KeyFlow Turns Maya Repetitions Into Buttons
Fenix Animator’s KeyFlow puts Maya animation chores into a customizable toolbar, from timing and mirroring to temporary rig controls.
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Animation
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Animo Sliders Bring Maya Controls to Blender
Ehsan Bayat brings 16 Animo animation sliders to Blender for faster pose, timing and keyframe adjustments.
Fridays for Fusion: PROPAGATE, Finally
PROPAGATE copies changed parameters, connections, expressions and animation across Fusion nodes. An obvious idea, now available in software.
Animo Packs 500+ Maya Tools Into One Panel
Animo gathers 500+ Maya animation tools into one editor, adds direct reference media, hotkeys and six new sliders. Still beta. Still free.
ITFS 2027 Opens for Entries
ITFS 2027 opens five film competitions with November and January deadlines, AI-use disclosure and clearly specified delivery files.
ICE.ART 2026.II agenda is set
ICE.ART 2026.II has its final agenda: three online evenings covering animation, virtual production, architecture, materials and realtime worlds.
Spider Walker automates multi-leg animation
Spider Walker turns body motion into procedural multi-leg steps, raycasted surface contacts and bakeable Blender animation.
Softie Adds XPBD Collisions to Blender
Softie combines fast Geometry Nodes deformation with an experimental XPBD mode for soft contact, self-collision and interactive sculpting.
Marvelous Designer 2026.1 Rips Seams
Seam ripping, brush pinching, blend-shape animation and camera interchange give Marvelous Designer finer control over cloth and hand-offs.
Media Plane adds nonlinear editing to Maya
Gizmify brings clip editing, retiming, compositing and scripted reference workflows directly into Maya with the beta Media Plane Editor.
Let’s talk to the Caddis developer.
Digital Production spoke with developer Mike Gaynor about the creation and implementation of Caddis.
KeyTool Pro v1.0 for C4D
Animoore Studio’s free KeyTool Pro v1.0 brings live easing, bounce, elastic and practical keyframe utilities to Cinema 4D.
Sculptools Palette Organises Blender Sculpting
ProjectArgo’s free Blender extension puts sculpt brushes and tools into configurable radial palettes with hotkeys, sliders and JSON presets.
Autodesk Flow Studio adds 3D Editor and Canvas
Autodesk adds 3D scene direction and a node-based Canvas to Flow Studio for more controllable AI-assisted filmmaking.
Animates Suite tunes Blender keys
Blender animators get key selection, retiming, Key Amp, onion skins, editable motion paths and world-space locks in one add-on.
SmartUndo+ makes Blender Undo excellent
The Blender add-on adds per-object histories, per-F-curve undo, node-tree tracking and checkpoints for less Ctrl+Z Shenanigans.
SideFX Teaches KineFX in Houdini 22
SideFX’s Max Rose presents two free Houdini 22 sessions on KineFX animation, Motion Mixer, secondary motion and retargeting.
B4D Tools Adds Blender 5.2 Support
B4D Tools 1.5.1 targets Blender motion graphics with cloners, effectors, fields, object tools and tiered licenses.
Maya 2027.2 trains MotionMaker
Maya expands MotionMaker with custom model training, horse animation, cleaner path tools and wider DCC updates for artists.
Character DNA Goes Free
Poly Hammer’s Character DNA base edition is free, GPLv3 source is public, and release 0.10.3 adds Blender 5.2 support.
Free Crowd Reaction Mocap Pack
A free crowd reaction mocap pack brings 22 clips, about six minutes of claps, cheers, selfies and phone fiddling.
Blender 5.2 LTS lands with node physics
The LTS release brings XPBD hair and cloth, texture-aware Cycles rendering, new Geometry Nodes tools and EEVEE cleanup.
Open glTF Roundtrip Lands in 3ds Max
Khronos releases a free open-source glTF 2.0 importer and exporter for 3ds Max, with PBR, compression, animation and extension support.
Houdini 22: How Right Were We?
Houdini 22 arrived earlier than expected and confirms nearly all our keynote findings, with two experimental features carrying caveats.
Overgrown targets an open feature pipeline for Blender
Blender Studio is pushing Overgrown as a feature project with production logs, tools and docs, funded first through subscriber growth.
Quick Finger Collision for Blender
Blender hand posing gets a tiny helper: finger bones stop at mesh contact, wrap around props, and cost $7.99.
Free Sci-Fi Desert City Kit on Fab
LAYA DESIGN’s Science Fiction Desert City Kit adds 120 Unreal Engine meshes, interiors, foliage, rocks and editable materials to Fab’s free rotation.
Houdini Rigging: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving APEX
For anyone tired of character setups held together by hope, version notes and one dangerous checkbox, Houdini 21 promises a paradigm shift. By decoupling mesh, rig logic, animation and execution through KineFX and APEX, SideFX is taking another run at the holy grail of procedural rigging. But can it deliver a fast and intuitive workflow?
Callipeg Studio Heads to Desktop
Callipeg goes desktop with macOS and Windows builds, familiar 2D tools, beta caveats and a price that avoids subscription bingo.
Reallusion Unlocks Limitless Creation: iClone Personal Debuts Alongside AI Studio Official Launch
iClone Personal replaces the trial with free access, AI Studio goes public, and 500 AI Points sweeten the 3D-to-AI rabbit hole.
Here comes Houdini 22
2 hours and 18 minutes. That is almost exactly the runtime of the first Matrix film, and exactly the duration of the Houdini 22 release keynote. So yes, this promises a rather chunky package of new features and improvements.
MetaHuman gets markerless mocap
Free markerless body capture lands for MetaHumans, using standard video, local processing, and Unreal Engine 5.8.
Blender Roadmap Puts Plans in One Place
Blender gets a central Roadmap for active projects and recent features, giving artists and studios a clearer view beyond release-note excavation.
MPC Joins The Mill
MPC and The Mill become one global studio, combining commercial production and film VFX under The Mill name.
Using C4D’s Axis Tool in a Product Viz workflow
SilverwingVFX shows how he handles object axis in his Cinema 4D studio workflowthat ensures a fast and fluent process even with challenging and unoptimized computer aided design imports.
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.
Free Komodo Rig for Fun
Free Komodo rig for portfolio work, plus paid tiers for commercial pipelines. Big lizard, small invoice, careful license.
Let’s Animate Splats in 3DGS Render?
3DGS Render 5.0 lets Blender artists drive Gaussian splats with proxy meshes, bake lighting and export animation as PLY sequences.
Cinema 4D 2026.3 Rebuilds UV Editing
Version 2026.3 rebuilds UV editing and adds practical tools for particles, rivets, edge cloning and UV-driven animation.
BadFX Packs Assets Into Adobe Panels
BadFX puts stock media and adjustable animation presets inside Adobe timelines. The plugin is free, though an account is compulsory.
Houdini 22 Teaser Fuels Guesswork
Houdini 22 looks ambitious, but the teaser is maddeningly brief. Treat every feature reading as informed fan speculation, not documentation.
Mush3D 3.0 Adds Soft Tissue Tools
Mush3D 3.0 adds pose-trained corrections and tetrahedral soft tissue simulation for artists polishing cached character animation.
These are the Bugs You Were Looking For (in Blender)
Flying Bugs Generator brings 10 insect types, three motion modes, and Asset Browser-ready drop-ins for fast and vast bug swarms in Blender.
KZ_Tracker turns video into Maya curves
KZ_Tracker tracks 2D points in footage inside Maya and bakes curves to locators, aimed at quick blocking, timing, and rough spacing, not final mocap.
VOXIFY turns Blender Meshes to Voxels and animates
VOXIFY voxelizes any Blender mesh via Geometry Nodes, tries to keep your textures intact, and ships with animation and static mesh options.
Chaos puts Veras everywhere
Veras lands inside V-Ray, Corona, and Enscape, powered by Chaos Credits. Corona 15 adds faster animation parsing and 3D streaming.
Fridays for Fusion: Flow Looper animates stills in Resolve
Flow Looper targets seamless looping motion in stills inside Resolve Fusion, using spline corridors, pixel flow, and cross-fade looping.
DreamWorks style mesh controls land in Maya
A free Maya plug-in adds surface pinning, mesh controls, and VP2 overlays, plus docs and an example scene. Now go break it safely in a test rig, just like the artists at Dreamworks who inspired it.
Caddis mixes layers with nodes per layer
Caddis shows a familiar timeline, then drops a node graph inside each layer, exports common formats, and launches in June with one-time pricing.
Clip Studio Paint 5.0 with 3D hands
Clip Studio Paint 5.0 lands with Smart Shape cleanup, a poseable 3D hand model, faster tools, and a clearly spelled out license menu.
MoonRay Renderer joins ASWF as hosted project
MoonRay lands at ASWF as a hosted project, keeps DreamWorks engineering support, and gets a July Open Source Days keynote slot in Los Angeles.
Wacom Art Pen 2 does a barrel roll
Art Pen 2 revives 360 barrel rotation, adds new nib sets, and targets current Intuos Pro and Cintiq hardware. Price is $99.95.
Blender Singularity lands in 4K HDR
Singularity drops as a 4K HDR short, with free downloads of assets and encodes. Also: painterly brushstrokes meet procedural crowds.
Unreal Engine 5.8 Preview rolls in
UE 5.8 Preview adds experimental Mesh Terrain, editable PCG results, a juiced-up vegetation tool, MetaHuman crowds, and more. Test first.
Project Violet links Houdini and MetaHuman
SideFX drops Project Violet, a Houdini 21 tutorial series that mixes MetaHuman characters with Houdini rigging and simulation workflows.
VirtuCamera 2: The Weird Byte goes Android
VirtuCamera 2 lands with Android support, refreshed UI, updated DCC plug-ins, and a Python API. Yes, your phone is still the camera now.
FMX gehts a new head for the 30th Birthday
FMX celebrates its 30th edition with a planned handover: Mario Müller steps down after 2026 and Agon Ushaku takes over the mantle for 2027 and onwards.
Anthropic funds Blender, ships Claude connector
Claude gets a Blender connector, plus patron money for Blender core work. Your pipeline gets a new helper. Your lawyers get new reading.
Sketchbook Pro 9.4 adds Lasso Fill and Draw Outline
Two new selection-driven tools land in Sketchbook Pro 9.4, while mobile gets the same tricks via Premium Bundle. Fast blocking, cleaner edges.
Autodesk Flow Studio adds AI Rigging and Neural Layer for character workflows
The Flow Studio update introduces automated rigging, video-driven animation, neural rendering enhancements, and export to Maya, Blender, and Unreal.
Reallusion ships Headshot 3 for CC5
Headshot 3 arrives for Character Creator 5 with single photo heads, mesh wrapping, texture tools, and an early bird bundle through May 31.
Drivers 2.0 cleans up Blender rigs
Drivers 2.0 puts shape key drivers, rig UI panels, and action constraints in one Blender sidebar. Less hunting, more animating.
FMX 2026 adds animation, lens talks and of course AI
New sessions span performance animation, AI workflow debates, and lens science, with cloud and software partners joining the mix. Just three weeks until FMX! Wuhu!
KeyPro revamps Maya
KeyPro stacks waveform, key density, heat, and range into one strip under Maya’s timeline, plus rig aware tools and a one time buy.
Adobe Turntable spins into Illustrator
Turntable hits Illustrator and turns one vector into a pile of editable angles, so turnarounds stop demanding unpaid overtime.
Re: Novation ArchViz Challenge opens
Re: Novation Challenge is live until June 9, 2026: one base building model, unlimited redesigns, plus a new Animation Category. No AI.
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.
Pixel Lab drops free Blood Hit Alembic
Blood Hit is a free pre-simmed Alembic blood hit, built for drag and drop gore beats across lots of 3D apps.
OmniStep 2.0 adds modules and dynamic collisions
OmniStep 2.0 adds a module system, dynamic collisions, and workflow tweaks for interactive animation inside Blender.
TweenFX is your free Friday tween sidequest
TweenFX is a free MIT-licensed tween animation plugin for Godot 4, with a demo release updated on 25 Feb 2026.
VES Awards 2026 names winners and honours
VES Awards 2026 winners named across 24 categories, with Bruckheimer and Taylor receiving top honours.
Hive adds joint facial rigs to Maya
Hive Auto Rigger now builds full joint based facial rigs in Maya, priced at 40 dollars for the first month.
FMX 2026 spotlights fire, fur and pipelines
FMX 2026 adds Wētā FX, Pixar and Illogic Studios sessions, plus new Premium Partners AMCRS, Accenture Song VFX and AYON.
Oscar animation directors go live online
Five Oscar nominated animation directors. One free Zoom panel. February 27. Register, log in, ask questions.
Foundry buys Griptape to “orchestrate AI”
Foundry acquires Griptape to add "AI orchestration" to Nuke and broader VFX pipelines.
Cascadeur on physics, AI and control
Cascadeur explains how physics solvers and local AI shape modern keyframe animation. Physics-assisted keyframing and AI-generated Inbetweening sound like shorthand for automation. In practice, they describe a layered system that revolves around explicit poses, timing and animator intent.
InstaLOD 2026 Targets VR and Animation Pipelines
InstaLOD 2026 adds VR delivery targets, raytraced shadows and full GLTF USD animation support for real-time pipelines.
130 animations, one rig, zero drama
Quaternius releases a second Universal Animation Library with over 130 humanoid animations, free for commercial use.
BlendShape Monitor puts Maya rigs under a heat lamp
A new Maya plugin visualises blendshape influence in real time, targeting riggers dealing with dense and poorly documented rigs.
Animate re-animated
The King is dead, long live the King: Adobe caves, and Animate remains available with support and fixes, but no new features.
Adobe pulls the plug on Animate at last
Adobe has confirmed the end of life of Adobe Animate, setting clear dates for sales, access, and support wind-down.
FMX opens ticket shop and confirms collaboration track talks
FMX opens ticket sales, confirms new speakers, details pass options and highlights ongoing PANEURAMA industry research.
Blender LTS patches, still no surprises
Blender 4.5.6 LTS and 4.2.17 LTS deliver bug fixes only, confirming Blender’s long term support policy for production use.
Animcraft 5.5: Stability, ribbons, and MetaHumans
Animcraft 5.5 improves mocap stability, rewrites the Dragon Breath Ribbon System, and expands MetaHuman and Maya tools.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
New add-on for Blender brings onion skinning layering into full 3D
the new “3D Onion Skinning” add-on for Blender gives you ghosted frames in 3D so you can see motion timing and spacing without flipping frames manually.
World VFX Day 2025: Global Line-Up Revealed
WētāFX, ILM, Framestore, Adobe and more join World VFX Day 2025 this December, streaming live from London.
Houdini 21: Like good wine (Part1, VFX & Geo)
Houdini 21 polishes the chaos: production-ready MPM, neural surfacing, smarter Pyro, and Vulkan viewport upgrades: all taste-tested for real-world use. (Part 1 of ???)