Square Enix presented a video at SIGGRAPH on the technology they are using in their latest game, Final Fantasy XV. Watch it on YouTube.

After being replaced with Arnold as the default renderer for Maya, NVidia is supplying Mental Ray directly to Maya 2017 users as a public beta. The latest version of Mental Ray for Maya brings final frame rendering directly to the Maya viewport with progressive interactivity. High quality global illumination is now twice as fast as before with an easy to use GI-Next solution that’s controlled with a single quality slider. GI-Next is also GPU-accelerated, delivering a 10-20x speedup by adding just one top-end GPU. It only loads geometry into GPU memory, so texture-heavy scenes won’t slow you down. More on NVidia's website. (Look for the 'Enroll Now' button to join the beta program.)

Belgrade-based artist Sava Zivkovic talks about "Twitch: Loadout", a project that he created together with Milan Nikolic, Iz Svemira and Take One, using 3DS Max, OctaneRender and Quixel Suite, among other tools. More on CGRecord.

Blackmagic Design announced that its VFX and motion graphics software is now available as a native application for the Linux platform, both in its free and Studio versions. All project files are compatible with the Mac OS X and Windows versions, so artists can work collaboratively. The Fusion 8.2 software is public beta and available on the Blackmagic Design web site free of charge. Fusion 8.2 Studio provides additional features for $995, including unlimited free render nodes and other multi-user features. According to Blackmagic Design, the most exciting aspect of Fusion Studio's paid license is that there are no ongoing subscription, cloud licensing, maintenance fees or additional render node costs. Artists own the software they pay for. Read the press release and download the software from Blackmagic Design's website.

Massive Software has released the plugin implementation of its crowd simulation software for 3DS Max. The plugin allows Max users to create, simulate and render scenes of many thousands of characters and see the Massive agents in the scene just like any other 3DS Max object. V-Ray rendering is fully integrated and batch rendering allows Massive for Max to use all supported renderers without requiring any extra licenses, so renders can easily be executed on render farms. Massive for Max is offered through a rental model: artists can rent quarterly for $595, or annually for $1995. All Massive for Max users will receive a complimentary “Ambient Agent”, which normally sells on its own for $3000. Watch some videos on Massive Software's Vimeo channel and read the press release on Massive Software's website.

Wired has posted a video that goes behind the scenes on the newest Star Trek film, Star Trek Beyond. Watch it on YouTube.

New features in Autodesk Maya 2017 include: integrated rendering with Arnold (which replaces Mental Ray as the default renderer), Time Editor for creating and editing animation, new nodes and capabilities in the MASH motion graphics toolset, improvements to 3D text tools and custom Workspaces. Also of note, Autodesk has announced Maya LT 2017, the lower-priced, cut-down version of Maya aimed at game developers. Find out more about Maya 2017 and Maya LT 2017 on Autodesk's website. (more...)

SideFX has released their 2016 showreel featuring outstanding work by Houdini customers. Watch it on Vimeo.