NVIDIA has previewed RTX, its latest technology that enables developers to render ray-traced ambient occlusion, area shadows and glossy reflections in real-time games and engines. Demos are being released during this week's GDC conference that shows developers experimenting with the new technology, including work from Remedy Entertainment and EA. A collaboration with Microsoft means that RTX will be supported via its latest DirectX API on Volta architecture GPUs. You can read more about NVIDIA's announcement on its blog and find out about the latest DirectX changes on Microsoft's website.

Sitni Sati has announced a new version of FumeFX, its fluid dynamics plugin for 3DS Max. Version 5.0, introduces workflow improvements, a redesigned core and several new features including the following. (more...)

Image Engine has released a breakdown video for the digital double of X-24 created for Logan. Watch it on Vimeo.

Adobe has announced the date for its expected price increase in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, the first in these territories since the service was introduced in 2012. New prices will vary by plan, but 3 examples are cited on Adobe's FAQ. From 16 April 2018, individual Single App plans will increase by $1 from $19.99 per month to $20.99. The individual All Apps plans increases by $3 from $49.99 per month to $52.99 per month. Finally, the teams All Apps plans increase by $10 from $69.99 per month to $79.99 per month. You can read the FAQ about the changes on Adobe's help website.

SideFX has released a free ebook for users who want to get up to speed with Houdini. Houdini Foundations starts with a chapter about the fundamental principles of Houdini before losing at 3 lessons focused on building simple projects from scratch including importing them into Unreal Engine.  Project files are also available so users can follow along. Find out more on the .

Cartoon Brew has published a making-of article about how the 2000 foot VLM (Very Large Man) was created for Amazon's series The Tick. FuseFX sculpted the character in  ZBrush and textured it in Mari before rigging and animating in 3DS Max. Read the article on Cartoon Brew.

Google has announced that its maps API has been extended to Unity so that geographical information can be use to create game environments based on the real world. This includes access to data like buildings, roads, and other landmarks which can be imported as game objects for further processing. In addition to making it easier to place 3D objects in the real world for AR apps, several examples show buildings and other environmental data being textured and styled in completely different ways. Find out more on Google's blog.