Erik Ferguson has posted a great look development reel for the motion graphics work he did for The Game Awards 2016. Watch it on Vimeo.

Image Engine have posted a breakdown of the work they did for Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV. Watch it on Vimeo.

Last night in Los Angeles, the 15th Annual VES Awards were handed out in recognition of outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues. The Jungle Book came away with 5 awards including Best Photoreal Feature Film. For the full list of winners, you can visit the VES website.

(Update) From his Twitter account, it appears that 3DS Max Product Manager Eddie Perlberg is also leaving Autodesk.
Carl Bass, CEO and President of Autodesk, is stepping down and leaving the company. Bass has been with Autodesk for the past 24 years serving in various roles, but announced in a blog post that he will be leaving, and will continue to serve on the Autodesk board as they the transition. You can read the full blog post on the Autodesk website.

Side Effects formally announced and showcased their latest software release yesterday at a user event in London. As previously reported, the rebranded Houdini 16 Amarok (set to be available February 21, 2017), now comes in two editions: Houdini Core and Houdini FX. Amarok contains a long list a new features and updates that include a new network UI, new grooming toolset, new fluid, destruction and terrain tools, and a new autorigging system. Also of note, is a new pricing structure which offers reduced pricing on both permanent and rental licenses. For more details on this release and a currently available, you can visit

Massive Software recently spoke with Mr. X regarding their crowd work on the film, Ben Hur. You can read the full interview on the Massive Software website. (Note: expect questions aimed at publicizing Massive)

Laubwerk has released a new collection of realistic 3D plants, Kit 10 provides a selection of temperate deciduous trees for use in parks, gardens or streets including specimen trees with floral display. Each species comes in 36 variations per species (i.e. 3 variants, 3 ages and 4 seasonal aspects), for a total of 360 models per Kit. Laubwerk Plants Kits bring tools that allow for quick adjustment of shape, age, season and level of detail for each 3D plant. The new kit is available for 3DS Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, SketchUp, Houdini and Python (Windows), and is priced at 149 Euro (w/o VAT). More on Laubwerk's website.

AgiSoft has released a new version of PhotoScan, their image-based 3D modeller. The new version includes significant speed boosts by adding support for GPU accelerated image matching, the ability to use CUDA on systems with NVIDIA graphics hardware, as well as many other improvements. Read the full release notes or find out more about Photoscan on Agisoft's website.