Joe Alter previews Shave and a Haircut 10
Big update to Maya hair plugin to add full GPU support, powerful grooming and sculpting options.
Saturday, July 30th, 2016
fur
Autodesk unveils Maya 2017
Update adds new clip-based Time Editor, more XGen and Bifrost simulation options. Arnold now installed by default, not mental ray.
Monday, July 25th, 2016
Ephere releases Ornatrix for Maya
Popular 3ds Max hair plugin now out for Maya. Supports Nucleus physics and Arnold, V-Ray, Redshift and RenderMan rendering.
Tuesday, July 12th, 2016
Isotropix previews Clarisse iFX 3.0
Next-gen 2D/3D look development tool to get new PBR render engine, plus better handling of hair and fur.
Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
NewTek previews LightWave 2016
Updated: See the new scene editor and a side-by-side performance comparison with LightWave 2015.
Tuesday, March 29th, 2016
Nvidia releases HairWorks source, unveils PhysX-GRB
Source code of fur system used on Call of Duty: Ghosts out now. New CGU/GPU rigid body system in beta.
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2016
Joe Alter releases Shave and a Haircut 9.6
Maya hair plugin gets first big update in several years, improving viewport performance and grooming tools.
Wednesday, December 16th, 2015
Ephere ships Ornatrix V4
Updated, now shipping: 3ds Max hair plugin gets new groom preset system, plus better brush tools, MassFX dynamics, Alembic export.
Wednesday, November 18th, 2015
LuxRender 1.5 ships
Now officially shipping: Open-source renderer gets major speed boosts, support for AOVs. New 3ds Max exporter to come.
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015
Solid Angle releases Arnold for Katana
KtoA plugin now officially shipping. Price of Arnold itself now down to $790 for a node-locked licence.
Friday, August 7th, 2015
Peregrine Labs releases Yeti 2.0
Maya fur plugin gets speed boost, better dynamics, new sculpting tools. Price down to CAD $699, too.
Monday, August 3rd, 2015
Chaos Group ships V-Ray 3.1 for Maya
Sizeable update adds two new VR camera types, extends V-Ray RT GPU, boosts performance all round.
Friday, July 31st, 2015
Chaos Group releases V-Ray for 3ds Max 3.20
New video: Service pack adds new VR cameras, GPU-based texture baking, option to render fluid sims.
Tuesday, June 9th, 2015