Topaz Labs confirmed that from 3 October 2025, its software will no longer be sold under perpetual licences. Current perpetual customers keep their licences, but no new perpetual purchases will be possible after this date. Products affected are Topaz Gigapixel, Topaz Photo, and Topaz Video (formerly Gigapixel AI, Photo AI, and Video AI). Until the October deadline, perpetual licences remain available at $99, $199, and $299 respectively.

Subscriptions only

After the deadline, the only way to access future versions is via subscription. Topaz calls out “founding customers” with active upgrade plans. They will receive discounts on Studio subscriptions and additional access privileges. The company has not specified the size of the discounts.
Pricing announced:

• Topaz Gigapixel: $29/month or $149/year, Pro plan $499/year
• Topaz Photo: $39/month or $199/year, Pro plan $599/year
• Topaz Video: $59/month or $299/year, Pro plan $699/year

The shift mirrors the launch of Topaz Studio, a subscription-only bundle that combines all three applications.

What Studio brings

According to the official Topaz Labs forum statement, Studio includes seven products and access to over 100 AI models. Local and cloud-based image processing is bundled without extra cost. New AI models debuting inside Studio include Wonder, Standard MAX, Starlight Sharp, and Nyx XL. Models in development include Face Realism, Subject Preservation, and Mosaic.

What this means in production

For postproduction artists, the switch means one-off investments are replaced by recurring costs. Existing perpetual licences continue to function, but users will need a subscription for updates and new features.

The post Topaz drops perpetual licences, bets on subscriptions with Studio launch first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

LumaTouch released LumaFusion 2.3 for Android and Chrome OS on June 24, 2025, bringing long‑requested HDR capability along with general stability improvements. This version introduces support for 10‑bit color workflows, including Rec.709, HLG, HDR10, and DisplayP3—on supported Android devices (LumaTouch).

More Dynamic Color in Mobile Editing

With HDR support, mobile editors can now work with richer color spaces directly on Android and Chrome OS. The new features focus on ensuring footage looks more vibrant and color‑accurate on HDR‑capable displays, matching what’s already available on iPad and iPhone versions.

LumaTouch teases more features headed to the Android version soon – beyond HDR support. Professionals should test this new release before adopting it into production pipelines.

Caution: The Android HDR “Standard”

And now, a note of healthy skepticism for the color-conscious. While LumaFusion 2.3 introduces HDR and 10-bit color workflows on Android, results may differ depending on device, display, and which particular flavor of “standard” Android decided to support this month. The Android ecosystem’s approach to color management has always been, generously, a patchwork. Consistent results across manufacturers, chipsets, and OS versions remain a fond hope – one best summed up by this XKCD classic (opens in new tab). Maybe one day, someone will finally solve it with “just one more” universal standard.

As always, thoroughly test new features in real‑world projects before deploying them in critical workflows. Your mileage may vary, but your headaches will be unique.

The post LumaFusion 2.3 Android HDR support at Last first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Blender artists have reason to celebrate as Jesse Miettinen has released his suite of plug-ins for free download. The plug-ins, initially offered at a price, are now accessible to all users and can help enhance workflows, simplify tasks, and expand the creative potential of Blender.

The plug-ins are designed to optimize a variety of tasks in Blender, such as Shader Based Welding, Castle generation (oh, the ditches we filled!!!!), Cottage generators, Raindrop-Sim, and many more… Miettinen’s tools aim to make daily production more efficient by reducing repetitive tasks and improving control over complex operations.

These tools have been tested in real-world production environments, but it’s recommended to thoroughly evaluate them in your own pipeline before integrating them into any ongoing projects. Stability and compatibility with other tools are always crucial concerns, and while these plug-ins have been well-received, each production environment has its own specific needs.

Blender continues to be a powerful choice for VFX artists, game designers, and animators, and Miettinen’s contribution is yet another example of the community-driven development that has kept Blender relevant and growing. If you’re looking to expand Blender’s functionality, these tools are worth a try.

Full List of Plug-ins:

Pricing and Availability:
The plug-ins, previously sold individually, are now available free of charge. Artists can download them directly from Jesse Miettinen’s Gumroad page and access documentation for setup and usage. There’s no paywall, subscription, or “pay-as-you-want” model, making these tools accessible to artists on any budget.

The post Blender Plug-ins by Jesse Miettinen Now Free to Download first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In nuce: At the CES 2023 (Consumer Electronics Show), graphics card manufacturer Nvidia announced various innovations for its Omniverse collaboration platform. This is according to an announcement from 3 January 2023, published by Omniverse Vice President Frank DeLise on blogs.nvidia.com. The announced highlights include: AI tools for 3D artists, an extension for Blender and the early access of RTX Remixer (for the purpose of ray-tracing and DLSS-based remasters of gaming classics).

In toto: Below is an outline of the announced highlights for Omniverse – and the corresponding video of Nvidia’s special address at CES 2023, moderated by Jeff Fisher, Senior Vice President at Nvidia.

NVIDIA Special Address at CES 2023

• New, experimental AI tools for 3D artists: This concerns the tools Audio2Face, Audio2Gesture and Audio2Emotion. These are tools for 3D character animation, all of which have received a performance update.
• Extension for Blender: The Blender Alpha version is now available for the Omniverse Launcher. This allows geometries to be repaired, UVs to be generated automatically and high-resolution CAD files (computer-aided design) to be downsampled to a more practical polycount. Users can now easily transfer shape keys and rigged characters – or attach the head of one from Omniverse Audio2Face. Audio2Face is an AI-powered tool that automatically creates realistic facial expressions based on audio files.
• Nvidia RTX Remix will soon be available as Early Access: Such classic games that caused a sensation with RTX remasters from the modder community include Half-Life 2 and Max Payne. RTX Remix is a modding platform that – as stated on nvidia.com – utilises “powerful AI tools” to “enhance classic games and quickly create stunning RTX remasters with ray tracing and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) .”
• Update for Canvas: This will be available to users of Nvidia’s RTX graphics cards. Canvas is an AI tool that can be used to create low-threshold landscapes.
• Omniverse will soon be pre-installed on the first Nvidia Studio laptops: As Nvidia mentioned, laptops from Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer Gigabyte Technology will already ship with the Omniverse Launcher this year (this also includes laptops from Gigabyte’s gaming division Aorus)
• New, free USD assets: The number of these should be in the thousands.

Turn the page: In our previous three-part advertorial series on Nvidia’s Omniverse, we reported on the basics of the collaboration platform (“Omniverse” on page 56 of DP 03 : 2022), how it can be set up professionally (“Getting started with Omniverse” on p. 84 of DP 04 : 2022) and how a sensible workflow can be set up (“Working in Omniverse” on p. 87 of DP 05 : 2022; the issue is also available as a free trial copy!).

Clicked further: Nvidia’s announcement, published in the course of CES 2023, can be viewed at blogs.nvidia.com . On 9 January 2023 , Digital Production recently reported on Omniverse – at that time, an extensive update for Omniverse Enterprise was worth reporting.

Sources: 80.lv ( announcement by Gloria Levine), blogs.nvidia.com ( announcement by Frank Delise)

The post Omniverse updates at the CES 2023! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.