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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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WorldEngen promises AI-built 3D scenes in hours, not weeks
WorldEngen claims to cut 3D scene creation from weeks to hours with AI integration into Blender, Unreal, and Unity. Early Access now open.
Marvelous Designer 2025.1: Draw, Wash, Repeat
Marvelous Designer 2025.1 brings Off-Avatar 3D Pen, Denim Wet Wash, AI Pose Generator, and Softbody for custom rigs.
FumeFX 7.0 on Water: New Version Adds NodeWorks Ocean
FumeFX 7.0 for 3ds Max introduces NodeWorks Ocean, a GPU‑accelerated simulation system for waves, foam, spray, bubbles and multiphysics.
Axiom 4.0 Sneak Peek for Houdini
First preview of Axiom 4.0 shows improved collisions, redesigned sourcing, and faster GPU-driven simulations for Houdini.
Meshroom 2025.1: Templates, Plugins and Photometric Stereo
Update 2025.1: Meshroom adds templates, photometric stereo and a plugin hub. More open, modular and production-friendly.
Tomato Warfare: Milk VFX on Heads of State
Milk VFX Supervisor David Sadler-Coppard on how the team built thousands of CG tomatoes, exploding doors, and digital crowds for Heads of State.
Zibra AI Frees ZibraVDB for Indie Artists (Briefly, Because Less Is More)
Zibra AI now offers ZibraVDB free to indie creators earning under $100,000/year for use with Houdini and Unreal Engine 5.3.
Marmoset Toolbag 5.02 Rolls Off the Assembly Line
Marmoset Toolbag 5.02 adds Decal layers, Smudge tool, Tile Strip system, ray‑traced fog, low‑to‑low baking and workflow enhancements in this latest real‑time VFX update.
UModeler X Personal Arrives Inside Unity Editor
UModeler Inc. has released UModeler X Personal: a Unity Editor plugin for modeling, rigging, painting, curve mesh and 3D text, ideal for indie and metaverse creators.
Painting inside the box: MatPlus gives Blender a Substance-style makeover
MatPlus embeds a Substance-style, layer-based painting system inside Blender, with masks, UDIMs, baking and bundled PBR materials.
These Are the Clones You’re Looking For: Hoplite VFX Fires Up ‘Star Wars: The 212’
Hoplite VFX trades stormtrooper aim for clone trooper precision in Star Wars: The 212. Producer Maurine Fauvert reveals how a two-artist side project turned into a full-blown studio production, complete with Move AI mocap, Blender’s GPU power, and some very unlucky troopers.
Timelapse Orbit 2.0 Keeps Blender WIPs Showreel-Ready
Timelapse Orbit 2.0 automates viewport tracking in Blender to streamline documentation and showreel creation during process video capture.
UVPackmaster 3.4 Adds One-Click Auto Repacking to Blender
UVPackmaster 3.4 for Blender introduces one‑click Auto Repacking, texel‑density control, vertex‑color grouping and option sets.
After Effects 25.4 Lands in August: HDR Metadata, Text-Format Paste, and Layer Staggering
Adobe After Effects 25.4 introduces Quick Offset, Paste Text Formatting Only, and HDR CICP metadata support.
YT-Tools for Blender: Bringing Modo Workflows Back to Life
Former Foundry engineer Yoshiaki Tazaki has released YT-Tools, a Blender add-on that re-creates much of Modo’s modeling workflow. Priced at 20 USD and designed for Blender 4.0+, it restores falloffs, contextual selection, and interactive slicing for artists who miss Modo’s speed and precision.
Procedural Forest Generator for Blender
A new Geometry Nodes tool for Blender generates procedural forests across biomes, balancing photorealism with performance and fast iteration.
VenkysTurbulenceMicrosolver: Finally, Your Smoke Can Stop Looking Like Blobby Soup
VenkysTurbulenceMicrosolver adds adaptive, detailed turbulence to Houdini Pyro, cutting manual noise setup.
Cleaning out the studio back room? The ScansMatter warehouse kit might help
Cleaning out the junk in the cellar or back room of the studio has never been easier: 165 free modular warehouse assets until 26 August 2025.
Flow Studio prices drop, tiers multiply, features shift
Autodesk adds Free and Standard Flow Studio tiers, drops Lite to $10 with reduced tools, lowers Pro price to $95, and adjusts export limits.
Houdini 21: SideFX pushes for production readiness across the CG pipeline
SideFX releases Houdini 21, promoting Apex, Vulkan, Otus, and major animation and rigging upgrades to production-ready status.
Blend Normals at Scale with Smart Mesh Blend Add-On
Smart Mesh Blend is a Geometry Nodes-based add-on for Blender and Bforartists that blends normals across collections using a drag-and-drop wizard setup.
Fast Nature Maker: UE5 Procedural World Generator Simplifies Landscapes
Gökhan Karadayı released a UE5 landscape tool that enables procedural landscapes featuring roads, buildings, rail-lines and props via Landscape Layers.
No need to water flowers in August: grow them in Houdini instead
FLOPs is a free, KineFX-based HDA toolkit for creating and animating realistic flowers in Houdini, released by Danny Laursen.
Wrinkle-Free: Substance 3D Sampler 5.1 Released
dobe has updated Substance 3D Sampler to 5.1, adding Auto Tiling, Fold Remover, new flattening tools, and improved HP Z Captis scanner integration.
botaniq 7.1 plants global reach in Blender
Polygoniq’s botaniq 7.1 adds 405 new assets, geographic filters, and scattering presets for Blender 3.6+, with a small 7.1.1 patch.
LumaFusion 5.3 Lands on iOS with New Workflow Tools and a Door for Plugins
LumaFusion 5.3 for iOS adds workflow updates, introduces plugin API, and launches CoreMelt’s PaintX as first third-party effect tool.
Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ Debuts with On-Board Calman Colour Calibration
Xencelabs launches the first pen display with built‑in Calman Ready hardware calibration for consistent, on‑device colour accuracy.
Autodesk nudges 3ds Max into higher gear with version 2026.2
Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2026.2 with Skin modifier enhancements, Material Switcher speed tweaks, USD scene export and Arnold integration fixes.
Fusion Studio 20.1: Immersive, Patchy, and Ready for 360°
Blackmagic Fusion Studio 20.1 adds immersive 360° viewer, Magic Mask v2, deep compositing improvements, and CSV import for MultiText boxes.
ACES Gets a New Home: Academy Hands Off Colour Science to the Academy Software Foundation
ACES, the open source color standard for film, is now under the Academy Software Foundation. The move aims for greater open collaboration and innovation.
Maya 2026.2: Lighter Wolves, Smarter Motion, and One Less Excuse to Skip MaterialX
Maya 2026.2 boosts MotionMaker AI, enables MaterialX in LookdevX, brings Arnold GPU Toon shading, and makes Bifrost mandatory. Check docs for full details.
Resolve 20.1: Apple Vision Pro, Magic Mask V2, and a Few More Reasons to Backup
DaVinci Resolve 20.1 delivers Apple Vision Pro support, Magic Mask v2, and new editing, Fusion, and Fairlight tools. Backup before updating.
Adobe Substance 3D Reviewer
dobe’s Substance 3D Reviewer enables immersive, cross‑platform 3D feedback in VR and browser. Browser‑based tools such as Autodesk Viewer and Sibe support non‑Adobe workflows.
Chaos V‑Ray 7 Update 2 for 3ds Max: Now With 300% More Night Sky (And AI for Those Who Miss Deadlines)
V‑Ray 7 Update 2 for 3ds Max delivers AI material tools, a new Night Sky, and 3x faster Chaos Cloud GPU rendering.
Chaos Opens Real‑Time Rendering to All (No Unreal Required)
Chaos Arena now supports USD, MaterialX and Gaussian Splats, enabling real‑time rendering with no Unreal Engine license required.
Your Phone, Blender’s Puppet: Blender Object Controller & Camera Controller Add-Ons now with Live View & World Tracking
Blender Object Controller and Camera Controller Beta receive updates: new UDP and live camera streaming, world tracking, timeline and keyframe controls, and more.
Houdini 21 : Otto, Otis, Copernicus and 300+ New Features. No, Really
Houdini 21 sneak peek: SideFX previews 300+ features: Otis solver, Otto rig, Copernicus, Vulkan viewport, full rigging and CFX overhaul.
Imagen AI Automates Frame‑by‑Frame Grading: An interesting Beta
Imagen for Video (Beta!) adds AI grading to Premiere with full controll in Lumetri, promising time savings.
Rebelle 8 Hits Early Access: Brushes Get Bristly, Updates Get Sensible
Rebelle 8 enters Early Access with new Bristle Brushes, NanoPixel 2, RealShader, SoftShadows, and a perpetual license with 1-year free updates.
InstantQPatch: Im3dJoe’s Quad-Only Mesh Hole Filler for Maya
InstantQPatch by Im3dJoe patches polygon holes in Maya with quad-based, curvature-following geometry. Free for all uses, but code sharing is forbidden.
Sony VENICE 2 Firmware 4.0 Adds EL Zone Tool
Sony’s VENICE 2 firmware 4.0 introduces EL Zone exposure system and tri‑colour frame line display plus camera extension support.
One Click Damage 2.5 Tricks up Blender’s Sleeve
VFXGuide’s One Click Damage 2.5 for Blender (4.5+) features procedural wear layering, masking, sync, and HERO Module enhancements.
ARRI ALEXA 35 Xtreme: Frame Rates up, Data Rates Down, Everything Else… Still ARRI
ALEXA 35 Xtreme brings 660 fps, ARRICORE codec, five times longer pre-recording, and 10% less power use. The same sensor, new muscle, all ARRI.
Free UE5 Pack: 200+ Ways to Build Your Own Dynasty (In Unreal)
Epic’s Fab offers Chen Jian’s 205‑mesh Traditional Chinese‑Style Park UE5 pack free until 12 August 2025
JangaFX unleashes LiquiGen 1.0: liquids meet production‑ready polish
LiquiGen 1.0 delivers production‑ready GPU‑based liquid simulation with per‑emitter viscosity, mesh flipbook and VAT export, new materials and camera controls.
Mesh Match for Maya adds Auto‑Skeleton & Landmark Detection – AI Without the Hype
Mesh Match for Maya now supports facial and body landmark detection plus full‑body skeleton build to accelerate character rigging workflows.
Phantom FX Scoops Up Milk VFX and Lola Post
Phantom Digital Effects acquires award-winning Milk VFX and Lola Post; both will keep their names and leadership after the deal.
Photoshop 2025.7 adds smarter Remove, Firefly‑model control, and refined sharing
Photoshop 2025.7 (version 26.9) adds non‑destructive Remove from contextual bar, Firefly model chooser and share‑to‑apps export control
Cascadeur 2025.2 Adds Motion Styles, Tangent Editing, and Automatic Fulcrum Detection
Cascadeur 2025.2 adds motion-style selection, viewport tangent editing, longer inbetweening and auto fulcrum detection.
Dual Export: 4Dviews Adds Gaussian Splatting to HOLOSYS+
4Dviews’ HOLOSYS+ now outputs in mesh‑and‑texture or Gaussian Splatting formats, enabling richer volumetric capture workflows.
Pixar Faces, Blender Spaces: SMIRK Lets Features Wander Free
Krysidian’s SMIRK toolkit brings detached Pixar-style facial features to Blender—free and Geometry Node-powered.
Godot Pixel Renderer: Get a Free 3D‑to‑Pixel Art Export Toolkit
BUKKBEEK’s Godot Pixel Renderer is a free MIT‑licensed Godot 4.4 toolkit for real‑time pixel art rendering, with batch export and shader control.
Beyond Normal: A Creative’s Guide to Different Minds and Managing Neurodivergent Talent (Part 1)
Creative brilliance doesn’t come in one flavor—and in today’s VFX-landscape, understanding how your team thinks isn’t just good leadership, it’s critical infrastructure.
Rumba 2.0: No More Animators’ Elbow
Rumba 2.0 from Mercenaries Engineering launches, promising faster, artist-friendly Maya-compatible character animation and seamless USD, Alembic, and FBX support.
Autodesk ships Arnold 7.4.3 with Inference imager and GPU volume speedups
Arnold 7.4.3 introduces a machine-learning Inference imager, faster GPU volume rendering, improved Global Light Sampling, and enhanced OpenPBR and USD workflows.
Blender on iPad Pro at Last—Without Losing Its Blender-ness
Blender Foundation has begun work on a full-feature iPad Pro app with sculpting, Apple Pencil support, and a live demo at SIGGRAPH 2025
KitBash3D: Your Open World Just Got Lazier (and Faster) with Gameplay Ready Kits for UE5
KitBash3D launches 12 Gameplay Ready Kits for Unreal Engine 5—Nanite, instancing, collision, and free samples. Art directors, rejoice.
FX Guide: URSA Cine Immersive brings Apple Vision Pro to life
FXguide offers the first downloadable Apple Immersive Video test footage shot on the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive, complete with spatial audio.
D5 Render 2.11: Now With AI, Sci-Fi Plants, and Path Tracing by Default
D5 Render 2.11 lands with AI-assisted planting, PBR texture creation, default path tracing, camera and lighting upgrades, and expanded collaboration for teams.
IlluGen Drops: Node-Based VFX Tool from JangaFX Now Public, and Free for 14 Days
IlluGen is out now! JangaFX’s node-based VFX tool is public and free for 14 days. Procedural asset workflows for game and real-time VFX.
MetaTailor’s One-Click Dress-Up: Unreal Engine Bridge Plugin Arrives in Public Beta
Hologress launches public beta of MetaTailor Unreal Engine Bridge: enabling one-click MetaHuman and clothing transfer. Windows only. Free tier available.
Samsung Debuts Corporate LED Studio Bundle: ARRI ALEXA 35 Camera Included
Samsung’s Corporate LED Studio Bundle: ARRI ALEXA 35, The Wall IVC, and UNIQVUE. A complete turnkey in-house broadcast offering - Sounds interesting?
Panasonic Brings ARRI Log C3: A $199 Key Opens Cinema-Level Color
Panasonic’s DMW‑SFU3A key adds ARRI‑certified Log C3 to LUMIX GH6, S1II, S1RII, S1IIE and GH7.
Berlin’s Animation-Only Festival FAB 2025 Returns: Japan, Stop-Motion, and 132 Films
FAB returns to Berlin in September 2025 with 132 films, Japanese guests, a stop-motion symposium, and six competitions at silent green Kulturquartier and City Kino Wedding.
BMD ups the ante with 16 TB Media Module for URSA Cine 12K LF
Blackmagic Design introduces a 16 TB Media Module (M.2 SSD) for URSA Cine 12K LF, doubling storage to support 12‑bit BRAW at 1 432 MB/s and 10G workflows.
LensNode Evolving Vintage Lens Emulation in DaVinci Resolve
LensNode uses real‑lens profiles, GPU acceleration, ACES‑ready processing and granular controls in DaVinci Resolve for authentic vintage lens emulation. Get into early acces now!
Chaos Envision 1.1: Now with Smarter Traffic and Door Sensors—What Could Go Wrong?
Chaos Envision 1.1 adds traffic simulation, proximity sensors, batch rendering, and new material tools for streamlined architectural animation.
ICE Nexus 1 Recordings Now Online: Catch the 3D Action (With Crisp Audio)
ICE Nexus 1 recordings now online: Watch Arcware, Access Point AI, and top speakers cover 3D tech, digital humans, and real-time workflows.
From Concept to Play: Streamlining Asset Pipelines with InstaMAT’s Scalable Workflows
Procedural pipelines, scalable and automated asset texturing, physically-based terrain generation, and thousands of generative materials, if that’s your thing, you have to check out InstaMAT!
Ninja TX: Atomos Finally Gives Ninjas SDI, CFexpress, and Cloud: No Ancient Relics Inside
Atomos reveals Ninja TX: 12G-SDI, HDMI 2.0, CFexpress Type B, and all major codecs, ready for 8Kp30 and cloud, $999 from August 2025.
Frank Rueter’s Quest to Stop Nuke Knowledge from Disappearing
Nukepedia’s origin: How Frank Rueter launched the community’s Nuke tool repository and why the relaunch matters in 2025 - and what is coming to nuBridge?
HDR Light Studio 9.1 Lumi‑Curve Turns Lighting into Line Art—Literally
HDR Light Studio 9.1 introduces Lumi‑Curve: freeform, editable curve-based lights for shaping reflections, highlights, trails, and backgrounds.
DJV 3.0 Returns: Free VFX Review Tool Gains Timeline & USD Support
DJV 3.0 revives its open-source VFX viewer with OTIO timelines, USD playback, OCIO color management, and multi-track audio under a BSD license.
GSOPs 2.6: The Swiss Army Knife for Gaussian Splatting in Houdini
GSOPs 2.6 delivers free 2D/3D Gaussian Splatting editing, viewport rendering, mesh export, Karma and Solaris integration for Houdini 20.5.
Animation for All: Reallusion AccuRIG 2.0 and Friends Keep Things Moving
AccuRIG 2.0 puts 4,500+ animations a click away. Reallusion’s animation and rigging ecosystem is picking up speed.
River in a Click: Baga River Generator v2 Brings Automated Terrain Carving to Blender
Baga River Generator v2 for Blender adds terrain carving, procedural foam, and scatter modifier support for rapid river creation in 3D scenes.
Game Boy Robot: When Nostalgia Gets a Quad-Based Makeover
Game Boy nostalgia meets quad-based hard-surface modeling in Benavidmark’s detailed 3D robot tribute—every production step dissected.
Wacom MovinkPad 11: Standalone Sketching, No PC (or iPad) Required
Wacom MovinkPad 11 offers an 11.45″ Android tablet, pro-grade pen, and PC-free sketching for $449. Ready for artists wanting less Apple, more drawing.
Gaea 2.2 Unveils Frosty Nodes and Selective Erosion
QuadSpinner’s Gaea 2.2 delivers 10 new terrain nodes, major Erosion_2 upgrades, 60 examples and bridges for Unreal Engine 5.6, plus 150+ fixes.
Substance 3D Designer 15 arrives
Substance 3D Designer 15 arrives with a new real-time/path-tracing renderer, in-viewport post FX, and direct scene-based material editing.
InstaMAT 2025 Graduates: Terrain, Ray Tracing, and Polyverse. Now That’s a Release!
Free for small teams, a next level texture-workflow, collaboration tools, a finely tuned asset library and much more!
Minister Brandes Opens VP-Stage: Germany’s First University Multi-Purpose LED‑Wall and MoCap Studio at HSHL
NRW’s Ina Brandes inaugurated HSHL’s LED‑wall VFX Lab, partnered with Babelsberg, SMPTE, FKTG, ICT AG and ICT AG and research project Digital Locations - for real‑time and motion‑capture production. By students and everybody who wants to develop!
KeyShot Studio 2025.2: AI Moves In And This Time, It’s Staying Local
KeyShot Studio 2025.2 introduces Studio AI for local generative rendering, new Light Layers, AMD GPU support (beta), and enhanced randomization.
SynthEyes 2025.5: Now With Fewer Headaches Per Pixel
SynthEyes 2025.5 lets VFX artists export lens distortion, harness AI for tracking, and parent meshes with less tedium. Now with 17K BRAW support.
Photogrammetry Parlor: Free 17-Mesh UE5 Asset Pack
Anderson Rohr has released a free Unreal Engine 5‑compatible photogrammetry pack with 17 high‑detail meshes and 4K–8K textures.
Unigine 2.20: Now with More Splat and a Whole Lot Else
Unigine 2.20 debuts Gaussian Splatting, UI Designer, XR and renderer upgrades, multithreaded shadows, mesh compression, and sweeping engine optimizations.
MeshBlend Unreal Engine 5: Wave Goodbye to Ugly Seams
MeshBlend is an Unreal Engine 5 plug-in by Tore Lervik offering high-performance, controllable mesh blending for landscapes, props, cinematics and virtual production. Intersted?
Artists Must Adapt: 3DModels.org Launches “One Car Challenge”
3DModels.org invites artists to transform an identical base car model into a unique render. Deadline is September 30.
Blender 4.5 LTS is here!
Blender 4.5 LTS has launched today, bringing two years of long-term support and a significant wave of upgrades.…
SDF Modeler 0.5.3: Sculpt, Blend & Trace – Refined Free SDF Concept Tool
SDF Modeler 0.5.3 adds push/avoid/emboss/deboss blends, spline curvature, 3‑axis mirror, export bugfixes and UI enhancements.
Maxon Invites Artists to Attend the ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition
Maxon will stream ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition Nov 7–9, celebrating 25 years with beta previews, tutorials, sculpt‑off, and artist spotlights. Mark your calendars!
Graphite: open‑source vector design tool with a twist
Graphite launches in browser alpha, mixing layer‑based drawing with procedural node graph, desktop apps and bitmap editing due later in 2025.
Retro Dithering Goes Full‑Color: Dither Boy 4.0 Hits All 52 Effects
Studio AAA’s Dither Boy 4.0 adds full‑color support across 52 effects including video—one purchase, free monthly palettes.
„For Those Who Dare“
These days you wouldn’t always have to go for an expensive, professionally calibrated screen if you are not working for extremely demanding clients. Has the age of correct colors finally arrived? What about HDR? Let’s have a broader look!
Blender on Android: Ported, Not Polished Yet
Blender runs on Android tablets via an unofficial port from developer epai, but major rendering bugs and feature gaps persist.
No DRM, No Fuss: Digital Production Archive Now Online
The Digital Production archive is live: all issues as DRM-free PDFs via Dropbox, exclusively for subscribers.
The Noise You Want, None You Don’t: Bubblebird’s Browser Generator Delivers
Free browser noise generator by Bubblebird Studio: 2D/3D seamless noise, Perlin/Voronoi/random, PNG export, presets, normal maps, MIT licensed.
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.