El Portal del 3D y la Animación interviews Ikuo Nishii on the trailer for Onimusha 3. (English|Spanish)

GHOST 3D announced today the availability of new technology for advanced surface reconstruction. The new implementations include technologies such as: point cloud surfacing, 3d data cleaning (noise filtering), surface and data optimizations and corrections, geometry reduction and editing, and custom integration with 3D scanner and digitizer hardware and software. Read on for more.   [ more... ]

Kids aged five to 12 spend more time with video games than they do watching television, CNN reports. It seems that the behavior of the upcoming generations could be influenced (educated?) more by video games than television. Also of note, new studies have been done to measure the effectiveness of in-game advertising.

Next Limit has released the latest version of its fluid dynamics simulation software.

Brad Noble has posted some demo videos showing the features of his resizable skeleton rig.

Check out the amazing cinematic at CGChannel.com.

Beta of SIRDS/SIS generator plugin for Max 4,5,6 and 7 is available. SIRDS/SIS generator is a video post image filter plugin by Cuneyt Ozdas that enables users to create SIRDS (Single Image Random Dot Stereogram) and SIS (Single Image Stereogram) images out from any Max scene. Beta of CounterText has also been recompiled for release 6 and 7. Countertext is an extended version of Max's text object that provides animatable number content in the text. More information at CuneytOzdas.com.

Madrid-based Next Limit has unveiled Maxwell Render, a new renderer with features such as full GI, 3D motion blur, caustics, realistic camera simulation, etc. Maxwell Render is currently compatible with 3ds max and will be available as a stand-alone renderer in the future. Next Limit is offering a pre-release Alpha version of the renderer at an introductory price, the final version is expected to be ready by June 2005. Visit MaxwellRender.com for more.

Jessica Fernandes interviews Chris Landreth (The End, Bingo) for CGChannel.com. If you're interested in Landreth's work, it's certainly worth the détour.

Natural:shaders demo version available for download.

CGNetworks have launched a contest with lots of great prizes. Deadline is January 17, 2005. Check it out!

Discreet announced the Discreet Design Academy (DDA), a secondary school program that incorporates Discreet 3ds max into general math, science and language arts coursework. The program is being rolled out to high schools in North America this fall.

Digit Magazine has the article.

Splutterfish has announced a special offer that lasts for the month of October for those who want to buy/upgrade to Max 7 or Autodesk VIZ. Savings can be up to $700 off the combined retail price. Read on for the whole press release.   [ more... ]

"Fallen Art", Tomek Baginski's second animated short after his Oscar-nominated "The Cathedral", has finally been completed and was screened recently at the Polish Feature Film Festival. A team of approximately 20 artists together with Platige Image, the film's producers, worked on the film for 8 months using 3ds max, CAT and Brazil r/s along with Lightwave and Messiah:animate. New unpublished material from the film has been posted at the gallery and download sections of Fallen-Art.com, and a new trailer will be available soon. Check out the site!

Puppetshop is a free Rigging and Animation tool for 3ds max. It comes with features such as unlimited limbs, animation layers, motion capture import and export, Euler_XYZ, TCB support, game export support, etc. Read on for the details.   [ more... ]

Mikhail Gladtchenko reviews 'Deconstructing the Elements with 3ds max 6' for RenderNode: "... a gold mine that will enrich your skills for a very low cost."

Character Animation Technologies has released version 1.3 of their character animation plugin. Features available in this new version include: Capture Animation Script (transfer animation from custom rigs & Bipeds to CATRigs), Pin Tip Hub (temporarily pin your ribcage when editing the pelvis), Limb Pose System (poses on legs and arms can now be saved and loaded between rigs), etc. Visit CAToolkit.com for more information.

Pandromeda announced the release of MojoWorld 3, the latest version of their procedural world generation software. Read on for more.   [ more... ]

(Updated October 14, 2004) A trial version is now available for download.
Max 7 is now shipping! You can find information on this new release at Discreet.com. Also there are a series of great feature videos available that cover some of the new features in release 7.

El Portal del 3D y la Animación has posted a preview of some of the new features introduced in Max 7 (photos included). Check it out! (Spanish)

Many news items have been posted lately at Max3D.3DLuvr.com. Check 'em out!

Discreet will be showing 3ds max 7 at their Data Overdrive tour. If you'd like to have a first-hand look at the new features offered by the latest version of Max check out the dates and locations at Discreet.com.

BBC claims the codec offers twice the bit rate of MPEG-2. Read the news brief at Digit Magazine.

Lamont Gilkey reviews ZBrush 2 for InsideCG.com: "... the multi-resolution mesh editing/sculpting is what's going to keep me using it for a long time."

RebelThink have updated their site with detailed information on their shader suite and are now offering a "Shaders on Demand" service.

MaxScript expert Swami Lama will be teaching a weekend course in Orlando, Florida on October 23rd-24th, 2004. For details and to register, contact the Planet Digital Training Center and ask for Jan at 407-896-7326 or email jan@planetdigital.com. Seating is limited, and registration is on a first come, first served basis.

Madrid-based Next Limit has posted more information on the features of the upcoming release of RealFlow.

Craft Animations anounced the release of Craft Camera Tools for 3ds max. Craft Camera Tools is used by animators to steer different physically-simulated camera types with a joystick or keyboard in real-time, in the 3ds max viewport. Four types of cameras and two help tools are available: SpyCam, SpaceCam, AeroCam, HeliCam, Star Dome Generator and Camera Shake. A demo version is available for download.

After a long hiatus, Evasion|3D have recompiled their X-DoF plugin for Max 5 and 6.

The latest issue of RenderNode Magazine is out: the October release includes articles on rigging a spine in 3ds max, compositing techniques in Combustion (part VII) and the advantages of working in particular color spaces. More information at RenderNode.com.

Sam Hodge reviews 3ds max 7 for CGNetworks: "While it would benefit from a complete rewrite to remove 'baggage' practically everything CGI is achievable in 3ds max 7."

Creative-3D reviews Texture Layers 2: "... could possibly help with some mapping situations that might otherwise be insoluble."

CG Academy has two new series of self-training DVDs currently in production. The series are Character Rigging by Paul Neale and Maxscript Fundamentals by Laszlo Sebo. Visit CG-Academy.net for more.

Brad Noble, an animator with 10 years of experience, has generously posted online a resizable skeleton rig that he has been working on for the last few years (current version is compatible with Max 6). Also of note, check out the great reel on his website.