Serif has made available trial versions of Affinity Photo and Designer for Windows. According to the company, the "response to the launch of Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo for Windows has been phenomenal, better than we ever could have predicted". Two more applications are in the works: Affinity Publisher, a desktop publishing software, which is expected to be released as public beta during this year, and a Digital Asset Management tool. More on Affinity's blog.

ZBuilder is a plugin by Tsvetomir Georgiev for ZBrush designed for simplifying the creation of human-like characters. It makes it easy to morph, pose and render a character using a series of adjustable parameters for customizing the included models via morph targets. More on ZBrushCentral.

8monkey Labs has released v3.02 of its physically-based realtime model viewer and presentation software. New features include: material animation support, new refraction shader, EXR output for screenshots and animation, smart texture loading, improved baker, etc. More on Marmoset's website

New features in Allegorithmic's texturing tool include filters dedicated to scan processing, Curve Node, Text Node, 32-bit floating point compositing and improved bakers to support up to 8K bakes and non-uniform (non-square) ratios. More on Allegorithmic's website.

New features in Andersson Technologies' camera tracking software include: (more...)

Toon Boom Animation has released v5.5 of its storyboarding software that offers camera controls, 3D models import and collaboration tools. New features include: (more...)

Thinkinetic's has released a new version of their massive rigid body dynamics solver and fracturing plugin for 3DS Max and Maya. In addition to bug fixes, this release introduces a new Vertex Colour Shatter feature that allows you to break apart a 3D model using a black & white vertex colour map. Find out more on Pulldownit's blog.

Digital District has released a breakdown for their work on the Oscar nominated film Jackie. Watch it on Vimeo.