We have the pleasure to present another quality review. Experienced CG artist and trainer Rohan Dalvi takes a thorough look at Houdini 15 and its new features: "... enhancements to FLIP fluids and POP grains are great for VFX artists who deal with very large simulations". Read the review.

Planetside Software has published a number of teaser images created with the upcoming v4 of its landscape creation and rendering software, and disclosed some information. According to the company, the new version will be "faster, more interactive and easier to use", providing new tools to create scenes more quickly and intuitively. More on Planetside's website.

A graduation short film written and directed by Alyce Tzue, produced by a team of artists at San Francisco-based Academy of Art University. Watch it on Vimeo.

Berlin-based artist Robert Seidel presents his latest experimental short. Vitreous was created with 3DS Max and custom tools, and was originally conceived as a media façade artwork. It later developed into a large-scale projection of 4 × 14 Meters at the German Filmmuseum in Frankfurt. Watch the video on Vimeo.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research have devised a method for improving the resolution and detail in the geometry and appearance of dynamic 3D capture. Their method uses a simple binocular setup with 9 colored lights that are spectrally and temporally multiplexed within a period of three frames. The design minimizes shadows and the amount of motion compensation. More on Disney Research's website.

AnimSchool has released v2.0 of its free Malcolm rig for Maya to the public. Malcolm 2.0 was re-rigged to accommodate wardrobe changes. AnimSchool has added tons of wardrobe and hairstyle options to him, with new geometry to support all kinds of configurations, including bare feet. The character's face is advanced, malleable, yet he plays nearly in real-time. More on AnimSchool's website.

Tomek Bagiński has released his latest short film entitled The Dragon. It is based upon Polish folk legends and involves some great VFX completed by the talented folks at Platige Image. You can find out more about the project on the Platige Image website.

The Foundry has surprised Modo users with a free update to its flagship 3D application that brings tools for digital matte painting and virtual camera creation as well as bug fixes. New features include: (more...)