Vanilla Seed have released an "automatic and visual pass manager" for 3DS Max. More information at Vanilla-Seed.com.

The Computer Animation Festival jury selected three award winners from 905 entries. Two of the award-winning films are student entries. The three films are: Ark by Grzegorz Jonkajtys and Marcin Kobylecki (Poland), Dreammaker by Leszek Plichta (Germany), and En Tus Brazos by François-Xavier Goby, Edouard Jouret and Matthieu Landour (France). Read the details at SIGGRAPH.org.

Who can deny it by now? If DV had been available in the late 1800s, film cameras would've never seen the light of day (pun intended). Now it's the turn of film projectors to go digital. Read the news at Digit Magazine.

David English reviews Sound Forge 9 for StudioDaily.com.

Digit Magazine takes a look at Photoshop CS3.

Mozilla has announced the release of the latest version of its renowned open source email client.

The software is aimed at limiting the amount of time children under the age of 18 are allowed to spend playing MMORPGs. Companies running such games in China have said the impact on their business won't be significant since only 10% of online game players from that country are below 18 years of age. Find out more at GamesIndustry.biz.

New features include enhancements to the rendering engine including improved memory handling, 32-bit image output, a Linux version and more. Read the whole PR at MaxwellRender.com.

After several years in production Marco Spitoni (The Hunt) has posted online his latest animated short titled "Code Guardian".

InsideCG have opened up a new job board for CG artists.

Check out the trailer for a new animated feature film titled "Plumíferos" (loosely translated to "Feathered"), which is being produced by Buenos Aires-based Manos Digitales Animation Studio and directed by Daniel De Felippo. Not created with Max (Blender is being used, along with other Open Source software). (Spanish)

Photoshop CS3, Flash CS3, and Dreamweaver CS3 now available (among other applications). New versions of After Effects and Premiere Pro are scheduled for a Q3 2007 release. Read the PR or visit Adobe.com for more.

The lastest version of the Final Cut suite features updated versions of Final Cut Pro, Motion, a new color-grading application and more. Read the details at Apple and StudioDaily.com.

New images created with Thomas Luft's Ivy Generator contributed by users. Also of note, a FAQ has been added at the end of the page and there seems to be a new, improved version under development.

New shaders for FinalRender included in this update: Curvature, Layer, FastSkin, Tension and Ghost. Visit Cebas.com for more.

Borislav Petrov's most excellent DIMaster v2 is a complete rewrite of DIMaster dimensioning tool script originally written for Max R2. It runs in Max 7, 8 and 9.   [ more... ]

Another schematic material editor for Max surfaces, this time in the form of a plugin with many interesting features. According to the NodeJoe final release feature list, the plugin will support any material that is compatible with Max, and will thus be compatible with all available third-party material plugins. A public beta version is available, the final version will be released commercially. Visit NodeJoe.com for more.

Lo and behold, it looks as if someone has finally invented the equivalent of a pencil sharpener for 3D modeling. With the tools being developed by Pixologic and Skymatter the process of 3D modeling is certainly maturing, and from what can be seen in the ZBrush gallery the new features of the software are clearly stimulating people's creativity. Check out the impressive images at ZBrushCentral.com.

Los Angeles-based Rhythm & Hues is seeking applicants for their 4 week animation apprentice program. Applications must be submitted or postmarked by April 13, 2007. Visit Rythm.com for more.

Frantic Films' upcoming particle renderer for Max keeps adding features. Check out the following Krakatoa-related thread at CGTalk for the latest.

Carl-Mikael Lagnecrantz has updated his set of advanced tools for polygon modeling in Max with many new useful features. Version 3.0 evolves the concept of working with edgeloops with new tools such as CurveLoop, SpaceLoop, StraightenLoop, CircleLoop, RelaxLoop, adds tools for moving and building in screenspace in PolyDraw, advanced UVW Unwrap tools, new selection functionality and many fixes throughout PolyBoost. More info and new features video available from Polyboost.com.

The Productivity Booster Extension features over 30 productivity enhancements - in the areas of interoperability, animation and Biped, rendering, UI, and usability - in addition to compatibility with Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit versions, AutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD Architecture 2008, and Revit Architecture 2008. (Note: This extension cannot be uninstalled, be sure to read the list of known issues before installing the software.)

Halcyon is a real-time viewer for 3D Studio Max. It is primarily designed for Architects and Visualizers to allow them to fly through their 3D Models with Baked Global illumination in real-time. Unlike traditional real-time viewers, where one has to learn an editor, the scene is set up entirely in Max. A demo version is available for download, visit Lightcraftresearch.com for more.

Information on the latest versions of the AutoCad line, Autodesk VIZ and more has been posted at Autodesk.com.

Computer Arts reviews Blow Up, an image resizing plugin for Photoshop: "... In all cases (...) the plug-in did manage to produce results that were noticeably sharper and less blurred than we could get from Photoshop’s standard resizing controls."

SAN RAFAEL, CA—April 1, 2007—According to undisclosed sources, Max users who are on subscription and want to keep that status could be required to actively participate in Autodesk's Area.   [ more... ]