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Raylight announced that v2.0 of their unwrapping tool for 3DS Max has been released and is now available to the artists who helped fund the development of the software through their Indiegogo campaign. New features include: align/sort islands to arrange islands horizontally or vertically, multi-unwrap channels UDIM (UV offset system), UV symmetry, islands with the same shape can be overlapped in the same position of the map, support for Max and Maya 2016, etc. The company will make the software available for purchase publicly in a couple weeks. The Maya version is scheduled for release approximately by the end of October. More on Indiegogo.

PixelSquid is a stock image service by TurboSquid that is focused on offering images based on 3D objects to designers. All of the content is created in 3D (using 3DS Max) and the company has released a Photoshop plugin that lets designers interactively spin and use the 3D content in Photoshop with no 3D knowledge required. The resulting bitmaps are created in Photoshop layers, making it easier to composite the images. Watch a video on Facebook and find out more on PixelSquid's website.

Great work by Spanish artist Daniel Martínez Lara (Pepeland) showing how he created an animatic for a short film using Blender's Grease Pencil tool, cameras, particles and some 3D objects. Watch it on Vimeo.

Autodesk has put DJI's Zenmuse X5 camera to the test for image-based modeling, using ReCap 360. The Zenmuse X5 micro four thirds (M4/3) camera features a sensor that provides high quality, high sensitivity image recording at an ISO range of 100-25600, captures 16 megapixel images with 12.8 stops of dynamic range and records 4K video. The result is a more detailed and more accurate 3D model. Watch the video on YouTube.

FX artist Igor Zanic has posted a waterfall simulation he created using Bifrost and rendered with Arnold, testing MtoA Bifrost support. Watch the video on Vimeo.

Fabric Software has released v2 of its platform for building high-performance graphics applications that can be run across different 3D software. The new version introduces Canvas, a visual programming system. (more...)

Brazilian CG portal Três D1 has released new versions of its MCGs for 3DS Max, which now allow for creating railings, drawer handles, shower knobs, towel bars, etc. They have kindly sent us an English version of the MCGs for you to download from CGPress. More information on the MCGs can be found on Três D1. (Portuguese)

Render Legion announced the fourth alpha release of the Corona plugin for Cinema 4D. New features include: interactive rendering, C4D R17 support, added Mask pass, improved motion blur support, improved layer shader support, plus other enhancements and bug fixes. More on Corona Renderer's blog.

Janos Hunyadi, developer of the shell modifier Maya plugin, has released BaseLocator, a new viewport 2.0 locator plugin that offers various shape presets, 25 base icons, text options and scripting support to streamline the use of locators in your rigging pipeline. Watch a video on Vimeo and find our more on Gumroad.

Thinkbox Software announced the release of Deadline 7.2, the latest version of its rendering management system. New features include: new Quick Draft options to create movies from rendered images or perform file conversions without having to create template scripts, integration with NIM Labs’ NIM pipeline management tool and enhanced support for Houdini (Jigsaw region rendering, HServer interactive rendering, HQueue simulation node slicing, support for Alembic ROP nodes). More on Thinkbox Software's website.