Browsing Tag
Lighting
43 posts
Katana 9 deepens USD and previews Hydra 2
Katana introduces UsdSuperLayer, new USD lighting and material nodes, and alpha Hydra 2 viewer support.
Nevercenter speeds up Milo 2026 and drops VR quietly
Milo 2026.0 moves to Unreal Engine 5.7, adds raytracing on Mac, pathtracing on Windows, faster lighting, workflow tweaks and removes VR.
No More 2D Smoke and Mirrors: Volumetric Noise for Nuke
Compositing Academy releases Volumetric Noise for Nuke, a raymarched plugin generating true 3D volumetrics with lighting and occlusion.
Foundry locks in full subscription future for 2027
Foundry drops perpetual maintenance: from 2027, all Nuke, Mari, and Katana users will be on subscription only.
Rays Behaving Badly No More: MoonRay 2.34.0.1 Fixes the Path
MoonRay 2.34.0.1 lands with a light path visualiser, better macOS and Linux builds, smarter lightsets, and fewer crashes for your next render night.
Open HDRI: 25 Free 29K HDRIs (More to come)
A new online library offers 25 free HDRIs at up to 29K resolution, all under a CC0 license. Open HDRI provides ultra-high-quality lighting environments without sign-ups, tracking or licensing headaches.
Animatics, AI Lighting, and a Free Tier: Previs Pro 3 Expands Storyboarding on iPad
Previs Pro 3: now with animatics, AI lighting, and a free edition for iPad filmmakers.
DomeMaker 1.0 streamlines HDRI dome lighting for 3ds Max (V-Ray)
DomeMaker 1.0 converts Jonas Noell’s custom HDRI dome workflow into a one-click tool for 3ds Max (V-Ray). Expect instant viewport feedback, automated floor matching, water/wetness effects, and matched CPU/GPU rendering—priced at a studio-friendly $30.
MoonRay 2.15: Developer Joy with NUMA, GUI Control & Fisheye Finesse
MoonRay 2.15 adds a new regression suite (~400 tests), NUMA tuning, rdla_gui, per‑BSDF lightsets, fisheye FOV and TwoSidedMap—confirm stability before use.
Chaos Corona 13: AI, GPU & Cartoon Vibes
Corona 13 adds AI Enhancer, GPU rendering via Vantage Live Link, cel/outline shaders, Scatter Clusters, AI‑based asset variations, Firefly removal, VRScene import, Thin‑Film shader.
Mocha 2025.5: Faces, Frames & Focal Lengths
Mocha 2025.5 tracks faces, fixes mattes, solves 3D scenes with stationary cameras and adds batch export presets for speedier pipelines.
Maxon Acquires Autograph: A New Chapter in Compositing Tools
Maxon welcomes the Autograph team from Left Angle, aiming to integrate their compositing expertise into its suite of creative tools,
Unreal Engine 5.6, Fully released. Still 60 FPS, still Smarter MetaHumans, and still possibly Fewer CPU Tantrums
Unreal Engine 5.6 brings integrated MetaHuman Creator, Control Rig Physics, 60 FPS optimization, and enhanced Sequencer tools for streamlined game development.
Nomad: Sculpting on Desktop
Nomad Sculpt enters free public beta on Windows, macOS and Linux - desktop edition includes all iPad features.
Fibric: Stitching Curves into Cloth—Procedurally
Fibric introduces a Houdini SOP-based toolset for procedural clothing creation using curves, featuring UV-ready, quad-based geometry and real-time rendering with Karma XPU.
8K HDRIs from Simon Lachapelle
VFX artist Simon Lachapelle releases free 8K HDRIs for CGI, VFX, and 3D lighting - now with tone-mapped versions and new greyscale variants.
Blender’s 2024 User Survey Results: The Good, the Bad, and the ?
Over 7,000 Blender users shared their thoughts in the 2024 survey, highlighting satisfaction levels and areas for improvement.
Ucupaint 2.3: Baking Bad Gets Better
Ucupaint 2.3 adds real-time Ambient Occlusion, rebake-all layers, and bakeable edge detect—because who needs sleep when you can have features?
Free Fab? Epic’s Giving Away a Back Alley
Epic Games drops 50 modular 3D assets for Unreal Engine on Fab – for free. Think dumpsters, cables, trash bags, brick walls. It's exactly that.
Fusion 20: a deep look at the core
With its latest release, Blackmagic Fusion is positioning itself more aggressively than ever as a powerful and cost-effective complete package for node-based compositing and motion graphics. We check whether Fusion 20 lives up to the high expectations.
Unreal Engine 5.6 Preview: Now with 60Hz Open Worlds and In-Engine MetaHumans
Unreal Engine 5.6 Preview introduces 60Hz open worlds, an overhauled animation toolset, in-engine MetaHuman Creator, and enhanced procedural workflows.
Free Plugin Connects Blender to Nuke – Without Alembic Detours
Free plugin bridges Blender and Nuke via FBX and OBJ – no Alembic or USD needed. Geometry and camera data flow directly into your comp.
HairFlow: Bad Hair Days Are Simulated Now
HairFlow simulates hair in Blender using simulation nodes—wind, gravity, collisions, even goosebumps. Realtime playback included.
UDIM Planet: Free Globe Toolset Orbits Blender, Max, Maya, Houdini, Unreal and C4D
Free add-on "Figments UDIM Globe" maps UDIM textures to globe objects—UVs are auto-generated, PBR-ready.
Neat Video 6.0.5: Noise Reduction Gets a Patch-Up
Neat Video 6.0.5 squashes bugs, improves GPU performance, fixes color channel issues, and updates presets – denoising stays smooth across video workflows, even in Resolve and Fusion 20
Corona 12 Update 2: Sunlight, Static Meshes & Setups
Corona 12 Update 2 adds support for Sun Directionality, static mesh export from Chaos Scatter, and a unified setup for the Corona Sky in 3ds Max and C4D.
Weight No More: Streamlining Blender’s Weight Painting with Robust Weight Transfer
Enhance your Blender workflow with Sent From Space's free Robust Weight Transfer add-on, simplifying weight painting and improving character rigging efficiency.
Blueprints & C++: Epic’s New Tutorial Series for Unity Devs
Epic Games releases a 5-part tutorial series with Enduring Games to assist Unity developers in transitioning to Unreal Engine, focusing on Blueprints and C++ integration.
finalRender Free: A Renderer That Costs Nothing but Demands Something
cebas offers finalRender Free for 3ds Max users, featuring single-device rendering with CPU or GPU. Commercial use permitted; registration required.
Datacolor LightColor Meter: Precision in Light and Color
Datacolor’s LightColor Meter provides precise light and color temperature measurements with Bluetooth connectivity and app control.
Illuminate Your Blender Scenes with Free God Ray Generator, no prayer necessary
Add atmospheric god rays and glimmering dust particles to your Blender projects effortlessly with Giorgi's free setup.
Blender Gets Lit: Free Tools to Manage Your Render Passes
VFX artist Robert Rioux releases Render Manager and Light Editor add-ons to streamline complex scene management in Blender.
Mufasa heads to MPC
The Prequel of a remake of a animated movie, based on a Shakespeare play... and still worth watching! We got a Chance to talk to Audrey Ferrara, MPCs VFX Supervisor for Mufasa
Our Universe of… Houdini?
Who would have thought that one of our favourite documentaries seen this year would come from Bristol?
What’s New in Nuke 14?
"The next generation of Nuke" - the British developers from Foundry are confidently announcing their new version. Let's take a look at what's new between Copycat and Scanline Renderer, what's changed, what's completely new or what remains the same?
That girl is green!
For Marvel Studio‘s most recent streaming series, “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”, the concept of a workplace dramewdy (think Ally McBeal, 90s kids!) merges with Superhero-battles (think all the Marvel movies, comic-book-geeks!) – leading to 6-foot-
7-inch-sized, gorgeously green,
super-powered viewing pleasures.
A conversation with VFX Production Coordinator Erika Feijoo Spena and Visual Effects Supervisor Chris Smallfield about Hulk-ifications at VFX-powerhouse Trixter.
The Foundry releases Katana 6.0!
The software for look development and lighting is getting an update - and should further speed up workflows.
Lighting in Unreal Engine 5: More than just lumens!
Gnomon Workshop with Digital Content Developer Charleston Silverman: Learn the most important lighting techniques of the game engine. A further training programme.
The best light meter ..
... is the one you have with you. And what does everyone have in their pocket these days? Sure, a mobile phone. But can an app compete with a professional light meter? We did the maths. And aren't light meters terribly old-school? Not really for cameramfolks on a film set - except perhaps for solo entertainers on YouTube.
Allan McKay: Decay VFX Training
New free VFX training from Allan McKay: This time there's a ten-hour session on how to realise this decay effect.
Scrolling text in Cinema 4D
For example, 3D letters are created from glass, plastic and wood, the surface of which peels off - and there are also breakdowns on texturing and lighting.
Historical Decay
Review: In DP 01 : 2014 game developer Naughty Dog threw its heroes into a post-pandemic scenario with The Last of Us - but how were the lighting, texturing and motion capturing created?