New CG software you may have missed: 16 August 2026
A fluid simulation created in Storm HydroFX 1.5 by artist Jeremy White.
While CG Channel tries to write the major new versions of CG software released each week, sometimes there are smaller updates or useful plugins that we don’t manage to cover.
Rather then letting those releases slip past unnoticed, we’ve put together a round-up of updates to VFX, visualization and motion graphics tools that didn’t get full stories last week.
Below, you can find summaries of what’s new in free motion graphics software Autograph, standalone GPU fluid simulation software Storm HydroFX, and the Cinema 4D edition of V-Ray.
Autograph 2026.1
Overview
Maxon has made good on its promise to continue updating its USD-based compositing, motion graphics and VFX software after releasing it for free earlier this year.
New features
- Support for vertical text layouts
- Support for CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) characters
- New Edge Smoother Modifier for smoothing edges on graphic elements
- Updates to procedural noise and vector blur
Price and system requirements
No changes since our story on the Autograph 2026.0.
Read a full list of new features in Autograph 2026.1 in the online release notes
Storm HydroFX 1.5
Overview
Sebastian Schäfer’s promising new standalone GPU-accelerated FLIP fluid solver for VFX and motion graphics work gets a 2.0-2.5x speed boost.
New features
- Simulations are now “up to 2.5x” faster
Price and system requirements
No changes since our story on the Storm HydroFX 1.0.
Read Sebastian Schäfer’s announcement of Storm HydroFX 1.5
V-Ray for Cinema 4D 7.4
Overview
The latest update to the Cinema 4D edition of the V-Ray renderer was actually released last month, but Chaos hasn’t promoted it heavily, which is why we’re covering it here.
It isn’t mentioned in the company’s blog post on the other V-Ray 7, Update 4 releases, and even a month later, the product website still lists the most recent release as Update 2.
However, the release was announced on Chaos’s forum, where users had been speculating that the Cinema 4D edition was no longer being updated.
As it turns out, it’s a fairly significant update, with Cinema 4D users getting many of the same new features as other host apps, including Gaussian Splat relighting, support for AMD hardware in V-Ray GPU, and real-time viewport rendering via Chaos’s separate Vantage renderer.
We contacted Chaos to ask whether it planned to continue releasing updates to V-Ray for Cinema 4D, but were told that “we cannot comment on future plans”.
New features
- New V-Ray Quick Sun caustics solver
- Ability to relight Gaussian splats using scene lights
- Light Cache denoising
- New Histogram adjustment control in the VFB
- Support for AMD graphics cards in V-Ray GPU
- Support for Chaos Vantage rendering inside the Cinema 4D viewport
Price and system requirements
V-Ray 7 for Cinema 4D is compatible with Cinema 4D R21+, running on Windows and macOS. The software is rental-only, with prices up since the release of V-Ray 7 for Cinema 4D.
V-Ray Solo subscriptions cost $89.15/month or $540/year. V-Ray Premium subscriptions cost $129.90/month or $778.80/year.
Read a full list of new features in V-Ray 7.4 for Cinema 4D
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