Max 9 has been designed to allow users to work with larger amounts of complex data. 64-bit support enables Max to handle more complex scenes, and optimizations in display performance result in greater viewport interactivity when working with dense meshes. Max 9 information pages at Autodesk.com mention "dramatic improvements in display performance and complexity management." Early reports from Max users at SIGGRAPH are confirming the announced improvements. Other features mentioned include: an animation layer system that can be added to custom rigs and controllers within Max, XAF files that can be saved and loaded onto bipeds for easy transfer of information to and from custom rigs, hair and cloth enhancements, improved compatibility with Maya via the FBX file format, etc. Max 9 is expected to be available in October. Visit 3DS Max 9 information pages at Autodesk.com and check out the new Max 9 feature videos.

A few new ZBrush 2.5 features have been disclosed, including Layers and an impressive Mesh Extraction tool. Check out two great sample videos at the ZBrushCentral.

Andersson Technologies has released the next major version of its SynthEyes camera tracking tool. New feature highlights include a special green-screen tracking mode, a 3-D curve tracking and solving tool, the ability to locate a light based on its reflection from a mesh, as well as many special features and small user-interface improvements. Read the whole PR for more.

Great news: Autodesk and Realviz have "joined forces" to offer Max and Maya users MMTrack free of charge. MMTrack is a camera tracking software from Realviz that uses MatchMover Pro 4 algorithms and fits seamlessly into the workflow of Max. MMTrack does not have all the features of MatchMover Pro, to see the differences check out a comparison table of both programs at Realviz.com. The software is expected to be available on August 16, 2006. If you're wondering why this is happening you should probably refer to the news item above.

Box#3 allows users to design their own operators and tests without the headaches of Maxscript and/or C++. Head over to Orbaz.com to download the demo.

Or something along those lines. Realviz has announced Movimento, a software designed to capture the motion of any non-rigid object (human body, human face, animal, etc.) from footage recorded with 2 cameras to as many as needed. Capture is non intrusive, it can be realized in natural or ambient lighting and requires no specific hardware in the scene. More information at Realviz.com.

D2 Software, a subsidiary of Digital Domain, announced a free non-commercial version of its NUKE compositing software available for download on August 31, 2006 from www.d2software.com. The trial version of NUKE will be available for Windows only, and will not include the integrated FrameCycler plug-in found in the commercial version.

Fred Galpern interviews the developers of Mudbox as well as some beta testers who mention what they like about the software. VFXWorld has the article.

Read the whole PR at DigitalProducer.com.

Gruesome Arts announces a new version of RapidSD, a faster alternative to Max's Turbosmooth that sports some interesting features. RapidSD 0.8 public beta is ready for download.

Mexico's "National Chamber of the Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics Industry" (CANIETI) announced the debut of a new Animation and Videogames Festival, CREANIMAX 2006, whose main goal is to allow Mexico to establish and strengthen an animation and videogames industry.   [ more... ]

Frantic Films Software will be showing new software at SIGGRAPH, Booth #331, including a new version of their Deadline network rendering management application and some upcoming Max plugins.   [ more... ]

The latest animated shorts coming out of French school Gobelins now have their own websites. Many of them feature great making of videos, as well as higher quality versions of the films. Find out more at: BurningSafari.com, Pyrats.net, Sebastien-lefilm.net, CocotteMinute.net, Traintamarre.com. The team that worked on Burning Safari even posted a video of their film screening at Annecy. Ça vaut le détour!

Check out the impressive demo reel of Slovak artist Marek Denko, created with Max.

Havok, makers of Max's Reactor dynamics system, have been showing their GPU-accelerated physics technology for a while and are finally releasing it as part of their Havok 4.0 suite of tools for game developers.

VRay 1.5 features include: physically based sun and sky, physically based camera model, new material types (VRayBlendMtl, VRay2SidedMtl, VRayFastSSS), detail enhancement for the irradiance map, adaptive path tracing, improved distributed rendering, etc. Chaos Group will be showing a pre-release version of VRay 1.5 as well as providing information on Aura and a new sequence player they're developing.

3D y Animación has an interesting article on the techniques developed by Spanish artist Juan Carlos Mostaza for the production of his short film "Broken Wire". (Spanish)

(Updated July 20, 2006) The video regrettably has been removed from the site. Perhaps the author will make it available sometime in the future at his own website.
Guillaume Reymond's rendition of Space Invaders, part of his "Game Over" series. Not to be missed!

In collaboration with research partners at the Max Planck Institute, BrightSide has developed a video file compression technique that enables practical distribution of HDR video content. The new codec will be demonstrated on BrightSide displays at SIGGRAPH 2006 (they'll probably be showing the winning entries of their HDR Video Contest). Read the Max Planck Institute press release for more.

(Updated July 19, 2006) According to one of our readers CAT is already developing version 3 of their 3DS Max plugin. Read the comments posted on this news item for more. (Important: This information has yet to be confirmed by Character Animation Technologies.)
(Updated July 18, 2006) Softimage has recently published a FAQ stating that Avid has acquired CAT's intellectual property assets and that certain hardware assets, CAT stock, etc., have been left out of the deal. Again, there's no reference to the development of future versions of CAT for Max.
Character Animation Techologies, developers of the 3DS Max plugin Character Animation Toolkit have been acquired by Avid and are being managed by Softimage. CAT’s CTO, Philip Taylor, has joined the Softimage team in Montreal. As expected, there is no mention of further development of the plugin for 3DS Max. More information at CAToolkit.com.

Italian artist Augusto Lombardi has updated his website with new images, making-of clips and animations from his work at Direct2Brain studios. A section dedicated to the videoclip of the song "Incantevole", by Italian band Subsonica features some great shots created with Particle Flow. Check 'em out!

NewTek announced the availability of LightWave 3D 9.0. New features include a node-based materials editor, optically correct cameras and adaptive pixel subdivision which provides a variety of capabilities for displacement mapping, normal mapping and level-of-detail control at render time. Read the whole PR for more.

Digit Magazine takes a quick look at Modo 201: "... on its way to becoming a comprehensive 3D solution."

Talented character modeler Matt Clark has updated his website with new 3D models. Check 'em out!

New images added to Raph.com.

Many new images added to Terragen's gallery. Check 'em out!

The Gnomon Workshop has released two training DVDs by Ian Joyner, who's been working as a character modeler at Blur Studios for over 2 years. Visit TheGnomonWorkshop.com for more information.

Autodesk have made available the list of 3DS Max Master Classes (.pdf file) to be taught at SIGGRAPH 2006.

Features include new modeling functions (“Volumetric Mode”, “Sculpt Trunk”), optimizations in memory requirements and the ability to export tree animation skeletons to real-time engines. Visit Bionatics.com for more.

Gamasutra has an interesting interview with Rand Miller (Myst, Riven, etc.) on the future of URU Live.

Volumetric clouds galore! Check out the preview. Vue 6 is scheduled for release in Q3 2006.