(Updated October 31, 2006) Before and afters and visual effects breakdowns now available. Definitely worth a look.
Ruairí Robinson ("Fifty Percent Grey") has finally completed his live action film and has posted a trailer on his website. Check it out!

Adobe announced that it's developing a new application for creating and editing audio, and fixing common audio flaws using visually-oriented tools. A beta version is available for download. More information at Digit Magazine.

Yes, it's been a while since we last heard news about this plugin, but according to a recent post at Michele Bousquet's blog, Hairtrix will be released soon. A few images created with the hair plugin can also be found at her blog.

ZbornToy is the result of a collaboration between Frischluft and German artist Timur Baysal (Taron). The new After Effects-compatible plugin has the ability to extract a maximum of information out of simple depth images and allows you to not only light and texture them, but to refract backgrounds, cast caustic reflections back onto the background and a whole lot more. A trial version is available for download. Check it out at Taronites.com and read some comments from Taron at the ZBrushCentral.

The seventeenth edition of ArtFutura, a Spanish festival dedicated to digital art and technology will be held in ten different cities from October 26-29. Visit ArtFutura.org for the details. (Spanish|English)

Michele Bousquet, author of many Max books such as "Model, Rig, Animate with 3ds max", is teaching an online class on character modeling at CGSociety Nov. 13 - Jan. 21. The class is open to anyone anywhere in the world, lasts for 8 weeks and costs $399.

Carl-Mikael Lagnecrantz has updated his set of advanced tools for polygon modeling in Max with many new features. Version 2.5 includes support for Max 9, PolyShift (an interactive transform tool), Quadrify and many more additions and improvements. Visit PolyBoost.com for more.

Mozilla has released the second version of the free, open source, cross-platform web browser. New features in FireFox 2.0 include inline spell checking for text entered into web forms, enhanced security, the ability to restore a browsing session and more. Check it out!

PSoft have posted some images and videos (1 - 2) showing the new features of v2.0 of their NPR renderer. The new version is due for release in March 2007 and is currently going through open beta testing, users who participate and find bugs will receive tickets for a discount on the final product. (Japanese)

3dsense Media School have posted an article on the development of a new version of CrowdIT, a crowd generation tool for 3DS Max. The article contains some UI screenshots and a brief document listing the new features of the upcoming version.   [ more... ]

Antics Technologies have released version 2 of their pre-visualization software. Antics 2 brings interesting features for filmmakers, including fast set construction, content libraries, point and click character animation system, camera choreography, etc. A trial version is available for download, visit Antics3D.com for more.

Polish website Max3D.pl have posted an interesting interview with talented French artist Raphaël Lacoste (aka El Rafo), who produced his first 3D images while working on the staging of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "Le Petit Prince".

Tom Hudson has recompiled Greeble for Max 9. The ZIP file contains both 32bit and 64bit versions.

A pre-release version of PFT: Box#3 has been available for a while, but the final version has just been released and can be found at Turbo Squid and Trinity Animation. "Particle Flow Tools: Box 3 Pro is primarily a toolset for creating your own custom Particle Flow operators, although it does come with several exceptionally useful presets"

CMO announced a 47-inch "Quad High Definition" (2560x1440) LCD slated for production in Q2 2007. Digitimes.com has the news.

French language blog of animated trailers, shorts, showreels, etc. -- check it out

MaxArea.com are offering a PDF article that compares 32-bit vs 64-bit Max 9 versions for $5. They have also posted a few videos that can be downloaded for free. Visit MaxArea.com for more.

Word through reseller channels is that Max 9 has begun shipping -- product website is here, but i'm not finding any further shipping details online yet.
Update: sounds like some users are getting email notifications from ADSK about Max 9 now.
Update: confirmed in comments here -- subscription users are getting notification today.

If you are reading this chances are you've stumbled upon Michael's work in the past years. The impressive portfolio of this prolific German artist includes experiments with materials, light, textures, composition and creative ideas. Check out the recently updated website of Michael Recktenwald at 3DArrival.com!

Image Metrics' software captures nuances in facial expressions and leaves the dots in the jar. The New York Times has the article. (Login required)

DV.com reviews Cinescore, Sony's new soundtrack creation software: "... customization options offer nearly infinite variations."

The new displays are claimed to "double the colour and clarity of TV screens at half the cost of plasma". Australian company Arasor is expected to start selling their laser-based TV displays along with US partner Novalux in late 2007. Find out more at Arasor.com and the Sydney Morning Herald online. Mitsubishi also announced the development of laser-driven displays in April 2006.

Lumonix has released their new muscle plugin for 3DS Max called Skin Fx. The new plugin is a Max based modifier (deformer) that gives the artist the ability to simulate mesh being deformed or 'sliding over' other objects such as skin sliding over bone or muscle. A demo version is available for download.

Studio Daily has an interesting article by Debra Kaufman on Christian Volckman's "Renaissance" animated feature.

Digit Magazine reviews Blow Up, a Photoshop plugin for scaling images up to 3600%: "... Blow Up is something of a revelation."

"Andy Murdock will discuss the technical methods and creative processes behind the creation of this solo 3d animation project." The Workshop will take place October 14 in Potsdam, Germany. Visit Webcuts.org for more. (Deutsch)

Lumonix, a new 3ds Max plugin company, have just released Puppetshop, a rigging and animation plugin which offers a blend of easy-to-use animator tools while keeping the 'backdoor' open for technical directors. There is also some info on Shader FX, an upcoming real-time shader editor for Max.

(Updated October 9, 2006) Great news. According to a message posted at the Area by JoAnne Gaudreau from Autodesk, they are "very aware of the issues around the forums" and are working to solve them. Kudos to Autodesk! Hats off also to all users who have been providing feedback and insisting on asking for changes since the Area went public in August. Follow the new discussion thread at the Area.
(Updated October 9, 2006) The poll regarding the use of real names at the forums has been replaced.
(Updated October 6, 2006) Autodesk are running a poll at The Area asking if real names should be used at the forums. If you would like to see things change please take a minute to login and vote. It seems the poll has been receiving very few votes.
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CGArchitect reviews Modo 202: "... Without support for importing cad drawings, it is not a perfect match at face value for ArchViz."

(Updated October 4, 2006) More information available at Maxon's official BodyPaint 3D web pages.
According to Digit Magazine, the latest version of BodyPaint will feature 16 and 32-bit image handling (HDRI support), pelt mapping and improved integration with 3D applications. Visit Digit Magazine for more.

Max 9, Maya 8, MotionBuilder 7.5 and Toxik 2007 will be demontrated at Autodesk's North American tour starting tomorrow, Thursday, October 5 in Montreal. Another parallel tour will be showing the latest versions of Autodesk's compositing, editing and color grading software. Visit DigitalContentProducer.com for more.

Since current image recognition techniques are still far from what the human mind can perceive, Google developers are asking users to help fine tune their image search engine by adding words to identify images on the web. But the interesting part is what they have come up with to make the experience fun. Check out the Google Image Labeler beta site. A word of caution, it's somewhat addictive. Also of note, according to a report from News.com Google is testing new UI search functions using an alternative website called SearchMash.

Errata/Addenda: The resolution of Sharp's display is four times that of current "HD" systems (not double, as stated below).
What is higher than so-called "high definition" (HD)? And why is it being called "high definition" in the first place? The answer is obvious, of course, and it means that "HD" hardware will be replaced sooner than later. Sharp is producing a 64-inch LCD monitor with a 4096x2160 pixel-line resolution that doubles current "HD" formats. Find out more at News.com.

3DVF takes a look at Vertice's real-time 3D engine and visualization software. (French) (Note: information in English can be found at Vertice.fr)

Digit Magazine has an interesting article on Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom.

New features in the latest release of this Photoshop-compatible plugin include support for more file formats, full keyframing capabilities with interactive function curve control, animation timeline scrubbing with realtime previews, noise and grain rendering, spherical aberration, photometric burnout simulation and more. Visit DOFPro.com for more.

Another impressive trailer by the fine folks from Blur Studio. Check it out!

New images and animations created with Gugila's GroundWiz Terrain Map and Planter have been posted at Gugila.com.

Cebas have posted videos showcasing the features of their Finaltoon and Ghostpainter 2 plugins.