Chaos Group has posted an article discussing V-Ray Swarm, the company's web-based, streamlined distributed rendering system that allows to use all the compute power of a local network and render using either the CPU or GPU. The system is currently available for V-Ray for Revit, V-Ray for Rhino and V-Ray for SketchUp, and the developers are looking to port this to V-Ray for 3DS Max and Maya in the future. According to the article, they are also looking at other tools to expand Swarm and increase the compute power that is available to the user on a much larger scale, making instant rendering a possibility. More on Chaos Group Lab's website.

FX artist Tim van Helsdingen has posted a great boiling water simulation created with Houdini and rendered with Redshift. Watch it on Vimeo.

Dublin-based Giant Animation, who produced the amazing short Geist, have posted online their latest reel. Watch it on Vimeo.

Women in Visual Effects is a video series that aims to share the experiences and stories of the talented women in the industry. You can find out more at the Women in Visual Effects website.

Autodesk recently released a recording of a presentation given by Christiaan Klaassen, Partner & Director of CGI  at DBOX. The presentation focused on the concept and process behind DBOX's creation of renders and VR tours for a prestigious NY residential tower. Rather than simply looking at technique, this talk encompasses a broader look at DBOX's process as they progress from initial sketches to final result. Watch it on Vimeo.

SpriteUV has released a new tool to create optimal meshes for textures or sprites and efficiently pack them into an atlas. Key features include: (more...)

Polish collective Lunapark has released a making of video showcasing their work on the music video for Beautiful People by Mark Pritchard and Radiohead's Thom York. Watch it on Vimeo.

SideFX has released a new series of interviews with VFX artists and studios discussing their work with Houdini. So far videos have been released featuring artists from Man Vs Machine, Zoic Studios, and Rise FX as well as a video focusing on studios that use Houdini for VR applications. (Note: expect content aimed at promoting Houdini)