A great volcano simulation with breakdowns created by German artist Lennard Schmidt using FumeFX. Watch it on Vimeo.

A great project by Roy Peker that explains the concepts behind VFX and Digital Compositing. Watch it on Vimeo.

Rotem Shiffman has announced the release of VFB+ 2.8, the advanced frame buffer plugin for 3DS Max. New features and changes include: support in 3DS Max 2017 for high DPI monitors, support for very large images (over 2GB), changes to contrast which now uses an improved S-curve algorithm, and improved UI icons. With this release, the author is generously making available VFB+ under a freeware license, but he is also keen to assure users that this does not mean the end of the road for VFB+. Instead, he intends to focus on bugs and maintenance as the tool is already mostly feature complete. Read the announcement and find out more on Rotem Shiffman's website.

Imagineer Systems has released Mocha VR, a new plugin based on the company's planar tracking algorithm that brings VFX workflows to 360°/VR video production. The software offers features for handling motion tracking, masking, object removal and horizon stabilization. Mocha VR is compatible with Nuke, Fusion, Premiere Pro CC, Adobe After Effects CC and Avid Media Composer. The plugin version is priced at $995, upgrades from Mocha Pro 5 cost $300. The standalone version costs $1495. A rental option is available for $795 per year, for both multi-host plugins and standalone versions. More on Imagineer Systems' website.

Chaos Group has released V-Ray 3.5 for 3DS Max, a significant update with a long list of new features and improvements, which include Adaptive Lights, improved GPU rendering, live VR rendering to Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, and much more. You can visit the Chaos Group website to get the full details on this latest release.

Numerous young artists studying at MOPA who are seeing their career prospects sabotaged by the recent events, as well as their concerned parents, are seeking a way out of the crisis the school has been immersed in after the CIPEN (Cluster of Pedagogic and Digital Innovation) and the CCI (The Arles Chamber of Commerce and Industry) laid off director Julien Deparis, which resulted also in the departure of several instructors. Students have reported the loss of 12 hours of school in the past week for both 2nd and 4th year students, according to French journal La Provence. (more...)

Texturingxyz has released over 150 micro fabric textures available individually or as bundles. Each was created by modelling the fabric first and then extracting tileable maps including displacement, opacity and id maps, in sizes up to 2k. See the full collection and watch a tutorial on how to use them on Texturingxyz's website.

Twistedpoly & Nejc Polovšak have released their short film, Grow; a story about the ups and downs of life we all have to face sometimes. Watch it on Vimeo.