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Top News: the most relevant updates for post, VFX, and real-time production. Releases, acquisitions, funding, major industry moves, and deadline-relevant changes, curated for impact and practical relevance rather than volume. Fast to scan, links to sources, minimal fluff.
RealFX Part 1: Perfectly formed scripts
The landscape of plug-in providers for After Effects (and other host applications) has thinned out noticeably in recent times. Whereas in the 2000s and 2010s we used to receive press releases about new and interesting plug-ins several times a week, nowadays we are lucky to receive one announcement per month. But we found a few beauties!
Affinity: free all-in-one design suite
Canva folds Affinity into one free-forever app, marking a major shift for design tools and putting the old perpetual-licence model on hold.
FMX Turns 30 in 2026
FMX 2026 celebrates 30 years of digital media creation. Stuttgart, May 5–8, 2026. Theme: “The Road Ahead”. Book your rooms, time flies.
The Mill Returns
The Mill is back. TransPerfect revives the iconic VFX studio with returning talent and a global creative push.
Photoshop 27.0: Now with Harmonise, Upscale & Firefly Video
Photoshop 27.0 is official. You get Harmonise, Generative Upscale, Firefly video export, and selectable AI models. Test before rollout.
3D Measure Master brings CAD-style precision to 3ds Max
The new plugin 3D Measure Master adds CAD-style measuring tools to 3ds Max, creating editable and renderable geometry for true 3D dimensions.
Momo: Of Time, Turtles, and Technical Wizardry
VFX Supervisor Michael Wortmann on how RiseFX built the fantasy of Momo: almost entirely on location, with 280 shots and the best turtle in the business.
Flix 8.0: Foundry’s story hub gets serious about Storyboard Pro
Foundry’s Flix 8.0 tightens its Storyboard Pro link, retools shots UI, refines ingest monitoring, still “priced on request”, which probably means “too expensive”.
“Task Force Querlitz” Brings Adult Animation to ZDF
With Task Force Querlitz, screenwriter Simon Thummet, director Arne Hain and producer Sebastian Simon have achieved something rare:…
SLAPSHOT promises AI Camera Tracking “in minutes”
SLAPSHOT has released its AI Camera Tracking tool: what used to take a day or more can now take under ten minutes according to the developer.
Fluid Flow paints physics into Blender
Fluid Flow is a $14 Geometry Nodes add-on for Blender 4.2+, painting real-time water, sand, and lava straight into the viewport.
ASUS unveils 32″ 8K HDR Mini-LED ProArt monitor. Yes, 8K.
ASUS launches its 32″ 8K HDR Mini-LED monitor, the ProArt PA32KCX with great brightness and pro-features. Not for everyone, but if you edit 8K or need huge desktop real-estate, this is serious.
Ugly Gets an Upgrade: Digital Anarchy’s Free Halloween Plugins
Digital Anarchy resurrects its Ugly Box and Flicker Freak plugins just in time for Halloween. Free, frightful, and gloriously hideous.
Deadline 10 enters maintenance mode for studios
AWS Thinkbox will put Deadline 10 into maintenance mode on 7 Nov 2025: no new features, just fixes. Studios should plan migration to Deadline Cloud.
Retopoflow 4.0 for Blender
Orange Turbine’s Retopoflow 4.0 brings full Edit Mode integration in Blender and support for curves/NURBS/metaballs, but one tool is still missing in this release.
Open-Source Engine O3DE Hits Version 25.10
O3DE 25.10 trims installers, builds faster, supports C++20, and upgrades robotics Gems — a solid, practical update for technical artists.
Atlux λ 2 brings 3D scanning inside Unreal
Atlux λ 2 makes Unreal Engine a virtual 3D scanner, exporting Gaussian-ready data. Real photogrammetry, synthetic edition.
ZEISS CinCraft Virtual Lens Enters BETA: Real Glass, Virtual Magic
ZEISS opens BETA registration for CinCraft Virtual Lens Technology, a GPU-powered Nuke plugin that replicates real lens behaviour in compositing, simulating optical artefacts like bokeh, distortion, and chromatic aberration.
Stitch Head!
“Stitch Head”: A charming animated adventure blending gothic charm, playful humor, and a heartfelt journey of self-acceptance, crafted by a team spanning multiple continents and pipelines.
Blender 5.0 Beta!
Blender 5.0 Beta runs until 5 November 2025, bringing ACES 2.0, node and compositor updates, HDR colour support, and stricter compatibility rules.
HFF Munich Hiring: Two Half-Time Heroes Wanted
HFF Munich’s VFX department wants two new tech minds—one for the pipeline, one for IT. Expect creative chaos, cool people, and excellent surroundings!
Trees in Autumn: SpeedTree Controller 3.0 Falls for Houdini 21
SpeedTree Controller 3.0 lets Houdini artists break, regrow and shade trees with Karma: new features, same procedural roots
UE Organizer: Taming the Unreal Vault Jungle
DocHardGames’ UE Organizer finally brings order to your Unreal Engine Vault. Free for browsing and tagging, $5/month for one-click import, AI tagging and sync.
Creepy-Crawlies in 3D: Free “Arthropods” Anatomy App for Creature Designers
Twelve museum arthropods, one free app, and an excellent reason to stop swatting your references. Creepy-crawlies in 3D, just in time for Halloween.
GPU-FLIP solver Storm HydroFX launches in free open beta
Storm HydroFX, a standalone GPU FLIP fluid solver from Storm VFX, is now freely available in open beta with full import/export and no feature lockouts.
Material Maker 1.4: Godot 4 port, flexible UI, 32-bit baking
Material Maker 1.4 debuts: full Godot 4 migration, rebuilt shader engine, new node types and UI redesign. A serious update, not cosmetic.
Need an AI Video Enhancer in Your Workflow? Aiarty Video Enhancer!
Blocky VHS? Grainy DSLR shots? Aiarty Video Enhancer upscales, denoises, and restores video locally—no cloud upload required. (Sponsored Post)
Rebelle 8: Digital Painting’s Physical Upgrade
Rebelle 8 turns digital painting into a physical experience. The new Bristle Brush engine simulates every hair of a real brush, RealShader adds true lighting and shadow depth to thick paint, and the NanoPixel 2 engine scales artwork up to 32 K resolution. With layer-specific materials, symmetry tools, Escape Motions’ latest release feels less like an update and more like a real studio, minus the turpentine.
Sharper, Faster, Smokier: FumeFX 7.1 for 3ds Max
FumeFX 7.1 delivers faster warps, Alembic point clouds, and smarter VDB handling in 3ds Max. Less waiting, more burning.
VIEW 2025: Program, Prices & Turin Tips
VIEW 2025’s packed programme mixes Pixar, ILM and AI sessions in Turin, with ticket prices from €186.55 and yes, eat a tramezzino.
Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14: OLED Power for Mobile Creativity
Wacom has announced the MovinkPad Pro 14, the newest member of its portable creative pad lineup. Building on…
ProRes RAW vs. BRAW
BMPCC 4K just learned a new trick: ProRes RAW via firmware. We stacked it against BRAW Q0. One’s cleaner, one’s bigger. Which would you shoot?
EDIUS 11.40: Faster Bins, Smarter AI, and Edit-as-you-Capture
EDIUS 11.40 lands with faster bins, AI voiceovers, Mercalli 6, and a capture tool called CapIt. Yes, you can now edit while you capture.
Nanite marches in: Twinmotion 2025.2 update
Nanite now works in Twinmotion. 2025.2 also brings a new post stack, animation upgrades, VCAM tweaks, and cloud storage.
Blender user survey 2025 – time to tell the team what you really think
Blender’s asking you for feedback again: join the 2025 survey and help shape how the software is used across film, game and animation workflows.
RiseFX on Heads of State: Explosions, Statues, and Digital Diplomacy
500 shots, one exploding limo, and statues aimed at helicopters: Rise FX brings high-stakes action to Heads of State with a new Riseflow pipeline.
ProRes RAW News – Fresh from the Freezer
Resolve 20.2.1 + Sequoia = real ProRes RAW. Sonoma users: no dice. iPhone 17 footage shows the difference...
ICE.Art 2025: Virtual Worlds Meet After Hours
ICE.Art 2025 goes online in October. Two evenings of talks on 3D environments. Michael Shelton returns after his FMX Westworld talk.
Polishing Polygons: Animatrix Polisher for Maya
Sculpt, smear, polish: Animatrix Polisher adds direct mesh editing and non-destructive fixes to Maya for just 20 bucks.
Silhouette 2025.5: Roto With Prompts, Faces, and a Built-In SynthEyes
AI masking, Face ML, and SynthEyes 3D tracking arrive in Silhouette 2025.5. Roto artists everywhere suddenly feel less stressed and with a bigger toolbox for their job.
Photoshop 26.11: Firefly hops in, CJK text sharpens up
Firefly jumps into Photoshop, CJK text looks less like pixel soup. New update, same question: stable enough for production?
EbSynth V2: Real-Time Preview, Timeline & Layers
Secret Weapons launches EbSynth V2 — now with real-time preview, timeline navigation, brushes, and layer support. A major workflow upgrade from its minimal early versions.
World Creator 2025.1 paints biomes and scatters rocks
Biomes, scattering, emissive lava and even GTAV maps: World Creator 2025.1 brings a full ecosystem update to GPU terrain generation.
Digital Domain on Fantastic Four: From Baby Mocap to Bearded Rock
Digital Domain’s Phil Cramer explains Fantastic Four VFX: Masquerade3, Baby Franklin, The Thing’s beard, and multi-vendor Marvel pipelines.
Animatics, AI Lighting, and a Free Tier: Previs Pro 3 Expands Storyboarding on iPad
Previs Pro 3: now with animatics, AI lighting, and a free edition for iPad filmmakers.
Kyno Update: Still Alive, Still Useful
Kyno 1.9 isn’t new magic, but it proves the beloved media tool still lives. Apple Silicon, new RAW SDKs, proxy presets—IBC chat to follow.
Ton Roosendaal Steps Aside: Blender’s Founder Hands the Keys to the Next Generation
Ton Roosendaal leaves Blender’s helm. Blender 5, story tools, and tablet support are next. New board takes over, Ton moves to supervisory role.
Hell Froze Over – ProRes RAW for Resolve
For an eternity, it seemed, Blackmagic Design (BM for short) refused to support the import of Apple's ProRes RAW format into their flagship app DaVinci Resolve (DR for short).
Maxon drops Red Giant 2026.0
Red Giant 2026.0: fixes, Capsules, Resolve controls. Universe 2026.0: UI polish. A maintenance release wearing a party hat.
Godot 4.5: New Buffers, Better Access, More Control
Godot 4.5 ships with stencil buffer, shader baker, screen reader support, and dozens of workflow updates. Time to test before production.
Eight Hands, One Brush: Mari 7.5 Beta Paints on All Fronts
Multi-Paint lands in Mari 7.5 beta. Eight channels, one stroke. Texture transfer, image grouping, and faster backups follow. Test before trusting.
Maxon Autumn Release: New Colour Science, Liquids, Clouds and a Logo
Cinema 4D 2026 brings OCIO colour management, GPU simulations, UDIMs, Redshift 2026 plus Maxon’s brand-new ecosystem and logo.
Blackmagic Camera 3.0: Remote Clip Syncing and Multi-Cam Control Arrive on Smartphones
Blackmagic Camera 3.0 syncs clips between phones, adds live streaming, LUT upgrades and more, making moile multi-cam shoots less painful.
Realtime Department’s UNIQVUE: The Software Layer Behind Turnkey Corporate Studios
Hardware is nothing without brains. Realtime Department’s UNIQVUE adds the software intelligence to ARRI and Samsung’s turnkey corporate studio. Christoph Gockel explains how.
Resolve Animation: Everything moves!
Resolve Animation? Well, everything is based on keyframes. Fusion adds power (and pain), 3D feels clunky. Still: motion graphics inside an editor? Works.
ARRI Packs Virtual Production Into a Box
ARRI’s turnkey stage bundles LED wall, ALEXA 35, audio, and server into a scalable studio package with automation and colour management.
Docking Phone to Pro: Blackmagic Adds Pro Controls to Mobile with Camera App and ProDock
Blackmagic’s ProDock equips iPhone 17 Pro with HDMI, genlock, SSD ports, audio and power—making it a true production camera, not just a smartphone.
Mistika 11 Adds “The Gallery” for Colourists Who Hoard Looks
Mistika 11 adds The Gallery: unlimited presets, FX stacks, metadata control, and Apple Silicon optimisation. For colourists who like tidy chaos.
DaVinci Resolve 20.2: Ripple Discipline, ProRes RAW, and AI Fog on Demand
Resolve 20.2 ships with ProRes RAW decoding on all OS, AI-driven haze, cleaner ripple edits, immersive EXR support, and metadata flexibility.
Pixel 10 Pro unlocks true 12-bit RAW with DCG
Pixel 10 Pro quietly enables true 12-bit RAW video via DCG. Good for BCAM, photogrammetry, or set refs. But don’t expect it to replace your cinema cam.
Premiere Pro gains 90+ Film Impact effects – plug-in now built-in
Premiere Pro 25.5 folds Film Impact into the app. 90+ GPU-accelerated effects now ship natively, real-time playback, no plug-in, no red render bars.
Datacolor’s SpyderExpress: Colour Calibration on a Budget, Now with Growth Path Options
Cheapest Spyder yet does pro-level colour calibration in 90 sec—and grows with your ambitions. Budget-friendly colour accuracy, now modular.
Chaos Vantage 3.0 beta lands with USD, MaterialX and Gaussian Splats
Vantage 3.0 beta is here: USD, MaterialX and Gaussian Splats mean Chaos’ real-time GPU renderer finally speaks modern pipeline standards.
KitBash3D and Greyscalegorilla merge
KitBash3D and Greyscalegorilla merge: R&D speeds up, asset libraries grow, tools expand. Users should see no price or support changes.
Matching Your Moves: Inside Vision Age VFX
Vision Age VFX specialises in high-end matchmove and rotoanim. Workflows, QC, case studies, and technical tips from Tunisia’s camera tracking experts.
Premiere Pro on iPhone: Adobe goes pocket-sized
Adobe shrinks Premiere into your pocket: free iPhone app with pro editing, Firefly AI, and one-tap TikTok exports.
MetaHuman Meets Houdini
TL;DR: Epic’s free “MetaHuman for Houdini” brings rigged, textured MetaHumans and procedural hair grooms into Houdini, with seamless Alembic export to Unreal Engine.
Goodbye Adobe Premiere
I whispered, "Goodbye, Adobe!" as I pressed the unsubscribe button. To me it sounded very much like “Hasta la vista” but less dramatic. We had a good run, but it was time to move on.
RE:Vision Effects ups the ante with REZup V2 (and yes, it’s 4× sharper)
REZup V2 arrives with two new GPU-friendly ML models: general-purpose DNN 3 and face-focused DNN 2 and adds temporal denoising for cleaner 4× upscaling.
iClone 8.6 Update Adds New Eye Shaders, and UE5 Export Presets
Reallusion’s iClone 8.6 brings CC5 support, new digital human eye shaders, UE5 export presets, and workflow improvements for facial animation and rendering.
ProArt PA32UCDM: The OLED Display That Thinks It’s a Reference Monitor And Dresses Like an Accountant
First impression: The ASUS ProArt PA32UCDM is the Clark Kent of displays. On your desk, it could pass for a premium, but otherwise unassuming office monitor—sleek, thin, and lightweight, with none of that over-designed “gamer” bling. But underneath?
iPhones Go “Pro” with Final Cut Camera 2.0
iPhones just levelled-up: Final Cut Camera 2.0 adds ProRes RAW, genlock, open-gate, Apple Log 2, timecode and multicam workflow tools – free update arriving later in September.
Here’s Character Creator 5 — Now in Hero-Quality, MAya-Friendly, MetaHuman-Friendly, and Armed with ActorMIXER
Reallusion launches Character Creator 5 featuring HD subdivision, upgraded facial animation, ActorMIXER Pro, and integration with Maya, Marmoset, and Unreal.
Faster, wider, cleaner: KIRI Engine 4.0 drops mobile scan limits
KIRI Engine 4.0 slashes scan time, boosts photo limits, adds AR guidance and AI PBR and plus free users enjoy unlimited exports. Production-ready, at last.
Houdini 21 Finally Lands: The Buzz Is Over, Time to Actually Use It
SideFX has released Houdini 21, adding rigging, CFX, VFX, lookdev, terrain, and Copernicus updates. The hype is over; time to test in production.
Clay 4.Doh Update Sculpts Blender Workflow
Rahul Parihar’s Clay 4.Doh update expands his Blender clay toolkit with new tools, modifiers, shader improvements, and perpetual free updates.
AI Render for iClone & CC with ComfyUI Integration, Available in Open Beta
Reallusion announces the open beta of AI Render, a completely free plugin that bridges Reallusion’s intuitive 3D software, including Character Creator and iClone—with ComfyUI, the open-source, node-based interface widely regarded as the gold standard for customizable AI visual generation.
EIZO CG3100X: The New Gold Standard for Colour-Critical Work?
EIZO’s new ColorEdge CG3100X offers DCI-4K, HDR presets, 99% DCI-P3 coverage and True Black filter. Available November 2025 for less money than you'd expect!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.