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Current VR/AR headsets, while impressive, still have some way to go in order to properly mimic how we perceive the real world. The lenses currently found in VR/AR headsets use a fixed focal point and it impacts the way we perceive depth. Technically the problem is called vergence accommodation conflict. Nvidia's research team is demonstrating two alternative techniques at SIGGRAPH 2017. It gets quite technical but if you are interested in learning more, read Nvidia's blog post.

With SIGGRAPH 2017 currently under way a lot of companies are showing off their latest technology relating to computer graphics. Square Enix held a presentation that showcased the in-house technology used on Final Fantasy XV as well as showing off characters from the pre-rendered CG movie Final Fantasy XV Kingsglaive running in real-time. Several topics are covered including AI, animation and much more. Watch the video embedded in the news post or visit Youtube.

Next Limit has made available a point release of their fluid simulation software RealFlow. New features include enhancements to their multiphysics solver Dyverso which can now simulate both viscous materials such as honey as well as "viscoelastic" materials like foamy mattresses. Dyverso has also received some other smaller features such as vorticity boost that allows you to emphasize the vorticity movement in your simulation. To learn more about the new release, visit RealFlow's website.

Chaos Group's Christopher Nichols held a live recording of their CG Garage podcast and revealed that Chaos Group will be releasing GPU-CPU hybrid rendering abilities although no date was confirmed and very few details were mentioned. This apparently grew from Chaos Group debugging their GPU rendering and trying to simulate it on the CPU. Vlado Koylazov, who was a guest on this episode of the podcast, talked about their optimization of their GPU rendering with new features in V-Ray 3.5 like on-demand mip-mapping and adaptive lights lowering memory usage and rendering time. The podcast will go live next week on its official page on Chaos Group's website.

MoCapture is a plugin for 3DS Max that allows you to do facial motion capturing using filmed footage without the need for markers. The developer also claims that it supports any facial rig but that they recommend a morpher based rig. It also features the ability to record a video stream inside 3DS Max. The next version, 2.0, is already in development and with that release body and hand tracking will be available using Microsoft's Kinect sense (sold separately) as well as Lip Sync blending tools, improved tracking algorithm and machine learning. The plugin is available for any amount you wish to pay by donating. If you decide to go all in and donate US$100 or more you will get all subsequent versions for free. Find out more about this plugin on MoCapture's website.

Ephere's GPU physics plugin Lucid has been updated to 1.4. New features include 3DS Max 2018 support, switch to the Flex 1.1 library which means that not just GPUs made by Nvidia are supported, support for unlimited number of deforming SDF meshes, some fixes and more. Lucid is available for US$249. A demo is available for users to test. Find out more on Ephere's website.

Similar to Modo's Fusion and the recently released Flux HDA for Houdini, Hard Mesh is a plugin for Maya that allows you to make advanced booleans with control of the smoothness of the edges formed after the boolean operation. Hard Mesh started as a collection of scripts a few years ago but is now a proper plugin for Maya. (more...)

YCDIVFX and JDBGraphics have made available the first major release of Nyx Sidekick, a tool designed to help users working in both 3DS Max and Houdini. Using the tool you can sync geometry (including animated geometry), time, volumes (VDB) when using V-Ray, Arnold or Redshift, physics simulations and more. (more...)

Mosketch from Moka Studio is a new standalone 3D animation software for animating characters and creatures. As the name suggests part of its core is the ability to sketch poses but you also have the ability to control each bone separately. (more...)