AfricanFossils.org is a virtual lab that aims to increase public knowledge about prehistory by harnessing modern technology. The site is a growing repository of 3D models of significant fossils and artifacts, and offers the ability to explore the models in 3D, learn more about their history, and download them for 3D printing. The scanned specimens were originally housed in the National Museums of Kenya and the Turkana Basin Institute field stations. AfricanFossils.org was born out of the collaboration between the Turkana Basin Institute and Autodesk. Meet your ancestors on AfricanFossils.org.

VFX Supervisor Mark Kolpack has posted a number of reels showing impressive work done by California-based FuseFX studio for the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., using a mix of 3DS Max, V-Ray, Houdini, FumeFX and ThinkingParticles. Watch them on Vimeo: Breakdown Reel, Skydiving Sequence (Ep. 106), VFX Supervisor montage of selected shots. (Note: CoSa VFX contributed most of the "holographic" effects as well as the "freezing man" gag)

Digital Kitchen has posted a great making of for a recent commercial they made using 3DS Max, A&G Studio Light Rig, Genome and V-Ray. Watch it on Vimeo.

New features in The Foundry's stereo plugin toolset for Nuke include quick and easy alignment correction and automation, updated feature matching, GPU acceleration and the ability to auto-analyze sequences. More on The Foundry.

The British VFX company announced that it will open a VR and "Immersive Content Studio" in their New York office. More on Framestore's website.

Thinkbox Software has delivered a major update to its particle reflow and field manipulation toolkit. New features include: (more...)

New features in Thinkinetic's massive rigid body dynamics solver and fracturing plugin include (more...)

Impressive reel by the artists from Blur Studio. Watch it on Vimeo.

The programmer of the classic video game Tetris tells the story of how the game came to be. More on The Guardian.

New features in Torabi Architect's parametric modeling script include: (more...)