Piotr Tatar posted a breakdown of his Nööburgring animation that he created using 3DS max and Redshift. Watch it on Vimeo.

Digital District have released a new reel showcasing their fluids and particle work. Watch it on Vimeo.

After the crisis triggered by the sudden layoff of MOPA director Julien Deparis, around 140 students and their parents have staged a demonstration in Arles to protest the situation at the school, according to French newspaper La Provence. The CIPEN and the school's new director have seen themselves pressured to reply, issuing a statement on the matter, which predictably contests the image of crisis described by the students, saying they have hired replacements and that only 9 teachers have left out of 57, among other subjects covered by the statement. The students have answered that 9 have left now, that the pedagogy has already suffered and that around 20 more teachers plan not to come back after the current school term ends. More on La Provence newspaper: "Arles : parents and students mobilized to 'save' MOPA", "MOPA in crisis : the reaction of the school and the CIPEN". (French)

New features in Thinkbox Software's administration and compute management toolkit for render farms include: improvements to further strengthen the security of your render farm, new installation and configuration options to better support distributed deployments, enhancements to the Remote Command system, a common interface is now included in all submitters for Draft (Deadline's plugin for automating deliverables) and for project management applications. More on Thinkbox Software's website.

Chaos Group has released an update to its renderer for Trimble's modeling software, adding SketchUp 2017 compatibility, a new streamlined UI, a library with 200+ materials, V-Ray Swarm scalable distributed rendering system, Denoiser, ability to render VR-ready content, Clipper to create quick cutaways and section renders, realistic atmospheric depth and haze with aerial perspective, create realistic grass, fabrics, and carpet with V-Ray Fur, etc. The software is available through permanent and rental licensing. More on Chaos Group's website.

Finland-based Troll VFX, have posted a great breakdown of their work for, Heroes of the Baltic Sea. Watch it on Vimeo.

Cinesite Studios has announced that they have acquired Vancouver animation studio Nitrogen. Nitrogen Studios is known for their work on the children's series, Thomas and Friends. You can read more about this acquisition on the Cinesite website.

The team at Analog has posted a breakdown of the work they did on the Visit Wales campaign. Watch it on Vimeo.