IngeTrazo: A Home for the Render Farm
A free architectural modeller combines SketchUp import, BIM quantities, drawing sheets, Blender rendering and Python extensions.
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Rendering
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The Royal Way to Render
In 2001, render farms were local, internet connections still screamed through telephone lines, and launching jobs across several machines could consume an entire evening. Holger Schoenberger founded Binary Alchemy to remove some of that administrative misery
Blender 5.3 Brings Gaussian Splats Home
Blender 5.3 brings Gaussian Splats into the core app, with native import, Geometry Nodes access and rendering across Workbench, EEVEE and Cycles.
Pixel Lab Sells Gems Cheaper Than GPUs
Pixel Lab packs 30 gemstones and 40+ ancient tree stumps into PLY Gaussian splats. The gems are cheap. Your workstation probably isn't.
KitBash3D Paris: City Break, No Airport
The Kitbash3D Set "Paris" brings Haussmann blocks, landmarks, street props and a game-ready Unreal path. Your next city break may require 32 GB of RAM.
Maverick Render 2026.1 Adds Cutaways
Maverick Render 2026.1 adds non-destructive cutaways, web spinners, fSpy matching, broader undo and a refreshed CUDA and OptiX core.
3ds Max 2027.2 Adds Editable Splats
3ds Max 2027.2 brings editable 3DGS workflows, Points, Point Instance, Arnold 7.5.2 support and USD path diagnostics.
D5 3.1 Turns Design Reviews Interactive
D5 Render 3.1 adds interactive presentations, ACEScg, seasonal vegetation and embedded D5 Lite workflows for Rhino and Revit.
Roji Goes Deep on USD Rendering
Roji beta registration is open for a nodal USD workflow with MaterialX lookdev, Hydra review, path tracing and AI render support.
Godot 4.7 turns up HDR
Godot 4.7 goes practical: HDR output, rectangular lights, mobile builds, XR work and editor polish. Less fireworks, more knobs.
O3DE 26.05 Gets Native Particles
O3DE 26.05 adds native particles, AgX, automatic LODs and PhysX 5 defaults. The particle Gem still carries a production warning.
Cloud Paint Shapes Painterly 3D Skies
Casey Sheep and MeiU release a $12 Eevee-only cloud generator for Blender, with mesh conversion, ten presets and built-in sky assets.
NeXus Beta Lands in Blender
NeXus arrives in Blender with GPU particles, fluids, smoke, fire and live viewport feedback. The beta is paid, perpetual and already patched.
Splat happens: Volinga 3DGS workflow for Unreal
Volinga turns photo sets into Gaussian splats for Unreal, with local processing, PLY and NVOL export, cleanup tools, and relighting support. But what does that actually mean? Let's ask some questions!
NVIDIA brings DLSS denoising to Blender 5.3
DLSS Ray Reconstruction lands in Blender 5.3 Cycles this fall, adding a new denoiser option built on the existing OptiX path. Expect faster lookdev, then test hard.
True Sky 3 brings planet-scale skies to Blender
True Sky 3 goes planet-scale in Blender, adds HDRI output and performance presets, and demands Blender 5.1 because Python moved.
Autodesk updates 3ds Max to 2027.1
3ds Max 2027.1 is a small update: cleaner Smart Bevel results, new Data Channel converters, and an Arnold refresh with cloud render experiments.
Artineering Flair 1.2 for Maya hits macOS
macOS support lands for Maya 2024+, licensing expands to floating and perpetual, and lines get darker with negative light response. Also: Unreal beta.
Switching to Resolve: Sharing and delivery
Export DRP, DRT, or DRA, trim and package media, auto subtitles, and render from the Deliver page without leaving DaVinci Resolve.
Abstract brings native InstaMAT and InstaLOD on Linux
Abstract has released public preview Linux builds of InstaMAT and InstaLOD, adding native support for RHEL-compatible production environments, Blender and Maya integrations, GPU acceleration, and automation-friendly deployment.
Chaos restores AMD GPUs in V-Ray
AMD cards can render in V-Ray GPU again. HIP is back, RDNA2 and newer get support, and heavy texture scenes may finally stop paging your soul.
ICE.ART 2026.I recordings are now live
Missed ICE.ART 2026.I? The full set of talks and panels is now online for free, ready to binge between renders.
Chaos launches free V-Ray for Blender Community Edition
Chaos has released a free Community Edition of V-Ray for Blender
, giving solo users access to the renderer for learning, portfolio work, teaching and smaller freelance tasks. The catch is not especially well hidden: the free tier comes with clear limits on output, support and production features, while the paid version keeps the heavier pipeline machinery.
DOSCH DESIGN and KeyShot hit the road in May
Free KeyShot roadshow in Düsseldorf and Nürnberg: live demos, Q&A, and a quick reality check for your CAD to render workflow.
OpenPGL joins ASWF
OpenPGL lands under new open source stewardship, with a sandbox start and a clear goal: faster, cleaner path traced frames.
Alpha Pixel adds Gaussian Splats to Cinema 4D
Scan a place, drop it into C4D, then art direct it like motion graphics. Gaussian splats just got a lot less precious.
Arnold 7.5.1 comes with Flow Render Tech, Volume AOVs, and MIKKTSpace
Autodesk has released Arnold 7.5.1. The update adds the Flow Render tech preview with 2,400 free cloud render minutes per month, alongside custom AOVs for volume shaders, MIKKTSpace normal mapping support, Windows CPU rendering optimizations, and a range of shading, USD, and API changes.
VINZI Atlux λ arrives on Fab
Atlux λ is now on Fab, bringing a virtual photo studio and one click renders to Unreal Engine, plus Mac support.
NanoGaussianSplats for UE5
NanoGS adds a UE plugin for big Gaussian splat scenes, with LOD clusters, culling, and GPU sorting to keep frames moving.
Redshift 2026.4 adds Redshift Live and expands support for Vectorworks
Maxon has released Redshift 2026.4. The update introduces Redshift Live as a new real-time render mode, drops Redshift RT, adds support for Vectorworks 2026 Update 4, and brings a set of rendering and workflow updates across the wider Redshift ecosystem.
Blender 5.1 is here
Blender 5.1 boosts animation speed, adds Raycast and Mask to SDF, and shaves time off shaders and nodes. Free upgrades feel nice.
OctaneRender 2027.1 alpha goes neural
OctaneRender 2027.1 alpha chases cleaner viewports, smarter lights, and more USD. Test it like it is spicy, because it is.
Maxon ships Redshift for Archviz
Redshift Archviz moves BIM scenes from waiting to tweaking, with real-time previews, assets, and a one-click hop to Cinema 4D for the fancy shots.
OpenPBR BSDF reference code from Adobe
OpenPBR BSDF reference implementation for Substance is public as a small library with prepare, sample, eval, pdf API and multi-target compilation.
RenderMan 27.2 adds USD and XPU updates
RenderMan 27.2 ships with USD, XPU and workflow updates aimed at production use.
280 free automotive Substrate materials for UE 5.7
Epic’s new Automotive Substrate Materials pack on Fab bundles over 280 vehicle-focused Substrate materials plus templates, setup assets, and calibrated maps, targeting consistent results across Lumen and the Path Tracer in Unreal Engine 5.7.3 and later.
Redshift 2026.3 fixes displacement headaches
Redshift 2026.3 is a stability release focused on texture displacement, Hydra USD updates and host bug fixes.
D5 Works launches with 42K models and no comission ?
D5 Works
lists 42K models and 2.2K materials and claims zero commission, with D5-native delivery via D5A and D5M.
Arnold adds lines, points and faster volumes
Arnold update adds NPR shaders and accelerates OpenVDB volumes up to five times in official tests.
Nevercenter speeds up Milo 2026 and drops VR quietly
Milo 2026.0 moves to Unreal Engine 5.7, adds raytracing on Mac, pathtracing on Windows, faster lighting, workflow tweaks and removes VR.
glTF learns to splat without losing the plot
Khronos proposes a glTF extension for Gaussian splats, aiming to standardise how splat data is stored and exchanged.
Sky: Geometry Nodes-Based Volumetric Cloud and Atmosphere System for Blender
Sky is a new Geometry Nodes-based system for Blender that generates physically based volumetric clouds and a real-scale atmospheric sky directly inside Cycles.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Blender 5.0 hits release candidate!
Blender 5.0’s release candidate is live. Expect ACES 2.0, smarter Geometry Nodes, and a sleeker UI before the final launch later this month.
Arnold 7.4.4: better hair, bloom & light-sampling
Autodesk’s Arnold 7.4.4 lifts hair realism, adds aperture-bloom modes and speeds global-light sampling. Worth a test in your next render?
Corona 14: Gaussian Splats, Night Sky & fabric-material
Chaos launches Corona 14 with Gaussian Splats for scene context, new AI-tools for materials and upscaling, Night Sky for night builds and a procedural Fabric Material.
Unreal Engine 5.7: foliage, PCG and in-Editor AI
Unreal Engine 5.7 adds Nanite Foliage (experimental), production-ready PCG and Substrate, new virtual-production tools, and an AI Assistant. Test first.
Beeble launches SwitchLight 3.0
SwitchLight 3.0 from Beeble brings full video-frame PBR pass generation and relighting workflows.
The Cube Moved: Go for the Chaos (Ad) Vantage
Architecture Illustrators and Visualizers test Chaos Vantage for a narrative short and accidentally build a moving house. Unbox proves real-time previz can tell stories, not just sell floor plans.
Camera Arrays for the Gaussian Age
Camera Array Tool for Blender creates surface-based camera rigs and exports 4DGS-ready image data for Gaussian Splatting workflows.
Blender 4.5 LTS lands
lender 4.5 LTS arrives with studio-grade support; the Blender survey shows where users stand; and Blender 5.0 beta is already here, so its time to plan your upgrade.
Unreal 5.7 Preview: PCG Grows Up, Foliage Gets Fancy
Unreal Engine 5.7 Preview is out. PCG hits production-ready, foliage goes Nanite, and MetaHumans get smarter, all free via Epic’s launcher.
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.
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.
RenderMan 27: XPU graduates, RIS retires
Pixar ships RenderMan 27: XPU is ready for final frames, RIS is being phased out, MaterialX joins the toolset, and Stylized Looks evolve.
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.
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.
Free Material Assets Browser for 3ds Max enters public beta
Free Material Assets Browser for 3ds Max 2025: supports MaterialX, MatCap generation, multiple renderers. Public beta available on GitHub.
Next-Gen Cloud Rendering for Blender? Meet Praxilla!
Praxilla offers Blender cloud rendering with Cycles and Eevee, starting at 2.50 € per GPU hour. Secure, fast, and aiming for collaborative rendering.
Blender 5.0 Ships Built-In ACES 2.0 View Transform
Blender 5.0 gains a built‑in ACES 2.0 view transform, new HDR and wide‑gamut export, and better OpenColorIO compatibility, making HDR pipelines more native.
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.
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.
Workstations for Virtual Production
Virtual production wouldn’t be possible without high-performance workstations. These systems deliver the computing power required for rendering, simulations, and complex visual effects directly within the studio environment.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Crossbow Confidential: PFX’s Digital Dashboard Keeps ‘Locked’ Rolling
PFX marshals 60 artists, a lidar-scanned SUV and its Crossbow app to steer 750 shots for Locked through four months of frantic VFX.
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=70&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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
Lumion 2025: Rendering Realism Gets a Ray-Traced Makeover
Lumion 2025 introduces AI-powered upscaling, enhanced ray-traced water and fog, and a new Scene Inspector for streamlined workflows.
Corona 12 Update 2: Sunlight, Static Meshes & Setups
Corona 12 Update 2 adds support for Sun Directionality, static mesh export from Chaos Scatter, and a unified setup for the Corona Sky in 3ds Max and C4D.
Unity 6.1: Surfing Waves and Shading Smarter
Unity 6.1 introduces 3D water deformation, Deferred+ rendering in URP, Variable Rate Shading, bicubic lightmap sampling, and experimental WebGPU support.
LightWave 2025!
LightWave 2025 introduces RIPR for real-time HDR previews, enhanced rigging tools like Steppit, Handdit, and Pickkit, and new modeling features including SuperPatcher and Construct.
Eevee Enlightenment: Blender Guru’s New Course Shines Bright
Andrew Price releases a comprehensive course on mastering Blender's Eevee renderer, covering fundamentals, troubleshooting, and scene optimization.
ZibraVDB: Shrinking Volumes, Expanding Possibilities
ZibraVDB compresses OpenVDB files up to 100x, enabling real-time volumetric effects in Unreal Engine and Houdini for virtual production and game development.