3D artist and motion designer Jörg Grubmüller has released LimbKit, a procedural tool for generating 3D hands and feet in Blender. It is described as Geometry Nodes-based and intended to help artists block out hands and feet quickly, including paw-like variants for creatures, with an emphasis on stylised work.

The core idea is simple: instead of sculpting extremities from scratch, the workflow centres on placing readymade fingers and toes onto a palm or base mesh, then generating a merged result that can be adjusted via controls for finger length, spacing, orientation, and overall shape. The promise is not “perfect hands”, but “hands that exist”, which is often the bigger scheduling problem. LimbKit includes realistically proportioned base models for hands and feet that can be refined manually, even if the tool’s stated sweet spot is stylised characters for illustration or animation.

What it does, and what it does not claim

LimbKit’s stated function is procedural generation and adjustment of hands and feet inside Blneder using Geometry Nodes, with the output merged into a single mesh that you can further tweak via parameters. That positions it as a fast starting point for modelling and lookdev, particularly when you need to iterate on silhouette and proportions without burning hours on knuckles.

There are no stated guarantees in the provided sources about rigging readiness, deformation behaviour, UV layout, subdivision performance, or downstream interchange. If you need clean edge loops that match a house rig, consistent joint placement, or predictable deformation under extreme poses, you still have to test the generated meshes and decide whether LimbKit is a blocker, a base, or a throwaway placeholder.

Grubmüller’s background is leaning towards cartoon-style character work, including prior work as a Senior 3D Character Modeler at animation and VFX studio arx anima. That does not limit what the tool can be used for, but it does explain why the initial framing is stylisation-first: it is aimed at readable shapes and fast iteration, not forensic anatomy.

Download and library workflow

LimbKit is a free download hosted on Gumroad and is stated to be compatible with Blender 4.5+. The available walkthrough information describes a “pay what you want” style flow where entering a zero value enables a free download, followed by an email-based download step.

Setting it up as an asset library is done by pointing Blender’s Preferences File Paths to a folder containing LimbKit assets, switching an import method setting from “pack” to “appended”, then accessing the assets from the Asset Browser drop-down. From there, the described interaction is drag-and-drop: pull hand and foot assets into the scene and start adjusting parameters.

Controls, gizmos, and the “procedural bits”

The supplied walkthrough description goes further into how LimbKit presents itself once assets are in the scene. It describes procedural controls in the modifier stack, including a primary control labelled “Digim Master” and scaling tools for global and per-finger adjustment. It also describes an optional gizmo-based control mode that allows moving individual finger elements forward or backwards.

Additional controls include adjustable bending styles and colour parameters that apply across the assets, including separate options for stylised variants that can alter finger length and pointiness. The walkthrough also mentions parameters described as controlling the bend tip and the bend centre.

Practical pipeline fit

LimbKit sits comfortably in the rough modelling stage when the goal is speed and iteration: building a hand silhouette that reads, matching proportions across a character set, or getting something into layout, previs, or a stylised render without dedicating half a day to digits. The workflow can be useful for motion designers and generalists who are allergic to sculpting but still need convincing extremities on screen.

What it should not be assumed to replace is the careful part: production topology, deformation testing, UV standards, and the inevitable “why does the thumb do that” notes once animation starts. LimbKit looks like a practical way to get to a first pass quickly. Whether it becomes your base mesh generator or your temporary placeholder depends entirely on your worlflow and your tolerance for procedural geometry in hero assets.

Fact check reminder: New tools and innovations should be tested before use in production.

https://joergsla.gumroad.com/l/limbkit

The post Neat LimbKit gives Blender a hand, literally first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Druckli Tools is a node asset library for Cinema 4D by Dominik Ruckli. It installs via the Asset Browser as a zip database and adds procedural modelling, selection, distribution and generator assets aimed at node-based workflows.

Version two, asset browser first

Dominik Ruckli has released version two of Druckli Tools, a node asset collection for Cinema 4D. Vversion two includes all tools from version one plus additional assets, and requires Cinema 4D 2026.1 or later. On earlier versions not all tools will work. Installation is handled directly through the Asset Browser by connecting the downloaded zip file as a database. The zip does not need to be unpacked. Two variants are available. The full version contains example scenes and additional assets. A light version omits the heavier example scenes to reduce disk usage. The toolset is distributed via Gumroad . Pricing is “Name a Fair Price” .

Minor updates, practical fixes

Several assets from version one have been updated. All selection visualisers no longer rely on a default selection string that stopped working in Cinema 4D 2025.1, Users must now explicitly define or search for selections. The Ray Connector asset has been clarified. Its input was previously labelled as a points object, which led users to assume it required geometry. It actually operates on a matrix object.

Surface Stippling has been adjusted for large scenes. The previous version reportedly produced incorrect results on very large meshes. The updated asset is described as working correctly on larger scenes. A new stippling distribution variant has also been introduced for MoGraph workflows.

Plane Split rebuilt

The most significant change is a complete rebuild of the Plane Split asset, now referred to as version three inside the library. In the previous implementation, UVs, normals, weight maps and selections were not reliably transferred after cutting geometry. The new version is described as transferring UVs and normals correctly and offering optional transfer of vertex maps and selections.

Users can define the cutting axis and whether to generate top, bottom or both outputs. Selection transfer can be toggled for performance reasons when working with large meshes. The asset can also store new selections created at the cutting edge, including point, edge and polygon selections. Users can define custom names for border, top and bottom selections generated during the cut.

Normal handling is addressed explicitly. Proper shading after cutting requires correct normals. The author demonstrates generating a normal tag before cutting, either manually or procedurally, to avoid shading artefacts caused by Phong interpolation. This is a practical reminder that procedural cutting still depends on valid surface normals.

An included example scene demonstrates a procedural crystal generator built with Plane Split and the Close Polygon Holes asset. The setup uses repeated plane cuts, parameterised height, radius, side count, displacement seed and crack count to generate fractured crystal forms. The example is procedural and adjustable but relies entirely on the provided node assets.

Selection and visualisation tools

Outline Selection provides an alternative to Cinema 4D’s built in Border Selection node. According to the author, the default node can be slow on dense meshes. The custom implementation is presented as faster, although no benchmarks are supplied.

Select by Camera View creates selections based on a camera’s field of view. It supports viewport camera reading or object link input in node setups. Parameters include XY border offset, near and far clipping planes, optional exclusion of occluded geometry and surface offset tolerance for polygon selection. An example scene shows scattering trees only within the active camera frustum.

Vertex Map Visualiser displays per point vertex map values as numeric text in the viewport. Standard vertex maps are colour based and can exceed a normalised zero to one range depending on node operations. The visualiser reveals exact float values with adjustable precision and optional camera alignment. The author notes that camera aligned text can reduce performance on high density meshes.

Normal Visualiser exposes vertex normals in node-based workflows. Cinema 4D’s viewport normal display does not function inside node meshes. The asset requires a normal tag to read data. If only Phong smoothing is present, users must convert it to a normal tag.

Axis Preview visualises transformation matrices as axes, primarily for distribution and scattering setups. It displays X and Z orientation vectors per matrix, aiding debugging of alignment in node-based MoGraph workflows. These utilities target technical directors and look development artists who need numeric and vector-level feedback inside node graphs.

Modifiers and node utilities

Close Polygon Holes procedurally fills open boundaries on meshes. It can operate automatically on all holes or use an edge selection. When used in combination with Plane Split, it can cap newly created openings. If a normal tag exists, the asset can either respect it or generate flat shading normals.

Spline Smooth restores interpolation on resampled splines. In Cinema 4D, resampling removes interpolation type influence. The asset reintroduces interpolation modes such as Bezier or B-spline on resampled splines inside procedural setups.

3D Noise extends Cinema 4D’s Sample Noise by outputting a three-dimensional vector instead of a single float. Standard Sample Noise returns a one-dimensional value, requiring three nodes for XYZ displacement. 3D Noise outputs a vector directly, simplifying vector displacement workflows. Parameters include offset, noise type, octaves, seed, scale, amplitude, speed and remapping range. This reduces node count in displacement setups.

Get and Set Polygon Color convert between point-based and polygon-based vertex colour representations. The toolset allows per polygon colour assignment using arrays, iteration and conditional logic inside nodes. Example scenes demonstrate threshold-based colouring and polygon index comparisons.

These assets are procedural building blocks rather than UI tools. They are intended for users already comfortable inside the Scene Nodes system.

Generators and distributions

The Stitching asset generates procedural stitches along a guide spline on a surface mesh. It operates in real world scale. Parameters control stitch length, gap, randomness, zigzag or parallel patterns, thread count, lift, tilt, bendiness and global seed.

A grow animation system supports progressive stitching with different animation modes, including floating and machine style stitching. Users can define subdivision for performance versus smoothness trade offs and adjust fade spread and randomness.

Multi Loft functions similarly to Cinema 4D’s Loft object but operates on spline segments within a single connected spline rather than separate spline objects. It supports open or closed configurations, segment interpolation and optional caps. An additional optimise asset can weld resulting points.

Split Spline Mask extends the standard Spline Mask by producing open splines rather than always closed results. It includes axis selection, inversion and optional end point welding.

Two new distribution types are included. Surface Stippling Distribution adapts the existing stippling generator to MoGraph distribution. The author states that distribution density no longer depends on object scale, addressing behaviour in the earlier asset. Parameters include iteration count, neighbour count, search distance, strength, solver mode and optional vertex map driven charge for clustering and repulsion. Example scenes include toothbrush bristles, scale placement and large point distributions.

Paint Stroke Distribution builds on a previously published tutorial setup. It distributes strokes over a surface using flow splines derived from gradient intersection assets and vertex maps. Parameters are reorganised compared to the tutorial but functionality is described as equivalent. Example scenes demonstrate painterly portrait effects and more complex scenes with lighting and shadow driven maps.

The documentation is delivered primarily through tutorial videos by Dominik. As always, new tools and innovations should be tested before use in production to confirm stability, compatibility and performance under real project conditions.

// https://dominikruckli.gumroad.com/l/txmvnj

The post Druckli Tools V2 expands Cinema 4D nodes first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Cinema 4D Scene Nodes are Maxon’s procedural, data driven graph system inside Maxon Cinema 4D. They operate below the Object Manager, enabling direct control of geometry, hierarchies and attributes. Midlet Dufts is a packaged Scene Nodes asset distributed via Gumroad for artists who prefer not to start with an empty graph.

Scene Nodes, Without the Blank Graph

Midlet Dufts is an asset for Cinema 4D built on the Scene Nodes system. Dufts provides a collection of Scene Nodes-based setups intended to simplify procedural scene construction inside Cinema 4D.

Scene Nodes in Cinema 4D represent Maxon’s lower-level procedural architecture. Unlike the legacy Object Manager-based workflow, Scene Nodes operate on a data-centric graph that directly manipulates geometry, attributes, hierarchies and instancing through node operations. The system is powerful but requires a different mental model from traditional C4D workflows.

Midlet positions Dufts as a ready-made solution built on top of this node system, offering artists access to procedural techniques without constructing node graphs from scratch.

What Dufts Actually Provides

Midlets is built entirely using Cinema 4D Scene Nodes. It is not a plugin compiled in C++, nor a compiled extension. Instead, it is a node based asset constructed within Cinema 4D’s own system. This distinction matters. Because Dufts is created inside Scene Nodes, it relies on native functionality provided by Cinema 4D rather than external SDK hooks. In practice, this means the tool integrates as a Scene Nodes asset within the host application.

Context: Cinema 4D Scene Nodes

Cinema 4D Scene Nodes were introduced as part of a broader architectural evolution. They allow artists and TDs to construct procedural hierarchies and geometry using a graph based system. Nodes operate on data streams rather than static objects, enabling more granular control over attributes, instancing and structure.

In contrast to Xpresso, which focuses on parameter linking and expression driven relationships, Scene Nodes operate at a deeper structural level. They can generate and modify entire object hierarchies and geometry procedurally. Scene Nodes also underpin Capsules, which are packaged node graphs exposed through a more conventional object style interface. Capsules can hide graph complexity while providing user facing controls. As with any third party Scene Nodes asset, studios should validate compatibility, inspect the internal graphs, and run stress tests under real project conditions before committing to production use.

// Midlet Dufts official Gumroad page
// https://midlet.gumroad.com/l/dufts

The post Free Scene Nodes for C4D by Midlet Dufts first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Quad Wrap is a manual retopology add-on for Blender from AFX Lab, designed for artists who prefer explicit quad control over automation and already distrust magic buttons.

What was released

AFX Lab on FlippedNormals has released Quad Wrap, a new retopology tool designed to help artists rebuild meshes using manually placed quads. The tool is presented as a Blender add-on and focuses on direct user control rather than automated topology generation. According to the vendor, Quad Wrap allows artists to wrap clean quad geometry over existing meshes, targeting use cases such as character modelling, hard-surface cleanup, and asset preparation for animation or realtime use. The product is distributed through the FlippedNormals online store and is positioned as a utility rather than a procedural or AI-assisted solution. No claims are made regarding speed improvements, automation, or one-click results.

How Quad Wrap works

Based on the available documentation, Quad Wrap provides tools to manually draw and place quad strips directly on top of a reference mesh. The workflow relies on the artist defining edge flow and surface coverage explicitly.

Host application and compatibility

Quad Wrap is developed specifically for Blender and is delivered as an addon installed through Blender’s standard extension mechanism. The vendor does not list support for other DCC applications, nor does it mention any cross-platform compatibility beyond Blender. Version requirements for Blender are not clearly stated on the product page at the time of writing. Not independently verified at press time.

No information is provided regarding compatibility with Blender Geometry Nodes, modifiers, or sculpt mode workflows. Pipeline integration details, including support for scripted automation or studio deployment, are not documented.

Intended users

The tool is aimed at artists who prefer manual retopology and want explicit control over quad layout. This includes character artists, modellers working on deformation-critical assets, and VFX artists preparing meshes for downstream rigging or simulation.

There are no claims that Quad Wrap reduces skill requirements or eliminates the need for topology knowledge. The messaging consistently frames the addon as an assistive tool rather than a replacement for established modelling practices.

Pricing and availability

Quad Wrap is available for purchase directly from the FlippedNormals website. At the time of writing, the listed price is USD 19. The vendor does not specify licensing terms beyond standard store policies. Information about updates, maintenance, or long-term support is not detailed. Not independently verified at press time.

Documentation and learning material

The FlippedNormals product page includes a short description and preview media. No full user manual, technical reference, or detailed workflow breakdown is linked. Artists evaluating Quad Wrap are advised to review any available demos and test the addon against their own production requirements.

FlippedNormals Quad Wrap product page
https://flippednormals.com/product/quad-wrap-retopology-tool-67984

The post Quad Wrap offers quad-first retopology, no magic wand first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Milo is the real-time rendering companion to Silo from Nevercenter, designed for fast lighting and lookdev directly from models edited in Silo. It runs as a linked app, updates automatically on save, and ships with the same perpetual licence.

Unreal Engine upgrade does the heavy lifting

Nevercenter has released Milo version 2026.0.0, a substantial technical update centred on a full migration to Unreal Engine 5.7. According to Nevercenter, the engine upgrade delivers significant improvements in both rendering quality and performance, following systematic optimisation across the renderer.

In a video walkthrough accompanying the release, Nevercenter founder Tom Hudson demonstrates real-time raytracing running on an Nvidia RTX 3060, (a five-year-old GPU), with lighting rigs adjusted interactively at high frame rates. Hudson states that comparable scenes in previous Milo versions ran significantly slower on the same hardware, particularly when raytracing was enabled.

Raytracing and pathtracing split by platform

Rendering features now diverge more clearly by operating system. On macOS, Milo 2026.0 adds real-time raytracing support. Nevercenter states that this mode is broadly equivalent to the raytracing implementation on Windows, with improved shadow quality and lighting fidelity compared to earlier raster-only Mac builds.

On Windows, Milo gains a pathtracing mode intended for final-quality output rather than interactive navigation. Pathtracing is described by Nevercenter as physically based and progressive, refining the image over time when the camera remains still and restarting when the view changes. Hudson notes that lighting interpretation differs slightly from raytracing and raster modes, requiring manual adjustment of ambient levels or lighting rigs when switching between modes. Pathtracing is not available on macOS, due to Unreal Engine limitations on that platform (for now at least).

Soft shadows without raytracing

One notable rendering change applies across all platforms and quality modes. Soft shadows are now supported even when raytracing is disabled, for example, the Ring Light preset, which previously produced hard-edged shadows in raster mode.

In Milo 2026.0, raster mode preserves softer shadows for certain light types, while others such as the Sun rig continue to produce harder shadows by design. Nevercenter positions this as a quality improvement for users working without raytracing enabled, including those on lower-power systems.

All built-in lighting rigs have been updated and equalised. Nevercenter states that these presets now behave more consistently across raster, raytracing and pathtracing modes, and respond more smoothly to interactive adjustments.

Separate display and render quality settings

Milo 2026.0 introduces independent quality settings for display and render output. Users can navigate scenes in raster or raytracing mode while rendering final output using raytracing or pathtracing. This is a workflow feature intended to maintain interactivity in heavier scenes while still enabling higher-quality final frames. The render quality can be set to follow the display mode or overridden per output. Hudson notes that raytracing performance is now fast enough on many systems, including Apple Silicon machines such as the MacBook Air M2, that users may choose to stay in raytracing mode full time.

File handling and Silo synchronisation tweaks

Several small but practical workflow changes are included. Milo now supports drag-and-drop loading of model files directly into the application. Nevercenter also states that support for loading additional file formats has been added, and Integration with Silo has been refined . Objects set to wireframe or ghost shade mode in Silo are now automatically hidden in Milo when the file is saved. Nevercenter describes this as a convenience feature to exclude alternate or work-in-progress geometry from renders without manual layer or visibility management.

As in previous versions, material changes saved in Silo continue to update automatically in Milo, including adjustments to specular values that affect surface shininess in the renderer.

VR quietly exits

VR support has been removed entirely in Milo 2026.0. Nevercenter states that the feature was used very little and became increasingly difficult to maintain alongside new rendering features. Hudson describes the removal as a compromise to prioritise rendering quality and performance. Nevercenter does not rule out reinstating VR support in the future if user demand is strong, but no roadmap or commitment is provided.

What stays the same

Existing Milo features remain intact. These include turntable rendering and live spin previews, depth of field controls, wireframe overlays, adjustable background modes including sky, gradient, solid colour and image backgrounds, and line-art style rendering. Nevercenter emphasises that these features benefit indirectly from the performance improvements, remaining responsive even with higher-quality lighting enabled.

Nevercenter also highlights continued compatibility with its photo editing application CameraBag as part of the broader workflow, although no changes to that integration are described in this release.

Licensing and availability

Milo is not sold separately and continues to ship as part of the Silo licence. Nevercenter sells Silo as a perpetual licence, with Milo included at no extra cost. Milo 2026.0.0 is available to all current Silo users.

Supported platforms are Windows 10 or newer and macOS 12 or newer, including Apple Silicon systems. Hardware requirements for raytracing and pathtracing depend on GPU capabilities and operating system support, as defined by Unreal Engine.

Production notes

Milo 2026.0.0 represents a technically significant update, driven largely by its Unreal Engine 5.7 foundation and a focus on renderer performance. While Nevercenter demonstrates strong interactive results, particularly with raytracing enabled, artists should test the new version carefully on representative scenes and hardware before adopting it in production workflows.

// Nevercenter Milo 2026.0 release notes
// https://nevercenter.com/silo/features/#release_notes

The post Nevercenter speeds up Milo 2026 and drops VR quietly first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

A developer using the name apinanaivot has released a free browser script that adds a download button to IKEA product pages. The script enables users to download the same 3D models IKEA already serves for interactive product previews on its official website.

The project is hosted on GitHub and distributed as source code. It simply exposes files already delivered to the browser, without requiring users to navigate the full IKEA purchasing experience.

What the models are

The downloadable files are IKEA’s existing web preview models. These are designed to show how a sofa might look in your living room, not how it will feel when carried up three flights of stairs or assembled at 23:40. Polygon density, UVs, materials, and scale vary between products. The repository makes no claims about production readiness, dimensional accuracy, or whether the digital version will fit your scene any better than the physical one fit your flat. These assets should be treated as reference unless manually inspected, cleaned, and verified.

Supported workflow

The script injects a download button into supported IKEA product pages. When activated, it retrieves the underlying 3D asset files directly from IKEA’s servers. Available formats depend on product and region. No complete format list is provided. There is no DCC integration. Import into Blender, Maya, or Houdini depends entirely on what IKEA supplies. Unit scale, orientation, and material fidelity are inconsistent and may require adjustment.

Legal and usage limits

The repository does not grant any additional licence for the assets. IKEA’s own terms of use remain in effect. The project documentation positions the tool as a convenience layer, not an asset redistribution service. LEt’s assume these models may NOT be used in commercial VFX, advertising, or product visualisation.

What it is not

This is not an official IKEA tool. It is not endorsed by IKEA. It does not include batch downloads, asset tagging, metadata, or instructions written in cheerful diagrams. It does not improve geometry, materials, or accuracy, and it does not guarantee that the digital model will align with reality.

Why it matters

For layout, previs, blocking, and proportion reference, readily available furniture models can be useful. This script reduces the friction of acquiring those models, without requiring a friend with a van, lots of aswearing, and a postpurchase re-evaluation of spatial planning decisions. (Random examples. Just sayin’)

As always, new tools and workflows should be tested carefully before use in actual production environments. Towards the end of testing, artists should remain calssicly sceptical and confirm scale, materials, and legal usage terms.

IKEA 3D Model Download Button repository
https://github.com/apinanaivot/IKEA-3D-Model-Download-Button

The post Download IKEA furniture as 3D models, minus the trolley first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the site: BlenderKit is a built-in asset library for Blender. It loads materials, models, HDRIs, scenes and brushes straight into the viewport, no dragging, no file hunting, no tears.

Brush bonanza in Blender

The asset library BlenderKit has quietly added more than 1,000 free sculpting brushes to its growing database. The brushes target a wide range of 3D workflows, from organic modelling and creature detailing to hard-surface wear and tear. These free brushes are part of a total collection exceeding 5,000 sculpting presets now listed in BlenderKit. Free brushes include assets for wrinkles, pores, fabric seams, stone cracks, and mechanical surfaces. Most are licensed under CC0 or royalty-free commercial licences, allowing unrestricted use in paid work.

Everything inside Blender

BlenderKit runs directly inside Blender, so artists can browse and import models, materials, HDRIs, scenes and now brushes without leaving the application. The plugin’s tight integration means no external downloads or add-on juggling. The full BlenderKit library now contains more than 114,000 assets, with roughly 54,000 of them available for free. Paid plans unlock the remaining content, offer 2 GB of cloud storage and include optional extra add-ons. The plugin requires Blender 3.0 or later.

Free, legal, and plenty

All assets on BlenderKit’s free tier can be used commercially, provided the creator’s licence allows it. The site distinguishes between CC0 (public domain) and royalty-free assets. For users on budget-tight pipelines or smaller indie teams, this is one of the most extensive legally clean asset pools available directly inside a DCC.

The newly added sculpting brushes fit well with Blender’s growing use in creature and environment design for both games and film work. The convenience of in-viewport access saves a good amount of tme compared to manual brush setup and file import routines.

Try before you rely

As always, new tools should be tested before being used in production environments. Brush performance, texture resolution and stroke response vary depending on the sculpting engine version and system hardware.

https://www.blenderkit.com/

The post Over 1,000 free sculpting brushes land in BlenderKit first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: IDA BEST RETOPO TOOLS by Dmitriy Ismailov is a collection of Python-based add-ons for Blender 4.5 and higher. Built around the Vulkan branch of Blender, these tools provide fast, modular retopology functions inspired by Maya’s Quad Draw system. If your daily routine involves cleaning up dense ZBrush or photogrammetry meshes, these scripts might fit neatly between standard Blender tools and full-blown commercial retopo suites like RetopoFlow or TopoGun.

The News: Vulkan Retopo, the DIY Way

Ismailov’s toolset, IDA BEST RETOPO TOOLS, is a hand-built collection of modular Python add-ons that rethink Blender’s retopology workflow. The author’s motivation was simple: most existing Blender retopo add-ons rely on legacy Python operators originally derived from early tools such as PolyQuilt. While functional, these older scripts become memory-heavy when dealing with multi-million-poly meshes.

The new suite instead uses Blender’s Vulkan rendering backend, introduced experimentally in Blender 4.5, to speed up viewport updates and reduce lag when editing complex models. Each function is distributed as a separate .py add-on rather than a monolithic package, allowing artists to install only the tools they need.

Modular and Explicit Installation

Every Python file in the pack acts as an independent add-on. Users must install them one by one via Install from Disk rather than adding a full folder. After installation, the tools appear in Blender’s N-panel. This modularity allows per-tool debugging and selective updates, at the cost of some setup time.

The Core: Quad-Based Interaction

The heart of the toolkit is a Quad Brush system designed to emulate Maya’s Quad Draw behaviour. With hotkeys such as Ctrl, Shift, and mouse drags, users can place vertices, generate quads, or extrude retopology strokes directly on high-poly geometry. The operator runs in modal mode, reacting to viewport input until manually switched off. Performance considerations are explicitly addressed: undo operations can be unstable when combining reverse and smooth functions, and the author warns users not to press Ctrl Z during some modal interactions. These caveats underline the project’s in-progress nature and its focus on function over polish.

Visual Feedback and Vulkan-Specific Display

The set includes a visual overlay module for highlighting non-manifold geometry and isolated vertices, updating in real time with camera movement. The overlay only works in Vulkan builds and disables itself automatically when switching tools to avoid frame rate drops on heavy meshes. This approach mirrors professional viewport isolation found in Maya or Modo, though it still lacks per-object wireframe isolation. The author notes plans to refine this behaviour later.

Geometry Creation and Snapping

One of the notable features is dynamic snapping to face normals. The Project Along operator reprojects newly created quads onto underlying high-poly geometry, fixing floating polygons common in manual retopo. The process can be triggered manually or bound to custom hotkeys using the PAMenu Editor, a fork of Blender’s abandoned Pie Menu Editor project now maintained by the community.

Additional Operators and Controls

All parameters, including vertex display thickness and overlay colours, can be modified in the N-panel. Several secondary tools extend the base functionality:

The Selection Circle generates loops or cuts across multiple separate objects, aiding hard-surface retopology such as armour pieces or layered clothing.
Smooth Iteration acts as an incremental vertex smoother applied via hotkey S.
Cylinder and Stroke Tools create curved or circular retopo patches with adjustable density using mouse scroll input.
The Flip Normals Script fixes inverted faces, particularly common in imported high-poly ZBrush meshes.

Practical Notes and Warnings

The developer stresses that these tools are designed exclusively for Blender 4.5+ Vulkan builds. Functionality may partially work in earlier versions, but the visualisation layer will not. Users are encouraged to assign custom hotkyes via PAMenu Editor or Blender’s Keymap Preferences for efficient access. Undo behaviour remains limited in modal tools, and certain combinations (Reverse + Smooth) can trigger state loss. The author calls these “known quirks” of the early build.

A Maya-Style Workflow Inside Blender

Functionally, the set delivers a familiar workflow to artists used to Maya’s Quad Draw: click to place vertices, drag to fill quads, Shift to smooth, W to toggle wireframes, and F to flip normals. The result is a more tactile retopology experience than standard Blender’s tools, which still rely on traditional transform operators.

While not as integrated as dedicated commercial solutions, IDA BEST RETOPO TOOLS brings much of the same speed and clarity to Blender’s open ecosystem.

Development Outlook

Ismailov notes that future versions will expand with features akin to Petiq, a now-abandoned Blender retopology tool. The project’s direction remains open and community-driven, with feedback encouraged via Gumroad comments. Given that these tools touch low-level input and viewport operations, users are advised to test them on non-production builds first. Stability, especially under Vulkan, may vary between Blender nightly versions.

Bottom Line

IDA BEST RETOPO TOOLS is not a polished consumer product but a working production hack, a coder-artist’s attempt to make Blender’s retopology as immediate and predictable as Maya’s. For retoop specialists handling multi-million-poly meshes, it is a surprisingly competent and fast addition to the toolkit, as long as you are comfortable installing Python scripts manually and living with occasional visual oddities. Always test such innovations thoroughly before relying on them in live production.

The post Quad Draw Comes to Blender first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Plasticity by Plastic Software is a NURBS modeller designed for artists who prefer CAD precision without CAD overhead. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, sits between MoI and Fusion, and exports clean geometry for Blender, Maya, Houdini and other DCC tools.

Instancing Arrives

Plasticity 2025.3 adds proper instancing. The new Create Instance command generates live references of solids, sheets, curves or groups. Changes to the master object automatically propagate across all instances, keeping files light and consistent. When geometry needs editing, Realize Instances converts them back into full bodies. Array and Mirror commands now also support instances, allowing users to pattern complex forms without duplication.

Cloud Preview: Publish to Plasticity Share

The new Publish to Plasticity Share feature lets users export a lightweight mesh preview to the web. Only mesh data is uploaded (no CAD data or full project files) so models can be reviewed safely by clients or collaborators through a browser link. It is designed for quick visual checks rather than full production transfers.

Precision Modelling Tools

Plasticity 2025.3 expands its measurement toolkit with Measure Radius, providing direct readouts on cylindrical or conical forms. The new Ellipse Tool finally delivers native ellipse creation with precise control. Measurements now display clear arrowheads at both ends, and curves render with thinner strokes for cleaner viewports.

Smarter Manipulation and Pivot Control

Edges on cylindrical or conical surfaces can now be moved directly while retaining analytical geometry. The Move tool supports both interior and exterior edge adjustments if the adjacent faces are planar, cylindrical or conical. Pivot points now align automatically along surface normals when primitives or sketches are placed, streamlining operations on complex shapes.

Curvature and Continuity with Real-Time Feedback

The former Measure Curvature command is now Toggle Curvature, featuring a right-panel menu for comb scaling and visibility control. Both Toggle Curvature and Measure Continuity now display live updates: manipulating curves or edges shows curvature and continuity changes immediately. Each offers its own panel with G0/G1/G2 scaling and deviation displays. Files from 25.3 remain backward compatible, with curvature data stripped when opened in older versions.

Enhanced Arrays, Mirrors and Sweeps

Array commands now support meshes, images and instances, with a Make Instances toggle for lightweight duplication. The Mirror command can now mirror meshes and instances, including negative scaling for direct axis reflection. The Sweep tool gains Mitre and Round corner types for guiding curves around sharp or smooth bends, adding control for product-style surfacing.

Export and Topology Controls

Plasticity’s export engine grows more configurable. OBJ export gains several topology and cleanup features:

• Remove Small Features strips fine details by numeric threshold for retopology or baking workflows.
• Simplify Radial Surfaces maintains continuous edge flow across curved forms.
• Convex Ngons Only prevents concave ngon generation, improving downstream shading in tools like RizomUV or 3ds Max.
• OBJ export also now supports empty meshes and un-realised instances. SVG export is now available for curves, enabling vector output for documentation or design applications.

Section Analysis for Meshes

Section Analysis can now cut through mesh data (STL, FBX, OBJ), not only NURBS bodies. This gives users a quick way to inspect internal geometry or verify imported scan data.

Material Handling and Visuals

Render Mode ships with a new default HDRI for better baseline lighting. The Cathedral Tile PBR material joins the library, and material management is now more interactive: dragging a material from the Assets menu or directly from the Outliner applies it in the viewport. Hovering over materials in the Assets panel highlights every object using that material.

Performance, Snapping and Navigation

Mousewheel zooming is faster and smoother, particularly in dense assemblies. Snap performance on OBJ files has been improved for both face and vertex snaps. Incremental snapping now respects grid settings during scaling, and spherical faces feature new centre snap points.

Localisation and Preferences

Plasticity now supports ten interface languages, including English, German, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Chinese. Faceting density in Preferences can be adjusted without restarting the application. Mesh objects’ pivots can be repositioned and saved for consistent orientation.

General Optimisation

Curve performance has been improved for intersection-heavy scenes. The outliner now better handles instanced hierarchies. Render and viewport updates deliver smoother interaction with high-poly models.

Availability

Plasticity 2025.3 is available now for Windows 10+, macOS 12.0+ and Ubuntu 22.04+. Users should test all new tools and exporters in controlled environments before deploying them in production.

Social Media: Plasticity 2025.3 lands with live instances, SVG export, new curvature toys and a cloud preview. Time to model smarter, not heavier.

The post Plasticity 2025.3: Now with Instances, Curves and Clouds first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

A tasting of the dynamics and geometrys side (of) effects

This release is not about the number of features, but about finishing what was started, achieving true production readiness, robustness, performance, and ease of use. It’s a version focused on quality of life. Feature sets like MPM simulations and Karma have matured like a good wine. The machine learning tools respect the artist’s skill set and have left their state of play are actual usefull in production.

Even though SideFX remains modest in its official statements, Houdini 21 is a massive release. For the feature-hungry among us, the highlights include a fully matured APEX; a refined and clever animation and rigging framework; a simulating Copernicus (think Substance on Dope), and in the VFX realm, the production-ready MPM Solver. On top of that, we’re seeing machine learning tools popping up in all the right places (AI for people who don’t expect a Pixar film from a single click), faster and expanded rendering with Karma, and a healthy dose of quality-of-life improvements.

Since our editorial cat can only count to 300, we can’t tell you the exact number of new or improved features, but we’re impressed nonetheless. And soon, you will be too. To avoid overwhelming both writer and reader, we’re breaking this article into a mini-series. We’ll start with VFX & Geometry, followed by Solaris & Karma, Copernicus & Terrain, and the massive Animation & Rigging tools.

MPM

One of the most exciting additions in H20.5 was without question the MPM Solver. The MaterialPointMethod truly allows you to simulate a wide range of different materials. From water, snow, and sand to honey, metal, and concrete, all within a single Solver setup. The geometry is simply substituted by points or particles, which are then simulated. The different materials interact physically accurate and constraint-free, purely based on their assigned parameters.

The initial release was already impressive, but it left users standing somewhat in the simulated rain when asking: “How do I get a proper mesh with UVs?” That exact issue has now been beautifully solved in H21. Any MPM simulation, whether rigid body or fluid, can now be meshed (as polygons or SDF volumes), including UVs, color, and other attributes, using no more than two nodes.

A nice and usefull addition to this workflow is the MPM Debris node, which generates new points along fracture lines as sources for smoke, dirt, or secondary debris effects. So let’s take a look at meshing hard and fluid or granular surfaces across a few setups and scenarios and wrap things up with a creamed cookies drink while watching the official and very excellent MPM demo.

Surfacing MPM Simulations

Testing time! For this test setup, we’ll have a clay ball smash into a vase model, paying close attention to UV transfer and the generation of smaller fragments through the Debris Source. The easiest way to start an MPM simulation is by typing “MPM Configure” into the node search. This gives you a complete set of starter nodes right away. (Under MPM Configure, you’ll also find plenty of additional example setups for study or creative repurposing.) By the way, the MPM container on the far right controls the overall resolution of the entire simulation.

We replace the default sphere with our own model and can now assign materials directly inside the mpmSource node and tweak them to our liking. It’s genuinely fun. Feels a bit like a mini-game. Since a concrete material would be more realistic but also quite boring as a vase material, we went with Chunky Snow instead. The environment comes in via an Object Merge directly into the mpmCollider Sop, ready to go. Our clay ball, the antagonist of this little simulation, isn’t a collider per definition but another mpmSource ready to be smashed, merged with the vase and given its own material behavior, Chunk Soil.

To make sure the particles can actually see and “love” each other, we need to enable Particle-Level Collision in the solver. The new Auto Sleep feature helps keep the vase passive until the collision happens, preventing it from collapsing at frame one and saving quite a bit of compute time.

Since the clay ball will be meshed as a fluid and granular surface and the vase as a rigid object, we first separate the MPM particles using a Blast node, filtering them by their respective source names.

For surfacing the vase, we use the mpmPostFracture node, which takes the rest-geometry and the MPM particles as input. This node essentially breaks the geometry apart “end to start,” so it needs to be fed the final frame of the simulation. After that, we choose either Voronoi or Boolean Cut as the fracture method. The latter can generate interior details, subtle irregularities on the inner faces of the fracture, that weren’t visible before, and it’s also faster to compute. We can further control the number of pieces as well as define the minimum fragment size at which new pieces should be generated.

The final node in the chain is mpmDeformPieces, which transfers the newly generated fracture geometry onto the MPM particles and just like that, the vase shards, physically convinced they’re made of snow, go flying through the scene, complete with perfectly intact UVs. For more of a muddy mess, we could have generated a liquid or granular surface instead, but we’ll save that for the clay ball. The result from the Debris Source, which lets you precisely define when and where particles based on fracture are emitted, is then passed into a POP network, including collisions from the vase and background).

Time to get serious:

Continuos Emissions & Surface Tension

With this new option, you can quickly fill containers, simulate expanding materials, or layer different materials on top of each other. The option is located in the mpmource node and spreads new particles apart using positive pressure.

Let’s take our vase and let a thick, viscous something ooze out of it. A good chance to show how simple MPM can be: if we want things to float inside the fluid, they just need a lower density. A few cubes are generated and assigned a jelly material. Two geometries, two MPM Sources, merged and fed into the solver. That’s all it takes. Just as easily, you can mix different fluids within the same setup. And for a bit more drama, we can dive into the solver and add a POP Wind node with some turbulence.

Surface tension allows for realistic effects such as droplets, tendrils, and flowing water. H21 introduces two new ways to control surface tension for both liquid and viscous materials inside the MPM Solver. The Point Based method offers higher accuracy and stability, making it ideal for small and detailed simulations. The Grid Based method, on the other hand, is optimized for performance and handles millions of particles more efficiently, which makes it better suited for large-scale scenes. External forces and friction can be increased if objects keep moving when they shouldn’t. Otherwise, you might end up with a scene straight out of Terminator 2.

To achieve high levels of detail without an unnecessarily large number of simulation points, the new, more precise collision detection allows you to use the fracture edges of a simulation as the source for a targeted secondary simulation. The attribute Jp (Plastic Compression/Stretching) is key here. It can be used to isolate the fractured areas and feed them into a Surfacing node set to VDB mode. This resulting volume can then serve as the source for the second simulation. And don’t forget to use the main simulation result as a collider.

And finally to top it off, the official demo. A detailed breakdown of that beautiful cookie shot.

Machine Learning in Dynamics

You won’t find any generative AI native in Houdini, but rather a growing collection of smart, locally running models, often trained by yourself, designed to simplify or speed up time-consuming tasks.

Surfacing Flip, Vellum & Particle Simulations

Alongside Neural Point Surfacing for MPM, the new Neural Point Surface and proven Particle Fluid Surface nodes now bring neural meshing to FLIP, Vellum, and POP simulations as well. Until now a bunch of points are trying to reconstruct the surface of a material. With neural meshing, you can now achieve much sharper, more detailed surfaces across a both high and low frequencies. The result: surfaces that are no longer uniformly fuzzy, but crisp, structured, and temporally stable. As before, you can train your own models, but even the included presets already produce finer details. And thankfully, the whole thing is GPU-accelerated.

Volume Upres

The core problem behind volume up-resing: for efficiency, artists often create and approve low-resolution simulations. But once the voxeldensity is increased, the overall shape of the sim tends to change. With the new tools, a low-res simulation can now be upscaled while preserving its exact shape. This not only keeps previously approved versions intact, but also allows for far more iterations. A model that’s been trained on a specific motion or behavior can now upscale multiple variations of it.

The Billowy Smoke recipe (or shelf tool) comes with a pretrained up-res model already integrated. Let’s start by looking at a comparison between the low-res input simulation and the 3× up-res result.

Details are nicely added, while the overall shape is preserved impressively well. Caching took a bit of time, but it’s still far faster than running a full high-res simulation. The real idea, however, is that we can now reuse this up-res model for all our future Billowy Smoke setups and honestly, we probably should. So, let’s quickly modify the setup and see if we can break the upscaler.

This time, the solver runs at a voxel size of 0.05, using the 2× upscaler. The 3× model didn’t really add more detail, just extra waiting time. For a bit more fun, a Gas Wind with random direction and a collision shape were added. That collision shape, as it turns out, gives the upscaler a bit of trouble as seen below.

But when comparing the up-res result to a true high-res sim, it’s clear that the system is really good at preserving the base form. Doubling the voxel size in the high-res sim, on the other hand, changes the overall shape and eats up a ton of time but stays artifact-free. Or, if you really want perfection, you could just train a model specifically for this type of collision.

If you want to train your own model, this Equinox Hive talk walks you through every detail:

Zibra AI VDB compression

With this plugin you can save up to 99 percent of storage space when caching VDB simulations, which makes it perfectly suited for use in real-time engines such as Unreal Engine 5. The Zibra toolset, distributed via SideFX Labs, provides three dedicated nodes.

The first, zibravdb_compress, writes and exports .zibravdb files for use in Unreal and similar environments. The second, zibravdb_decompress, brings those files back into Houdini. And finally, zibravdb_filecache acts as a modified File Cache node that automatically handles compression, loading, and decompression for further use inside Houdini. Before diving in, you’ll need to download the model and obtain a license, potentially a free personal one if your revenue is below 100 K USD. The license management can be accessed directly from any of the three nodes.

For a quick benchmark, I used the Fireball Recipe and cached one regular VDB sequence alongside two Zibra versions with different quality settings. The original VDB sequence weighed 294 MB. The Zibra compression at a quality setting of 0.2 came in at only 5 MB, roughly 98 percent smaller. At a quality setting of 0.9, the result visually matched the original VDB almost perfectly while staying at just 36 MB, around 88 percent less.
That insane low file size at 0.2 naturally comes at the cost of lost detail, as visible in the comparison graph below. Still, the results are impressive and they open up the possibility for bringing volumetric simulations into real-time pipelines far more efficiently than before.

Pyro Shelve Tool Presets

Another way to get artists up to speed faster are production-ready presets, not just educational examples, but tools meant to be customized for your very real projects. Each of them comes with a ready-to-use Solaris network, fully set up for rendering straight out of the box. Even better, the Help section now includes a short guide and exploanation of important Nodes for every preset.

SideFX strikes a noticeably new tone here, aiming to flatten the learning curve rather than overwhelming newcomers with endless options (which, to be fair, they still do from time to time). These guides can be found under Documentation → What’s New → Pyro. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at three fundamentally different presets, each showcasing its own approach and creative use case.

Stylized Flame

With the refined Copernicus toolset, entirely new worlds open up: stylized fire based on a classic Pyro simulation, right inside Houdini. And if needed, even live-rendered in Solaris.

To put the claim of “easy adaptability” to the test, we took the Pyro Fireball preset and gave it a Toon-style makeover. Adding the VDB field “Flame” inside the solver’s output was all it took to make it work. The output from the Cop node, by the way, can be merged directly into the scene for further Houdini style editing.

Ground Explosion B

This shelf tool sets up a sparse pyro simulation featuring a large-scale explosion, smoke trails, and a shockwave. For more control and efficiency, it’s actually made up of two separate simulations, layered on top of each other and interacting through their velocity fields.

Candle Flame

A candle flame might not be the most exciting thing visually, but it’s one of those Pyro results you end up needing again and again. What makes this preset interesting, though, is the procedurally modeled candle that comes with it. Exploring that setup is almost more fun than the Pyro sim itself.

Thruster FX

In true H21 fashion and in the spirit of overall efficiency boosts, the new Thruster FX tool makes its debut: a setup designed to create engine and propulsion emissions with ease. It’s not just a new node, but rather a complete Recipe, a preconfigured network of nodes that some might, in hushed tones, simply call “presets.”

With a cheerful click on Thruster Exhaust in the Pyro Shelf Tools (or via Configure Thruster in the Tab menu), you’ll get a fully adaptable node tree, including a ready-to-render Solaris network. The effect itself isn’t a simulation but a cleverly layered, art-directable procedural system built around VOP Nodes. Multiple pyrothrusterexhaust nodes are stacked in layers, each responsible for different components like sparks, fire, and plasma. All working together to form a surprisingly easy to use thruster system.

So, what does it actually look like? And can it really be used straight out of the box, as promised? The short answer: pretty much, yes. The rendering comes surprisingly close to the viewport preview. To get it running, only a few connections inside the included Solaris network needed to be adjusted. For our small test scene, we did a bit of kitbashing inside Solaris, then added some glow and polish in Fusion.

Let’s take a closer look at the node, both from the outside and under the hood. The node expects a primitive as input, and a simple circle usually does the trick. It outputs both particles and a volume containing density and temperature fields. In the General tab, you can control speed, length, and the overall shape via a spline ramp. The Exhaust section handles the color ramp and lets you tweak the underlying noise pattern, which has a strong impact on the overall form. Under the hood, the node generates a VDB from Polygon, then modifies the result with a Volume VOP and a Volume Adjust Fog node.

As part of the ongoing effort to simplify things and lower the learning curve, SideFX has also released a good and detailed tutorial mini series: sidefx.com/tutorials/how-to-create-thruster-fx

Car Destruction FX

So that we can also crash the rigs built with the Car Rig SOP introduced in H20.5, Houdini 21 brings us the new Car Destruction Tools, led by the mighty RBD Car Fracture SOP, supported by the RBD Car Transform SOP. The first one takes care of fracturing and constraint creation, automatically handling the typical materials you’d expect in a vehicle: glass, metal, wood, and rubber. The RBD Car Transform SOP, similar to Transform Pieces, ensures that all pre-fractured parts are efficiently transformed based on the simulation points. You’re not limited to cars, by the way. Anything that follows the same basic logic can be blown apart. From motorcycles to helicopters, it all breaks just fine.

Destruction-hungry artists will find a detailed yet easy-to-follow example scene in the SideFX Content Library, the same visuals you might recognize from the keynote: sidefx.com/carbd-dual-car-collision/. A fitting go-through video can be found here:

Geometry, Viewport and other tasty QoL

Coming from its deep VFX roots, Houdini has taken quite a journey to establish its own distinct style of procedural modeling. With H21, that journey continues, extending existing nodes and adding a few genuinely useful new ones along the way. This time, even the viewport got some well-deserved love, now powered by Vulkan and capable of loading Gaussian Splats directly.

Sculpting in Time

The Sculpt SOP, introduced in H20.5 and (surprisingly) quite useful, now gets a genuinely groundbreaking new feature called Shot Sculpting allowing time-based, keyframe-free sculpting. Originally intended as a correction tool for character animation, the node turns out to be just as handy for VFX and motion design work.

Temporal control is handled through the Shot Sculpt panel, which at first glance looks a lot like an NLE timeline and, in principle, works much the same way. Sculpting can be organized into layers that can be offset in time, faded in and out (complete with easing), muted, or adjusted in opacity. Alternatively, you can use mask_track to paint time-based attributes, which can then be passed downstream and used in other nodes, for an obvious example, as masks.

Otherwise, the same rules apply as for the regular Sculpt SOP, whose updates we’ll take a look at next. In line with the new Shot Sculpting feature, the mask system has been reworked. Masks can still be painted manually, but can now also be loaded from an upstream float attribute, saved permanently, and blurred or sharpened as needed.

There are also new brushes. My personal highlight, the Elastic Grab brush:

Of course, the complexity and depth of ZBrush remain unmatched, but for many tasks, artists can now comfortably stay right inside Houdini.

Geometry Masks

There are also updates when it comes to masking. Several well-known nodes now include a Mask parameter, allowing the effect to be restricted to a painted or procedurally generated mask. Among them: Peak SOP, Soft Peak SOP, Inflate SOP, Flatten SOP, and Point Jitter SOP.

UV Flatten from Points

The latest addition to Houdini’s already powerful UV toolset could just as well be called “UV from Voronoi” since that’s exactly what it’s based on. The node distributes random or precisely placed points across the surface and uses them to calculate clean, non-overlapping UVs. It’s primarily designed for complex, high-resolution meshes, where traditional unwrapping tends to get messy fast.

Vulkan Viewport

Now enabled by default, the new Vulkan 3D viewport offers noticeably improved lighting, Ambient Occlusion, shading and ray tracing with built-in denoising, and a more accurate texture display though performance can take a hit if you push it too far. New worklights including a fully adjustable Dome Light, Physical Sky, and Three-Point Light setup now serve as the default viewport lighting.

Looking toward the future, the viewport can now display Gaussian Splats directly. Since splats are essentially just point clouds, and Houdini is fundamentally point-based, this opens up a rather promising combination. The .ply file can simply be loaded via a File SOP and passed into a Bake Splat SOP for further processing. From there, you can treat and manipulate the splats just like any other geometry using the usual SOP tools. More on rendering those Splats in the upcoming section on Solaris & Karma.

Curve Tools

The new Extract Contours SOP can generate object outlines from a camera’s perspective either directly as edges or as an edge group. Quite handy for toon-style effects.

The well-known Curve SOP now allows you to interactively split points into branches (with unique vertex numbers) or fuse them back together.

Unsubdivide

If things ever get a bit too much, this node can reconstruct a low-res input geometry based on Catmull-Clark.

Conclusion after some bottles of VFX

Even though the stated (and achieved) goal of H21 was mainly polishing existing systems and adding plenty of quality-of-life improvements, it still manages to sneak in a massive load of new features along the way. And we’ve only scratched the surface here. Deep dives on Copernicus, Solaris, Karma, Rigging, and Animation are already in the works.

What’s also refreshing is the ongoing effort to flatten the learning curve through better documentation, tons of in-house tutorials, and solid example files in the Content Library. Many things have become easier or let’s say, more accessible, without losing depth, at least for those who want to go there. As always, most nodes can still be cracked open and modified at their core. Nice one, SideFX.

The post Houdini 21: Like good wine (Part1, VFX & Geo) first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Manuel Kotulla.

With Roads, artist Marco Pavanello (publishing under Wolf on Superhive Market and on Gumroad) offers a deceptively simple Blender modifier setup for fast, procedural street generation. The tool lets users create complete, textured roads by extruding vertices from any mesh object.

Once a vertex is extruded, a full road mesh appears. Move the vertex, and the path curves dynamically—no additional modifiers or manual UV mapping needed. As the developer describes it: “Extrude a vertex and you’ll get a road, move it and you will create a curve, everything else is magic.” The implementation is built entirely on Blender’s native modifier stack and geometry nodes, meaning no compiled code or scripts are required.

Procedural by Design

Every aspect of the setup is procedural, from the geometry to the surface texturing. The included textures adapt automatically to the mesh deformation, maintaining consistent line markings and edge detail along curves. The system is designed to keep roads planar (flat), which simplifies viewport editing and avoids unexpected Z-offsets during extrusion. Users are reminded that vertical road modelling is unsupported—the surface will always remain level. The asset works in Blender 4.5 and is compatible with both Cycles and Eevee render engines. The creator explicitly recommends linking the asset library rather than appending, ensuring procedural dependencies remain intact when reused across projects.

Junctions and Lanes on Demand

One of the more technical features of Roads is its procedural junction generator. The setup automatically creates intersections for three-, four-, or five-way road crossings. The underlying node graph analyses connecting edges and merges topology to maintain correct lane and marking alignment. Lane count is also controlled via a single slider. Adding or removing lanes dynamically adjusts the overall width and marking patterns without breaking the underlying mesh continuity. All parameters are exposed in Blender’s Modifiers panel, allowing for live adjustments while modelling.

Workflow and Installation

Installation follows Blender’s current Asset Browser workflow. After extracting the Roads ZIP, users must register the folder in Edit → Preferences → File Paths → Asset Libraries, and set the import method to Link. In a new scene, a basic mesh (such as a plane) can serve as a starting object. Once all but one edge are deleted, dragging a Roads asset from the Asset Browser onto that edge instantiates the setup.

The developer suggests adjusting the Clip Start in the View panel to 1 metre for better visibility of painted lane markings. After setup, new roads are created simply by extruding the object’s vertices. Modifying parameters in the Modifiers panel allows fine-tuning of width, lane count, and material properties in real time.

License, Price, and Distribution

Roads is priced at $10 and distributed under a Royalty-Free licence through Superhive Market. The pluugin was authored in Blender 4.5, tested in Cycles and Eevee, and is classified under the platform’s Modifier Setups category. There is no external dependency, no installation script, and no Python component, which means the asset can be shared or version-controlled within production pipelines without modification.

Use Cases in Production

The tool is positioned for environment artists, level designers, and visualisation professionals who need rapid road layouts without external CAD or terrain plugins. Because geometry remains procedural, layout changes can be made interactively without reimporting or rebuilding the mesh.

However, since the asset enforces planarity, it’s best suited for flat terrains like urban scenes, car commercials, or realtime game prototypes where roads do not require elevation changes. The fully procedural texturing can reduce lookdev overhead, particularly in previs or real-time workflows where consistent UV alignment is required but manual texture painting is impractical.

What It Isn’t

Roads is not a terrain conformer, traffic simulator, or spline-based road network generator. It operates strictly within the Blender modifier system. The description on Superhive does not indicate automatic terrain adaptation or decal projection features. All intersections are handled within the node graph and remain 2D. As of publication, there is no mention of bridges, tunnels, or height-based modifiers. These limitations are inherent to its procedural design and must be considered during layout planning.

Testing Recommended

As with any procedural setup, users should test the modifier within their pipeline before committing to production scenes. Modifier behaviour can vary between Blender subversions, and procedural node setups occasionally differ when linked across projects. The developer’s documentation does not specify backward compatibility or version migration procedures.

Verdict

For ten dollars, Roads provides an elegant, minimalist solution for planar road generation in Blender. Its vertex-based extrusion workflow is immediately intuitive, while its reliance on procedural geometry and materials keeps files lightweight and editable. It won’t replace more advanced road tools that support vertical topology or terrain matching, but for quick previs, layout, or stylised city builds, Roads offers remarkable speed for minimal setup. As always, verify compatibility within your current Blender environment before use in production.

The post Procedural Roads Ahead: Blender Add-on “Roads” Lays Asphalt with Vertices first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

A Quarter-Century of Digital Clay

The ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition runs from 7 to 9 November 2025, celebrating 25 years of ZBrush. Hosted by Maxon, the event streams globally via ZBrush Live, Twitch and YouTube. It marks a dual milestone: a decade of the live Sculpt-Off competition and a quarter-century of the digital sculpting software that reshaped 3D character creation across film, games and design.

The online format, introduced during the pandemic years, remains. No travel, no queues — only three days of streamed presentations, artist showcases and production-level tips.

Friday: Legends Return to the Arena

The Summit opens with the Past Competitors LIVE ZBrush Sculpt-Off. Over fifty artists from the competition’s first decade, including Maarten Verhoeven, Zhelong Xu, Ashley Adams and Christian Carranza, have been invited back for a three-hour speed-sculpt challenge.

That’s followed by the Public LIVE Sculpt-Off, an open competition judged on creativity and execution under time pressure. Both contests reinforce what has become the Summit’s defining spectacle: sculptors creating original work live, in front of a global audience.

Saturday: Practice, Process and Production

Day Two runs from 9:00 to 18:00 PST, starting with Robson Barros from Loot Studios discussing Creating 3D Printable Miniatures That Tell Stories. His live ZBrush demo focuses on scale readability, pose design and physical durability for tabletop models.

Ryan Kingslien, who helped define early ZBrush anatomy training, revisits Beyond Reference, a session on form interpretation and sculptural anatomy. Daniel Hahn (Daytoner) then offers a production-focused look at hard-surface workflows used in toy and concept model creation.

Marko Lazov follows with live creature design improvisation under Turning Chaos Into Creatures. Przemyslaw Malachowski demonstrates Designing Tattoos in 3D, showing how sculpting tools can map artwork precisely to body anatomy.

The evening concludes with WeFX detailing ZBrush use on Wednesday Season 2 for Netflix. Team members Brandon Golding, Carlos Jacinto, Cesar Dacol Jr, Mauro Matheus and Sam Javanrouh break down their creature and prop work before the traditional “Good-Byes” close the stream.

Sunday: Studios, Toys and Technical Futures

The final day begins with Jordi Cerdà Gaya presenting 15 Years Using ZBrush and Crafting 3D Models by Natural Intelligence, a reflection on freelance product modelling and digital craftsmanship.

A highlight session follows from ID Software (Denzil O’Neill, Jason Martin and Solomon Gaitan) showing how ZBrush contributed to asset creation for Doom The Dark Ages.

Matt Hilton from Hasbro takes the stage for Making Joe, revealing the sculpt-to-production process for the G.I. Joe Classified Series. Mitchel Wu then reframes digital sculpting from a photographer’s perspective in The Second Life of a Subtool, tracing the journey from ZBrush mesh to practical miniature sets.

Later segments include Patrick 4D’s short presentation, followed by the Maxon Development Team previewing upcoming features and a 2026 roadmap. Details of these “exciting features” were not yet disclosed at press time.

The Summit concludes with the LIVE Sculpt-Off Winners Announcement, crowning champions from both the public and invitational events before a final farewell.

Looking Back – and Ahead

First released in 1999, ZBrush has become a cornerstone of digital production pipelines and earned a 2014 Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for its multi-resolution sculpting system. The 25th anniversary Summit blends that heritage with a forward look. For production artists, the sessions promise practical insights across sculpting, concept art, collectibles, and VFX asset creation.

Maxon – ZBrush Summit 2025 Virtual Edition

The post Sculpt-Offs, Anniversaries & Anatomy: ZBrush Summit 2025 celebrates 25 years first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The developer Kushiro has released a free modelling add-on for Blender named Outset Boundary, available on Gumroad. The tool adds an “outset” function, which expands face boundaries outward — effectively acting as the inverse of Blender’s native Inset operation. The developer describes it simply: “Outset Boundary is a simple tool for outset (reverse of Blender Inset) boundary edges.”

Key features and workflow

Outset Boundary allows artists to increase the margin of selected faces quickly while automatically handling overlaps. When expanded faces collide, the add-on intelligently merges and connects them to maintain clean geometry. The tool correctly handles right-angled corners by inserting quads at intersections, ensuring a stable topology even during aggressive outsets. It also supports limited use on curved or non-flat surfaces, extending its usefulness beyond basic planar modelling.

A rotation parameter lets users rotate the newly created geometry around the original edge, which helps when working on curved or angled hard-surface components. A threshold distance setting defines how close faces can get before the merge behaviour triggers, giving finer control over geometry intersections.

In use, the workflow is straightforward: in Edit Mode, switch to Edge Mode, select one or several boundary edges, then right-click in the viewport context menu and choose “OutSet Boundary.” The tool then expands the selection outward according to the chosen parameters.

Version history and updates

The Gumroad release notes list a number of updates. Version 1.3.1 improved the merge algorithm for overlapping faces and added a “Reset Rotation” option. Version 1.3.0 introduced a “Select Boundary” function that allows repeated runs of the tool using the Ctrl + R shortcut in Blender. Version 1.2.0 refined the algorithm and fixed several bugs. Earlier, version 1.1.0 had added the rotation and threshold-distance options, improving precision when working on complex meshes.

These updates suggest that the developer is actively refining the tool based on user feedback and ongoing testing, although no roadmap for future releases is provided.

Licensing and cost

Outset Boundary is distributed under a pay-what-you-want model (“$0+”) on Gumroad, making it effectively free to download. The developer notes that the tool is still under improvement but already stable enough for use. No explicit licence terms are stated regarding commercial use or redistribution, so users should verify conditions directly on the Gumroad page before deploying it in commercial projects.

Why it matters for production artists

In hard-surface modelling, the ability to expand face boundaries outward rather than only inward is useful when building shells, adding frame edges, or constructing offset geometry. Outset Boundary directly fills that gap in Blender’s standard toolkit. Its ability to merge overlapping faces is particularly helpful when maintaining clean topology across connected panels or modular assets. By simplifying the expansion process and offering quick iterative controls, the tool could save time in environment, prop, and mechanical modelling workflows. However, as with all community add-ons, production artists should confirm its behaviour on large meshes, non-planar geometry and complex Boolean structures before integrating it into studio pipelines.

Limitations and caveats

While the developer states that Outset Boundary supports curved and non-flat surfaces, there are no detailed test results for highly complex geometry such as multi-material meshes or dense subdivided surfaces. The ongoing-development note suggests that the feature set may change or expand over time, meaning version consistency across team environments should be monitored carefully.

Verdict

For those interested, the tool is currently available for download from Kushiro’s Gumroad page. As always, any newly released add-on should be tested thoroughly in production-like conditions before being used on deliverables.

Outset Boundary (Blender add-on) – Gumroad by Kushiro

The post Free Blender add-on “Outset Boundary” lets you expand faces with one click first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Laetoli Production, together with illustrator and animator Samba Soussoko, has launched a free anatomy-reference app focused entirely on the arthropod kingdom. The Arthropods Anatomy Reference App (sometimes called Arthropodes) offers 3D scans of real insects, spiders, crabs and other exoskeletal oddities collected from European museum archives. The idea is simple but delightfully unsettling: instead of staring at flat reference photos of beetles and centipedes, artists can rotate, measure and dissect these tiny nightmares directly in 3D.

Small zoo, big ambitions

At launch, the app features twelve scanned specimens, an admittedly modest start, but one that should already cover the basics for anyone designing mandibles, antennae or far too many legs. More scans are promised “in the coming months”. Each model can be freely explored in a browser or, for those who like their bugs a bit more permanent, via a free Windows-only desktop version.

The app lets users hide or isolate specific body parts, allowing a clean view of wings, carapaces or leg joints without the clutter. You can even measure distances or angles between parts, handy for anyone trying to make sure their digital spider isn’t accidentally violating the laws of insect biomechanics. For the detail-obsessed, two species can be displayed side by side for direct comparison, say, a crab next to a centipede, if you need inspiration for your next fantasy hybrid.

Why anyone sane would want this

Creature designers, modellers and riggers often need grounded anatomical data, even for fantasy work. Having museum-accurate arthropods at your fingertips saves endless time hunting for blurry reference photos online. It also ensures that even the most monstrous alien bug in your next VFX shot has credible proportions. Still, one look at some of the included specimens makes it clear why we chose the tamest beetle possible for the image. Some of these creatures are perfect for Halloween mood-boarding and possibly for testing one’s courage.

A tool to bug your pipeline (gently)

Currently, the app runs in a web browser or via a Windows executable, with no macOS or Linux versions announced. There’s no detailed data on scan resolution, polygon counts or export options, so artists should test it carefully before integrating it into a professional workflow. Despite its early-release limitations, it’s a solid niche reference tool for designers who prefer to measure a millipede rather than invent one from scratch.

For now, the Arthropods app feels like a digital cabinet of curiosities: part science, part art, and part “please keep that thing away from me”. It’s free, it’s surprisingly informative, and it might even help your creature rigs look a little more biologically plausible. If your next project involves creepy-crawlies, carapaces or too many eyes, this app is worth a spin, literally. Just maybe don’t open it right before bed.

The post Creepy-Crawlies in 3D: Free “Arthropods” Anatomy App for Creature Designers first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

SpaghetMeNot has released normalMagic 1.0, a Blender add-on that delivers advanced control over mesh normals and introduces entirely new modelling workflows. The toolkit addresses one of the most persistent issues in Blender pipelines: shading artifacts caused by broken normals.

Why Normals Matter

Normals determine how light interacts with a surface. Incorrect normals can cause shading glitches, flickering seams, or muddy renders. For high-quality work — from hard-surface and organic modelling to foliage, hair, or stylized shading — adjusting normals is often essential.

Surface-Based Workflows

normalMagic introduces Surface Insert, a modifier that blends and welds meshes directly into a target surface. This process is non-destructive, keeping topology editable while allowing detail to be added seamlessly. Alongside it, Surface Project transfers positions, normals, and UVs onto surfaces, with auto-masking so artists can skip managing vertex groups manually.

Boolean Pro: Clean Cuts Without the Artifacts

The add-on replaces Blender’s Boolean modifier with Boolean Pro, which preserves artifact-free normals across Boolean operations. Features include slice mode and per-cut offsets, letting the same cutter object be reused across multiple operations. For destructive workflows, Repair Boolean Normals resolves most shading artifacts left behind.

Smoothing, Transferring, and Blending Normals

Smooth Normals and Normal Transfer provide solutions for difficult topology. Artists can flatten or smooth normals to optimize toon shading, fake subsurface scattering, or blend normals between unconnected meshes. Together, these tools improve both realistic and stylized workflows.

16 Modifiers and Unified Shading Tools

In total, 16 modifiers are included in normalMagic, each with documentation and example files. Highlights include:

• Bent Normals: direct bent normal calculation on geometry, no baking required.
• Weighted Normals: control influence by face area, face strength, or custom attributes with precise cutoff settings.
• Instance Objects: instance with all modifiers applied, avoiding manual duplication of settings.

Pro Version and Workflow Automation

The Pro version ships with an additional helper add-on, installed via drag-and-drop. It integrates into Blender’s side panel and streamlines workflows for Boolean Pro and Instance Objects by automating setup steps. More modifiers will be supported in future updates.

Installation as Asset Library

normalMagic installs as a Blender Asset Library. After extracting the zip file, users link it under Edit → Preferences → File Paths. Linking instead of appending keeps blend files light and ensures updates propagate automatically across projects. Once installed, normalMagic tools appear in the add modifier menu.

Important Note on Custom Normals

Most normalMagic modifiers create or edit custom normals. While powerful, custom normals can behave unpredictably with Blender’s native tools — particularly bevel and mirror modifiers. normalMagic includes fixes for these cases, but users should be aware of the potential impact on standard workflows.

Compatibility and Updates

normalMagic requires Blender 4.5+. All future updates are free, with older builds remaining available for download and full support for Blender LTS releases.

normalMagic on Gumroad

The post normalMagic 1.0: Advanced Mesh Normal Control in Blender first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Nevercenter has released Silo 2025.2, and the changelog is refreshingly pipeline-friendly. The big headline is that Silo can now import and export Pixar’s USD files, meaning it can finally hold a proper conversation with the rest of a modern production pipeline. Alongside that comes UDIM UV mapping, the tile-based approach to texturing that makes character artists and texture painters breathe a little easier. No more cramming 8K detail into a single UV island.

The update also touches the modelling workflow itself. Viewports can now be synced so that rotations, pans, and zooms line up across multiple views, which is handy if you like your orthos behaving like obedient soldiers. A new three-view vertical split layout joins the mix, offering another way to clutter your screen with geometry. Numeric inputs have learned some manners too: centimetres, millimetres, and inches are all accepted, with automatic conversion. In short, you can finally model a chair that actually fits through a door.

Several annoying bugs have been squashed along the way, including problems with multi-monitor setups and orthographic rotations. Long-time users will recognise these as the little paper cuts of Silo, so this is a welcome clean-up.

Pricing and Availability

If you bought Silo from Nevercenter within the past year, the update won’t cost you a cent. For everyone else, the current Silo plus Milo bundle is listed at 159 US dollars. As before, the package runs on Windows 10 (64-bit) and newer and macOS 12 or newer.

Caveats

Nevercenter calls the USD support “full,” but the fine print is missing. Which parts of the spec are truly covered — materials, shading networks, subdivision surfaces, animation — is not detailed. Similarly, UDIM performance with very large tile sets has not been documented. As always: test in your own pipeline before committing production work.

Conclusion

Silo 2025.2 is not trying to be Houdini, Maya, or Blender. But with USD, UDIMs, synced viewports, and proper unit handling, it has stopped being an island. For anyone who liked Silo’s speed but cursed its isolation, this is a significant step. The real test will be whether it plays nicely with the rest of your studio’s toolchain. Try it, break it, and decide for yourself.

The post Nevercenter Adds USD & UDIM in Silo 2025.2 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Asset management is the tax nobody wants to pay. With Poliigon’s new universal asset browser Polydex, your hard drive stops being a texture landfill. Polydex scans any folder—downloads, desktop, or a lovingly curated mess—and auto-groups assets by type. Models, PBR textures, and HDRIs are all indexed, previewed, and ready for import.

Folders stay where they are. Polydex just displays what you already own, no forced rearranging, no mysterious “asset database” migrations. Whether your library comes from Poliigon, somewhere else, or that mysterious USB stick labeled “stuff_final,” Polydex recognizes it all.

Smart Detection, No Nonsense

The headline feature: Polydex identifies relevant files across any connected drive and groups them visually, with automatic handling of multi-map PBR sets (albedo, roughness, normal, etc.). HDRIs get their own section. What you see is (finally) what you have.

For Blender 4.2+ users, Polydex enables one-click import with automatic PBR shader assignment. No more wrestling with node spaghetti or hunting for that missing normal map. The importer sets up the shader network, skipping roughly a dozen manual steps per asset.

Expanding Horizons

Currently, Polydex’s Blender workflow is the main attraction. According to Poliigon, upcoming support is planned for SketchUp, 3ds Max, Cinema 4D, and Maya. At this beta stage, Linux support is “coming soon,” while macOS (11+, Apple Silicon) and Windows 10+ (64-bit) are ready to go.

Pipeline Impact—Or Not Yet?

If you’re used to managing dozens of asset folders, or trying to force bridge-type tools into your pipeline, Polydex might clean things up. Its no-move indexing and auto-grouping mean your asset chaos is finally searchable, not rearranged. Just don’t expect pipeline magic outside Blender, at least not in the current 0.9.0 beta.

Introducing Polydex – A Standalone Universal Asset Browser. Free for all in Beta. Download now: https://t.co/v0r5EME1eJ pic.twitter.com/G0pu4kxOW2

— Poliigon (@PoliigonHQ) June 19, 2025

As ever, always test new tools in your actual production setup before relying on them. Make sure Polydex correctly interprets your shader setups, texture channel assignments, and import requirements before shipping client renders or pipeline scripts.

Free, For Now

Polydex is free during its beta. The official Polydex page gives a direct download for Windows and macOS. No word yet on final pricing, feature gating, or licensing.

The Fine Print

Poliigon’s Polydex aims at that perpetual friction between scattered asset folders and practical DCC use. For Blender 4.2+ users, it’s an instant upgrade to asset hunting. For everyone else: watch this space, but keep your folders tidy, just in case. As always: test every tool in real-world conditions before making it a permanent part of your workflow.

The post Polydex from Poliigon Tackles Asset Chaos first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Toolbag 5.02 introduces an experimental Low-to-Low Baking mode, letting artists bake from one low-poly mesh to another using a dual-material setup. The new Bevel Shader supports hard-edged UVs, and baking previews can now be edited in the interactive mode. That’s good news for everyone who enjoys less guesswork and fewer bake group tantrums.

Decals, Tubes and Smudges

The new Decal Layer is almost finished, allowing drag-and-drop decal painting directly onto models. These decals are fully adjustable in size, projection, falloff, and rotation. Vector decal projection is also in beta – project curves as 2D vectors, combine them with booleans, snap them to grid, and yes, tubes and solids are supported, even if brush or symmetry settings aren’t yet.

Smudge Tool finally makes its debut, letting users smear paint layers across UV seams, geometry borders, and UDIMs. And Tile Strips can now be used to place tube textures as modular start/mid/end patterns, complete with tapering and tiling. For even more painterly control, a new Tube Mode for vector painting is included, letting you paint curves with warp, taper and brush profiles, and project Tile Strips directly.

For masking, you can now Sample Layers from paint or fill and convert them into reusable masks – non-destructively. Groups now support Sync Points, including adaptive anchors with isolation toggles.

The Fog Rolls In

In rendering, Toolbag 5.02 beta adds Ray-Traced Fog – still experimental, but already supporting multiple fog volumes, height-based falloff, and god rays. Raster rendering also supports fog, though it currently lacks falloff. Ray tracing also gets leaner on memory: Toolbag automatically switches between RTX and generic backends based on available VRAM, with a new GPU Auto mode in preferences that doesn’t require a restart.

If you’ve been longing for more control over your shortcuts, rejoice: the Hotkey Editor is finished. You can bind, reset, export/import and view all key assignments – including a conflict detection view that avoids shortcut chaos. The Scene Search bar is live, letting you filter your scene objects as you type. Multi-selecting scene items like meshes, lights and cameras is now supported for batch transforms. The new Render Window provides a dedicated space for render settings, separated from object properties. Finally, users can now add custom folders to their Asset Library, move/delete assets and folders freely, and even bulk import using “Apply to All” – though drag and drop from the OS still isn’t working.

Price and Availability

Toolbag 5.02 is currently available as a beta. Pricing details remain unchanged and can be found on the Marmoset Toolbag official site. As always with beta releases: stability is not guaranteed. Artists should evaluate these features in non-critical environments before integrating them into production pipelines.

Marmoset Toolbag 5.02 Beta

The post Baking, Decals, Fog and a Smudge of Beta in Marmoset Toolbag first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

In a significant move for the compositing- community, Maxon has announced the acquisition of the Autograph team from Left Angle. As Left Angle winds down its operations, its staff, known for their expertise in modern compositing workflows, will join Maxon’s expanding family. Autograph, developed by Left Angle, was created with the vision to rethink compositing from the ground up, offering a modern toolset for motion designers and visual effects artists. The integration of Autograph’s technology and team into Maxon’s ecosystem is expected to foster innovation and development of new tools that cater to the evolving needs of artists and creators worldwide.(left-angle.com) For more information, visit Maxon’s official announcement: Maxon Welcomes Autograph Team Following Left Angle Transition.

And since we probably won’t be using the cool company name “Left Angle” anymore, here are some post which had that tag:

Autograph Starter: Free Motion Graphics Tool with a Twist

Autograph 2025: Sign Here for New Features

From the left..

The post Maxon Acquires Autograph: A New Chapter in Compositing Tools first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

After four years in the waiting room, Epic’s MetaHuman framework has dropped the “early access” tag and now ships directly inside Unreal Engine 5.6. Creator, Animator and Mesh to MetaHuman sit side by side in the engine, share one asset library, and even expose C++ source for studios that enjoy tinkering under the hood. Cloud services still shoulder autorigging and texture synthesis, so a decent broadband line remains your silent teammate.

Licensing – Free(ish) Love, But Read the Small Print

The toolkit now obeys the standard Unreal Engine EULA: under-$1 million outfits keep every cent, bigger studios need an $1,850 per-seat annual licence, and no 5 % revenue cut applies when you export characters to other engines. You may animate characters with AI, but feeding MetaHumans back into training data is off-limits – the digital doubles like their privacy.

Unity and Godot Get a Piece of the Pie

Thanks to the new licence, finished characters count as “non-engine products”, so they slip into Unity or Godot builds without Epic’s tollbooth ever noticing. For teams juggling multiple engines, that ends the engine-lock headache.

Bodies by Numbers – From Ankles to Ape-Index

Face sliders were yesterday’s party trick. A fresh parametric body system now unlocks height, chest, waist and leg length controls, driven by real-world scan data. Tailoring keeps pace: the new Outfit Asset fuses garments and accessories into one file and auto-resizes them to whichever superhero physique you dial in. Mesh-based clothes built in external DCCs slot straight in, turning wardrobe malfunctions into ancient history.

Animator Swaps Helmet-Cams for Webcams – And Even Hears You

MetaHuman Animator no longer insists on stereo HMC footage or iPhones. A humble webcam or Android handset plugged through LiveLink delivers real-time facial capture, while an audio-only option lipsyncs from a WAV and guesses emotional nuance in one pass. Manual keyframes stay available when the algorithm puts a grin on a funeral speech.

Live from space… Blu is Cory? Cory is Blu? MetaHuman Animator makes it all possible…in real time! But whatever you do – don’t let Blu do his standup.

Want to know what else is out of this world? MetaHumans are being added to the Unreal Engine License. You can use MetaHumans… pic.twitter.com/T7Rc0UB4nl

— Unreal Engine (@UnrealEngine) June 3, 2025

Maya & Houdini Plug-Ins – Grooming Without the Grass-Fire

The free MetaHuman for Maya and MetaHuman for Houdini plug-ins expose meshes to native sculpt tools, let artists grow XGen or Houdini grooms, and export them as Alembic – sample starter kits included for quick follicle testing. Compatibility: Maya 2022-2025 and Houdini 20.5 with SideFX Labs.

Retail Therapy – Fab Marketplace Opens Its Doors

Characters, clothing and animations now qualify as saleable goods on Fab – Epic’s merged asset store – letting creators monetise every eyebrow and bootlace. Revenue share remains an asset-friendly 88 %, and the licence explicitly allows commercial resale.

System Specs and Reality Checks

The Unreal Editor runs on Windows 10+, macOS 14 and Rocky Linux 8, while Animator’s mono-camera route values frame-rate over exotic hardware. Before dropping MetaHumans into a live show, production artists should test local-cloud latency, verify seat-licence thresholds, and confirm Unity or Godot export paths in their current pipeline – stability beats novelty every day.

Final Frame – Digital Extras With a Side Hustle

MetaHuman’s graduation delivers one-stop character authoring, cross-engine freedom, and a built-in revenue plan. Tools remain free for indies, licensable for the big dogs, and cautious for AI. Whether you plan to dress a sci-fi epic or sell space-pirate beards on Fab, remember: verify latency, check version compatibility, and only trust new tech after a blunt in-house shakedown. Your digital actors – and your schedule – will thank you.

Get Meta Human here

The post MetaHumans Graduate: Ready for Unity, Godot, and the Fab Cash Register first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.