New features include scripting, UI enhancements and code optimizations for faster simulations. A trial version is available for download.

Something has been cooking behind the doors at Platige. The Polish studio has dived headfirst into film production, both shorts and features, and has just put online websites promoting the upcoming releases. New films include: Grzegorz Jonkajtys' and Marcin Kobylecki's "The Ark" (mixes CG and miniature sets), Damian Nenow's "The Great Escape", Marcin Pazera's "Moloch", Tomek Baginski's "All Saints" (based on a story by Bartosz and Tomek Minkiewicz) and "The Cinematograph" (based on a story by Mateusz Szkutnik). Trailers for some of the films are available, others are not up yet. Needless to say, all look very impressive. Check 'em out! (Note: images and subject matter of some films can be a bit on the dark side)

"Stilt Walkers" is a student film made by Belgian artist Alexis van der Haeghem. References to the fantasy genre abound in Van der Haeghem's site, from drawings to animations, and this permeates the concepts and characters of the short. Some shots remind of Andy Murdock's LOR (even if the subject of the film is an altogether different one). "Stilt Walkers" was created using 3DS Max.

Check out these great 3D models created using Max for the base mesh and Mudbox for detailing.

Fred Galpern reviews Modo 201 for VFXWorld.com: "Like the rest of the app, these tools just feel (...) as if an artist was part of their development."

A new version of Redviewer, the pre-visualization tool for 3DS Max / VIZ has been released. Highlights of the new version include full scene anti-aliasing support, ATI support (beta version), old generation NVIDIA cards support, and memory optimizations. A trial version is available for download. More information at Redway3D.com.

(Updated June 22, 2006) According to information posted at Highend3D.com, "no further software updates [for Shake] are planned as [developers] begin work on the next generation of Shake compositing software."
Apple has cut the price of its Shake compositing application from $2,999 to $499. Read the whole PR at Apple.com.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have developed a program that allows a computer to automatically generate 3-D reconstructions of scenes based on a single image. Visit the Automatic Photo Pop-up page and read the PR for more.

According to DailyTech.com, ECinema's new monitor features deep blacks, 12-bits per color channel, a high contrast ratio of 30,000:1, and accurate color display capabilities that can be used for professional color grading. The contrast ratio of ECinema's display is still far from Brightside's HDR displays.

CGSociety has a great article on Pixar's "Cars".

Di-O-Matic announced the release of Voice-O-Matic 2, the latest version of their lip sync plugin for 3DS Max. Read the whole PR for more.

Michael Burns reviews Craft Camera Tools for Digit Magazine: "... they offer 3D animators a new and innovative way to achieve a more cinematic look in their projects."

Digit has the news.

Impressive work as always, check out the trailer for Pixar's "Ratatouille".

Mudbox developers have posted a couple of snapshots of the Mudbox beta interface. They are also accepting applications to join their beta program, visit Mudbox3D.com for more information.

Take a look at these impressive 2D/3D animated shorts created by students from the French school Gobelins. "Burning Safari" and "Sébastien" are not to be missed. The shorts are being presented at this year's ANNECY film festival. Check out the animation gallery at Gobelins.fr for more short films from previous years.

Australian visual effects artist Allan McKay has completed another training DVD in his Advanced Visual Effects series. Advanced Visual Effects 2, distributed by Turbo Squid, includes seven new project-based Particle Flow tutorials that cover advanced particle rigs, scripting, compositing and some of the capabilities brought by Particle Flow Tools: Box#1. With a running length of over 6 hours, this training DVD is aimed at intermediate and advanced users.

According to a message at Orbaz Technologies' forums, a pre-release version of Particle Flow Tools: Box#3 is available for purchase. "With the development of the new particle data visual scripting interface Data View, and addition of 20+ sub-operators, the plug-in brings to special effects artists powerful and flexible tools to design their own operators and tests in Particle Flow."

Tim Johnson reviews CineLook 2 and Magic Bullet 2.1 for Creative Cow: "At first glance, it appears that CineLook 2 and Magic Bullet Suite 2.1 do the same thing (...) In reality, they are well-suited for different areas of production."

Wes McDermott reviews After Effects 7.0 Pro for CGFocus.com: "... one of the first things you will notice is a redesigned UI (...) dragging one panel will cause the other panels to resize to fit the new configuration."