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Otoy and Imagination Technologies announced a hardware accelerated rendering platform that integrates Imagination's PowerVR Ray Tracing technology with Otoy's upcoming OctaneRender 4. The combination delivers a 10x increase in ray tracing performance per watt compared to GPGPU compute ray tracing in OctaneRender 3. The performance boost combined with the low energy consumption of the PowerVR GPU means the chip traces rays orders of magnitude more efficiently than a workstation GPU. This allows for improved realism in game engines with OctaneRender integration, and according to Otoy, "dramatically improves rendering speed" in over 22 Octane-enabled applications – including 3DS Max, Maya, LightWave, Cinema 4D, Blender, Modo, After Effects and Nuke. More on Otoy's website.

Allegorithmic has released a new version of its 3D painting software. Version 2.2 brings Material Layering, which allows to visualize complex shaders on your assets directly in Substance Painter and to get an accurate preview of the final in-engine result. This new version also brings improvements to shelf search, projection painting, new scripting capabilities and updated mask generators. More on Allegorithmic's website.

The tool for transferring 3DS Max scenes to Cinema 4D has been updated. New features include: (more...)

Fabric Software has released v2.3 of its platform for building high-performance graphics applications that can be run across different 3D software. New features include: ‘Blocks’ that are Canvas graph containers that make visual programming easier, revamped Function Node Editor, UI improvements, a basic Linear Algebra extension, plus bug fixes with a focus on Alembic import/export. Tools built in Fabric can now run in Maya, Softimage and Modo. Fabric for 3DS Max is in advanced beta. More on Fabric Software's website.

Thinkbox has made available a preview video of v2.0 of its meshing plugin for Max, showing Frost creating V-Ray instances of a Sequoia XMesh of a demolition derby car scan. Watch it on YouTube.

Thinkbox Software has announced that it is developing a new cloud-based application for simplifying the VFX budgeting and cost management processes. Vero is being developed in collaboration with veteran VFX Producer Joyce Cox and will feature a marketplace that will allow to create custom bid packages that can easily be shared with interested VFX vendors. A beta is expected to launch this fall. More on Thinkbox's website.

Blackburrow Creative studio has made a fun video with a parody of The Mill's Blackbird adjustable car rig. Watch it on YouTube.

Laubwerk has released a new collection of realistic 3D plants, Kit 8 brings the company's first pack of shrubs and bushes. Laubwerk Plants Kits provide tools that allow for quick adjustment of shape, age, season and level of detail for each 3D plant. The new kit is available for 3DS Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, Houdini (Windows) and Python (Windows), and is priced at 149 Euro (w/o VAT). Multi-user and EDU discounts available. More on Laubwerk's website.

Mikros Image has created new channel IDs for one of France's public TV channels, featuring CG animals playing various music styles: “Les marmottes” - Vahiné, “Les marmottes” - Gypsy.

Dynamic IRR is a new free plugin by Rui Batista for Cinema 4D designed for dynamically adjusting the Interactive Render Region to an object, a set of objects, the whole window or just the render size. More on the author's website.