Browsing Tag
modeling
399 posts
retoPoly puts manual retopology in 3ds Max
Mihail Lupu’s retoPoly adds projected drawing, flow tools and stack-editable artist-directed retopology to 3ds Max 2023–2027.
PBR Generator bakes 3ds Max materials
Leonid Kychko's 3ds Max script bakes complex shader networks into texture sets and rebuilds them for V-Ray or Physical Material.
Autodesk Sets Mudbox End-of-Sale Dates
Autodesk ends annual and monthly Mudbox sales on November 7, 2026; Media & Entertainment Collection 2027 is the last collection to include it.
Sculptools Palette Organises Blender Sculpting
ProjectArgo’s free Blender extension puts sculpt brushes and tools into configurable radial palettes with hotkeys, sliders and JSON presets.
Houdini 22: How Right Were We?
Houdini 22 arrived earlier than expected and confirms nearly all our keynote findings, with two experimental features carrying caveats.
FloorGen 2 hits the C4D boards
C4Dzone’s FloorGen 2 creates procedural floors, wall coverings, tile layouts and baseboards inside Cinema 4D for €27.
ByHand Makes Digital Sculpting Free on Windows
ByHand is a free, early-alpha Windows sculpting app for form studies, character work and commercial projects.
Quick Finger Collision for Blender
Blender hand posing gets a tiny helper: finger bones stop at mesh contact, wrap around props, and cost $7.99.
Seamlessifier Rips Photo Textures
Seamlessifier turns photo snippets into seamless PNG textures, atlases included, with useful knobs and some honest rough edges.
RadialZ Gives ZBrush a Brush Wheel
RadialZ turns the ZBrush brush library into cursor-side wheels, reducing palette trips and keyboard gymnastics.
Free Sci-Fi Station Lands on Fab
Fab gives Unreal artists 147 modular sci-fi assets, 4K textures and LODs for free until 16 June. Space rent remains mercifully absent.
Houdini 22 Teaser Fuels Guesswork
Houdini 22 looks ambitious, but the teaser is maddeningly brief. Treat every feature reading as informed fan speculation, not documentation.
Stair Builder brings parametric stairs to C4D
A €25 Cinema 4D generator for stairs and railings, with presets, UV handling, and all of it parametric.
Autodesk launches Project Falcon
Project Falcon is a free, browser-based kitbashing tool that exports USD and STL, aiming to speed up hard-surface blockouts and handoffs.
Plasticity 2026.1 adds hidden lines and PolySplines
Plasticity 2026.1 turns models into clean SVG linework and brings PolySplines for smooth NURBS from meshes. Studio users get the fancy stuff.
WrapKit wraps surfaces in Blender
WrapKit is a free alpha Geometry Nodes wrapper for Blender that aims for cleaner surface contact and generates UVs
Neat LimbKit gives Blender a hand, literally
LimbKit is a free Blender 4.5+ Geometry Nodes tool for quickly blocking hands, feet, and some creature variants via adjustable procedural controls.
The Grove 2.3
The Grove 2.3 adds direct drawing, subdivide and export improvements, Houdini Indie support and huge storage savings.
Druckli Tools V2 expands Cinema 4D nodes
Druckli Tools V2 adds rebuilt Plane Split, new distributions and node utilities for Cinema 4D 2026.1 and later.
Free Scene Nodes for C4D by Midlet Dufts
Midlet Dufts packages Cinema 4D Scene Nodes setups into usable assets for procedural scene work.
Quad Wrap offers quad-first retopology, no magic wand
FlippedNormals releases Quad Wrap, a Blender retopology tool focused on manual quad layout and mesh wrapping.
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.
Modeler 26 for Houdini released
Modeler 26 for Houdini introduces a significantly expanded PolyPen, Bezier-based deformation, curve-driven boolean operations, viewport card drawing, and a new object layer system.
Download IKEA furniture as 3D models, minus the trolley
A community script allows direct downloads of IKEA’s web 3D models, skipping the store visit and the measuring tape optimism.
Topiary Generator grows procedural foliage in Blender
Topiary Generator converts any mesh into procedural topiary foliage in Blender using Geometry Nodes, available for $15.
Crocotile 3D Gets Projection UVs Tool and Workflow Additions
Crocotile 3D version 2.6.5 introduces a projection UVs tool, grid snapping, export options and animation control enhancements.
Over 1,000 free sculpting brushes land in BlenderKit
BlenderKit now hosts over 1,000 free 3D sculpting brushes, integrated directly in Blender and licensed for commercial use.
Quad Draw Comes to Blender
New Vulkan-based retopology add-ons make Blender’s mesh work feel like Maya’s Quad Draw, fast, intuitive, and production-ready.
Plasticity 2025.3: Now with Instances, Curves and Clouds
Plasticity 2025.3 drops a full toolset refresh: live instancing, SVG export, real-time curvature and continuity feedback, new materials and precision tools.
Shapelab Max 2026 bends reality with Elastic Move
Leopoly’s hybrid sculpting tool grows up: Shapelab Max 2026 adds a smarter gizmo, Pixar-inspired Elastic Move, and faster voxel remeshing.
CityEngine 2025.1 Expands CGA Geometry Tools and Introduces Python 3 API
CityEngine 2025.1 arrives with a broadened toolset for procedural modeling, architecture, and urban layout work. The update focuses…
Shapekeys: The angle on your mesh
CamKeys automates ShapeKeys by camera angle in Blender. Users say it mimics per-object FOV , the docs say it drives morphs.
Here comes Silo 2026.0 with Blender bridge
The developer Nevercenter has released version Silo 2026.0, introducing a significant new feature: the Silo Blender Bridge plugin,…
CEUM 2025 Recordings Online: Cities, Pipelines & Python
All CEUM 2025 recordings are now online. The CityEngine User Meeting covers procedural-city workflows, ArcGIS-based planning pipelines, and fresh Python 3 support — a compact update for anyone working in urban-scale visualization.
Houdini 21: Like good wine (Part1, VFX & Geo)
Houdini 21 polishes the chaos: production-ready MPM, neural surfacing, smarter Pyro, and Vulkan viewport upgrades: all taste-tested for real-world use. (Part 1 of ???)
Autodesk 3ds Max 2026.3: A modest update with key workflow tweaks
3ds Max 2026.3 arrives with more precise Conform modifier controls, dynamic material switching, USD workflow improvements and an updated Arnold plugin.
Procedural Roads Ahead: Blender Add-on “Roads” Lays Asphalt with Vertices
Blender add-on “Roads” builds procedural roads from vertex extrusions. Fast, planar, parametric and $10.
Sculpt-Offs, Anniversaries & Anatomy: ZBrush Summit 2025 celebrates 25 years
ZBrush turns 25 and Maxon is celebrating online, 7-9 November, with live Sculpt-Offs, artist sessions and a first look at what’s next for ZBrush.
Procedural Thursday: CityEngine Users Meet Online Tomorrow
Tomorrow, 5 p.m. CET: CityEngine User Meeting: free, online, and full of procedural nerds. Bring your node graphs.
Camera Arrays for the Gaussian Age
Camera Array Tool for Blender creates surface-based camera rigs and exports 4DGS-ready image data for Gaussian Splatting workflows.
3D Measure Master brings CAD-style precision to 3ds Max
The new plugin 3D Measure Master adds CAD-style measuring tools to 3ds Max, creating editable and renderable geometry for true 3D dimensions.
Free Blender add-on “Outset Boundary” lets you expand faces with one click
Free Blender add-on “Outset Boundary” offers an outset tool for expanding faces rather than insetting them, nice for quick margins.
Creepy-Crawlies in 3D: Free “Arthropods” Anatomy App for Creature Designers
Twelve museum arthropods, one free app, and an excellent reason to stop swatting your references. Creepy-crawlies in 3D, just in time for Halloween.
Grid Modeler 1.40: Subtle but Smart Upgrades Boost Precision in Blender
The best Blender updates are often the quiet ones. With version 1.40, Grid Modeler refines everyday precision tasks — the kind that make hard-surface modelling faster, cleaner and a little less frustrating.
normalMagic 1.0: Advanced Mesh Normal Control in Blender
SpaghetMeNot releases normalMagic 1.0 for Blender, a toolkit of 16 modifiers that give artists complete control over mesh normals. With features like Surface Insert, Boolean Pro, Smooth Normals, and Normal Transfer, the add-on introduces new modelling workflows, fixes common shading issues, and integrates as a Blender asset library.
50 Digital Scars: Halloween Comes to Blender
250 wounds, scars and skin damage brushes for Blender. Perfect for sculpting your next zombie, vampire, or stitched-mouth monster.
Nevercenter Adds USD & UDIM in Silo 2025.2
Silo 2025.2 adds USD support, UDIM UVs, unit conversion, synced viewports, and more helpful features for serious 3D work.
Free Material Assets Browser for 3ds Max enters public beta
Free Material Assets Browser for 3ds Max 2025: supports MaterialX, MatCap generation, multiple renderers. Public beta available on GitHub.
Cross Sections Without Tears: Free Plugin for 3ds Max
Free plugin for 3ds Max generates multiple 2D cross sections on any axis, with spacing, offset and weld options
YT-Tools for Blender: Bringing Modo Workflows Back to Life
Former Foundry engineer Yoshiaki Tazaki has released YT-Tools, a Blender add-on that re-creates much of Modo’s modeling workflow. Priced at 20 USD and designed for Blender 4.0+, it restores falloffs, contextual selection, and interactive slicing for artists who miss Modo’s speed and precision.
Blender on Android: Ported, Not Polished Yet
Blender runs on Android tablets via an unofficial port from developer epai, but major rendering bugs and feature gaps persist.
Plastic Software upgrades Plasticity to 2025.2 with HDRIs, physical materials, new surfacing tools
Plastic Software’s Plasticity 2025.2 adds HDRI lighting, physical materials, new shaders and continuity tools in a surfacing-focused upgrade.
Polydex from Poliigon Tackles Asset Chaos
Polydex auto-indexes local 3D textures, models and HDRIs for easy import into Blender with one click.
Modeler 2025.2 for Houdini Lands: Hard‑Surface Modelling Makeover
Alexey Vanzhula’s Modeler 2025.2 rebuilds hotkeys, shading presets and moves to Qt6, offering a smoother hard‑surface workflow in Houdini.
![A blue, futuristic aircraft with robotic features displayed in a dark, industrial environment. The image features the text 'Marmoset Toolbag 5.02 [Beta Release]' above the aircraft, highlighting software branding. The background has a metallic appearance with grid lines.](https://i0.wp.com/digitalproduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/502-beta-socialsbanner.jpg?resize=380%2C250&quality=77&ssl=1)
Baking, Decals, Fog and a Smudge of Beta in Marmoset Toolbag
Marmoset launches the Toolbag 5.02 beta with new features for baking, painting, fog rendering and scene management.
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,
MetaHumans Graduate: Ready for Unity, Godot, and the Fab Cash Register
MetaHuman is out of early access, baked into UE 5.6, licensable for Unity & Godot, and finally up for sale on Fab?
3ds Max 2026.1: More Than Just a Modifier Update
3ds Max 2026.1 updates Push, Attribute Transfer and XForm modifiers, improves spline optimization and skin performance, and bumps OCIO to version 2.4.2.
RailClone 7: Smarter Modeling in 3ds Max Starts Here!
RailClone 7 introduces 19 new spline features, new libraries, macro improvements, and more for smarter modeling in 3ds Max.
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.
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.
Wrap Gen: Because Your Mesh Deserves a Hug
Wrap Gen for Blender lets you procedurally wrap custom geometry around objects using curves and geometry nodes—no manual tweaking required.
Core Dump: Maxon Terminates ZBrushCore & ZBrushCoreMini
Maxon discontinues ZBrushCore and ZBrushCoreMini. Support ends November 2024. Focus shifts fully to ZBrush/Ipad.
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.
LuxCoreRender 2.10: Back on Track with Cross-Platform Support and Python Integration
LuxCoreRender 2.10 reintroduces support for Linux, Windows, MacOS Intel, and now MacOS ARM, with updated dependencies and Python bindings for seamless integration.
RetopoFlow 4 Beta: Now With Less Pain Per Polygon
RetopoFlow 4 Beta for Blender is out - with improved usability, updated PolyStrips, and tighter integration. But it’s still a beta, so handle with care.
Hair Today, Cards Tomorrow: New 3ds Max Tool for Haircard Workflows
Hair Cards Tool for 3ds Max adds a non-destructive workflow for generating haircards with editing, baking and AO features.
Maya Gets a Memory: Smart Model Editor Adds Real Construction History
Smart Model Editor brings non-destructive modeling to Maya – sort of. It works via scene graph nodes and updates interactively.
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.
BagaPie 11: Blender’s Node Wrangler Gets 20 New Tricks
BagaPie 11 introduces 20 new tools, including parametric generators for doors, windows, and bolts, enhancing Blender's modeling and scattering capabilities.
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.
Dungeon Assets for Free: Fab.com’s New Drop for Unreal
Fab's new Dungeon Pack delivers 110 modular assets and props for Unreal Engine - and it’s free.
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.
CEUM 2025.1 Videos are online :)
CEUM 2025.II follows on 17 September, and if you missed the last one: no worries, the CEUM 2025.I talk videos are already online and ready for your next coffee break.
Normal Problem? Normal Solution: Free Blender Add-on “Shading Normal Editor” Now Available
Stylized shading made easier: "Shading Normal Editor" for Blender fixes normals for shading effects—free and ready for download.
SDF, UVs & STLs: Uniform 1.4 Goes All In
Uniform 1.4 introduces SDF modeling with full UV mapping, STL export for 3D printing, and new workflow tools for precise mesh editing and texture control.
SideFX Extends Houdini Labs: Free Procedural Bridge Tool Arrives
SideFX updates the free procedural bridge tool for Houdini, offering customizable, animatable bridge assets – ready for download on SideFX Labs.
EZ Tree: Your Next Tree’s Just a Click Away
Free, open-source, lightweight and Python-based: EZ Tree procedurally generates trees for 3D workflows – via GUI or command line.
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
Marvelous 2025: Now with Extra Fur, Fewer Triangles
Marvelous Designer 2025.0 refines simulation and modeling: new IK, UVs for sides and back, fur preview in 3D, better quads, modular workflow, and more.
Mark Your Calendars: ICE & CEUM Return
ICE 2025.I is coming up on 21–22 May—mark your calendar and grab your spot now, registration’s already open. CEUM 2025.II follows on 17 September!
Plasticity 104 – Watch Modeling PT4 – Import into Cinema 4D
With the 4th installment of our Plasticity series we are back at our Watch. This time we're importing the model into Cinema 4D where we are going to do the shading in the next videos using Octane Render.
Saddle Up Your Scene: 260 Wild West Assets Ride Freely into Unreal
260 modular Wild West assets for Unreal Engine now free via Fab—includes saloons, stables, and tumbleweed-ready level design.
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.
LightWave 2025!
LightWave 2025 introduces RIPR for real-time HDR previews, enhanced rigging tools like Steppit, Handdit, and Pickkit, and new modeling features including SuperPatcher and Construct.
ICE.ART 2025.I: May Your Env Be Ever Procedural
ICE.ART 2025.I, the 3D Environment Conference, will return on May 21–22, 2025. The call for speakers is now open.
The Grove 2.2: Cutting-Edge Tree Tech Goes Cross-Platform
The Grove 2.2 brings a radical tech boost with a new Skeleton tool, optimized simulations, and unified naming for Houdini and Blender.
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.
Free Assets, High Tech – No splinters to be feared!
150 free, modular workshop assets for Unreal Engine. Get ready for precision, plug-and-play, and a cheeky tech upgrade
ZBrush for iPad Adds ZModeler
Maxon adds the ZModeler brush to ZBrush for iPad. Artists can now use the poly modeling toolset on iPadOS for mobile hard surface work.
Thinkbox MX Plugin Suite: Open-Sourced Magic in current 3ds Max Versions
Thinkbox MX Plugin Suite for 3ds Max is now available, showcasing a finely tuned open source solution that champions usability, simplicity, and stability in production pipelines.
Blender’s Vulkan Venture: Community Call to Arms
Blender seeks community assistance to test its experimental Vulkan backend with a detailed supported platforms table included.
Dirty Shader Hands? Use MatCaps!
A free tool for Blender lets you paint PBR materials directly in 3D Viewport—without UVs, nodes or shaders.
Plasticity 103 – Watch Modeling PT3 – Rounding / Filleting / Export
More easy hard surface modeling: In PT3 of our Plasticity series we continue the watch - with some Rounding, some Filleting, and we export the thing!
Cinema 4D 2025.2: Feature Dump, Incoming
Cinema 4D 2025.2 delivers a host of new features—from enhanced camera modes to particle controls and Rocket Lasso Capsules—with extensive bug fixes.
Terrain3D 1.0: Godot’s Landscape Tool Levels Up
Terrain3D 1.0 for Godot Engine 4.4 introduces enhanced 3D projection, dynamic collision, and up to 10 LODs for foliage, optimizing landscape creation.
CityEngine User Meeting 2025: Registration Open for CEUM
Registration for the CityEngine User Meeting 2025 is now live. The online event takes place on April 16, 2025, from 5–8 pm CEST.
Plasticity 102 – Watch Modeling PT2 – Crown
More easy hard surface modeling: In PT2 of our Plasticity series we continue the watch - and get to the crown, all in Plasticity!
Plasticity 101 – Modeling a Watch – Part 1
In this engaging tutorial I will walk you through the first steps in Plasticity, a CAD modeler for easy hard surface modeling. In part 1 we create the watch-case in an easy to follow fashion.