 2026.1: Fluids, Distributions, and Practical Fixes
Cinema 4D 2026.1 introduces Liquid Flow for GPU-based fluids, new MoGraph distributions, a refined Take System, and numerous quality-of-life fixes.
Venice in Unreal: Scans Factory’s UE5.7 Demo Goes Public
Venice rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5.7. Scans Factory’s new free demo shows off Lumen, Nanite, and solid optimisation, just don’t expect DLSS 4.
Sony drops the new A7 V: 33 MP, 30 fps blackout-free and 4K 120p
Sony’s A7 V adds a 33 MP stacked sensor, AI-AF, blackout-free 30 fps bursts and 4K 120p video. A strong hybrid for still and motion work.
World VFX Day 2025: Global Line-Up ahead!
Framestore hosts World VFX Day 2025 live from London. Free talks, panels and meet-ups unite global VFX artists for one day only. And now you can see who the speakers are!
Rendering the Inferno at RiseFX: The Lost Bus
128 shots, 15 sequences, and GPUs on the brink: RISE FX’s Oliver Schulz explains how his team built the burning world of The Lost Bus.
Optics 2026 Adds AI-Driven Masks, Upscaling & Depth Tools
ptics 2026 integrates into Photoshop via a new panel and adds AI-based tools (DeNoise, UpRes, Depth Map, Face ML), plus updated Sapphire filters for stylised looks.
Resolve 20.3 brings 32K support, metadata tools and stability fixes
DaVinci Resolve 20.3 rolls out: 32K on M5 Macs, more flexible metadata and HDR10+ export, plus a slew of bug patches.
Godot ARKit: Facial Mocap Without the Detour
Open-source plug-in GodotARKit links Apple’s ARKit and Godot 4 for real-time facial mocap using the Live Link Face app—no extra tools needed.
RapidPipeline for 3ds Max and Maya
RapidPipeline brings CAD & 3D data optimisation into 3ds Max/Maya: import, clean up, remesh, bake UVs and export, locally, quickly, without leaving your DCC.
Cascadeur 2025.3: Inbetweening De Luxe
Cascadeur 2025.3 adds Filament rendering, new inbetweening controls, quadruped rigs and twist bones, Windows-only for now, experimental but promising.
From Animatic to Art Direction: Previs Pro Adds Video Styling
Previs Pro introduces Video Style Grade, bringing AI-driven visual styling to animatics, combining storyboard, previs, and art direction in one workflow.
World Creator 2025.3 adds ORBX , Godot bridge and caves
World Creator 2025.3 brings ORBX export for OctaneRender, Godot integration and cave-mask terrain tools, adding flexibility for terrain export and engine pipelines.
Shapekeys: The angle on your mesh
CamKeys automates ShapeKeys by camera angle in Blender. Users say it mimics per-object FOV , the docs say it drives morphs.
FumeFX 7.5: Fire Meets GPU soon
FumeFX 7.5 ignites GPU acceleration: up to 5× faster smoke and fire sims, automatic CPU fallback when memory runs out.
Epic Games updates RealityScan: 2.1 out
pic’s RealityScan 2.1 brings LiDAR & SLAM import, server automation tools and improved UV and rendering support.
Black Friday Turns Blackmagic: 30% Off Cinema Gear
We rarely cover Black Friday promotions. Most are marketing fluff. But when Blackmagic Design quietly drops quietly reduces camera prices across Europe by up to 30 percent, that counts as news.
Unity’s 2026 Roadmap: CoreCLR, Verified Packages, Fewer Surprises
Unity maps out its 2026 engine roadmap: CoreCLR migration, ECS-GameObject unification, verified packages, and a fresh round of AI-assisted dev tools.
Photoshop AI in practice
Following the integration of Adobe Firefly, there are now AI systems from partners. Flux Context Pro and Nano Banana are useful additions for Photoshop-AI in practice.
Nexus G1 Cinema Camera Goes Operational with First Field Footage
The Nexus G1 cinema camera is now field-tested with first footage out, slated for Q1 2026 at $3,300 (pre-order from $2,980).
New Trailer walks FMX 2026 home
A walking bus, a hopeful sunrise, and a nod to FMX’s roots: “Bus Buddy” drives the FMX 2026 trailer straight into the ROAD AHEAD.
Boris FX Suite Expands with Three Audio DAWs
Boris FX expands its Suite with three full DAWs (Sequoia, Samplitude, and Music Studio) adding professional audio production, mastering, and music creation tools to its postproduction ecosystem.
Blender Studio drops “Storm” rig for Blender 5.0
Blender 5.0 gets Storm: a new Blender Studio character rig with CloudRig body, shape-key facial system, pose library and Blender-only compatibility.
Beyond VFX dives into AI Ethics
AI meets VFX and ethics: Beyond VFX returns on 26 Nov 2025 with VES and ICE.ART. Join Ben Lock, Victor Perez, Frank Govaere & Dr Jana Sedlakova and Agon Ushaku for a free panel.
Here comes Silo 2026.0 with Blender bridge
The developer Nevercenter has released version Silo 2026.0, introducing a significant new feature: the Silo Blender Bridge plugin,…
KeyShot Studio 2025.3: Cryptomatte, OpenPBR, and a Real Pivot
KeyShot Studio 2025.3 expands material and lighting control with OpenPBR, Cryptomatte, and better GPU speed. Real pivots, both literal and figurative.
Houdini Equinox 2025 HIVE Session Recordings Online
The session videos from Houdini Equinox 2025’s HIVE event are now live! Covering Houdini 21’s car-destruction RBD tools, CFX for creatures, ML workflows and major production case-studies.
SuperSplat 2.14 adds full video export
SuperSplat v2.14 adds WebM/AV1 + VP9, MOV/MKV export, frame-range and framerate controls. Browser-based editor gets properly production-ready for splat video output.
RealityScan Mobile 1.8 with Tools for On-the-Go Scanning
Version 1.8 of RealityScan Mobile introduces three capture modes (including AR Guidance), mesh clean-up tools, focus peaking, capture timer and watertight mesh output: ideal for everybody capturing on-the-go.
Sapphire 2026: Film Burns, Whip Cuts & Builder Love
Sapphire 2026 blends analogue charm and new-gen tools: FilmBurn, MochaWhip, Lens Flares and a more transparent Effect Builder.