MoonshotCGI has made a free Komodo asset available through its Try our assets page. The free package is a multi LOD model, muscle ecorche, an advanced rig, 2K multiUDIM textures and a walk cycle animation. Also, there is a facial rig (Insofar as Dragons have face instead of giant maws of putrid creepyness), multiple resolution levels and files for Maya, FBX, Alembic and OBJ workflows.

For creature artists, this is the useful kind of freebie: not just a still-friendly mesh, but a rigged animal with animation data. It gives modelers, animators, TDs and lookdev artists something to poke before procurement wakes up. Test teh rig, deformation, texture coverage and caches before trusting it in a real pipeline.

Paid tiers for real jobs

The commercial product page has paid versions of Komodo Dragon starting at €292,62. License options include Non-Commercial, Indie and Studio, with Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond asset tiers. Non-Commercial Silver costs €292,62 and includes model, textures and lookdev. Non-Commercial Gold costs €438,93 and adds rigs. Indie Silver costs €780,33, Indie Gold costs €1.170,50 and Indie Platinum costs €1.365,57. Studio Silver costs €2.926,23, Studio Gold costs €4.096,72 and Studio Diamond costs €4.681,97.

Indie is listed for individual freelancers only. Studio tiers use 4K textures, while Non-Commercial and Indie tiers list 2K textures. Indie Platinum and Studio Diamond list walk, run and idle cycles. Studio Diamond also adds animations and simulations. So, igf the joke from the dailies session gets to big, you don’t have to rebuild it, but can buy the odel and put it in there. We assume, a lot of background gags in cinematic historey start this way.

Formats and pipeline reality

The paid product has .abc, .obj and .fbx. Textures are listed as EXR, TIFF or PNG. Rigs, lookdev and animations use .ma or .mb. Simulations use .hip, which points that part of the asset toward Houdini users. External plugins are not required at the moment. MoonshotCGI is moving its rigging workflow to mGear, and future rigs will require it when the asset description says so.

https://shop.moonshotcgi.it/en-eu/pages/try-our-assets
https://shop.moonshotcgi.it/en-eu/products/komodo-dragon

The post Free Komodo Rig for Fun first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

TL;DR: meshController is a C++ plug-in for Autodesk Maya that adds surface pinning, mesh-driven controls, and VP2 viewport tooling for character and facial rigging.

What shipped, and what it targets

meshController is a free C++ plug-in for Autodesk Maya that focuses on surface pinning, mesh surface binding, and VP2 viewport controls for production facial and character rigs. It comes with six node types and five commands, plus an example Maya scene file with a face rig and textures. Pricing is simple: free in the sources.

The core idea borrows from the DreamWorks Animation Premo approach: controls that sit on the character surface instead of floating curve shapes. For artists, that means you interact directly with mesh-based controls that feel visually welded to the character, while still behaving like standard Maya controls for selection and manipulation.

If you live in the rigging trenches, the important part is not the concept. It is whether the nodes solve daily problems cleanly, evaluate fast, and fail predictably when you do something dumb at 3 a.m.

The plug-in in plain technical terms

The documentation calls meshController a “production-grade” toolset for Maya 2023 and later on Windows, with parallel evaluation via oneTBB and viewport interaction using Qt. The compiled plug-in registers as meshController.mll and loads through Maya Plug-in Manager or via a loadPlugin call.

First, Surface Pin. The surfacePin node binds rig controls to a deforming mesh so they track position, orientation, and twist. The workflow binds at a chosen pose, stores bind data, and then reads deformed mesh positions at runtime. surfacePinBind handles binding and supports undo and redo. A key feature is a localInverseMatrix input intended to solve double transforms inline when the pin drives offset controls in a facial hierarchy. The docs also state the node preserves the current transform offset at bind time so controls keep their authored pose.

There is also surfaceUVPin, a UV space variant. Pins store UV coordinates so they can survive topology changes as long as the UV layout stays stable. That is particularly relevant to facial rig work, where meshes evolve mid-show while UVs sometimes remain the one stable thing everyone agrees not to touch.

Second, vertexWrap. This is a lightweight deformer designed to snap split or matching topology meshes to a driver mesh via one-to-one vertex mapping. The docs describe it as avoiding proximity search at evaluation time. It computes a mapping at bind time, then directly copies driver vertex positions to the driven meshes at eval time. The intended use case is lots of small control shapes that must stick to a deforming face.

Sprinkled on top are viewport tools. The docs list shapeControl as a VP2 custom locator with mesh or curve display and hover highlighting. They also list meshControlOverlay, which draws an overlay and hover marker, and meshControlMode, an interactive placement mode that uses Qt mouse move hit testing and viewport overlay feedback. The docs include a comparison table explaining when to prefer shapeControl versus meshControlMode, including a warning to avoid large numbers of live shape controls and to use the overlay path for big sets.

Somewhere around here you will want to resist the urge to replace every curve controller with a mesh. The sources themselves recommend using these controls selectively for main controls rather than replacing everything. But where is the fun in that.

Requirements, downloads, and what you actually get

The download page lists meshController v1.0.0 for Windows and Maya 2023 or later. It also lists a Linux version as “not available yet”. It recommends an NVIDIA GPU for GPU override.

For installation, meshController loads through the plug-in manager or by loading the plug-in by name. Once loaded, all nodes and commands become available immediately.

Licensing, pricing, and the boring bits

meshController is free to download, with documentation and an example scene. They do not specify a commercial license in the sources provided here.

Versioning in the sources: the docs label meshController v1.0 and Maya 2023+, and the download page lists meshController v1.0.0.

If you want to test it properly, build a small facial sandbox scene, swap a couple of core controls to mesh-based shapes, and watch evaluation and selection behavior under your usual shot workflows. Do not start by rewiring the whole face. That is how you end up with a sufrace pin node you love and a manpiulators bug you cannot explain to production.

https://www.cgdzg.com/mesh-controls-for-maya/

The post DreamWorks style mesh controls land in Maya first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Maya is a core DCC from Autodesk for modeling, rigging, animation, and FX, with lookdev via LookdevX and node FX via Bifrost, plus pipeline handoff through USD.

The headline feature is editorial glue

Maya 2027.1 adds support for OpenTimelineIO in the Sequencer, enabling interchange of editorial cut data between DCC and timeline tools.

Sequencer gets editorial glue, not just buttons

Maya 2027.1 adds import and export support for OpenTimelineIO, with OTIO data being a standardised equivalent to XML for supported sequence, track, shot, audio, and file reference information. OTIO import preserves camera assignments and camera attributes, and reconstructs tracks from stored track information. The same workflow includes additional shot-level data such as labels, colors, thumbnails, and frame range information.

Sequencer also gets a round of editorial workflow updates beyond OTIO. Autodesk claims improvements to timeline exchange, shot editing, audio handling, playblast output controls, and scripting access. Shot creation now works directly on a selected track, or from a selected Time Slider range. Shot editing includes an updated hold workflow where hold frames come from a dedicated Hold mode while you drag shot edges. That sounds small until you try it on a cut with a dozen micro-trims and discover you do not need to invent a new swearing dialect.

Audio behavior becomes stricter. Sequencer uses only audio associated with the sequence. Audio not linked to Sequencer gets ignored, and Sequencer audio does not mix with Trax audio. A new Time Slider audio menu option called Use Sequencer Sounds controls that behavior. Playblast Shot Options adds Display Size controls for output resolution, with options listed as From Window, From Render Settings, Custom, and From Image Attributes. Output resolution depends on the chosen Display Size and Scale settings. Zooming in Sequencer now centers on the cursor when you use the mouse wheel, which helps the tiemline stop teleporting away from the thing you actually meant to inspect.

As always, new interchange formats look great in demos and get weird at 2 a.m. Test OTIO import and export on your real sequences before you bet a delivery on it.

MotionMaker focuses on editing clarity

Autodesk positions 2027.1 as a release with AI-powered tools and everyday workflow updates, and MotionMaker gets the everyday part this time. MotionMaker now shows frame ranges directly on clips and active windows. The stated goal is clearer timing feedback and behavior aligned with Sequencer.

Character naming gets a cleanup. Autodesk standard characters display simplified names in the UI, dropping the adsk_ prefix while keeping internal identifiers for compatibility. Character definitions also support a display name attribute used in the Create menu and character creation options.

New keyboard shortcuts navigate to the adjacent start frame before or after the current action clip in the timeline, aimed at faster clip-to-clip movement while editing. Updates to character registry handling also reduce redundant processing when creating MotionMaker registries.

Smart Bevel keeps hunting the ugly edge cases

Smart Bevel receives quality updates described as handling more complex geometry with fewer errors, with the practical promise of less manual cleanup on geometry with many intersecting edges.

Cutback relaxation improves to help prevent straight-edge segments from shifting, aimed at hard-surface models that mix linear and smooth forms. Smart Bevel also reduces spikes and jagged sawtooth corners in certain edge cases. Limiting works better across intersection types, with improvements intended to stop bevel results from crossing. Intersections previously missed are now detected.

Arc welding of new junctions becomes more thorough, and isolated arc removal becomes more reliable. Smart Bevel also improves handling of edge sequences that previously failed to bevel, with the result described as proper beveling and prevention of holes or missing faces at junctions along the sequence. Preset support expands so Smart Bevel presets can now save the Remove Isolated Arcs state.

Bifrost adds a search box and more sim and rig polish

Bifrost 3.1.0.8 adds a way to find where specific nodes are used in the graph, plus other new features and improvements. The same version lists updates for rigid body simulation, including per-instance colors, plus performance improvements for rigging and viewport drawing. New high-level compounds include deform_onto_mesh_UVs, wrap_deform_by_mesh, and wrap_deform_by_points. Rigs built with Bifrost now support Maya Cached Playback for improved performance, with a stated limitation that Cached Playback only works if the rig uses no feedback ports.

USD for Maya targets variants, and pins the manager

The USD plugin update listed as USD for Maya 0.36 adds support for targeting specific variants to receive edits, including changes to geometry and materials. The USD Variant Manager can now be pinned to its current display to prevent it from updating when you change selection. That is the kind of feature you only notice after it saves you from editing the wrong thing during a review.

LookdevX projects textures, searches graphs, and stays Arnold-friendly

LookdevX 2.1.0 adds texture projection nodes for mapping textures without UV coordinates. The workflow described uses the Node Library under Autodesk to add a projection node into the graph, connect a texture input, then connect the output to a material. Eight projection types are available: Planar, Spherical, Cylindrical, Ball, Cubic, Tri-Planar, Concentric, and Perspective. A Projection node combines all types into one node, with switching done inside the node so the texture updates on the object.

LookdevX also adds Graph Editor search to find nodes by name, aiming to reduce scrolling in larger graphs. Universal SRT manipulator support lands for the first matrix44 input port on LookdevX nodes, letting you edit that transform directly in the viewport via the usual manipulator workflow.

Arnold and Substance updates ride along

Autodesk lists Arnold for Maya 5.6.1.1 as part of the update, with changes since 2027 including a tech preview of Flow Render, custom AOVs for volume shaders, MIKKTSpace normal mapping support, and additional updates. Maya 2027.1 also includes Substance 3D 3.0.6.

Treat both as pipeline changes, even if you never touch a shader graph. Renderer and material tooling changes can break assumptions in templated scenes, and reliabel output beats exciting output when a client stares at a schedule.

Platforms and pricing

Maya 2027.1 is available for Windows 11, RHEL, and Rocky Linux 8.10 and 9.7, plus macOS 14.0 and later. The software is rental-only, with subscriptions listed as US$255 per month or US$2,010 per year. In many countries, artists earning under US$100,000 per year and working on projects valued under US$100,000 per year qualify for Maya Indie subscriptions, listed as US$330 per year. Maya Creative 2027.1 is also available, listed as pay-as-you-go with prices starting at US$3 per day and a minimum spend of US$300 per year. It has the same new features as Maya 2027.1, except for Bifrost.

New tools and innovations should always be tested before use in production, ideally on real shots and real assets, not a perfect demo cube that never gets a change request.

https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2027/ENU/?guid=GUID-F923AA68-6CE5-4292-88EA-292F5A786BA2

The post Maya 2027.1 adds OTIO to Sequencer first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Flair is a stylized renderer inside Autodesk Maya, focused on NPR looks in the viewport and rendering, with style shaders, materials, and line effects that sit upstream of comp and delivery.

macOS arrives, and it is not a footnote

Flair 1.2 adds macOS support for Maya 2024 and newer. The supported operating systems now cover Windows, Linux (Rocky), and macOS, with macOS builds on Apple Silicon only. The setup requirements are macOS 14 as minimum and macOS 26 as recommended, alongside Windows 10 and 11 and RHEL based Linux options. Linux availability is tied to specific license tiers.

Proxies stop being special materials and start being a toggle

A core workflow change in 1.2 is how proxies work. Any flairShader material can now double as a proxy with a single toggle, replacing the old ShaderFX proxy material. The new proxy behavior supports Wobble, Offsets, and multiple NoiseFX types. That matters because the proxy no longer needs to be a separate shaded thing you babysit, it becomes a mode of the same material you already use.

This is a practical fix for hard-shell proxy intersections and visible component lines when proxy geometry overlaps other geometry. With the proxy living inside the same shader, you can apply effects like Wobble Blur to introduce diffusion and gradients rather than accepting a hard boundary.Using proxy offsets to localise line thresholds, so a region can show only depth-based silhouettes while the rest of the scene keeps different line logic. That kind of localised override can be the difference between a clean frame and a late night of per-shot hacks.

You still want to test this carefully in production. Even when an update says it is seamless, changes to proxy behaviour can alter look dev deltas in ways that only show up once animation starts doing unpleasant things.

Lines get more controllable and more mischievous

Flair 1.2 adds a set of line features that target a classic pain point: outlines and inlines are not the same thing, so stop treating them as if they are. A new Canvas Override global attribute can replace the beauty pass with the canvas colour. In practice, this lets you inspect what Flair effects and line work contribute, without the underlying shaded colours distracting you. The attribute appears in the globals documentation and in the release notes as a new global control.

For outlines specifically, the update adds Outline Width Offset, letting you modify line width for outlines relative to inlines. In the video, this becomes a look-dev lever for graphic styles in which the silhouette reads as bold while interior lines stay subtle, or where outlines disappear entirely, leaving only internal structure.

Light response also gets split. There are new controls over Outline and Inline Light Response for both clean and rough lines. That separation enables a sharper art direction trick: negative light response. Negative light response shows lines in shaded parts of the scene, which the update calls out as a “noir-style” option. In the demo, that produces lines where you would otherwise get pure darkness. It is a neat tool for stylized lighting setups where you want form to read in the shadows without repainting the entire grade.

Depth based sketchiness control arrives too, via Sketchiness Depth Range and Sketchiness Depth Factor. This lets sketchiness increase or decrease along scene depth, and it is presented as a global control that works across scenes, rather than relying only on placing proxy planes at different distances. For facilities that build reusable style presets across sequences, this is the sort of knob that can save time when layout changes the scale of a set and your line breakup suddenly looks wrong.

Licensing grows up: subscription, plus options studios actually ask for

Flair 1.2 expands licensing beyond subscription to include perpetual and floating licenses, and it introduces a licensing server to manage floating seats. Online licenses can be migrated to a new machine six hours after the previous activation. The release log also calls out fixes for activation on new Windows machines where wmic is missing, and an installer fix when an older install folder path no longer exists.

Activation for floating licensing occurs by entering a hostname or IP address for the license server, after which the client fetches available licenses and activates the first one that is free. That maps cleanly to typical facility patterns where artists should not care which workstation holds a seat today, only whether the pool has one left.

Performance and saving: fewer reasons to stare at a frozen UI

The Sequence Renderer gets asynchronous saving of images to speed up rendering, with image writes moved to a separate process so they do not interfere with rendering. It also gains continuous improvement for anti-aliasing beyond 32 TAA samples up to 254 samples, and the camera list can now be unlimited.

Material handling gets several workflow improvements. Keyed attributes in flairShader materials now work in Parallel and Serial evaluation modes. All material attributes appear in the Channel Box and the Attribute Spreadsheet. There are fixes for a GPU memory leak tied to assigning materials to components while scrubbing the timeline, and several other fixes around AOV blending, vertex baking, and material conversion.

There is also a new “Sanitize Flair” button in the toolbox that unloads the plugin and tries to remove all traces of Flair from an open scene, with a confirmation dialog and no undo. That is the sort of scorched earth tool that you hope you never need, until the day you really need it.

Unreal Engine enters the chat, via beta testing

Alongside the Maya 1.2 release, the newsletter announces beta testing for Flair for Unreal Engine. The team received an Epic MegaGrant last year and that it led to a major roadmap overhaul and a late Maya update, while enabling focus on bringing Flair to Unreal Engine.

The Unreal version is not nearly as feature-rich as the Maya version yet, but it is completely modular. The modular approach is a way to mix and match different effects to create a custom style. Beta testers are recruited by replying to the email, with testing planned for April and a questionnaire at the end of the month to help prioritize features and guide future development. If you live in a pipeline where Unreal Engine sits in previs, virtual production, or realtime look dev, a modular stylized renderer could be very useful. It could also be a moving target, because beta testing exists for a reason.

One last reminder before you install anything on the main machine: validate look changes on a copy of your scene library, because even small line and proxy changes can ripple through a show. And yes, the nori lines look great in a demo, but your shots will still find a way to be difficult.

https://docs.artineering.io/flair/release-log/

https://artineering.io/

The post Artineering Flair 1.2 for Maya hits macOS first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: VirtuCamera is a mobile virtual camera for realtime camera motion capture into DCCs via plug-ins for Blender, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3ds Max, SideFX Houdini, and Maxon Cinema 4D.

What VirtuCamera 2 actually is

VirtuCamera 2 turns an Apple or Android device into a six degrees of freedom controller for a camera inside supported DCC software. The app captures device motion and sends it to the host plug-in over a network connection, then records the move into keyframes when you hit record. It also streams the DCC viewport back to the device for framing while you operate.

The new release includes a redesigned user interface and a full screen viewport. It also adds an Android version alongside iOS, with live viewport streaming over Wi-Fi, capture and streaming at up to 60 frames per second, on device controls for playback and camera switching, focal length sliders, and the ability to scale camera movement for longer travel.

Supported DCCs and versions, now with fewer workarounds

The current plug-ins list the following versions: Blender 5.1, 5.0, and LTS 4.5, Autodesk Maya 2027 and 2026, Autodesk 3ds Max 2027 and 2026, SideFX Houdini 21, and Maxon Cinema 4D 2026.

If you live in mixed DCC land, this is the rare case where one handheld capture app claims first-party plug-ins for five major platforms at once. You still need to validate the exact DCC build and pipeline constraints in your environment, but at least the compatibility targets are stated clearly.

Viewport streaming, latency, and why tethering exists

VirtuCamera 2 streams the viewport to the device so you can frame from the phone or tablet. On paper, that reduces the whole remote monitor dance. In practice, the network decides how cinematic your day will be.

The tethering documentation spells out why. Wi-Fi can drop packets, jitter, or kill long connections due to congestion, roaming, power saving, and network restrictions even when normal browsing looks fine. The guide recommends tethering as a way to make the computer treat the phone as a wired network interface, avoiding Wi-Fi variability and often improving latency. USB tethering also commonly keeps the phone charging during use. If you have ever watched a handheld take turn into a stuttering mess at the exact moment the director liked it, you already know why this section exists.

There is also Ethernet tethering, described as plug and play across macOS, Windows, and Linux, assuming you use a USB to Ethernet adapter compatible with the phone so the device recognizes it as a network interface. Also, test this stuff before you trust it in production. Network quirks love showing up when they shouldn’t be there.

Scale settings, because meters are not a suggestion

VirtuCamera 2 includes a scale setting designed to map real world movement to DCC units. You need to establish how much 3D software units equal real world units. In the app settings, you set a value so that one meter in the real world matches the software units you choose.

That sounds simple, but it solves a recurring problem in virtual workflows: a physically reasonable move can become a microscopic nudge or a teleport depending on scene scale. Making this an explicit setting in the app puts the responsibility in the right place. You calibrate once per scene scale, then operate like you mean it.

If you work across projects with different unit conventions, write the chosen mapping into your show notes and keep it consistent. Otherwise you will spend an afternoon wondering why yesterday’s operator feels like they had longer arms.

https://twitter.com/CosmoMidias/status/1779701979431985161

Plug-ins, Python, and rolling your own integration

VirtuCamera’s official site shared the underlying Python module. VirtuCamera plug-ins for Maya, Blender, Houdini, Cinema 4D, and 3ds Max are based on the PyVirtuCamera module, and PyVirtuCamera uses FFmpeg for video encoding. PyVirtuCamera exists as a public repository on GitHub and a Python module API to create VirtuCamera plug-ins, with downloadable releases and a wiki for usage details.

This matters for two audiences. If you are a pipeline TD, a published API reduces the risk of being blocked by missing official plug-ins for your in house toolset. If you are a plugin developer, a shared module means feature parity across host DCCs depends on the same core, not five separate implementations drifting apart.

Somebody will ask whether this means you can jam it into anything. The official site says you can create your own plugin with the PyVirtuCamera Python API and that it does not need to be a DCC.

Pricing and availability

On the German Apple App Store and on the Google Play listing, VirtuCamera 2 is priced at 18€ currentl. On the US App Store listing, it is priced at $20. If you are evaluating total cost, also account for the time cost of validating networking, device mounting, and scene scale conventions. The app cost is rarely the expensive part.

https://virtucamera.com/

https://apps.apple.com/de/app/virtucamera-2/id6761327593

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?hl=en&id=com.theweirdbyte.virtucamera2

https://github.com/theweirdbyte/PyVirtuCamera

The post VirtuCamera 2: The Weird Byte goes Android first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

SKAP is an online service built to boost skin detail for digital heads used in VFX and games. The workflow starts from what most teams already have: a head model plus textures in the 2K to 8K range. From that input, SKAP generates 16K textures aimed at pushing pores and fine wrinkles into the kind of resolution that makes shader graphs feel seen.

The core outputs are displacement and cavity. Normal maps are also part of the offering for game engine use in Unity and Unreal Engine. Haemoglobin and melanin maps are available as additional outputs, aimed at supporting more accurate blood flow and pigmentation patterns.

What you feed it

SKAP takes two main ingredients: a head model file with suitable topology, resolution, and UV layout, plus a 2K to 8K texture, either diffuse or displacement. An optional ID mask can be uploaded to identify non-skin areas of the head, with the claim that it improves output quality. Not independently verified at press time.

UV layouts for MetaHuman assets in Unreal Engine and scans from 3D Scan Store are part of the compatibility story.

The maps that come back out

Displacement and cavity are the headline outputs, intended to drop into familiar surfacing and render pipelines. Multi-channel displacement is part of the feature set, splitting low-, medium-, and high-frequency detail across RGB channels Normal maps can also be generated for real-time work in Unity and Unreal Engine. Haemoglobin and melanin maps round out the optional set for skin shading workflows that want dedicated pigment signals. On the SKAP homepage, same-day turnaround and manual calibration by an in-house team are presented as marketing claims.

The handoff is blunt and practical. After the sculpt is finalised, the export list is a basemesh plus an 8K displacement texture,. A few craft notes from the trenches: It suggests storing a morph target before detailing, pushing detail a little stronger than usual, then blending intensity back with the morph brush at low settings to control where the detail lands. It also recommends setting alpha mid value to 50 to help avoid an overly bumpy look when dragging alphas.

Preview before you commit, because rendering is a snitch

Previews as a sanity check: A 2D map preview helps review micro-detail distribution and coherence before applying it back onto the 3D model. A 3D result view supports the same idea: validate the signal, then decide how it fits the look.

Pricing in human numbers

SKAP uses a credit model. A base set of displacement and cavity outputs uses 40 credits. Normal, haemoglobin, and melanin outputs add an additional 5 to 15 credits. Each credit has a base cost of 1 US dollar, with discounts available for bulk purchases.

Where it lands in production reality

In practical terms, SKAP is pitched as a middle move: take an existing head, feed it in, pull back higher-resolution skin detail, and keep rolling without booking a full scan job. The documentation includes guides for using the outputs in Mari and in Maya with Arnold.

As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production. Run it through your own shaders, your own lighting, and your own deadlines, then decide whether it earns a place in the wokrflow.

https://skap.texturing.xyz/

The post Texturing XYZ puts SKAP online, pores included first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Hive Auto Rigger from Create 3D Characters is bundled with Zoo Tools Pro for Autodesk Maya. It builds modular character rigs that do not require Zoo Tools on the animator’s machine and targets animation and game export workflows.

A face to match the body

Hive Auto Rigger can now generate full joint based facial rigs inside Maya. The update adds production ready components for eyes, brows, cheeks and mouth, completing the facial set within the existing modular framework. The mouth module, previously labelled beta, is now described as “production-ready”. Create 3D Characters states that the system supports both human and creature characters, including snouted designs.

The facial setup is joint-based rather than purely blendshape-driven. In practice, deformation is controlled by skeletal joints and skin weights. This approach is commonly favoured in real-time pipelines where predictable evaluation and engine export matter more than sculpt heavy setups.

Built for real time, on paper

According to the official product page, the facial modules are engineered for real time performance in Unreal Engine and Unity. The facial components follow the same modular logic as Hive’s body rigs. Users position modules in Maya, generate the rig, and export through standard workflows such as FBX. Hive also supports auto skin workflows and corrective blendshapes. An API is available for technical customisation, although the public documentation does not detail its scope.

Compatibility and cost

Hive Auto Rigger supports Maya 2020 and later on Windows, macOS and Linux, and works with Commercial, Indie and Educational licences. Zoo Tools Pro, including Hive, is sold via subscription. The first month costs 40 dollars and includes access to the full toolset, training and assets. Subsequent months are 10 dollars per month.

Create 3D Characters states that after the first month, users may continue to use the acquired version commercially even if they cancel. For teams already using Hive for body rigs, the addition of full facial modules removes the need for a separate face system. Whether the joint based approach meets your deformation standards is something you will need to test on real production assets.

// Official product information and pricing
// https://create3dcharacters.com/maya-hive-autorigger/

// Company homepage
// https://create3dcharacters.com/

The post Hive adds joint facial rigs to Maya first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: The Pixel Farm develops PFTrack, a node-based 3D camera tracking and photogrammetry system used in VFX, virtual production, and survey-driven pipelines. It exports to DCC tools including Autodesk Maya and integrates LiDAR and image based reconstruction.

The Pixel Farm has released PFTrack 26.02, a point update to its camera tracking and photogrammetry software. The release focuses on export reliability, Survey Solver behaviour and data validation rather than new solver technology. According to the published change list, the update introduces improvements to Maya export scripts, OBJ texture handling, LiDAR import logging and node connectivity within the Survey Solver. It also resolves a keyboard shortcut conflict in the Orient Camera node.

Maya export scripts corrected

The updated Maya export scripts now automatically parent background image planes to cameras on export. This addresses a long standing friction point in matchmove handoff. Previously, depending on scene configuration and export path, artists could end up manually re-parenting image planes inside Maya to maintain alignment between the solved camera and its background plate. The revised script automates this relationship at export time.

For tracking teams delivering camera solves into Maya-centric pipelines, this reduces post-export clean-up and the risk of misalignment during layout or scene assembly. The vendor statement does not detail changes to other DCC export scripts.

Survey Solver and OBJ texture loading

PFTrack 26.02 updates the way OBJ mesh textures with numbered filenames are loaded into the Survey Solver node. OBJ sequences or assets that rely on incrementally numbered texture files will now load correctly when imported into Survey Solver. The official notes do not specify naming conventions, but refer to numbered filenames in general terms.

For facilities using photogrammetry meshes or survey derived assets with multiple texture tiles, correct automatic loading reduces manual reassignment inside the node graph. It also limits the possibility of mismatched textures during camera solve refinement. The change appears limited to texture loading behaviour inside Survey Solver and does not reference modifications to the OBJ importer elsewhere in the application.

LiDAR import logging added

The update adds explicit error logging when importing corrupted or incomplete LiDAR survey data files. PFTrack supports LiDAR survey data within its camera-solving and scene-reconstruction workflows. In previous versions, incomplete or damaged files could fail during import without detailed diagnostic output.

With 26.02, the system now logs errors when such data is detected. The vendor documentation does not describe the logging format, verbosity level or where logs are written. It does state that error logging is triggered when corrupted or incomplete LiDAR files are imported.

Photogrammetry node connectivity fixed

A further fix addresses connector logic in Studio and Enterprise editions. Photogrammetry nodes can now be connected to secondary inputs of the Survey Solver where appropriate. The official wording specifies that this applies to Studio and Enterprise only.

This suggests that earlier builds restricted valid node graph connections in certain configurations, potentially limiting more complex photogrammetry driven solves. The updated connector logic restores the ability to route photogrammetry outputs into secondary Survey Solver inputs when supported by the node’s design.

The vendor has not published technical detail about which specific input sockets were affected or how the internal validation rules have changed. Not independently verified at press time.

Facilities using advanced node graphs that combine survey data, image based reconstruction and manual constraints should review existing templates to confirm expected behaviour after updating.

Scope and positioning

This release does not introduce new solver models, GPU-acceleration changes, or major UI revisions. It is positioned as a maintenance and workflow refinement update. The focus remains on export reliability, data validation and node graph correctness. For studios that rely on PFTrack for camera tracking, survey alignment and photogrammetry reconstruction, these adjustments address specific operational irritations rather than expanding feature breadth.

PFTrack is available in three editions. PFTrack Solo is priced at £699 for a permanent licence. PFTrack Studio is offered on a rental basis, with pricing listed at £59 for a five day rental period. PFTrack Enterprise pricing is available on request from The Pixel Farm. As always, facilities should confirm current licensing terms and support options directly with their vendor before procurement.

As always, new tools and updates should be tested in controlled conditions before being introduced into active production pipelines.

The post PFTrack update tidies Maya and LiDAR workflows first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Kangaroo Builder is a character rigging toolkit for Autodesk Maya used to build body and facial rigs, manage skinning and author blendshapes. It sits squarely in character TD land and complements Maya’s rigging tools without pretending to replace them. It is developed by Thomas Bittner and integrates directly into Maya-based pipelines.

A familiar problem, now inside the rig

Transferring facial blendshapes between meshes with different topologies remains one of the more time-consuming and error-prone tasks in character production. It usually appears late in the process, just when schedules are already tight. Artists either rebuild shapes by hand, rely on wrap-based deformation tools, or accept compromises in deformation quality. Kangaroo Builder’s latest update introduces a feature explicitly designed to address this gap from inside the rigging toolset itself.

Kangaroo Builder now includes a new topology transfer workflow called “Landmark Warp”. The tool is included in version 5.19 and later and is designed to warp one mesh onto another using user-defined landmarks, even when the two meshes have different vertex counts and edge flow. This is not a general retopology solution, nor is it presented as one.

What Landmark Warp actually does

Landmark Warp works by letting users place corresponding markers on a source mesh and a target mesh. These markers define spatial relationships rather than relying on shared topology. Once enough landmarks are placed, the system computes a deformation that warps the source mesh to match the target mesh’s overall shape. The warped result can then be used to transfer existing facial blendshapes via Kangaroo Builder’s Shape Editor.

The key point is that this process operates on shape deformation rather than topology matching. The meshes do not need identical structure, only a reasonably comparable form. This makes the tool applicable to character variants, cleaned-up scan data, or iterative design changes where topology has drifted but proportions remain recognisable.

The developer notes that Landmark Warp relies on SciPy, a Python scientific computing library, which must be installed and accessible in Maya’s Python environment. This dependency is documented but may be overlooked in locked-down studio setups, which is worth flagging early in any evaluation.

Intended use, and what it is not

Nobody would describe Landmark Warp as a fully automatic solution. The quality of the result depends heavily on landmark placement and mesh preparation. Internal geometry such as teeth, tongues, or inner mouth surfaces can interfere with the warp unless managed carefully. This is stated explicitly in the documentation.

It is also not intended to replace dedicated wrap deformers or offline retargeting tools. Instead, the value proposition is convenience and context. Landmark Warp lives inside the same environment used to build and edit the rig. For many teams, that maybe matters more than absolute automation.

Why this matters in production

Topology drift is a fact of life in character production. Directors ask for changes. Scans get cleaned. Game and film assets diverge. Facial rigs, however, tend to be built once and guarded carefully. Any tool that reduces the cost of reusing that work deserves attention.

By embedding topology transfer directly into a rigging toolkit, Kangaroo is addressing a real and persistent problem. The approach is conservative rather than flashy. It assumes skilled users, manual setup, and informed judgement. That will suit experienced character TDs more than newcomers, which aligns with the tool’s existing audience.

It also reflects a broader trend of rigging tools absorbing tasks that used to live in separate utilities. Whether this is desirable depends on pipeline philosophy, but it does reduce context switching, which is often where errors creep in.

Compatibility and licensing

Kangaroo Builder runs on Autodesk Maya. At the time of writing, version 5.19 supports Maya 2023 and later on Windows and macOS, and Maya 2024 and later on Linux. Landmark Warp is included in the standard distribution and does not require a separate licence.

Licensing remains unchanged. Kangaroo Builder is free for non-commercial use, including students and personal projects. Commercial licences are available for indie users and studios. Pricing is published on the official website and may change, so readers should check the current terms directl.

At the time of writing, these are the prices: (Copied from the site)

Indy Perpetual – 220 USD
For freelancers making less than 85k USD per year in revenue

Single Perpetual – 400 USD
Recommended for or small studios with only one rigger

3 Seats Perpetual – 1000 USD
Recommended for small studios

6 Seats Perpetual – 1800 USD

Unlimited Seats Perpetual – 4000 USD

What is still unclear

No public information is available on how Landmark Warp behaves on extreme topology differences or highly stylised characters. There is also no data on performance with dense meshes or very large blendshape libraries. These gaps do not invalidate the feature, but they do mean that due diligence is required before deployment.

As with any rigging or deformation tool, results will depend on mesh quality, landmark placement, and user expertise. Early adopters should expect iteration, not miracles. Anyone hoping for a one-click solution will be dissapointed. s always, new tools and workflow changes should be tested thoroughly on representative assets before being introduced into active production.

The post Kangaroo Builder learns to move faces between meshes first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Pixar’s RenderMan 27.0 is not a mere update: For the first time since the RIS introduction in 2014, RenderMan’s rendering core has been fundamentally rebuilt. The headline act: XPU, Pixar’s hybrid CPU+GPU architecture, now capable of producing final-frame renders. With multi-GPU support, full compositing pipelines, and feature parity with RIS in most production cases, XPU has stepped from experimental preview to the new backbone of RenderMan’s future.

According to Pixar, version 27 marks the most significant performance and interactivity leap in over a decade. The new architecture combines compute scalability with physically based consistency, while also supporting new aesthetic flexibility through a fully integrated Stylized Looks framework.

XPU: From Preview to Production

RenderMan’s XPU engine now operates as a complete production renderer, supporting both CPU and GPU resources simultaneously. This dual utilisation allows artists to push hardware to its maximum throughput, whether on workstations or render farms. The new final-frame rendering mode eliminates the former division between lookdev and production rendering, streamlining pipelines previously dependent on RIS for the last mile. XPU now supports multi-GPU rendering, with the caveat that all GPUs in use must be identical and contain full scene memory. The engine’s minimum requirement has been raised to CUDA 12.8.1, reflecting its deeper reliance on modern GPU driver capabilities. Pixar confirms that this configuration is the foundation for all future RenderMan development.

Adaptive, Smarter, Faster

Under the hood, Pixar’s engineers have reworked adaptive sampling, aligning it with internal techniques used in Pixar Animation Studios’ own productions. Adaptive metrics such as “relativepixelvariance” and “mse” AOV-based control now run per object, delivering more accurate sampling without inflating render times. Checkpointing, a feature long requested by production supervisors, has been fully implemented. Artists can now save partial renders at defined intervals, resuming from checkpoints without rerendering full frames. This system, combined with interactive denoising, significantly tightens iteration loops in look development. The denoiser itself now outputs timing data, integrates directly with live renders, and can be toggled interactively. Pipeline engineers can expect improved configurability for modern, distributed render farms.

Deep Compositing and AOV Control

Version 27 brings complete deep data workflows to XPU. OpenEXR 3.0 Deep IDs are fully supported, allowing compressed ID manifests to be automatically generated for compositing. Artists can extract object-level data directly from deep renders using Pixar’s new deepidextract utility. Compositing teams gain matte and holdout workflows, expanded AOV handling, and support for the shadows and invshadows LPE prefixes. OpenEXR metadata is now written natively, ensuring compatibility with Nuke and other deep compositing tools. Cryptomatte, while not yet part of the initial 27.0 release, is scheduled to arrive in a dot update, according to Pixar’s release notes.

Geometry, Lighting, and Volume Precision

Geometry handling in XPU 27 has been heavily rewritten to achieve parity with RIS. Nested instancing, long a sticking point, now supports material inheritance and attribute propagation without breaking shading hierarchies. Displacement, motion blur, and volume interactions have been stabilised, with notable improvements in the handling of semi-sharp subdivision creases.

Lighting gains precision as well. Mesh lights are now fully supported, and light filters have been corrected for spline and falloff anomalies. The PxrPathTracer integrator adds new clamping controls (clampDepth and clampLuminance), aligning noise handling across both rendering architectures. Volumetric fidelity benefits from the new interior volume aggregates, enabling complex materials such as murky liquids or translucent crystals. Artists can now fine-tune deep shadow error parameters for exact compositing control.

MaterialX Lama: Early Access, Serious Potential

RenderMan 27 introduces MaterialX Lama, Industrial Light & Magic’s modular shading system, as Early Access inside XPU. The system allows layered material construction using physically accurate combiners. Pixar’s current implementation supports LamaDielectric, LamaConductor, and GeneralizedSchlick nodes with anisotropy, single scattering, and extinction behaviour now properly matching or exceeding RIS accuracy. Full support is scheduled during the 27.x release cycle. Pixar notes that look differences compared to RIS are expected in this early phase and requests feedback from studios integrating Lama in production.

Stylised Looks: Non-Photorealism, Physically Based

The Stylized Looks suite has matured from experiment to production toolset. It now ships as a unified subsystem under XPU, comprising PxrStylizedControl, PainterlyBrush, Lines, Hatching, Canvas, and Toon filters. Each operates as a display or sample filter, allowing NPR (non-photorealistic rendering) effects such as painterly brush strokes, toon shading, curvature-based outlines, and cross-hatching, all integrated directly with RenderMan’s physically based lighting.

The system supports AOV outputs, interactive denoising, and compositing passes. The new PainterlyBrushXPU filter enables procedural brush strokes with depth and lighting awareness. StylizedCanvasXPU and StylizedLinesXPU introduce compositing and in-filter distortion options with up to 96 preset line textures. Pixar’s stated goal: to let stylised rendering coexist with physically plausible shading without breaking pipeline compatibility.

Integration and Pipeline Alignment

RenderMan 27 strengthens its integration with major DCC applications and pipeline frameworks. Solaris, SideFX’s USD-based environment in Houdini, now features deeper RenderMan embedding, including improved UI, native support for OpenSubdiv 3.6.1, and GPU progress tracking in hdPrman. RenderMan LOP nodes have been refactored, and “RenderMan Render Vars” replace the older “Standard Render Vars” for more robust USD conformity.

RenderMan for Blender reintroduces Qt-based UIs via PySide6, restoring the texture manager and preset browser on Blender 4.x. Artists now benefit from native light linking, velocity blur control, and on-the-fly texture conversion.

In Maya, RenderMan’s Texture Manager has been modernised, adopting OpenImageIO for mipmapped texture conversion. Pixar’s proprietary texture format has been replaced by OpenEXR, aligning with the VFX Reference Platform 2024 standards. The legacy txmake utility remains available for backward compatibility but is now officially deprecated.

The Texture Manager now supports ACES-compliant defaults, HiDPI UIs, and multi-selection editing. Pixar warns that lowercase tokens will no longer be recognised; pipelines must adopt the uppercase convention for USD compliance.

Complying with the VFX Reference Platform 2024

RenderMan 27 aligns fully with VFX Reference Platform 2024, standardising on current builds of Python, OpenEXR, OpenImageIO, and USD. For production pipelines, this ensures compatibility with other industry-standard applications and reduces dependency conflicts across render nodes. The change affects texture formats, shader APIs, and compositing metadata. Pixar’s move to OpenEXR for both image outputs and texture caching is particularly significant, replacing proprietary workflows with interoperable standards.

Performance and Statistics

Performance instrumentation across XPU has been expanded, with scene ingestion, GPU allocation, and adaptive ray counters now visible in live statistics panels across DCCs. The stportal interface presents real-time timers, counters, and memory metrics, enabling TDs to diagnose bottlenecks without external profiling tools. RenderMan’s JSON reporting system has been refined for both RIS and XPU, offering standard and detailed modes for automated render diagnostics. Memory tracking now includes deduplication efficiency, critical for large USD scenes.

Future of RIS

While RIS remains functional in version 27, Pixar has confirmed its future deprecation. The renderer continues to support legacy pipelines, but new features including deep compositing, MaterialX Lama, and multi-GPU acceleration, are exclusive to XPU. Pixar recommends transitioning new projects to XPU immediately to ensure feature parity and forward compatibility. The company has maintained RIS only for existing productions requiring deterministic CPU-only rendering or legacy shader behaviour.

Non-Commercial Version – still free.

The free Non-Commercial RenderMan 27 is Pixar’s way of saying, “Go ahead, break it, just don’t charge for it.” The edition now includes full XPU support, right down to final-frame rendering, meaning anyone can experiment with the same hybrid CPU–GPU tech used on Pixar features. It’s designed for personal projects, research, and plugin tinkering, with no watermarks, only a polite request to credit RenderMan if your test project accidentally becomes an internet hit.

Naturally, there’s a catch or two. The licence is strictly non-commercial, locked to two machines, and politely expires every 120 days, because nothing keeps a pipeline sharp like forced renewals. The Stylized Looks suite, Pixar’s NPR playground of painterly brushes and toon shaders, is absent here, reminding users that true artistry still costs a studio licence. Still, for anyone wanting to explore the XPU ecosystem without opening the budget spreadsheet, it’s a generous, production-grade sandbox.

Compatibility, Stability, and What Comes Next

RenderMan 27’s release is a clear signal: Pixar’s renderer is now fully committed to hybrid GPU computing and open pipeline standards. With XPU stabilised for final-frame rendering, Solaris deeply embedded, and MaterialX Lama laying the foundation for unified shading, the software’s architecture is more extensible than at any point in its history. The move to industry formats and the inclusion of non-photorealistic rendering tools reflect Pixar’s recognition that creative flexibility and pipeline efficiency must coexist.

RenderMan 27.0 should be thoroughly tested before deployment in production, especially when adopting early access features such as MaterialX Lama. Pixar’s documentation explicitly requests user feedback to refine those systems during the 27.x cycle.

The post Pixar’s RenderMan 27.0 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

With The Conjuring: Last Rites crossing the $500M mark to become the highest-grossing horror film of 2025, Digital Domain stood at the heart of the film’s supernatural terror. Under the supervision of Alex Millet, the studio delivered 425 shots ranging from invisible fixes to hero sequences: Annabelle’s monstrous transformation into a 12-foot stalker, Abigail Arnold’s unnerving smile, the haunted mirror’s shattering hallway nightmare, and an entire Pennsylvania mill town built in CG. Armed with Houdini, Nuke, Maya, Solaris, Photoshop, and V-Ray, the team balanced photorealism with dread, crafting visuals that were frighteningly real without ever slipping into camp. We sat down with Millet to discuss scope, artistry, and the technical pipelines behind conjuring digital horror.

Meet Alex Millet (IMDB | Linkedin), a familiar face in the world of visual effects and someone whose résumé reads like a tour through modern cinema. Currently Visual Effects Supervisor at Digital Domain, Alex began his career as a lighting and look-development artist, later moving through roles as CG Supervisor, Sequence Supervisor and DFX Supervisor.

His filmography spans some of the most recognisable titles in contemporary filmmaking, including The Dark Knight Rises, Inception, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Electric State. Each project sharpened his eye for realism and storytelling through light, texture and composition, preparing him for his latest haunting venture with The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025).

DP: Alex, can you start by outlining the scope of Digital Domain’s work on The Conjuring: Last Rites?

Alex Millet: The major effects were the Smurl street environment, the hallway destruction and the Annabelle doll sequence. Combined, these represented a little over half of the scope. On top of these, we also had a very complex ceiling replacement in the mirror room, a CG dog, some fire enhancement and along with many other invisible effects such as glasses reflections, TV insert, background replacement, etc. The team grew up to about 150 artists, and production lasted about 8 months. 

DP: Which sequences do you personally consider the centerpiece of your team’s work, and why?

Alex Millet: The Smurl environment was a big part of our scope. We recreated the entire street surrounding the Smurls’ house and the looming factory. The environment was seen in multiple sequences at different times of day, each with different lighting and “life” in the neighbourhood. The hallway destruction was another big challenge because of all the destruction that we had to create. And, of course, Annabelle being so iconic, the sequence where she comes to life was an important one.

DP: Horror relies on timing and subtlety. How did you collaborate with the director and editorial team to ensure the VFX didn’t overwhelm, but instead amplified the tension?

Alex Millet:Scott Edelstein was the VFX Supervisor on the production side and our main link with the director, Michael Chaves. Working with Scott and Michael was amazing; they were open to ideas and understood what was possible, which made it feel very collaborative.

The goal for us is always for our effect to disappear and blend with the on-set photography to complement the look and feeling the director created. We match every detail as closely as we can; down to the subtle amount of wind in the atmosphere. The production team did a great job anticipating our needs while shooting, which made it a lot easier to integrate our image and keep our effect non-distracting.

DP: The Annabelle transformation is one of the film’s signature moments. What were the creative conversations around taking an iconic prop and making it terrifying at a larger-than-life scale?

Alex Millet:We started by building a CG version of the original doll, then turned it into the 12-foot version. As the giant version came to life in the hallway, the iterative process began. The 12-foot version of Annabelle went through a few rounds of redesign to become the scary character that the director wanted to see. Once the new look was found, we received a concept and started rebuilding our asset and worked on a new post viz. Annabelle needed to look determined and threatening as she came out of the room, yet not totally in control of her body.

As the animation team took over, some aspects they focused on were Annabelle’s silhouette, matching some of the poses established during the concept phase, and the transformation. The transformation needed to feel abrupt, painful, and scary. We scaled different limbs at different times across the cut while working very closely with our CFX team to make sure the jerky motion did not break the dress simulation or make it distracting. The lighting also played a key role in the scare, keeping things dark yet revealing just enough to feel Annabelle’s presence, until the final jump scare with the flashlight.

DP: Abigail Arnold’s smile is disturbingly subtle. How much back-and-forth was involved in refining something so specific, yet so essential to the character’s menace?

Alex Millet: We were lucky that the Director, Michael Chaves, is quite VFX-savvy, and provided us with a concept of the look and smile he wanted Abigail to have. The goal was to match his concept and bring her to life. We started with recreating the concept for different lighting scenarios, then developed a range of smile variations, ranging from neutral to wide extended smiles. The director was then able to select the right performance and the range of the smile that worked for the shots.

A lot of the subtlety is in everything around the smile. The mouth only moves so much, but the way the cheeks, nostrils, eyelids or even eyebrows, compress and deform, all contribute to the realism and expression. Once we had selected range we refined the motion further, and the compositing team integrated the new face into the shot. We used this process for different shots, all in different lighting environments.

DP: Horror effects can easily cross the line into unintentional comedy, the dreaded “absurdist 80s VHS fail.” How do you dial a CG effect into the sweet spot where it reads as horrifying, not parody?

Alex Millet: Here again, blending into the tone and vision established by the practical photography is always the most important for the effects. Our goal is always to make sure the VFX are as seamless as possible, and not distracting.

Other than matching the look, lighting and ambience of what was done on set, that also means making sure that any animation does not go over the top, and breaks the tension. The Abigail smile was a great example, we could get a much wider range for a smile but instead, the more subtle ones, and in some cases barely moving at all, kept her looking disturbing.

DP: Any tips for your peers on how to land that “maximum horror” effect faster in iteration, instead of burning weeks on trial and error?

Alex Millet: Hiding things is often a lot scarier than trying to explicitly create something scary. As VFX artists, we’re very analytical of our images and want to see every detail to make sure it’s perfect, but in this case, we needed to hide part of the image and let things fall into darkness. We’re still just as concerned with every detail; it’s more of an extra step: now that we know how it looks, what does it look like way darker? What parts are gone, and which ones are left. We, then, let the audience fill in the blanks.

DP: You’ve mentioned the Pennsylvania mill town environment. Can you walk us through how the team extended sets into a fully believable small town, while keeping continuity across day and night shots?

Alex Millet: We knew we were going to see the street in many different shots, angles and lighting scenarios; we just didn’t know what these were going to be until the edit stabilized. So it started with concept work, then committed pretty early on to building the entire street as a fully renderable CG asset.

We started with a rough 3D layout of the neighbourhood, then focused on the street the Smurls’ house was on. We built the houses in a modular way, like Lego blocks, and split them between the different floors and roofs, so we could easily swap the different pieces and create a lot of variations. This allowed us to start working on our assets to a high level of detail early on, and also prevented having to redo work if, for example, Scott or Michael wanted to move a particular house, or change the roof on another.

Once the VFX sup & director were happy with the look in some early development shots, we worked on the different lighting environments and added life with props, cars, atmosphere, etc. So having the street fully built made it easy to maintain continuity across the shots, or break it if we wanted to do so for creative reasons. Around the CG street, we used 2.5D, mixing matte painting with supporting geometry for the factory and background, and lastly, the far background and sky were 2D matte painting.

DP: Beyond the big hero moments, you delivered a large volume of invisible effects, reflections, vehicles, ceiling replacements. What kind of pipeline ensures consistency across such a wide range of tasks?

Alex Millet: Having a scalable pipeline is key. Many individual effects were only for a few shots, while others, like the Smurl street or the hallway destruction, spanned over 100+ shots. Having a single but scalable pipeline allows us to be nimble and iterate quickly to get started, but then scale up to handle any volume of shots. If things change, it also prevents us from having to go back and build things differently or with a different approach.

DP: Let’s talk specifically about the mirror sequence. How did you design your glass-break pipeline for that scene?

Alex Millet: We had to create the shattering glass in the hallway sequence as well as the crack that’s on the mirror throughout the movie. Glass is really unforgiving in the sense that it needs to be fully built for all the reflections and refractions to behave correctly; there is no shortcut. Our asset team built a CG version of the mirror first, ensuring the glass layer had the correct thickness and reflection behaviour.

Then for the shattering, the FX team fractured the glass with an evolving crack. Fracture simulations don’t always result in the cleanest geometry and with glass, any imperfection can result in unwanted highlights. So after the glass was fractured in FX, we went back to the asset team and spent more time refining the geometry to make sure everything behaved correctly and looked as real as possible. For the static cracks, we had a different approach and started with a 2D concept of the overall shape, then sculpted it directly into the geometry.

DP: The haunted mirror and hallway destruction sequence demanded complex simulation. What tools and workflows did you lean on to ensure the scene felt both physically credible and cinematically heightened?

Alex Millet: The hallway sequence was a challenge. We started with building a CG version of the hallway that had to be water-tight to work with the FX simulations. Our assets are mainly built in Maya for modelling, Mari for texturing, then Houdini & VRay for Lookdev.

Once our asset matched the set, we added some extra geometry behind the walls and floor, to be revealed during the destruction and added material variations to the debris. The next step was to animate the mirror moving through the wall and start working on the look of the broken wood and floorboard simulation.

Our FX team, working in Houdini, did different iterations of breaking wood and drywall to find that rhythm and dynamic pop in the destruction. We also played with different amounts of smoke, either slowly filling the room or shooting from the impacts. We then went back to lookdev to create some procedural materials for the additional geometry.

That’s all the inside faces that didn’t exist in the original model and were created once the geometry was fractured. Some of the finer effects, like smoke or fine particles, went directly from the FX team to the compositing team, but the main fractured geometry was passed to the lighting team to render with the mirror and the rest of the hallway. The lighting team rendered everything with VRay and Solaris in Houdini, then passed it to the compositing team to put all the elements together in Nuke.

DP: How many iterations did it take to nail the timing and behavior of the breakage, and how did you balance simulation randomness with director’s notes?

Alex Millet: The biggest challenge was to tie in the propagating crack, which was an FX simulation, with the main cracks. The main cracks, under the actor’s hands, had a very specific art direction to look like they originated from the hand. They also needed the right timing to happen when the actors touched the mirror. We laid out the main impact points first, then matched the speed of the simulated propagating crack to tie everything in.

Once the timing worked, we tweaked the geometry of our propagating crack once more so the lines would connect with the main impacts. The final effect was meant to look like a single event, moving across the entire glass but with specific impact points tied to the actor’s performance..

DP: Looking back, what do you consider the biggest technical achievement of your team on The Conjuring: Last Rites?

Alex Millet: The hallway sequence was an interesting technical challenge; it came in late in the schedule, but required a full rebuild of the hallway and a heavy amount of FX destruction in almost every shot. The mirror was plowing through the walls and floors, and we needed to maintain some consistency in the destruction across the sequence.

We also had to be very careful of the actors’ reflections, as we sometimes had to replace the mirror with a CG one for the animation and destruction to work, but we needed to maintain the actors’ reflections. Overall, the biggest challenge of the project was the aggressive timeline and wide scope of work; we had a big environment build with the Smurl street, a lot of FX simulation, some animation and character work with Annabelle and Abigail, a huge oner shot, and the list goes on. The team did an amazing job delivering this project on time and without any outstanding notes.

The post When Annabelle Grew Up: The Digital Domain Horror Pipeline first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Autodesk’s Maya 2026.3, now available through the Autodesk Account portal, delivers substantial mid-cycle additions. The update introduces new animation management tools, Bifrost rigid bodies, expanded USD support, and deeper integration with Autodesk Flow 0.11.0.

Animation: Channel Sets and contextual tools

Animators gain new control with Channel Sets in the Graph Editor, which allow grouping and sharing collections of channels for cleaner scene management. A new toggle lets artists hide or show pins, shifting focus toward organised channel groups. Animate in Context now includes a demo project showcasing its capabilities, and the MotionMaker Editor gains a contextual right-click menu for faster access to character key operations.

Technical rigging: Dynamic Geometry Attributes

Dynamic Geometry Attributes give technical artists per-vertex analysis tools to identify rigging problem areas and improve deformation quality. They can also drive procedural effects such as animated wrinkles. Example scenes are available in the Content Browser under Animation > Dynamic Geometry Attributes.

Camera Sequencer: refined shot creation

The Camera Sequencer now offers a more intuitive and flexible shot-creation workflow. Autodesk describes this as an expansion of existing functionality rather than a major overhaul, focusing on smoother editing and management of camera sequences.

LookdevX 1.10.0: refined look development

LookdevX 1.10.0 brings colour-management updates, improved generative-texture APIs, and clearer documentation. These refinements aim to stabilise the framework for shader and material development across pipelines.

USD 0.34: new Asset Resolver

USD for Maya 0.34 introduces the Asset Resolver, simplifying asset loading and improving portability between different production environments. The update refines asset referencing and streamlines project structure handling.

Bifrost 2.15.0.0: rigid bodies debut

Bifrost 2.15.0.0 delivers its first implementation of rigid-body dynamics, adding simulation capabilities for solid objects alongside the existing fluid and aerosol solvers. It also brings fracturing, Boolean modelling tools, and a range of general stability improvements.

Rendering: Arnold for Maya 5.5.4

Arnold integration advances to MtoA 5.5.4, adding a new Inference imager, enhancements to Global Light Sampling, and various bug fixes.

Autodesk Flow 0.11.0 integration

Flow 0.11.0 now installs automatically with Maya 2026.3, connecting Maya to Autodesk’s collaborative ecosystem. It supports Animate in Context and other Flow-based features through a background desktop service.

The post Autodesk launches Maya 2026.3 & Creative 2026.3 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Character rigger Julen Armendariz has released WaveManager, a free Python-based tool for Autodesk Maya. The script generates procedural wave motion on any hierarchy of controls, using Maya’s native expression system instead of keyframes. WaveManager operates entirely through driven expressions, allowing a single driver control to manipulate the entire wave behaviour across a chain of objects. This approach makes it especially suitable for rigging and animating tentacles, tails, ropes, wings, or any FK-based control structure.

One Control to Rule Them All

All motion parameters are centralised in one driver. The available attributes—amplitude, speed, length, falloff, and offset—can be tuned independently or together, and they act simultaneously on the X, Y, and Z axes. The tool applies the wave procedurally, so timing and spacing adjustments propagate across the hierarchy in real time. Armendariz includes an optional Create Offset Group function. When enabled, the script inserts an additional node above each control, isolating the wave expression from the original animation channels. This keeps rigs non-destructive and clean for keyframed animation.

Fully Expression-Based

Unlike tools that rely on dynamic simulations or baked motion, WaveManager uses pure expressions in Maya. The result is a lightweight, deterministic system: behaviour is fully defined by a mathematical expression, with no simulation cache or physics overhead. Expressions can be removed per control or cleared globally with one command, returning the rig to its original state. The tool also includes Select Childs, an option that automatically collects all children of a selected control, simplifying setup for long FK chains.

Installation and Workflow

WaveManager is distributed as a single Python file. Installation is straightforward: drag and drop WaveManager.py into the Maya viewport, or execute it from the Script Editor. Users can create a custom shelf button for faster access. To use the tool, select the controls that should carry the wave, assign a single driver, and configure the desired parameters. All motion remains non-destructive and can be adjusted interactively during animation.

Non-Destructive, Animation-Friendly Design

Because expressions are stored separately from animation channels, artists can combine procedural motion with hand animation. This workflow is particularly valuable for rigging setups that require secondary motion or layered deformation without simulation. All expressions can be deleted at any time, leaving no residual data in the scene. The tool is entirely Python-based and uses only Maya’s built-in features, which ensures compatibility and avoids reliance on external plugins or compiled code.

Availability

WaveManager version 1.0 is available now as a free download under a pay-what-you-want model (listed at €0+). It can be obtained via Julen Armendariz’s release page. As with any utility, users should test the tool thoroughly before integrating it into production pipelines.

The post Free WaveManager Brings Procedural Motion to Maya first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For Momo (2025), director Christian Ditter, Ratpack Film Production and RiseFX took on the challenge of reimagining Michael Ende’s timeless tale for a new generation — without losing its quiet melancholy or handmade charm. Based on the 1973 novel and following in the shadow of the 1986 adaptation, Momo centres on an orphan girl who must battle the soulless Men in Grey, who stealthily take over her city and steal time.

Michael Wortmann, who worked on films such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Black Panther (2018) and Red One (2024) brings Hollywood scale experience to Momo. As VFX Supervisor at RiseFX, he led the team through a 16-month production cycle, delivering more than 280 shots with a crew of roughly 50 artists – merging blockbuster techniques with a grounded, naturalistic aesthetic in this German production.

Creative Directions

DP: How jarring was it to go from the adrenaline-soaked action comedy Red One to the timeless, melancholic world of Momo?

Michael Wortmann: Well, these two movies might not seem to be much alike on the first look but if you think about it they do have a lot in common. Both movies address a wide audience, they fall into the genre fantasy and they both deal with the timeless topic of who we spend time with. The surreal set extensions are a fantasy but keeping a lot of things grounded in the real world is key to make the story relatable to the viewer.

DP: Momo comes with serious nostalgia baggage, both from the book and the 1986 movie. How much of that legacy influenced your take? And how did you decide what to preserve, what to reinvent, and what to toss out with the Men in Grey’s cigars?

Michael Wortmann: The goal was clear from the beginning: we are not doing a remake, we really want to upgrade Momo and make a 2025 version of it. So this was not about nostalgica but really updating all the elements of the story to make them relatable to a new generation that didn’t grow up with the old movie. So dolls became Bibibots, cigars became inhalers, there’s grey women now and so on. Still, we tried not to lean into science fiction too much because essentially Momo is a tale. Director Christian Ditter had all these wonderful ideas when he wrote the script and this really translated into the design of the film.

DP: The realm of the Men in Grey and the Source of Time are gorgeous, especially that giant pendulum over the water. How did those concepts evolve visually? How many iterations did they go through before locking in the final design?

Michael Wortmann: The golden dome is one of the pivotal moments in the book and the movie as well. It took a while to figure it out and there were a lot of options discussed. The description in the original book was a cave like place so we started looking into actual caves in Croatia.

During preproduction it became obvious that we wouldn’t be able to make a cave shoot happening so we got creative about it. We discussed all kinds of ideas, minimalistic approaches like a black void just shoing a water surface with Momo and the flower of the hour. We also discussed shooting in an LED Stage but we felt this is not the right approach for our movie. Momo is essentially shot entirely on location so we were worried that LED stage shots would look unnatural.

So on one weekend, while we were still shooting our director went to a beach in Split and found that little half moon shaped bay –  and we all knew this is the place! So we started developing concepts which developed a bit over time. We started with antique ruins but ended up with a more naturalistic design reelected in a dome made from driftwood as our director felt that this place needed to be more organic. We worked closely with concept artist Francesco Corvino who depicted style frames for this environment.

DP: How much of the final look was premeditated versus discovered? Were there moments where someone said, “Wait, this actually looks better upside down,” and you just rolled with it?

Michael Wortmann: We tried to plan as much as we could but on the visual effects side we had to develop some things to make things look really appealing. For example in the Neverlane we were facing problems because the whole set and the set extension were sandstone color. So we started introduce lensflares which were artificially rgb colored so they resemble rainbow colors. They weren’t the true look of the lenses we used but they helped a lot in making the shots not look monochromatic.

DP: Momo has this delicate balance of realism and magic and  it never tips too far into fantasy. Was there a guiding visual rulebook or “Momo physics” that defined what could exist in that world?

Michael Wortmann: We agreed with the director that anything in our Momo world is grounded in reality. Time being frozen is a thing, it is something we can show without being non-physical. Even the dissolves of the greys are based on their colors, non-gravity and the pink color of the flour of the hour – they come across like fairy dust but in essence they are organic and real in terms of the story.

DP: In terms of look development, what role did RiseFX play in setting the tone?

Michael Wortmann: There was a little concept art that was done before we shot the movie and then we had Francesco working on concepts together with the director after the shoot. But there were still a lot of things left for us to figure out so we did a lot of design work on this one. The look through Momo’s glasses, the design of the future city, the Neverlane set extensions, the time vault and the screen during the judgement scene, just to name a few.

Technical & Pipeline

DP: Let’s talk about scale. When did Rise actually start on  Momo? How long did production run, how many artists were involved, and roughly how many shots were completed?

Michael Wortmann: We started on Momo in January 2025 and we finished in May 2026, so it was a long one. I think we had a crew of 50 artists working on our show over time and we completed 280 shots, which is the majority of work. 

DP: The reel shows full-CG environments, set extensions both “normal” and “fantastic,” time-freeze sequences, particle sims — basically a buffet of VFX challenges. How did the team manage such variety without losing track of what’s real, what’s magic, and what’s due Tuesday?

Michael Wortmann: I am working with an experienced team that I know for years so I can completely rely on them helping me navigate through the storm. As I was on set supervising the shoot and in direct touch with the director and producer so I had a lot of background knowledge of what we needed to do.

DP: The USD-based multishot pipeline was pushed forward, I assume – how exactly did that work in practice these days? Were there multiple vendors, and how did you keep asset exchanges from turning into a Kafka novel?

Michael Wortmann: No, this was not as crazy as it sounds. Our pipeline is well established and it all worked out as planned. We pushed pretty much all shots through our pipeline: Maya, Houdini, Karma rendering and Nuke.

DP: Which shots were the biggest technical headaches, and how did Rise solve them?

Michael Wortmann: I think the golden dome shots were really challenging, both creatively and technically. We needed to match the beach including water sims, caustic renderings and all that, the asset was extremely heavy with all the wooden structures. Finally we needed this weird lighting setup where the center of the scene is in bright light but towards the end of the set we wanted night. We tried to sell the sunlight in the plates as the light coming down onto the pendulum and I think that worked beautifully.

Creature Feature: Cassiopeia the Turtle

DP: Let’s talk about Cassiopeia, everyone’s favourite turtle and possibly the calmest on-screen actor in cinema. How much research went into her design and movement?

Michael Wortmann: When we started I was told Cassiopeia is an animatronic build and that we only need to take care of her letters. I was curious but when I saw the first tests I knew we would need to help so we ended up with a good combination of animatronic and cgi shots here. We had all kind of hybrid shots where we just replaced the feet or touched up the rig underneath her shell. Chris Creatures did a great job and she really looks cute. Some closeups are especially incredibly well working, the animatronic had two versions, one that could move around and one that was slightly bigger and had a full facial rig. The only thing she basically can’t do is walk like a real turtle so that’s when we had to fully replace her.

DP: Be honest: did anyone at Rise actually have a turtle at home they brought in for research? And if yes, how long did the motion capture session take? And how is RiseFX’s policy towards pets in the office?

Michael Wortmann: Haha, we do have that occasional dog coming in but like always no animals were harmed during making this movie!

DP: The film’s Cassiopeia clearly isn’t a real turtle, not just because of the writing on her shell (D’uh). She moves with agency, emotion, even purpose. How much of that is biologically plausible, and how much is, well, pure storytelling?

Michael Wortmann: I think we went modest when it comes to unnatural behaviour, Michael Ende wrote Momo in Italy and had turtles in the garden of the place where he stayed. That’s why she is mostly natural and also why she doesn’t speak. I really like the mix of a natural turtle but then being spiced up with fantasy colors, she is way to blue for a real turtle.

DP: There’s a fine line between an anatomically accurate turtle and an expressive one. How did the animators find that sweet spot — especially when Cassiopeia smiles (something turtles, tragically, do not do)?

Michael Wortmann: Anatomically turtles cannot smile but her mouth shape really helps. Most facial expressions are not a result of one thing moving but if you open your mouth while you close your eyes a bit it makes the whole face suddenly resonate and allows to read an emotion. Animating the flower petals was much more difficult because that animation really is just about translating an object in space while still transporting a message.

DP: If you had to define Cassiopeia in one word what would it be?
Michael Wortmann: (Classic) Sidekick!

Wrap-Up

DP: If you were to start Momo again from scratch (same script, same crew, same turtle) what would you do differently, either creatively or technically?

Michael Wortmann: Well, there’s always that one shot you are not super happy with but overall we really managed to deliver a very consistent and high quality of vfx work. This was a german production and even though we had a decent budget we had to manage things efficiently in order to make this movie really look as big as it should. Everyone in Germany want to finally do these big, cinematic movies – I think we did one.

DP: What lessons or tools from Momo will Rise carry forward into future productions, apart from the obvious “saving time to spend time” mantra, which seems to apply to pipelines, not to artists?

Michael Wortmann: After this we have done another step into a direction where we can provide the full scope of VFX, not only in terms of content but also in terms of supervision and production support. Momo was always about taking all the experience and knowledge and make it possible to shoot a big looking movie on set without impacting the production as little as possible. There’s hardly greenscreens, no LED stage, everything is real and onset, thats’s why it looks so good. There’s a reason why the directior Christian Ditter and me both own a copy of “Making of The Creator”. 

DP: Finally, what’s next for you and for Rise FX?

Michael Wortmann: Welcome to the Hunger Games! I’m working on the new installment, titled “Sunrise on the reaping” – stay tuned, It’s going to be good!

The post Momo: Of Time, Turtles, and Technical Wizardry first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Tool developer Ehsan Bayat has released Vectorify, a free tool for Autodesk Maya that transforms animation repathing from a tedious process into an intuitive and highly visual workflow. Designed for use with Maya 2022 through 2026, the tool integrates seamlessly into production environments and is especially suited for animation cycles involving bipeds and quadrupeds. However, it is not restricted to loops or locomotion sequences: any animation—whether character-based or mechanical—can be repathed within seconds and without breaking keyframe timing.

Vectorify provides temporary controls that allow artists to manipulate paths directly in the viewport. Animators can reposition motion trajectories interactively, align characters to ground surfaces, and even conform motion to irregular terrain. Snapping animations to the ground becomes a single click operation, working reliably across slopes, bumps, and uneven geometry. The same principle applies to character turns: bipeds, quadrupeds, or custom rigs can follow circular or freely drawn paths, which makes adjusting scene blocking and walk cycles far more efficient.

When a motion curve needs straightening, Vectorify recalculates it instantly, maintaining stride and timing continuity. Animators can flip an entire motion direction without rebuilding the path, attach one path to another for seamless looping or modular scene design, and change the pivot point of a curve to fine-tune motion control. A flexible Master Control system lets users decide whether the global controller follows the animated character or remains independent—ideal for testing alternative path behaviors in layout. Once the new motion feels right, the animation can be baked immediately, ready for fine-tuning or export.

Extended Control and Ground Logic

Vectorify’s approach extends beyond standard motion path editing. Animators can create circular or looping paths for patrol cycles or chase sequences, snap animations to the ground plane with one click, or update a path dynamically when the ground geometry changes. Paths can be reversed, reattached, or replaced at any stage, while maintaining the animation’s overall consistency. The Master Control behavior can be switched freely, allowing artists to decide whether it remains locked to the scene origin or travels with the character—useful for both previs and final shots.

The tool is specifically optimized for characters moving along a ground plane. While it is not intended for vertical movement or flying rigs, Bayat notes that it has been tested on a broad range of bipedal, quadrupedal, and creature assets, and should work without issues in most cases.

Terms of Use and Availability

Vectorify is distributed as a free download under standard usage terms and requires no external dependencies. It runs natively on Autodesk Maya 2022–2026, making it suitable for studios and freelancers working across different pipeline versions. Once installed, Vectorify integrates directly into Maya’s animation environment, ready to be used for layout corrections, animation retargeting, or production polishing. The tool is available for download on Gumroad, with detailed explanations, demo scenes, and video examples

The post Vectorify: Simplify Animation Repathing in Maya first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF Munich) is opening its VFX lab doors to two new technically minded colleagues. Under the direction of Professor Jürgen Schopper, the school’s Department of Visual Effects is looking to strengthen its Visual Effects section with a Pipeline Technical Director (m/f/d) and an IT Administrator (m/f/d), each on a permanent 50 % contract, roughly 20 hours per week. Both roles sit at the intersection of art, code, and education. The work environment? Half lab, half film set, and fully embedded in one of Europe’s most respected and vibrant film schools.

Role 1: Pipeline Technical Director

The Pipeline TD position focuses on keeping the school’s VFX and animation workflows smooth, consistent, and sane. The system is currently based on Prism and Flow Production Tracking, and needs ongoing optimisation and documentation.

The role includes maintaining the renderfarm, refining asset management and data structures, and advising on industry standards like colour management and data formats. Candidates should have experience with Houdini, Maya, Nuke, or Blender, as well as strong Python scripting skills.

A plus: curiosity about AI-based automation and machine-learning-assisted workflows. The school explicitly welcomes candidates ready to experiment with AI integration, within reason and good documentation.

HFF München Job Posting: Pipeline Technical Director (m/w/d)

Role 2: IT Administrator

The IT Administration role keeps the digital backbone of the VFX section running. The school’s setup is mostly Windows-based, with a Linux backend, and hardware that’s no older than five years.

Responsibilities include system maintenance, automation, hardware and software procurement, and implementing new technologies that might benefit students or teaching staff. Basic AI and ML familiarity is considered a nice-to-have, not a deal-breaker.

Applicants should bring experience in system administration, automation, and hardware management, and ideally some experience in creative or academic environments.

HFF München Job Posting: IT-Administration und technische Betreuung (m/w/d)

Fine Print and Fairness

As a public art university of the Free State of Bavaria, the HFF emphasises diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity. Applicants with disabilities will be given preference when equally qualified. All genders and backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Editorial P.S.

If you end up working with Jürgen, Peter, Rodolfo, Sinje, Petra, and the rest of the HFF crew, congratulations, you’ll have joined one of the friendliest and most capable VFX teams around.

Also, a word on the locality: the HFF sits right above Munich’s Egyptian Museum. That means, uniquely in the world, you can tell that your render failed due to the pharaoh’s curse.

And, another little P.S.: Munich is celebrating the “Long Night Of The Museums” on Saturday, 18th of October. You can just go to the HFF, have a look around, and get a feel for the place. And watch the amazing works of the Students in one of the cinemas!

The post HFF Munich Hiring: Two Half-Time Heroes Wanted first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

XPU grows up

Pixar has pushed its hybrid CPU/GPU renderer, XPU, into full production status with the beta of RenderMan 27. XPU, introduced as experimental in earlier releases, now supports final-frame rendering. The engine adds interactive denoising for live look feedback, deep compositing outputs, and holdouts/mattes for layered workflows. Checkpointing allows partially saved renders, useful for iterative approval cycles. XPU also gains multi-GPU support, extending performance across several cards, and now runs OSL (Open Shading Language) filters. Limitations remain: no Cryptomatte support, no texture or light baking, no NURBS/quadrics rendering, and reduced performance with thousands of lights. macOS users must wait for a later dot release to run XPU at all.

RIS heads to retirement

RIS, RenderMan’s long-standing CPU-only engine, is still included but officially marked for deprecation. Pixar has not provided a removal version, but signals its intent to transition all users to XPU in the near future.

MaterialX integration

MaterialX, the open standard developed by ILM and adopted by the Academy Software Foundation, arrives in RenderMan 27. XPU can evaluate MaterialX shading graphs, allowing interchange between applications that support the format. This addresses a key demand for studio pipelines that rely on cross-software asset exchange.

Stylized Looks expand

Pipeline features

RenderMan 27 continues Pixar’s effort to fit modern VFX pipelines. The update improves checkpointing and adds output flexibility for deep compositing passes. Support for mattes and holdouts makes it easier to combine live-action and CG layers, or to generate masks for postproduction.

Smaller additions

The release also improves interactive workflows with enhancements to the IPR (Interactive Preview Render). Users can now update shaders and geometry with fewer restarts, reducing iteration time. XPU’s viewport responsiveness has been tuned for lookdev, even on large assets. Another area of focus is light transport and filtering. XPU gains extended support for OSL filters, giving TDs more granular control over pixel output during rendering. This makes it possible to implement customised passes or in-house filtering logic without rewriting the core renderer.

Plugin updates

The release ships with updated plugins for Houdini, Katana, Maya, and Blender. Integration is designed to expose XPU features directly within host DCC applications, keeping lookdev and shot work inside familiar UIs.

Historical context

RenderMan has been Pixar’s in-house renderer since the late 1980s, originally built on the Reyes architecture optimised for micropolygon rendering. RIS, introduced in 2014, replaced Reyes with a path tracer better suited to global illumination. With version 27, Pixar signals the next phase: shifting from CPU-centric RIS to the hybrid CPU/GPU XPU engine, reflecting the industry-wide migration towards GPU acceleration. RenderMan 27 is available as a beta for registered users.

The post RenderMan 27: XPU graduates, RIS retires first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

A Clean Alternative for Maya Animators

Animator Ehsan Bayat has released Pickify, a free tool for Autodesk Maya that handles selection sets without generating clutter in the Outliner. Instead of relying on traditional Maya sets, Pickify lets artists assign hotkeys to groups of controls such as fingers, brows, or legs. For animators working with complex rigs, this reduces repetitive clicking and improves focus on motion rather than rig navigation.

Minimal Interface, Persistent Access

The tool provides a compact and modern UI. Unlike many script-based utilities that disappear once a command is run, Pickify’s interface can remain visible while animating. Artists can treat it as a standard selection manager while retaining flexibility through hotkey assignments.

Geometry Visibility at Hand

Pickify does more than control selections. It can also hide or show geometry segments directly from the UI. This is useful when animating dense rigs with overlapping meshes, where isolating a hand, face, or mouth speeds up playback and simplifies keyframing. The approach avoids detours into display layers or viewport filters.

Portable and Reusable

Another key function is portability. Selection sets created in Pickify can be exported and then imported into other Maya scenes. Sets can also be shared between animators, provided that the character rigs follow the same naming hierarchy. This makes Pickify suitable for collaborative workflows, where consistency of rig naming is already a pipeline requirement.

Keeps Outliner Untouched

Unlike Maya’s built-in sets, Pickify does not create actual set nodes. As a result, the Outliner remains uncluttered and the scene hierarchy untouched. This reduces the risk of confusion during later stages of production, especially when files move between animation, rigging, and lighting departments.

Pricing and Availability

Pickify is available now via Gumroad as a free download. The developer offers an optional “pay what you want” pricing model. The file size is 9.81 MB. At the time of writing, the tool is distributed as a single download and requires Autodesk Maya to function.

The post Pickify: Selection Sets Without Outliner Mess first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Animatrix Studio has introduced Animatrix Polisher, a new Maya add-on designed to let animators sculpt and keyframe meshes directly. The tool bypasses traditional rigging fixes and converts edits into keyframed blendshapes. At 20 USD, it is positioned as an affordable corrective tool for everyday animation problems: mesh penetrations, ugly blendshape outputs, or simply the need for stylised effects like smear frames.

Organised by body parts

A practical addition is support for multiple blendshapes per frame. Artists can create different shape layers—for example, “Arm”, “Leg”, “Body”, “Head”—and manage them independently. This helps keep track of sculpted corrections in complex scenes.

Use cases listed by the developer

The official product page identifies several typical use cases:

• Adding mesh details not supported by the rig
• Fixing mesh penetration during motion
• Polishing poor blendshape deformations
• Creating stylised smear frames
• Fine-tuning timing using tangent adjustments

All of these functions are integrated into a single sculpt–keyframe workflow inside Maya.

Compatibility and limitations

Polisher is available only on Windows and supports Maya versions 2023 through 2026. The developer is listed as N3ÜRØ, part of Animatrix Studio.

One known issue is a quirk in Maya’s own Sculpt Tool. If activated outside Polisher’s Sculpt Mode, Maya may generate a createColorSet node on the mesh. Polisher provides a button to delete this node safely.

Pricing

The tool is sold for 20 USD via AnimProps.

Why it matters

While Polisher does not replace a proper rig or deformation system, it addresses a common pain point: the gap between what rigs provide and what animators need in production. Quick fixes for penetrations, shape clean-ups, or experimental smear frames can be executed directly in the animation pass, saving time and pipeline back-and-forth.

The post Polishing Polygons: Animatrix Polisher for Maya first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Studios, Exhibition, and Light

Before FAB 2025 officially kicks off on September 26, Berliners can get insights into the local animation scene with a  bus tour of Berlin animation studios on Thursday, 25 September, from 12:00 to 18:00. Participants visit four local studios, meet artists at work, and share conversations over drinks and snacks. In parallel, artist Maya Yonesho launches Daumenreise #48: Berlin from 15:30 to 19:00 in Kleines Kino at silent green Kulturquartier. Participants draw flipbook sequences inspired by favourite Berlin locations and assemble them into a collaborative animation. The evening opens with the vernissage of FAB Dimensional at 19:00 in Betonhalle, silent green. This fifth edition exhibits animation beyond traditional screens. At 20:30 in Betonhalle, Maxime Lethelier and Asako Fujimoto perform Floating Levels, a live mix of animated laser projection and music.

Berlin Animation Hub – Professional Exchange

Since 2023, the Berlin Animation Hub has been FAB’s dedicated professional programme. In 2025 it returns with a dense schedule of masterclasses, workshops, pitching sessions, and networking events.

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Why This Matters for DP Readers

The Berlin Animation Hub offers rare technical deep dives in a festival setting. For production artists, it means direct access to the workflows of internationally recognised directors: from stop-motion material exploration with Yashiro to Yamamura’s study of sound-image interplay. The workshops bridge analogue craft and digital pipelines, making them directly relevant for animators, compositors, and TDs.

For studios, the Hub is a testing ground for new methods and a chance to hear how colleagues approach specific challenges—whether anime-style 2D pipelines, life-sized charcoal animation, or mobile stop-motion rigs. Unlike trade fairs, the Hub’s scale allows actual exchange: participants can ask questions, show reels, and discuss solutions with the experts themselves.

For DP readers, the Berlin Animation Hub offers what is usually missing at major film festivals: hands-on technical insight and business networking in one place. Events such as the Elevator Pitches, the FAB Pitch, and specialist brunches (including the Panimation Brunch and AG Animationsfilm Get-together) are explicitly aimed at connecting artists, studios, and commissioners. For anyone working in VFX, CGI, or postproduction pipelines, this is the rare Berlin event where artistic experimentation, production technique, and international co-production opportunities meet under one roof.

The Festival!

26 September: Workshops and German Competition

Friday starts with “Animation im Ohr!”, a workshop on audio description for animation, from 09:30 to 14:00 in Atelier 1 at silent green. Together with facilitators, participants create an accessible version of the animated short Jeijay.

At 10:30, children and young audiences get their share: Pink Panda I: Primary School screens at City Kino Wedding, while Pink Panda II: Teens runs in the Kino at silent green.

Later, Neue Talente I screens at 17:00 in City Kino Wedding, presenting student shorts from international film schools.

The official festival opening begins at 19:00 in City Kino Wedding with the Deutscher Animationsfilm competition. The Animanga Choir performs anime music before screenings of German shorts. A champagne reception follows.

27 September: Japan in the Spotlight

Saturday’s schedule extends FAB’s Japanese focus. Daumenreise #48 continues from 14:30 to 20:00 in Atelier 1 at silent green, allowing participants to contribute drawings to Yonesho’s Berlin project.

In the evening, Floating Levels returns for a second performance at 20:30 in Betonhalle. Meanwhile, Japanese directors Lina Machida, Takeshi Yashiro, and Kōji Yamamura host screenings, workshops, and talks (exact slots listed in FAB’s printed catalogue), ranging from stop-motion material explorations to sound-image experiments.

International short films, curated Japanese programmes, and a “best-of” screening by the visiting Factual Animation Film Festival (FAFF) round out the day.

28 September: Hands-on Finale

Sunday closes FAB with a participatory focus. From 13:00 to 16:00 in the Porter’s Room at silent green, Stefan Schomerus’ Mini-Mitmach-Trickfilmstudio invites families and children to build their own stop-motion animations.

Additional Pink Panda screenings return for preschool audiences, while the International and Feature Film Competitions run through the day at City Kino Wedding.

The festival concludes with an award ceremony on 28 September in City Kino Wedding, honouring winners across six categories, including International, German, Commissioned, New Talent, Pink Panda, and Feature Film.

The post Berlin Animates: FAB 2025 Full Daily Programme first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.