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(Updated) Two more unofficial videos have been posted: Max 2017 UV Editor - Auto Peel and Packing by Changsoo Eun, and Benchmark of deforming hires meshes by Spacefrog.
(Updated) Two unofficial videos have surfaced showing Max 2017 performance improvements: edit mesh performance, CAD data viewport performance.
(Updated) New links added with more information.
Autodesk has announced the release of 3DS Max 2017. Some of the notable new and improved features include a new Text Tool, enhanced UV Mapping tools, Geodesic Voxel and Heatmap skinning, improved Python implementation, enhanced Alembic support, Asset Library, HiDPI display support and much more. 3DS Max is being offered through rental licensing. For the full feature list you can visit Eddie Perlberg's blog and to download the trial you can head over to the Autodesk 3DS Max website. (more...)

Autodesk have announced that they have acquired Solid Angle, the makers of the Arnold Renderer. No immediate software roadmaps have been made public yet, but Autodesk says Arnold plugin development will continue for products like Houdini, Cinema 4D, and Katana. You can read the full announcement on the Autodesk website. Solid Angle has also made an announcement on their website.

BECTU, the UK's media and entertainment trade union, has posted an article highlighting some of the issues VFX workers are encountering at MPC in London. In the week leading up to the UK premiere of 'Jungle Book', BECTU conducted a large scale survey. According to the survey's results, MPC workers had serious concerns about the company's "coercive working culture", and "excessive unpaid overtime", to name a few. For more information on this story, you can read the full article on the BECTU website.

ManvsMachine have posted their latest work for Nike, entitled 'Nike Flyknit'. Watch it on Vimeo.

The Art of VFX has interviewed VFX Supervisor Bryan Hirota, on the work he and his team at Scanline VFX completed for the recently released film, Batman V Superman - Dawn of Justice. You can read the full interview on The Art of VFX website.

CGRecord have posted a review of PhoenixFD 2.2 for 3DS Max by Hammer Chen. In his review, Hammer goes through a lot of the great features of PhoenixFD, and compares it to existing tools like RealFlow. You can read the full review on the CGRecord website.

Red Giant is hosting a 25%-off spring sale on everything in their online store. That includes plugins like Trapcode Suite, Magic Bullet Suite, and many more. The sale is one day only, and starts April 12, 2016 at 08:00 PDT, and ends April 13, 2016 at 08:00 AM PDT. For more details, you can visit the Red Giant website.

Lytro has unveiled its newest camera, called Lytro Cinema, which now introduces its Light Field technology to cinema grade cameras. Lytro claims that this new camera will give filmmakers the ability to refocus shots in post, eliminate the need for greenscreen on set, and even re-position shots after they have been shot. For more details on Lytro Cinema, you can visit the Lytro website.

Clovis Gay of Kinematic Lab has released PhysXPainter, a plugin for 3DS Max that can very quickly populate your scenes with your assets in a very natural way, allowing you to create them using a brush and rigid bodies simulation. More details can be found on the Kinematic Lab's website.

Aladino Debert has posted a breakdown of the work Digital Domain recently completed for the television series Black Sails, Season 3. Watch it on Vimeo.