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A brief animation by CG generalist Pratik Solanki, created with Blender and rendered with the internal engine. Watch the video and making of on YouTube.

A Cinema 4D preset by Gianni Lorusso that allows to quickly create a book with a specific number of pages, adjust its size, animation, flip through pages, etc. More on the author's website.

Boris FX has released v10 of its collection of VFX and compositing plugins for Avid. Versions compatible with Adobe, Apple and OFX are coming later this year. New filters and features include: (more...)

New features in the open source framework for creating browser-based 3D visualizations, games and interactive presentations include: (more...)

Vizpark has released OmniTiles, a Max plugin for designing square and non-square tileable patterns, and creating materials with these patterns. OmniTiles includes over 80 pattern presets for floors, walls, interior tiles, etc., Vizpark's Material Manager Lite Edition for easy handling of presets, and the Crossmap plugin to randomize bitmaps used in patterns. Scanline, V-Ray and Corona renderers are supported, and ready-to-use materials for V-Ray are included. More on Vizpark.

Allegorithmic, the company that came up with the artist-friendly "rent-to-own" licensing system, has released the latest version of its 3D painting software, which brings an enhanced PBR viewport, smooth material painting in 4k, ability to paint all PBR maps at once, facial hair creation with particle painting, simplified material layering workflow, normal and height map sculpting, fully seamless mask generators, 22 new smart materials (Plastic, Iron, Fabric, Steel), etc. Watch a new features video on YouTube and check out the Allegorithmic website for more.

InnoBright has released Altus 1.0, a multi-platform Monte Carlo render denoising system that promises to significantly reduce the rendering time required to produce quality images (from 50% to 90% reduction of original rendering time, according to the company). Altus works with renderers that use Monte Carlo methods and currently supports Arnold, V-Ray, Redshift3D, Corona, etc. It's available as a standalone application and as an integrated plugin for specific 3D software. (more...)

Dragon's Lair, the fantasy adventure where you become a valiant knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon. Lead on adventurer, your quest awaits! Animation industry veterans Don Bluth and Gary Goldman have launched a Kickstarter campaign to create Dragon’s Lair: The Movie, an animated feature film based on their video game hit Dragon’s Lair from 1983. The movie is intended to be a “prequel” to the game and the backstory of Dirk the Daring, the lead character of the original video game. More on Kickstarter.

Red Giant Software announced the release of the v13 of the collection of After Effects plugins for motion graphics and VFX developed by Peder Norrby. The update includes Trapcode Tao, a new plugin, as well as significant updates to Trapcode Particular, Shine, and Mir, and new features in Sound Keys, Starglow and Form. (more...)

After years of development Expresii is nearing its official release. The digital ink painting software that uses fluid dynamics to simulate watercolor and other natural media is now available for download as public beta. Expresii offers GPU-accelerated water-based paint, organic brushes simulation and ultra-deep zoom capabilities. Watch some sample videos and download the software from Expresii's website.