In nuce: Karim Abou Shousha, Senior Lighting Artist at Ubisoft Montreal (for the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Mirage, among others), has now made several tools available for the Unreal Engine, which can be used to draw eye-catching underwater scenes from the pipeline.

In toto: Karim has invested a total of six months to create the tool set called UE5: Underwater Blueprint. The download size is 2.1 gigabytes. In the almost twenty-minute video below, Karim demonstrates how to use his tools.

Click further: UE5: Underwater Blueprint can be downloaded via gumroad.com . Just yesterday, on 22 December 2022, Digital Production reported on another free download; it was a 127-part HDRI library by Grzegorz Wronkowski that was worth reporting to us.

UE5:Underwater Blueprint

The post Create underwater scenes more easily with these free tools! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Grzegorz Wronkowski, founder of the footage exchange HDRMAPS, has made a free HDRI library available, equipped with 127 downloads for Blenders Cycles renderers. This is according to a message published on cgchannel.com.

In toto: The HDRIs are packaged in Blender scene files and include indoor and outdoor scenes, rural and urban environments. As Jim Thacker writes on cgchannel.com, the individual HDRIs could previously be “downloaded individually from the freebies section of the HDRMAPS website” – but are now available for the first time bundled as a single free download (including shaderball). Furthermore, cgchannel.com states that the HDRI library is optimised for Cycles Rendering, but also works with Blender’s renderer Eevee.

Click further: The 127-part HDRI library can be downloaded free of charge from hdrmaps.com . Digital Production last reported on Grzegorz Wronkowski on 7 July 2020; at that time it was a free 360-degree environment map that was worth a report.

Source: cgchannel.com ( message from Jim Thacker)

The post 127-part HDRI library available for free! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

Several years in development and now finally available: The VLC 3.0 version of Videolan‘s media player. The update is called “Vetinari” and comes with useful new features, here is a hopefully equally useful overview:

New VLC 3.0 features

While not much has changed visually in the interface itself, users can look forward to many new functions. According to Videolan, the 3.0 version will be the last with support for older platforms such as Windows XP and Vista – so watch out if you install it on your parents’, grandparents’ or authorities’ computers.

Network, HDR, 360° and Chromecast

With the new update, local network browsing is now possible, with support for SMB, FTP, SFTP and NTFS, among others. Furthermore, the player now also offers HDR thanks to new 12-bit codecs and extended colour spaces. 360° videos and 3D audio can also be viewed and listened to via VLC. Ambisonics audio and more than 8 audio channels are also supported. HD audio codecs can be forwarded directly to external systems. A long-awaited feature for many users is the stream option to Chromecast, even for formats that are not natively supported. Those who also want to watch videos in high resolutions and fps can use the automatically activated hardware decoding.

Hardware decoding & codecs

Since the update, hardware decoding is possible on all supported platforms, which means you can now watch 4K and 8K videos. The following hardware decoders, among others, have been added for acceleration:

• HEVC hardware decoding (Windows, Android, macOS, iOS)
• MPEG-2, VC1/VMV3 decoding (Android)
• New VA-API decoder and rendering for Linux

In addition to reworking the MP4, PS and TS containers, Videolan has also added support for the following codecs: Cineform, TDSC, Canopus HQX, SpeedHQ, Pixlet, QDMC and FMVC decoders, as well as experimental AV1 and Daala video decoders. A complete list can be found in the release notes.

Compatibility

VLC 3.0 Media Player is available for almost every platform. Supported platforms include Windows XP to 10 RS3, macOS 10.7 – 10.13, iOS 7 – 11, Android from 2.3 – 8.1, GNU/Linux, Ubuntu. Further information can be found here.

To the download

The post VLC 3.0 Media Player: With 8K, HDR and Chromecast support first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Looking for hardsurface alpha masks? Game artist Dan Rožański offers you 21 free alphas on Gumroad. The sample pack contains various shapes, including pipes, vents, valves, screw heads, decorations and more.

Alpha Mask Details & Licence

The files come in PSD and TIFF format with a resolution of 2048 x 2048 px. You may use the files in commercial projects – however, as usual, reselling the alphas in your own packs is prohibited. To get the sample pack for free, you have to enter “0” in the price field at Gumroad.

To the download

For more free assets: To the download section

The post 21 free alpha masks first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.