For those who don’t know the event: ICE.ART is a webinar-style conference for people who build 3D worlds, with sessions published on YouTube for on-demand catching up.

After the fact

ICE.ART 2026.I has published its full set of presentation and panel recordings for free streaming. If you could not make the live dates on 7 and 8 April 2026, the recrodings now turn the whole event into an on-demand playlist you can dip into between dailies.
The archive covers both conference days, including intros, individual talks, and panel discussions. As always, test any new workflow ideas before you put them into production, even if the speaker makes it sound like it will fix your envrionment pipeline overnight.

The Videos

ICE.ART 2026.I Day I Intro
A quick warm-up that sets the tone before the pixels start doing push-ups.

ICE.ART 2026.I Day I Christian Tanner | Toyota City Hunt Physics: A behind-the-scenes look at the project, with physics as the main character and the first steps into Unreal realtime smoking tires. Strap in!

ICE.ART 2026.I Day I Goran Pavles Art directing Physics Simulations for Hollywood Blockbusters: A talk for anyone who has ever argued with gravity and lost.

ICE.ART 2026.I Day II Andrey Lebrov Gaussian Splat Environment Pipeline for Octane Render: A pipeline-focused session that connects splats, environments, and renderer reality checks.

ICE.ART 2026.I Day II Tobias Hauck Geospatial Gaussian Splats 3D Maps of Large Environments: If you know how much fun can be had in large-scale data and larger-scale scenes, this one is for you.

ICE.ART 2026.I Day II Prof. Dr. André Thomas Planning Physical Studios Business and Creativity: A business and studio-planning angle that still remembers artists need working chairs and working budgets.

https://www.ice.art/

The post ICE.ART 2026.I recordings are now live first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Re: Novation is now open for submissions from March 24, 2026 through June 9, 2026, with the submission cutoff set at 15:00 GMT. Judging starts June 10, 2026, and the winners are scheduled for announcement on June 24, 2026.

The core setup stays delightfully unforgiving: Everyone starts from the same base 3D building model. The job is to transform it into a finished scene that sells an idea through architecture, environment, and lighting. That can mean changing the purpose of the building, reshaping the facade, adding or removing floors, and building a world around it. The original structure still needs to remain recognizable, so this is a renvoation, not a witness protection program. There are great prizes and strong sponsor support: multiple prize categories, a cash component for top placements, and additional sponsor awards.

The rules focus on process, not just pixels

Participation starts with process proof. Artists are asked to publish a work in progress thread on a personal website, blog, portfolio, or social media page that clearly identifies them as a 3D artist. The first post needs to include the participation tag text for the challenge and a clickable link to the contest page or an at mention on social platforms. The intent is to show the work began during the challenge window and to support originality checks. The base model comes via a short form used to request the download. The model arrives in multiple formats: FBX, OBJ, 3DS, C4D, MB, and LWO. No premade Gaussian Splats, yet.

Scene freedom comes with a few hard stops. The rules allow third party assets such as vegetation, furniture, human figures, kitbash elements, and other asset library content. Post-production is allowed, but photobashing and paintovers are not. The final image must not show third party advertising, watermarks, or branding other than the provided sign that needs to appear visibly in the scene. The rule set also bans adult content, including blood, violence, eroticism, and politics.

The competition bans AI. The image must be created with 3D modeling software, and the rules also frame the work in progress requirement as part of verifying entries are original and not AI-generated.

Animation arrives, with guardrails

This edition introduces a dedicated Animation Category. Animation is optional, but entering it requires a still render submission as the main entry. Animation entries must run at least 15 seconds and must show the architectural scene, meaning the building and its environment.

The submission method routes animation through hosting platforms. Artists publish the final video on YouTube or Vimeo and provide the link with their submission. The minimum resolution is 1080p.

The animation must match the same scene as the still render. Work in progress recordings, timelapses, and screen captures do not qualify as animation entries. The animation rules also tighten the no AI stance further by banning AI-generated animation, motion capture from AI tools, and AI-assisted camera paths.

Animation judging criteria include camera work, pacing, lighting and mood transitions, storytelling, and technical quality. The broader judging criteria for the overall contest include visual appeal, concept originality, presentation, technical complexity of the model and scene, and overall execution quality.

Deliverables, specs, and the stuff that gets you disqualified

A finished submission needs a final render plus a clay or wire render of the scene. The render must be at least 1500 pixels on the longest side and must be delivered as JPG or PNG. File size should not exceed 5 MB.

The rules reject single-color background renders, test renders, unfinished work, pixelated or low-quality renders, screenshots, and models placed on wallpaper or photos. The rule text also states the contest model is for contest purposes only and cannot be used for other projects beyond the Re: Novation entry.

Entries can be updated during the contest, but the idea cannot change or be modified drastically, with only reasonable changes allowed. Artists can also correct the description and the tools list after submission by contacting the team.

One extra procedural detail matters for anyone trying to game the calendar. After sending the work via the contact form, a confirmation email is expected within one business day and includes a link to the gallery page. If that email does not arrive, participants are instructed to contact support.

Prizes and what is actually specified

The prize structure spans multiple categories: three main winners, one Animation Category winner, plus special sponsor award winners.

The top placements include cash prizes. First place lists a $1000 cash prize. Second place lists a $500 cash prize. Additional prizes include software licenses, subscriptions, training access, and render credits, along with challenge-time bonuses and discounts tied to participating sponsors. Some prizes may not be available in all regions.

The full details, rules, and sign-up sit on the official page at Re: Novation, and the organiser is 3DModels.org.

The post Re: Novation ArchViz Challenge opens first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The guy who made your industry’s favorite moon face

Georges Méliès was a French filmmaker and stage magician whose name still lands like a practical effects mic drop. He is best known for “A trip to the moon“, where we get the shot of the rocket in the moon’s eye – and yes, you propably know that this is the logo of the Visual Effects Society And that Méliès made another “short” around 1897, missing from public view for more than a century, which has resurfaced online.

Forty five seconds, zero chill

Gugusse et l’Automate runs for 45 seconds. It is silent, fast, and built like a vaudeville punchline that refuses to stop for breath. On screen, a magician shares the stage with a robot dressed like Pierrot. They fight. The robot commits to the bit with the kind of confidence usually reserved for final delivery. Until last month, the film had not been publicly viewable for more than a century. There is also a big historical brag floating around it, including the claim that it is the first “robot in science fiction”-film ever made. You watch it and decide if it is that or Lang’s Metropolis.

A family reel stash walks into a conservation lab

The comeback starts with a road trip and a family archive: Bill McFarland traveled from Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, bringing reels that once belonged to his great-grandfather, William Delisle Frisbee. Frisbee used them in a traveling showbusiness in western Pennsylvania, moving between nearby towns to screen early moving pictures with music accompaniment.

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If you have ever hauled a hard drive across town because someone, somewhere, needed to see the cut on a different screen, congratulations. You are spiritually aligned with a nineteenth century touring projection workflow.

What was actually done to the film

McFarland’s copy of Gugusse et l’Automate is described as a duplicate at least three times removed from the original. The conservation work took more than a week to scan and stabilise the film for digital preservation. The resulting presentation is described as viewable online in 4K.

If you want a clean, non-mystical reason to care, it is this: seeing early screen illusion work in motion is a direct line to the instincts VFX still leans on today, just the raw DNA of spectacle doing its job.

And we found the story here:

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/03/gugusse-et-lautomate-georges-melies/

The post A Lost Méliès Gag Film Resurfaces in 4K first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Blackmagic Design makes ATEM switchers and DaVinci Resolve for edit, colour, audio, and finishing. The tour pairs live switching with post so you can stop treating podcasts like a radio show with accidental cameras.

A tour built around practical workflow demos

Blackmagic Design is running its European Workflow Tour over two days, pitching a complete live and postproduction workflow based on Blackmagic Design products. The promise is faster output and better quality, but the programme does not define formats, targets, or benchmarks. It is a workshop, to try and experiment and look over each others shoulders.

The useful angle is simple: this is a low-risk moment to poke the hardware before you buy it, ask the awkward questions out loud, and compare notes with other crews about what actually breaks at 2 a.m. The programme text does not explicitly describe hands-on access or open networking time, so treat that as an opportunity rather than a guarantee. Dates and cities in the published schedule are Amsterdam on 19 and 20 March, and Berlin on 24 and 25 March.

Day one: podcasts, but with coverage you can fix in post

Day one targets podcast production, specifically turning audio-only podcasts into multi-camera shows. The workflow pitch centres on using ATEM live production switchers for the live cut while capturing ISO recordings of each camera angle, plus the final programme.

That combination is the practical hook: the live switch gives you speed, the ISOs give you options, and DaVinci Resolve is positioned as the finishing and delivery stage. The programme explicitly names delivery to YouTube and X.

The podcast sessions run 11:00–12:00 on “Design a Complete Podcast Production Workflow”, 12:30–13:30 on “Create Video Podcasts Faster with ATEM ISO”, 14:00–15:00 on “Finish and Deliver Podcasts in DaVinci Resolve”, and 15:30–16:30 on “Global Podcast Production with Cloud Collaboration”.

Day two: Resolve for high-volume content and consistency

Day two is framed as “DaVinci Resolve for Content Creation”, with a focus on working in one application from start to finish, handling large volumes of media, maintaining creative control and consistency, and working collaboratively with cloud collaboration.

Sessions run 10:30–12:00 on “Simplify Content Creation with DaVinci Resolve”, 12:30–13:30 on “Edit Large Media Libraries Quickly”, 14:00–15:00 on “Maintain Creative Control and Brand Consistency”, and 15:30–16:30 on “Work Faster with Cloud Collaboration”.

New tools and innovations should be tested before use in production, ideally with your own media, your own deliverables, and a plan for when the first thing goes sideways. So, give it a try at the Workshops!

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/event/european-workflow-tour-2026

The post BMD European Tour 2026 lets you touch the gear first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

For those who don’t know the tool: Beeble is a cloud-based VFX relighting platform. Its new SwitchX adds generative background and lighting changes inside the same web app, not as a DCC plug-in.

Backgrounds first, everything else optional

Beeble has introduced SwitchX, a generative video feature designed to make background and lighting changes straightforward while keeping the main subject intact. SwitchX allows artists to replace environments, adjust lighting, and modify elements such as props or costumes while preserving the recognisable appearance of the subject. The core idea is simple: switch the world around the subject without altering what matters. The tool runs entirely inside the Beeble cloud application. No desktop version or direct host integration is mentioned in the official material.

A simple cloud workflow

The workflow centres on ease of use. Users upload a video or image to the Beeble web app. SwitchX automatically detects the main subject, and an interactive masking tool is available for finer control. A reference image is then added to define the new background, lighting and mood. The system analyses the footage frame by frame and pixel by pixel to guide the generation process and maintain temporal consistency.

In a few minutes, SwitchX can generate a 2K video with a new background, updated lighting, shadows and adjusted camera perspective. Identity, facial characteristics and audio sync are intended to remain intact. The exact pixel dimensions, codec and colour pipeline are not specified.

Relighting and environment reshaping

Beyond swapping backgrounds, SwitchX enables relighting of entire scenes. Mood, time of day or genre can be shifted by adjusting lighting conditions through the reference image. Props, costumes and set elements can also be modified. The material describes physically correct light interaction, though no technical definition or rendering model is detailed.

The launch video on YouTube demonstrates examples such as turning an everyday room into a studio-style setting or placing a subject into a city street environment. These examples illustrate aesthetic possibilities rather than measured performance data. Camera perspective adjustments are mentioned, but it is not clarified whether these involve 3D reconstruction or 2D approximations. There is no information about depth passes, AOV export or multilayer output.

Output and beta access

SwitchX produces 2K output in the cloud. The term crisp is used descriptively, without technical metrics. Bit depth, colour space, HDR support and ACES compatibility are not specified. The transcript of the launch video notes that SwitchX is available for free during a beta period. Pricing beyond beta is not included in the official announcement. There is no detail on render limits, clip length restrictions or commercial licensing terms.

Data handling, encryption and storage policies are not addressed in the provided material. Studios working with sensitive footage will need to confirm these aspects directly with Beeble.

Practical take

SwitchX focuses on easy background switching combined with relighting, delivered as a cloud-based video-to-video service. It promises consistent 2K output in minutes and aims to minimise flicker and drift. Whether it meets production tolerances will depend on shot complexity and delivery standards. As with any AI-driven tool entering a post pipeline, thorough testing is essential before committing to client work.

https://beeble.ai/research/switchx

The post Beeble SwitchX focuses on easy background swaps first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.