ohm.rent: Who Has the camera This Time?
Cameras, kits and calendar collisions: Alexander Vexler discusses ohm.rent, university equipment loans and keeping rental chaos out of the picture.
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BlackRAW – a pocket-sized Studio
BlackRAW Studio brings BRAW and ProRes RAW playback, grading, proxies and NLE hand-off to iPhone and iPad. We test its speed and workflow limits.
The Royal Way to Render
In 2001, render farms were local, internet connections still screamed through telephone lines, and launching jobs across several machines could consume an entire evening. Holger Schoenberger founded Binary Alchemy to remove some of that administrative misery
Automation Agent for Premiere: Why I Built an AI Workflow Layer Around the Timeline
I built Automation Agent to give AI real Premiere context, scoped permissions and reusable workflows without handing it the creative edit.
tyFlow 2.100 Adds PhysX Vehicles
tyFlow adds PhysX vehicle rigs to 3ds Max, plus 3DGS interchange for Max 2027+ and a lower-VRAM Inferno advection mode.
reMarkable Paper Pure: Let’s Test
A production test of reMarkable Paper Pure, covering the display, Marker, exports, Connect subscription, handwriting search and daily note-taking.
Marvelous Designer 2026.1 Rips Seams
Seam ripping, brush pinching, blend-shape animation and camera interchange give Marvelous Designer finer control over cloth and hand-offs.
Blackmagic Adds Script Hooks and Pre-Record
Resolve gains script access to timeline selections and render settings, while Cinema Camera 6K gets up to 10 minutes of pre-record.
Project Manager 4.01 speaks asset search
Project Manager adds local AI text search across 30-plus languages, reference-image search and a 12-language interface for 3ds Max libraries.
Media Plane adds nonlinear editing to Maya
Gizmify brings clip editing, retiming, compositing and scripted reference workflows directly into Maya with the beta Media Plane Editor.
Let’s talk to the Caddis developer.
Digital Production spoke with developer Mike Gaynor about the creation and implementation of Caddis.
ZEISS LensCore is here
ZEISS explains how LensCore recreates physical lens behaviour inside Nuke, supports custom lenses and fits into professional VFX pipelines.
Workshop: Building a Real-Time Location
A practical workshop on reconstructing real locations in Unreal Engine, using Sonagraf’s Yoyogi project to explain each production decision.
MoonRay’s First ASWF Release Adds MaterialX
MoonRay’s first ASWF release adds MaterialX map graphs, HdMoonRay integration and production-focused lighting, volume and stability work.
Roji Goes Deep on USD Rendering
Roji beta registration is open for a nodal USD workflow with MaterialX lookdev, Hydra review, path tracing and AI render support.
Real Clay and Digital Ice Cream at Uber Eck
Clay sculptures, photos, Houdini MPM and Redshift made Kayak’s Greek ice cream statues melt on cue. Real dairy was less cooperative.
Houdini Rigging: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving APEX
For anyone tired of character setups held together by hope, version notes and one dangerous checkbox, Houdini 21 promises a paradigm shift. By decoupling mesh, rig logic, animation and execution through KineFX and APEX, SideFX is taking another run at the holy grail of procedural rigging. But can it deliver a fast and intuitive workflow?
Docking an iPhone or M5 Mac
The hardware On the physical side, the Prodock is a sturdy box made of metal, which should be…
Asus ProArt 16 USV: A Laptop-Sized Production Monitor
The ASUS ProArt PA16USV LED-Monitor, a 15.6-inch 4K HDR portable display that incorporates a 12G-SDI marks a significant pivot for ASUS into hardware that explicitly targets on-set workflows and DIT (digital imaging technician) monitoring tasks rather than solely desktop creative use. But is it any good?
Here comes Houdini 22
2 hours and 18 minutes. That is almost exactly the runtime of the first Matrix film, and exactly the duration of the Houdini 22 release keynote. So yes, this promises a rather chunky package of new features and improvements.
QC Kitchen Brings Broadcast QC Online
Upload a master, choose a QC menu, get a report and a bill. QC Kitchen targets UK broadcast checks without booking a post house.
Filmtext-o-Mat Tames Timecodes
Filmtext-o-Mat 2.7 turns sequence lengths into automatic timecodes, keeps video beside the manuscript and exports practical handover files.
Let’s Animate Splats in 3DGS Render?
3DGS Render 5.0 lets Blender artists drive Gaussian splats with proxy meshes, bake lighting and export animation as PLY sequences.
Houdini 22 Teaser Fuels Guesswork
Houdini 22 looks ambitious, but the teaser is maddeningly brief. Treat every feature reading as informed fan speculation, not documentation.
Splat happens: Volinga 3DGS workflow for Unreal
Volinga turns photo sets into Gaussian splats for Unreal, with local processing, PLY and NVOL export, cleanup tools, and relighting support. But what does that actually mean? Let's ask some questions!
Mush3D 3.0 Adds Soft Tissue Tools
Mush3D 3.0 adds pose-trained corrections and tetrahedral soft tissue simulation for artists polishing cached character animation.
3DCoat 2026 gets GPU nodes
3DCoat 2026 beta adds GPU node texturing, procedural smart materials and masks. Shiny, useful and still beta-shaped.
Asus ProArt PA27UCGE: A 4K Monitor That Mostly Refuses to Be Annoying
The Asus ProArt PA27UCGE is a 27-inch 4K 10-bit IPS monitor with hardware calibration, , USB-C with 96 W Power Delivery, HDR10, 160 Hz refresh rate and a monitor hood. It is not a Class A reference monitor, but for general production work, it is annoyingly sensible.
Adobe Photoshop 27.7 runs Remove on device
Photoshop 27.7 adds optional on-device Remove, tighter Firefly Boards handoff, and a batch of small workflow fixes that add up in daily use.
Lux Aeterna rebuilds ancient humans
LiDAR caves, rigged skeletons, photogrammetry casts, and millimetre checks against research. Historical VFX gets very literal.
PFTrack gets Hero Cloud
PFTrack 26.05.19 adds Hero Cloud for single shot point clouds, plus COLMAP export to Postshot and better USD point cloud export. Try it, then trust it.
MoonRay Renderer joins ASWF as hosted project
MoonRay lands at ASWF as a hosted project, keeps DreamWorks engineering support, and gets a July Open Source Days keynote slot in Los Angeles.
Beeble Canvas
Canvas arrives as a node based AI compositor plus automation, with SwitchX and SwitchLight under the hood and an API for pipeline integration.
PolygoFlow Dash asset manager goes free on Fab
Free Dash asset manager lands on Fab: browse local assets across UE5 projects, tag up to 1000 assets a month, and use smart collections.
Das szenische Portal RT: When the Stage Starts Listening to the Music
Das szenische Portal RT combines Unreal Engine, live cameras, audio triggers and virtual scene control into a hybrid stage environment for live events. But how?
ProArt goes 12G-SDI portable
12G-SDI on a 15.6-inch 4K portable panel, plus calibration reports, presets, and a box that turns into a hood. Enjoy the set life
Unreal Engine 5.8 Preview rolls in
UE 5.8 Preview adds experimental Mesh Terrain, editable PCG results, a juiced-up vegetation tool, MetaHuman crowds, and more. Test first.
SpyderPro learns new tricks: where colour goes wrong
Datacolor is pushing beyond display profiling with Device Preview Plus, C2PA tracking, and a software layer that wants to help you with other duties as well.
Foundry expands Nuke Stage for LED walls
Nuke Stage now plays NotchLC, handles Gaussian Splats, logs on-set metadata in a Vault, and pushes USD scene edits into real time LED wall playback.
FilmSet kit lands in KitBash3D
Finally, a kit that lets you build a film set without filing a rental PO. 139 models, 112 PBRs, and game ready bits for Unreal.
RISE: Fallout Destroys LA, Politely
Los Angeles gets procedurally wrecked, Area 51 gets sand-blasted, and the Caswennan gets treated like a flying film set. We play 20 Questions with RISE.
OptiDraw paints animated meshes inside Unity
OptiDraw by Run2Go Studio targets in editor mesh texturing in Unity, including skinned meshes, UDIM tiles, layered workflows, and a channel packing utility.
Project Violet links Houdini and MetaHuman
SideFX drops Project Violet, a Houdini 21 tutorial series that mixes MetaHuman characters with Houdini rigging and simulation workflows.
ArcBrush turns image editing into a node graph
ArcBrush ships free for Windows and macOS with 75 nodes, batch export, sprite sheets, texture helpers, and optional paid AI credits.
VES releases On-Set VFX Data Guide
The VES drops a CC-BY on set data guide and hosts a May 12 webinar, because nobody enjoys rebuilding reality from half a slate photo.
World Creator 2026.4 adds expressions and decals
World Creator 2026.4 brings expressions, decals, terrain normal blending, VRAM scaling, and a free Community Edition that lets you learn, not deliver.
Mavis Studio turns iPad into a live switcher
A full live switcher lands on iPad, with multicam, web graphics, NDI, RTMP and SRT, plus recording. Your backpack just got louder.
Drivers 2.0 cleans up Blender rigs
Drivers 2.0 puts shape key drivers, rig UI panels, and action constraints in one Blender sidebar. Less hunting, more animating.
ZoneLAB for Resolve: Ansel Adams and even more zones…
ZoneLAB adds a Zone System grid to Resolve, then lets you grade by zone, export overlays, and match cameras and log spaces.
Beeble adds CorridorKey green screen model
CorridorKey lands in Beeble Background Remover. Pick MatAnyone or CorridorKey before upload, then export RGBA or alpha for comps.
Plasticity 2026.1 adds hidden lines and PolySplines
Plasticity 2026.1 turns models into clean SVG linework and brings PolySplines for smooth NURBS from meshes. Studio users get the fancy stuff.
Nobe OmniScope is a Live Act now!
OmniScope LivePack turns your scopes rig into a live-friendly sidekick, with SDI out, Livegrade hookup, and recordings that behave. Really? We run it through its paces!
Comment: We Were Told Sora Would Replace VFX by Next Year. Awkward.
OpenAI has killed Sora before the proposed Disney deal ever closed. One expensive AI showpiece is gone, while the wider industry still shovels absurd amounts of money into data centers in the hope that a business model will wander in and introduce itself.
ProductionCrate Plug-in Suite with docked footage database
ProductionCrate bundles a huge asset library in its Suite, so you can grab a glow, a glitch, or an explosion fast, then pay for it yearly.
Huion Kamvas Slate 11 Review: A Practical Android Tablet That Also Draws
A compact, competitively priced Android tablet that works as a daily driver for sketching and notes, with solid performance, a surprisingly good screen, and a pen that is good for everyday work but not in Wacom territory for pressure and tilt nuance.
On a Mission: Creating “NO ONE’S LIGHT”
No One’s Light is what happens when you start with 50 sci-fi ideas, delete 47 of them for survival reasons, and end up with a five-minute animated short that still looks like an alien planet got a proper art department. Blender handles the world building and Geometry Nodes chaos, CloudRig keeps characters bendy instead of broken, and Nuke ties it together before final grading at HFF München.
How Pixar Cheats a Skunk Tail
Kranzler talks Hoppers grooming and shading, including a layered wet-fur look and why skunks got a “cheated” tail.
MPC’s Cold Storage
MPC Paris delivered 575 shots on Cold Storage, from invisible fixes to slime, creatures and a nuclear finale. But how?
Cascadeur on physics, AI and control
Cascadeur explains how physics solvers and local AI shape modern keyframe animation. Physics-assisted keyframing and AI-generated Inbetweening sound like shorthand for automation. In practice, they describe a layered system that revolves around explicit poses, timing and animator intent.
Neat Video 6.1 updates OFX and host support
Neat Video 6.1 adds Baselight 7 support, new default profile controls and OFX updates across Windows, macOS and Linux.
SideFX launches central Houdini learning hub
SideFX consolidates Houdini tutorials into a structured Learning Library aimed at students and production artists.
Hawaiki Keyer – for those who don’t trust all the magic of AI
Hawaiki Keyer 5 brings AI tracking and dual-key control to Resolve, handling messy greenscreen shots more reliably than Magic Mask. Or does it?
Mnemonica sets out to fix digital cinema memory
Mnemonica Archive addresses digital film by treating preservation as an active, monitored process rather than passive storage.
Kangaroo Builder learns to move faces between meshes
Kangaroo Builder for Maya adds Landmark Warp, a topology transfer tool aimed at moving blendshapes between meshes without matching topology.
Katana 9 deepens USD and previews Hydra 2
Katana introduces UsdSuperLayer, new USD lighting and material nodes, and alpha Hydra 2 viewer support.
Modeler 26 for Houdini released
Modeler 26 for Houdini introduces a significantly expanded PolyPen, Bezier-based deformation, curve-driven boolean operations, viewport card drawing, and a new object layer system.
Blender 5.1 Beta Improves Performance, Workflow, and Compositing
Blender 5.1 enters public beta with a familiar focus on refinement rather than disruption. The update brings targeted improvements across animation, compositing, UI, and USD export, offering a smooth and predictable upgrade path for artists already working in Blender 5.0.
One click exports and zero patience for menus from Blender to Unreal, Unity and more.
A free Blender add-on offers fast exports to Unity, Unreal and Godot using collections and selection logic.
Blender turns meshes into sponges. Rubber duck not included
A free Blender Geometry Nodes setup converts meshes into sponge like forms using volumetrics and procedural subtraction.
Unreal Reality: Building A New Specimen
Director Dimitri Vallein breaks down the real-time production of his Unreal Engine short film New Specimen, from motion capture to cloth sims.
Resolume adds 10 bit colour and speed fixes
Resolume update adds 10 bit output, faster loading, Wire usability changes, and capture updates for live graphics.
Infinity Hotel: Endless Rooms, Endless Renders
HFF Munich’s VFX students built Infinity Hotel, a hybrid short film merging live action with CGI, LiDAR scans, and Dolby Atmos sound.
World Creator 2026.1 polishes the boring bits
World Creator 2026.1 focuses on stability, pen input and modest performance gains rather than new features.
Dynamic Flow makes water move without waiting
Dynamic Flow is a low cost Blender add-on that creates real time, terrain-aware water without baking or physics simulation.
Virtual Production Without the Disney Budget
A Rhode Island studio proves virtual production isn’t just for sci-fi. Door G’s team talks LEDs, Unreal, and the human side of real-time filmmaking.
Godot 4.6 Arrives With Major CG-Friendly Updates
Godot Engine 4.6 ships with polished workflows, Modern UI, Jolt physics as default, improved reflections, debugger tools and LibGodot support.
Material Maker 1.5 adds DDS, FBX, CLI, 10 new nodes
Material Maker 1.5 adds common game formats, command-line export, workflow upgrades, and more nodes in this free procedural texturing tool.
Adobe After Effects 2026 Lands With 3D, Text and Performance Boosts
After Effects 26.0 debuts 3D parametric meshes, Substance 3D materials, SVG import and core workflow improvements.
Foundry locks in full subscription future for 2027
Foundry drops perpetual maintenance: from 2027, all Nuke, Mari, and Katana users will be on subscription only.
How I Spent Five Years Making a Solo 3D Film
Maxim Gehricke spent five years creating his solo 3D short film SEN. Here’s how he did it without funding, team, or sleep.
Apple Bundles Its Ageing Pro Apps in Subscription
Apple groups its older creative tools under the new Creator Studio plan, mostly for Apple-loyal users rather than working pros.
Assimilate Live FX: The VP-Stages’ very, VERY nervous system.
Live FX turns a laptop into a virtual production media server, driving LED walls, lights, compositing, and colour.
Digital Domain welcomes IT to Derry
Digital Domain supervisors break down the design, rigging, lighting, and animation challenges behind the Skeleton Man creature for HBO’s return to the Stephen King universe.
Keychron K5 Max: The New Default
A keyboard is the most used tool in digital production, so why settle for mediocrity? After eight months of testing, the Keychron K5 Max has earned a place as my daily driver. Here’s why.
Mari 7.5: Multi-Paint, Texture Transfer and the Death of the Single Channel
Multi-Paint and Bakery-based Texture Transfer redefine Mari 7.5: eight channels per stroke, faster asset reuse, and fewer excuses for misaligned maps.
RealFX Part 2: From the loading bar to the keyboard
Three scripts, one goal: easyRulers, LoadUP and keyboardFX bring clean, functional motion graphics utilities for everyday After Effects work.
Rendering the Inferno at RiseFX: The Lost Bus
128 shots, 15 sequences, and GPUs on the brink: RISE FX’s Oliver Schulz explains how his team built the burning world of The Lost Bus.
Crawly for Videoscreens: SpyderPro
SpyderPro gets serious: anorganic filters, 12,000 nits, 3D LUT export, OLED support, and proper profiling tools make it fit for postproduction again. Let's see if the claims hold up!
Houdini 21: Like good wine (Part1, VFX & Geo)
Houdini 21 polishes the chaos: production-ready MPM, neural surfacing, smarter Pyro, and Vulkan viewport upgrades: all taste-tested for real-world use. (Part 1 of ???)
Pixar’s RenderMan 27.0
Pixar’s RenderMan 27.0 lands with final-frame XPU rendering, multi-GPU scaling, deep compositing, and a production-ready Stylized Looks suite.
When Annabelle Grew Up: The Digital Domain Horror Pipeline
425 shots, one terrifying doll, and a CG mill town: Digital Domain’s Alex Millet explains how his team built the horror of The Conjuring: Last Rites and kept it real.
Huion Kamvas 13 (Gen 3): Welcome to Sensible Pen Tablets
Sometimes you just want a tablet that works without selling your workstation. That was the starting point for our test of Huion’s Kamvas 13 (Gen 3). In times where many artists keep an eye on their budgets, the idea of a small, solid, and affordable pen display is tempting. So we teamed up with Huion to see what this one could actually do.
“A Model of Madness” Scott Ross Why VFX Fails as a Business
Scott Ross: VFX is “a model of madness.” ILM, Digital Domain, and decades later, the business still cannot stand on three legs.
The Cube Moved: Go for the Chaos (Ad) Vantage
Architecture Illustrators and Visualizers test Chaos Vantage for a narrative short and accidentally build a moving house. Unbox proves real-time previz can tell stories, not just sell floor plans.
Keep Your Pipeline: Chaos on Skipping the Game Engine
Chaos’ Chris Nichols explains how Chaos Arena and Chaos Vantage cut out the engine middleman with full ray tracing, open formats, and one asset for all.
Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision 2, and Beyond!
HDR isn’t just a jungle of acronyms on your TV box—though it may feel that way. To bring some order, we sat down with Michael Hackl from Dolby to talk about Dolby Vision, how it compares to HDR10 and HDR10+, how it is made, and what’s new in Dolby Vision 2.
RealFX Part 1: Perfectly formed scripts
The landscape of plug-in providers for After Effects (and other host applications) has thinned out noticeably in recent times. Whereas in the 2000s and 2010s we used to receive press releases about new and interesting plug-ins several times a week, nowadays we are lucky to receive one announcement per month. But we found a few beauties!
Momo: Of Time, Turtles, and Technical Wizardry
VFX Supervisor Michael Wortmann on how RiseFX built the fantasy of Momo: almost entirely on location, with 280 shots and the best turtle in the business.
“Task Force Querlitz” Brings Adult Animation to ZDF
With Task Force Querlitz, screenwriter Simon Thummet, director Arne Hain and producer Sebastian Simon have achieved something rare:…