Pixar has released a plugin for Substance Painter to enable the export of a project as a RenderManAsset that can be imported directly to Maya using the RenderMan preset browser. The plugin has been available for a little while, but you can see a new short video of how to use it on Vimeo, and find out more and download it from GitHub.

After some internal discussions a decision has been reached. There has been a change of management and the site will continue to operate under new guidance. To make it viable as a long term project, however, there is still need to increase the site's income, so we will actively be pursuing avenues for that. Again, a huge thanks to everyone who offered to contribute, all of those who contacted us willing to help, and all of those who would've liked to give a hand but couldn't do it at this moment.

MW3D-Solutions has released version 7.0 of Cheetah 3D, its inexpensive modelling, rendering and animation tool for OSX. Significant new features include (more...)

Autodesk has announced a new version of Mudbox. Version 2018.1 fixes over 75 bugs and introduces a few feature improvements including more accurate map extractions, faster and more stable symmetrical sculpting, faster file import/export, improved undo/redo, more accurate operations between sculpting layers and mask brush and more.

Though primarily a bug-fix release, it is hoped by users that it marks a return to active development for the recently neglected sculpting tool.  In a post on Autodesk's forum, Product Manager Jill Ramsay says of this release "I felt it was important to start with stability and quality over adding new features. Now that Mudbox 2018.1 is out the door, we're already working on a feature update. I know things have been slow for the last couple of years (to put it mildly), and I understand your frustration, but we are getting back on track". See the full list of fixes in the release notes.

Allegorithmic has added 70 new editable 4K hybrid ground and wall materials to Substance Source. They were created using a bespoke process that involved generating orthophotos in Capturing Reality to be processed and parameterised in Substance Designer.  You can see examples of the new materials and read more about the process on Allegorithmic's blog.

Double Negative senior TD Erik Lehmann has released 3 free python scripts for Maya. Compact Renamer  makes renaming objects easy with options for adding a prefix, suffix, automatic serialization, padding, and a search / replace function. UV Tools allows users to transfer UVs from one to several other objects and adds the ability to quickly create and assign a UV checker map and add tiling. Lastly Selection Tools allows users to select geometry based on several conditions, including bad geometry, component count and groups. Read more about these tools and find links to download them from Gumroad on Erik Lehmann's website.

The Mill has released a new reel of their outstanding animal and creature work . Watch it on Vimeo.

Unity has revealed a new collaboration with Autodesk at the recent Unite conference in Austen. The announcement will make Unity the first engine to have source code access to the Autodesk FBX SDK with the aim of improving the interoperability with 3DS Max and Maya. Also shown were new features in the upcoming 2017.2 release due this month, including new 2D tools and performance improvements. Find out more on Unity's blog or watch the full keynote presentation on YouTube.