Spiral Graphics has announced the immediate availability of Genetica 3.0, the latest version of its popular seamless texture, animation, and HDRI environment map editor. The new version includes more than a thousand royalty-free presets. A demo is available for download from SpiralGraphics.biz. Read on for more.   [ more... ]

New features in OnOne Software's image scaling Photoshop plugin include texture presets, a new gallery wrap function, batch processing, tiling for smaller printers and support for Photoshop CS4. Genuine Fractals 6 is scheduled for release in November. Read the whole PR for more.

Yes, you have read right. Autodesk is set to acquire substantially all the assets of Softimage (that includes Max plugin Character Animation Toolkit). Reactions at 3D forums have been very negative, if they represented a 3D stock market, one could say that today it has crashed. Here's a random sample: "the worst industry news ever", "a sad day for 3D", "short of a death in the family", "So now there's officially absolutely no competition anymore?", "Run Pixologic Run!", "One Company To Rule Them All", "Autodesk's country based licensing system is a joke", "For sale: 1 seat of xsi advanced version 6.5", "one more reason to move to Blender", "It is so bad, that I can't describe it". According to the posts, Max, Maya and XSI users are worried about a potential lack of innovation in future versions of their 3D software, the possibility of rising prices, Autodesk's licensing policies (which are far more restrictive than Softimage's), and the impossibility of being able to choose among major 3D software companies. Responses have been very emotional, as usually happens with releases and acquisitions of 3D software, but these latest ones have had a particularly negative tone, and whether the arguments will prove to be justified or not in the future, this symptom in itself does raise an eyebrow. One thing can be safely said, in the long run competition is better for everyone (yes, even Autodesk itself), and for the time being, among Autodesk's 3D software, only Mudbox seems to be forced to keep competing due to ZBrush's continued development. A few links related to the acquisition: press release at Autodesk.com, comments at Ken Pimentel's blog, reactions at Softimage's forums, CGTalk, Blenderartists.org, Leonard Teo's take on the subject. Read on for a sample of comments from the Softimage forums.   [ more... ]

Announcing 3DSpeedMachine.com. The goal of this project is to provide 3D artists with useful hardware and speed statistics based on input from 3D artists all over the world. They intend to build a robust database that encompasses all of the major 3D software applications and render plugins. In an effort to include as many 3D software applications as possible, they are kindly asking 3D artists to donate scene files so that everyone can participate. Several scene files are now online and ready for benchmarking.

OpenOffice.org has released version 3.0 of the OpenOffice productivity suite with many new features. OpenOffice 3.0 is highly compatible with other Office suites and is free to download, use, and distribute. Following the successful Mozilla model, OpenOffice.org has also opened an Extension Repository. Visit OpenOffice.org for more.

Take a look at these two refreshing experimental shorts by French artist Maxime Causeret: Cinetique and Second Souffle.

Shinagawa (Tokyo)-based MagicPictures have a new generation of an in-house Fluids CFD water solver integrated with Thinking Particles and FinalRender. Aquarius can produce detailed water and splashes with motion blur. Check out their impressive technical demo videos!

CGArena has an interesting interview with German artist Robert Kuczera: "... In my opinion it is a lot about politics (...) if the Animation director doesn`t like you...you have a problem...if he likes you [you] get all the good shots …"

Interactive full screen VR-panoramas are available now for each of Sachform's HDRIs (in almost full resolution). In addition there is a new freely downloadable HDRI available. More information at Sachform.de.

New features in the 3D data exchange format include HLSL and CgFX hardware shader support, ability to bake animation data that is not directly supported by FBX, etc. Visit Autodesk.com for more.

Michele Bousquet will be teaching another round of her 3DS Max Techniques class at CGSociety, starting Monday, Oct. 20. Read on for more.   [ more... ]

Researchers from the University of Toronto have been working on "ILoveSketch: As-natural-as-possible sketching system for creating 3D curve models". Check it out at ILoveSketch.com

St. Clément de Rivière-based Bionatics announced the release of the latest version of their landscape modeling and vizualisation software. Features include interactive editing and modification of vector data, enhanced drawing on terrains to aid in collaborative project development, 3D plant modeling workshop, customizable road and river segments, new real time special effects such as natural fog, and more. Read the whole PR (PDF) at Bionatics.com.

The Blender Foundation has announced a game engine heavy release of Blender, with new features such as realtime GLSL materials, game logic updates, bullet update + softbodies, grease pencil, atmosphere scattering simulation, fluid control, colored shadows, shrinkwrap modifier, new Python editor, and more. Read it all and check out some sample images and videos at Blender.org.

New features in Photoshop CS4 Extended include the ability to paint on 3D models, smoother panning and zooming, fluid canvas rotation, enhanced auto-blending of images, content-aware image resizing, and more. After Effects CS4 incorporates a Mini-Flowchart for navigating complex comps and projects, QuickSearch for finding elements in comps, a 2.5D planar tracking application from Imagineer Systems and numerous interface and workflow improvements. Read the whole PR for more. Also of note, the latest version of the Flash player has been released.

Chaos Software and Asynthetic Ltd. announced the availability of Pdplayer, a software tool for image sequence playback, review and manipulation. Features include: ability to work with multiple layers in real time, Brush Sequence layer that enables hand-drawing over a sequence in order to mark areas of interest, an HTTP server for remote viewing, exporting layered and color corrected comps to After Effects and Nuke, extensive command line support, and more. Read the whole PR at ChaosGroup.com.

Neil Bennett reviews Blow Up 2, an image resizing Photoshop plugin, for Digital Arts: "... a definite improvement over the first release – and hugely better than Photoshop’s Image Size."

Grant Adam has written an excellent utility for quickly getting to the directories you use often, from the place you are doing the navigation (that includes Max, Fusion, XSI and other programs). A demo video is available, find out more at RPManager.com.

PipelineFX, makers of the Qube! render farm management system announced that it has released updates and enhancements to Qube! interfaces to several major 2D/3D applications. Updates are available for Max 2009, Vue, Rhino 3D, AfterEffects CS4 and Mayaman. Read the whole PR at PipelineFX.com.

A tutorial by Alessandro Cangelosi on using Particle Flow for generating drops of water falling from a specified object.

Gnomonology are offering a video tutorial by Mental Ray meister Jeff Patton with an in-depth look at rendering vehicles in 3DS Max 2009.

The fine folks from Seagulls Fly have posted a brief video on the making of Quercus, their recent animation on global warming. Check it out! (Note: direct link to file)

A new book on poly modeling has been published by Focal Press. "Poly-Modeling with 3ds Max: Thinking Outside of the Box" was written by CG artist Todd Daniele and according to the publisher's description is "a collection of tips, tricks and techniques on how to create professional models." More information at Focal Press, Elsevier and Amazon.

New features in Luxology's tool for creating seamless textures and high resolution images from low resolution sources include: up to 10x faster, support for dual core machines, improved memory management to handle larger scenes, runs as a plugin for Photoshop CS3, CS4 or standalone program, etc. Visit Luxology.com for more.

The latest version of Autodesk's sculpting and detailing software has been released. More information, complete help file and a trial version can be found at Autodesk.com.

Turkish artist Arda Kutlu has written a useful script to automate the creation of turning pages.

The V-Ray presentation given at the user group meeting at the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles last August has been made available online. Vladimir Koylazov presents some of the new developments that will appear in future versions of V-Ray including Interactive Active Shade renderer, measured BRDF materials and new GI engine.

Neil Bennett reviews Magic Bullet Steady for Digital Arts: "... might not be good enough to justify spending over £100 – but it’s a useful addition to the Magic Bullet Suite nonetheless."

Digital Arts has an interesting interview with CalArts alumnus and The Orphanage co-founder Stu Maschwitz.

Many new features and enhancements in this latest release of the open source graphics program. Find out more at GIMP.org.