Pilgway has released a beta for v4 of its modeling, painting and retopology software. Read the complete list of changes on 3D-Coat's forum.

Pixar has released the latest version of its renderer. New features include: significant performance gains, true object instancing, new photon mapping features, adaptive area shadows, etc. More on Pixar's website.

From Krakatoa to Ember. CGW has an interesting interview with Thinkbox Software's founder, Chris Bond. More on CGW.

The Mill offers a look at the FX work they did for the live-action trailer of BioWare's Mass Effect 3 video game. Watch it on YouTube.

AXYZ-design and CGriver are holding a contest with the theme "Lifelike 3D Human", offering a good number of prizes. More on AXYZ-design.

The Blender Foundation announced the release of the latest version of its open source 3D software. Version 2.64 development was focused on creating a full VFX pipeline, with improved motion tracking, easier green screen keying, and a new mask editor. (more...)

Autodesk's Fianna Wong interviews Maxscript coder and expert rigger Paul Neale. More on Autodesk's Area.

Go!SCAN 3D is a handheld white light 3D scanner that bypasses preparation steps and specific set-ups, providing a large scanning area as well as a fast measurement rate. Highlights include: (more...)

A brief funny short by Brazilian artist Pedro Conti, co-directed with Alan Camilo. Created with Max, ZBrush, After Effects and rendered in Mental Ray. Inspired on the aesthetics of Disney/Pixar. Watch it on Vimeo.

Mode of Expression is an NPR rendering engine developed by French animator, painter and software developer Anaël Seghezzi for Angoulême-based studio Les Films du Poisson Rouge (Goldfish Pictures). Mode of Expression allows for creating natural media and painterly rendering effects, and is designed for easy integration into existing production pipelines. The renderer was used in Yoshimichi Tamura's recent short film "Réflexion". Currently it is not available for purchase but Les Films du Poisson Rouge offers it among its services and it's also provided for on-site renting. More on 3DVF. (French|English online translation)