For those who don’t know the tool: Spark Story sits in early previs and story workshops, pairing a browser build step with a mobile virtual production app, plus workflows that touch Blender and Unreal Engine.

NAB gets the hands-on bit

Spark Story is set for a public preview at NAB Show 2026, with an interactive booth demo that lets attendees create shots live and move between a browser session and a mobile virtual production app. The preview is scheduled on the show floor from April 19 through April 22 in Las Vegas (Booth N3148). Lightcraft calls Spark Story the first piece of a broader Spark platform that is still in development, with the NAB preview focused on rapid virtual-shot creation, script linkage, and a browser-to-mobile workflow. A beta notification signup page for the broader Spark platform is already live, indicating that a formal beta program is planned and more or less around the corner.

The pitch is simple: start workshopping a film on day one with the team, using rapid virtual shot building instead of waiting for later stages to see whether scenes and beats land. The preview demo uses scanned environments (Splats) and prompted environments as part of setting a scene, plus the ability to block and capture camera shots from a phone.

Browser to phone, with script in the loop

The preview description frames Spark Story as a real-time workflow that links a browser tool with a mobile app so teams can collaborate while building scenes and placing cameras. Script linkage sits near the center of that workflow, with an emphasis on connecting shots back to a screenplay, and on turning camera placement in a 3D scene into entries that feed a shot list tied to settings and framing.

A separate feature preview calls out collaborative screenplay editing and breakdown, aimed at real-time collaboration and development from partial ideas into a full screenplay. That matters less for the final file format and more for how teams keep intent, coverage, and revisions connected while the visuals evolve.

If you have lived through the classic version of previs, where shots float around in a folder tree while the script keeps changing in a different tool, this is clearly trying to make that disconnect go away. The claim is that a team can move much faster through early planning, pitching, and shoot preparation.

Environments: scans, prompts, and Gaussians

The preview highlights three main buckets of scene content: scanned environments, prompted environments, and more traditional 3D content. It also calls out support for Gaussian Splats and imported USD assets in the same workspace.

For Gaussian Splats, the industry standard is 3D Gaussian Splatting, a real-time radiance field rendering approach with an official, publicly available reference implementation. For USD, the relevant target is OpenUSD, positioned as a platform for building and exchanging 3D scenes at scale.

The interesting bit here is not that any one of those elements exists, but that the preview bundles them into one collaborative shot-building flow. If teh tool can keep scale, orientation, and camera intent consistent while teams mix splats with USD assets, that would remove a lot of glue work that currently happens in side scripts and one-off conversion steps.

Camera intent and virtual production capture

The preview copy states that Spark Story builds scenes around realistic digital environments, physically correct motion, and camera and lens models intended to keep early decisions consistent through shoot days. That is a marketing claim, but it is also a promise: camera behaviour and motion should (!!!!) translate from early planning into on-set execution without a full redo.

On the capture side, the preview positions a mobile app as the place where shots get captured from anywhere, with an integrated iOS experience described as push-button simple. For the platform piece, that points straight at iOS, no word of Anroid yet.

The practical production question is what data comes out the other end and how it plays with the rest of a pipeline. The preview text focuses on workflow and collaboration rather than interchange details beyond imported USD assets. So, at press time, there is no confirmed list of export formats, tracking data handoff details, or round-trip guarantees for specific DCCs in the NAB preview description. But there are importers for Fab.comMegascans, Unreal, Autoshot, as well as Blender, Nuke and After Effects. No word on Lightwave.

What is confirmed on the ecosystem side

Outside the NAB preview messaging, the public documentation site already carries Spark Story sections alongside broader tooling docs, including workflow pages that reference Blender and Unreal-related processes and USD troubleshooting topics. That is not a full product spec, but it does confirm that Spark Story documentation exists publicly and that USD sits inside the expected workflow surface area.

That matters because it suggests this is not a closed demo-only concept. There is already a documentation structure, including tutorials and debugging notes, which is usually where pipelines go first when they try to validate a tool against real production constraints.

What to test before you bet a schedule on it

Rapid collaborative previs sounds great right up until a production needs repeatability, versioning, and predictable handoffs. If you plan to evaluate Spark Story, put it through the boring tests early: multiple artists editing the same sequence, script changes mid-session (Thrice), asset relinking, and exporting or round-tripping anything your downstream tools require.

New tools and innovations should always be tested before use in production, preferably on something disposable, like a two-day internal short that still hits the same technical constraints as a real show.

The post Spark Story at NAB first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

For those who don’t know the event: ICE.ART 3D Environment Conference 2026.I is a free online environment conference hosted by VRBN and delivered via GoTo Webinar. No lock in, no big fuss, just a very specific kind of nerd joy.

ICE.ART 3D Environment Conference 2026.I kicks off April 7, 2026, running 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM CEST as a live webinar on GoTo Webinar. Day I runs under the Physics Simulations banner, with an intro, two talks with Q and A, prizes, a panel discussion, and an open community chat. Registration is free of charge on the event site, so the only real cost is admitting you enjoy hearing other people talk about creativity, technology and physics. Bring a headset and a mildly disciplined browser tab situation.

Goran Pavles brings blockbuster sim scars to Ice.Art

Goran Pavles is a Visual Effects Supervisor at Stormborn VFX. He leads a team at Stormborn Studios, an Emmy and VES Award winning visual effects company based in Vancouver. He has over 15 years of experience in VFX and specializes in complex FX driven sequences for film and television, including 2012, Man of Steel, and 300: Rise of an Empire, plus series work on Yu Yu Hakusho, 5 Days at Memorial, and The Penguin. On the agenda, he is slated to present Artdirecting Physics Simulations for Hollywood Blockbusters, with Q and A.

André Thomas lives at the intersection of games and real sets

Prof. Dr André Thomas is Co-Head of the Immersive Realities Research Lab at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. He founded Triseum in 2014, where he serves as CEO and leads the creation of award winning academic video games. He has more than 30 years in CGI production and has worked on video games, live action feature films, and commercials, including being Head of Graphics for EA SPORTS Football titles and contributing graphics for films including Men in Black, Con Air, Independence Day, Valiant, Ant Bully, and Tomorrow Never Dies. On the schedule image, he appears on Day II with Planning Physical Studios: Managing Business and Creativity.

Tobias Hauck bridges film instincts and GIS scale

Tobias Hauck is a Software Development Lead at the Esri Stuttgart Research and Development Center. His work focuses on Reality Mapping, turning imagery and laser scans into accurate large scale 3D meshes and Gaussian splats for GIS and digital twin workflows. He is with Esri since 2016, previously worked in feature film visual effects, and brings a passion for rendering, computer animation, and 3D environment creation. On the agenda , he is listed on Day II with Geospatial Gaussian Splats: Creating 3D Maps of Large Envrionments, with Q and A.

Come hang out, learn something, maybe win something

The agenda includes prizes and a panel discussion. By the way, the webinar puts attendees in listen-only mode (You are muted automatically). The invite is simple: register, block the evenings, and bring at least one question you have been saving for a day when someone else has to answer it.

Homepage: https://www.ice.art/
Registration: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/96699203094794328

P.S: Afterwards, some or all of the talks will go online in full length on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/@ice_conference

The post Today: ICE.ART 2026.I kicks off on April 7 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Gaussian Splat Studio brings Gaussian splat point data into Cinema 4D as something you can actually work with, not just stare at. The tool is built to import, view, render, and export Gaussian splats directly inside the host app, while keeping viewport controls and render controls in their own lanes. That separation matters because splats tend to swing between two extremes: either they look great and crawl, or they move fast and look like a snow globe during an earthquake.

The core exchange format here is obviously PLY, the same file type commonly produced by mobile capture and processing services. The workflow shown starts with a real-world capture from a phone or camera, then a reconstruction step in a service such as Polycam, which outputs PLY splat data for the plugin to ingest. The result inside Cinema 4D is a splat object you can navigate around, tweak, and eventually render or export back out again.

Viewport control that admits splats can be ridiculous

Splat scenes vary wildly in scale and density. Different captures can come in at very different sizes (D’uh), so the plugin exposes world scale controls to get a scene into a sane range.

It also acknowledges the other common splat reality: point counts can be enormous. A referenced example uses 12 million points, and the plugin includes options meant to keep navigation responsive. One of the visible tactics is interactive splat reduction in the viewport, where quality deliberately drops while you navigate, then returns when you stop moving. The reduction can be turned off, but it exists specifically to keep the editor usable.

There is also a fast preview mode intended for heavy scenes, letting you switch to lighter display settings for camera setup, animation work, and general layout without changing the underlying splat source. The idea is simple: keep interaction smooth while you work, then restore full settings for final output.

Three looks, one splat

The plugin exposes multiple viewing and rendering looks for splat data. True Gaussian splat mode aims for a scan-faithful result. Point cloud mode is presented as both a stylized look and a faster way to iterate, with circular dot rendering as a deliberate aesthetic option. There is also a proxy geometry view described as a way to see what is happening under the hood, rather than a default look.

Alongside those modes, the plugin provides controls for splat size and for the minimum and maximum pixel radius of splats. The workflow frames these as practical dials for balancing detail versus fill. Smaller splats carry more detail, larger splats help fill larger areas. Push the balance too far and thin features can disappear or areas can open up into holes, so the controls exist to tune a capture into something that holds together under motion and framing changes.

A notey: not every PLY is oriented the same way. When a non-Gaussian splat PLY comes in on the wrong axis, the plugin includes a YZ flip option to correct orientation. That kind of messy reality is exactly what a production tool should deal with. If a format is technically correct but visually wrong, artists still have to ship.

Rendering paths and why the viewport can be the honest one

Gaussian Splat Studio supports rendering through the viewport as well as through Cinema 4D render modes, including Redshift and the Standard and Physical renderers.

The workflow shown treats the viewport render as a useful path for accuracy, while also outlining limitations. Native viewport rendering does not provide an alpha channel, so the tool includes an alpha mode that changes what the viewport output looks like. The result is not a perfectly white matte, and the explanation is that this is expected because semi-transparent values are part of how the splat output should composite more accurately. If a comp pipeline needs a harder matte, the suggestion is to adjust levels in the compositing step.

For Standard and Redshift rendering, the plugin builds what it needs in the background when you enable rendering, including generating a shader setup for the geometry it creates. Enabling rendering is off by default and is making the system a little slower while you work, so it is something you switch on when you actually need those render paths.

Relighting as a dial, not a fight

Splat captures often come with baked lighting characteristics. The workflow shown adds a relight blending control in the Redshift render appearance settings, letting the render transition between a fully luminescent look that preserves the captured lighting and a state that responds more to Redshift lights.

MoGraph-friendly splats are the real headline

Once a splat lives in Cinema 4D as something editable, it becomes available to the same ecosystem of tools artists already use to art direct motion graphics and look development. The plugin supports MoGraph-style controls through Effectors, Forces, and Fields, with a workflow that matches common object setups: select the splat object, add an effector or force, and it registers into the plugin’s control tabs. If you add tools out of order, the workflow shown notes you can drag them in manually.

This is the point where splats stop being a novelty and start being a production asset. If you can isolate, animate, and stylize parts of a capture with the same tools you use everywhere else, splats become another piece of the pipeline rather than a special-case import.

Export, cleanup, and downstream handoff

Gaussian Splat Studio supports exporting results back out as PLY, including exporting cleaned results and exporting as splat PLY.

If your pipeline depends on strict interchange, it is also worth remembering that PLY is a general container format used across different kinds of point data. The workflow explicitly differentiates between Gaussian splat files and regular splat files that can both be PLY, which is why orientation fixes and viewing modes exist in the first place. If you need a reference for the file format itself, the PLY format specification is hosted by Stanford.

Price and platform support

The price for Gaussian Splat Studio is $59.99. The product page lists compatibility for Cinema 4D versions 2024, 2025, and 2026, on Windows and Mac. As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production, especially when they touch rendering, caching, and export handoffs that can ripple through an entire shot.

https://alphapixel.net/products/c4d-gaussian-splat-plugin/

The post Alpha Pixel adds Gaussian Splats to Cinema 4D first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Vantage is a real-time ray tracing renderer that can sit beside Enscape and slot into USD and MaterialX heavy pipelines when you want fast lookdev without a nap.

Chaos Vantage 3 update 2 comes with a focus on practical scene-side control: new post looks, more object shapes, deeper simulation tweaks, and workflow glue that keeps artists in the viewport longer.

The headline addition is a Toon post effect. It adds a stylized look as a post step, which means you can push a non-photoreal pass without rebuilding materials or rerouting a full shading graph. The feature is presented as a post effect, so it lives where you would expect to audition looks quickly, then iterate.

Water got attention too. The Water surface object now supports Circle, Infinite, and Custom shapes, making it easier to fit a surface to a set or shot without faking scale. The watre surface animation can also be previewed in real time, and Wind picked up an Affect water option in the Environment tab to toggle that preview on or off.

VR workflows also moved forward. There is support for VR joysticks teleportation and object manipulation, aimed at navigating and adjusting scenes more directly inside a headset. If your review culture leans on immersive approvals, this is the kind of change that reduces mouse time and increases useful gestures. If your review culture leans on never touching a headset, nothing breaks.

Splats and smoke get more production-like controls

Gaussian splats gained explicit support for creating and importing Gaussian splats objects, and those objects now have editable properties. That makes splats feel less like a read-only curiosity and more like a scene element you can actually manage.

The Fluid simulator object also expanded in ways that map cleanly to shot polish. Smoke expansion and Temperature expansion properties were added, giving more control over how sims evolve. The simulator can now export OpenVDB cache files, which matters because it turns an internal sim result into something you can hand off, archive, or try elsewhere.

On the quality side, micro vorticity generation and detail improved, and the default pivot moved to the bottom center of the grid container. These are the sorts of adjustments that make an effect feel less like a demo and more like a tool you can steer.

There is also a performance angle. Multi GPU performance improved, and the fluid simulator performance improved. A temporary memory usage spike was removed when changing resolution with NVIDIA DLSS.

UI changes that reduce scavenger hunts

Update 2 added a new Create Objects button in the toolbar that centralizes all available object creation in one place. The Scale type-in dialog gained an object size in scene units property, which helps when you need a known dimension and do not want to eyeball a gizmo. Background Image in Screen mode can now be offset on X and Y, and first person navigation gained an option to move along the camera view direction instead of horizontally. That navigation option is a global preference set in Edit then Preferences then Interaction, which is a very specific breadcrumb trail, but at least it is now a breadcrumb trail that goes somewhere. Creation behavior also improved in a small but meaningful way: creating a fluid simulator object now automatically sets selected objects as emitters.

Enscape 4.17.0 quietly patches the sharp edges

Enscape 4.17.0 shipped with a mix of performance and workflow changes, plus a long list of targeted bug fixes. On the improvements side, NVIDIA DLSS was updated to version 310.5 with bug fixes and stability improvements. Light clustering behavior improved in orthographic view so lights group and separate more predictably while zooming and navigating. The Visual Settings Presets panel now starts expanded by default.

For Archicad, all-user installation support improved by registering Enscape in the AddOns folder. On Windows, users created after installation will also have it installed.

There are also fixes for clearcoat handling in light reflections, a sky that can appear pixelated in video previews and exports, and Billboard geometry disappearing when the camera gets very close. Asset Library placement performance improved in older placement modes. The Material Editor feedback button for the AI Material Generator was fixed. The V-Ray Scene Export path was addressed too: large scene files caused by duplicating geometry of asset instances, plus a case where Scene Export could crash.

Batch Rendering got a crash fix when canceling while Light Management is active. Enscape Impact fixes address energy performance results display when reopening after a successful analysis run, and invalid Impact Report data in imperial units.

Pricing and where this lands on your budget spreadsheet

Pricing for Vantage is specified as $54.90 per month for Vantage Standalone when billed annually, shown as $658.80 for one license billed annually.

Pricing for Enscape is specified as $47.90 per month for an Enscape Solo plan when billed annually, shown as $574.80 for one license billed annually.

Both sets of numbers are the kind that make producers ask whether you can do it with screenshots. You can, but you will not like it.

https://forums.chaos.com/forum/chaos-vantage/chaos-vantage-announcements/1245724-chaos-vantage-v3-2-0-released

https://forum.enscape3d.com/index.php?thread%2F31054-enscape-4-17-0-released%2F=

The post Chaos Vantage 3 update 2 adds Toon first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.